Historical information

This item is from a collection donated by descendants of John Francis Turner of Wodonga. Mr. Turner was born on 6 June 1885. He completed all of his schooling at Scotts Boarding School in Albury, New South Wales. On leaving school, he was employed at Dalgety’s, Albury as an auctioneer. In 1924 John was promoted to Manager of the Wodonga Branch of Dalgety’s.
On 15/03/1900 he married Beatrice Neal (born 7/12/1887 and died 7/2/1953) from Collingwood, Victoria. They had 4 daughters – Francis (Nancy), Heather, Jessie and Mary.
In 1920, the family moved From Albury to Wodonga, purchasing their family home “Locherbie” at 169 High Street, Wodonga. "Locherbie" still stands in Wodonga in 2022. The collection contains items used by the Turner family during their life in Wodonga.

Westminster Fine China Australia started in the Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham at 7 Arnold Street, in 1954 by Stanley Rogers and Son Ltd. They initially used imported blanks from Japan, which were made to their specifications, and which were then decorated locally. They produced a standard range of shapes for souvenir ware, later expanding into a wide range of tea sets, dinnerware and many other styles of china ware. The Abbey mark, based on Westminster Abbey in London, was used from the start of production until about 1962.

Significance

The Hume Weir was constructed in the late 1920s and was a critical state in the development of water management in the Murray Darling Basin. At the time of its construction it was the largest water reservoir in the British Empire.

Physical description

Small bowl with gold trim printed with an image of the Hume Weir, Albury. The trademark of Westminster Fine China Australia is on the under side of the plate.

Inscriptions & markings

On front beneath image "Hume Weir, Albury"

Underneath the plate, surrounding an image of Westminster Abbey "FINE CHINA/WESTMINSTER CHINA /AUSTRALIA"