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This group of buildings all of which served as churches at different periods is one of the best visual demonstrations of the rapid growth of Ballarat caused by the boom years of the gold rush following the initial alluvial diggings of the 1850s. The smallest church was built in 1861 followed by the next built in 1867 and finally the construction of the grand church on the corner of Neil and Macarthur streets Soldiers' Hill in the 1890s.
Brass band instrumental music competitions were enthusiastically followed in Australia in the early twentieth century. Ballarat was a leading centre for these musical competitions and Michael Taffe played cornet and flugelhorn with several local brass bands. He was Australian Junior Cornet solo Champion in 1920 and won the open section of the instrumentals at the VRI competitions held in the ballroom at Flinders Street Station in 1924.
michael taffe, victorian railways institute, cornet solo, flinders street station ballroom
prisoner of war, world war i, lindsay family, drawing, german,
non-fiction
city of ballaarat, welcome, ballarat, lake wendouree, rowing, canoeing, 1956, southern hemisphere,
eureka stockade, royal australian mint
non-fiction
frank clune, china, nathan spielvogel, travel, australian writers
mt pleasant school, ballarat, bicentenary, michael taffe, francis ellis, tree planting
On timber matress base/frame stamped Tunbridge & Sons Ballarat.
non-fiction
avenues of honour, remembrance, world war i, italy
non-fiction
ruby lindsay, naturalist, barrett, art nouveau, creswick, ballarat
non-fiction
olympic games, melbourne, australia, invitation to holld olympic games
Small 95 page booklet published in 1857 by Fairfax, Melbourne and inscribed by W. D. Lang.
non-fiction
Rev John Dunmore Lang's defence of his son who was imprisoned for his part in the fraud at the Bank of New South Wales Ballarat and Clunes in 1854.
drake, lang, rev john dunmore lang, ballarat, clunes, select committee of enquiry
eureka stockade, ballarat, nathan spielvogel
non-fiction
eureka stockade, centenary, sydney, fellowship of australian writers, mary gilmore
non-fiction
memoir, spielvogel, ballarat, dimboola
victorian railways, michael taffe, ballarat, transportation of goods,
burke, mckew, st arnaud, wedding photography
burke, st arnaud, donald, photograph, tintype
irish, celtic, pokerwork, picture frame, arts and crafts,
An example of the furniture manufactured on the goldfields at Ballarat c.1900. Originally the business was established by Emanuel Steinfeld furniture manufacturer and retailer, who settled at Ballarat and in 1856 opened his furniture warehouse. Steinfeld left the Ballarat in 1881 and lived at St Kilda. He left his Ballarat business in the hands of two nephews, Sussman & Kornblum who continued the business in their own name.
An example of colonial cabinet making in one of Ballarat's pioneering furniture manufacturing businesses that was founded in the 1850s.
Backstamp of Sussman & Kornblum Ballarat
ballarat, jewish, cabinetmakers
melbourne punch, charles hotham, eureka stockade, ballarat, nicholas chevalier
fiction
lake wendouree, ballarat, poetry
tea strainer, tea infuser,
non-fiction
victorian railways
The celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday on May 24 was renamed Empire Day in 1903 after her death in 1901. It was celebrated throughout the British Empire, including in Australia. Ballarat schools marched in procession with a salute at the Town Hall before attending church services at their respective churches. By the late 1950s the celebration became Commonwealth Empire Day the reference to Empire being dropped by the 1960s.
These form part of a large family collection of bookmarks and local & family history items at Hymettus Cottage, home to the same family for the past 125 years in 2024. They have a well documented provenance and a known owner forming part of a significant and representative historical collection that reflects Ballarat's local history from a family perspective. They contribute to our understanding of social and family life in twentieth century Ballarat and providing interpretative capacity for family, local, and social history themes.
Three Empire Day cardboard bookmarks each featuring an illustrated crown, with crossed Australian and British flags, each bookmark trimmed in gold. The first is simply for Empire Day and two commemorate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the 1953 Royal Visit respectively.
empire day, royal visit, bookmarks, empire day movement, melbourne, coronation year 1953
non-fiction
victorian railways, mildura, souvenir, mildura sunlight, 1960, ballarat, melbourne
non-fiction
Victorian Collections acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
