Historical information

The township of Emerald was settled after gold was discovered in the area in 1858. Emerald's 'square mile' was established and roads between the township, other towns in the region and Melbourne were established (with alterations to the original layout in the intervening years). From these first years of the settlement roads and services to support the transport of goods (from businesses making and repairing carts and drays to mechanics' workshops to service cars and industrial vehicles) were integral to the economic survival and development of the township.

Closely associated with the history of Emerald is the history of the Gembrook or Nobelius Nurseries, which transported trees and other plants to parks and private gardens in Melbourne, in other Australian locations and in many other countries. Impassable roads to transport goods in Winter, and the difficulty of transporting goods by bullock team or horse and cart over a route that at that time went via the railway station at Narre Warren led to Carl Axel Nobelius and other local business owners successfully lobbying the Victorian Government to build the narrow gauge railway to the Ferntree Gully line that is now operated as the tourist attraction 'Puffing Billy.' Puffing Billy was primarily a goods transport service, but did transport passengers in both directions of travel for both everyday needs and recreational purposes.

The Puffing Billy service did not remove the need for local families and businesses to provide their own transport options, however, whenever they needed to move smaller loads or to access places not served by the railway lines or stations. In the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries transport options included carts of various sizes pulled by horses, oxen or bullocks. In the 1920s and 1930s cars (which had existed in Australia in early forms from approximately 1896) began to replace horses as the primary mode of transportation across Australia. By the end of the Second World War cars dominated transport options in rural areas as well as urban. Correspondingly, businesses to service vehicles shifted from focusing on repairs and maintenance of harnesses and cart structures to the repair and servicing of cars and other vehicles.

Museum records indicate that the image was taken in the Shell Service Station in Emerald in approximately 1990. There is still a Shell Service Station in Emerald, located at 336-338 Belgrave-Gembrook Road, though it is now part of the Coles Express network.

Significance

This image is significant because it provides insights into the development of automotive and engineering workshop businesses in the region, part of the progression from wheelwright and cartwright businesses in the days of oxen drays to businesses servicing cars and other vehicles. As part of this, it also provides insight into the equipment available at the time the photograph was taken, which is speculated to be the late 1980s or early 1990s. Identification of the two men pictured may also help ascertain the significance of the image.

Physical description

Black and white rectangular photograph printed on print media paper. The image depicts two men standing in front of a piece of mechanic's workshop equipment on which a Bridgestone tyre has been loaded. One of the men is wearing long-sleeved overalls, the other is wearing dark trousers and a polo-neck T-shirt. Museum records indicate the photograph may have been taken at the Shell Service Station.

Inscriptions & markings

Obverse:
BRIDGESTONE /
SF-340 EAGER /