Bounteous donations

by Leslie Bush

Well we have certainly been very lucky over the past several months. We have had some very generous donations come in and while they vary in kind, they are each a treasure in their own right. 

Historical Mortgage & Conveyancing Documents

Donated by Phyllis & Margaret Iliff,  Victoria

Mortgage, Conveyancing and Statutory Declarations 

In November we received a donation of a wonderful collection of Historic documents from a Mother and daughter in Victoria. They were going to donate them to History society in Melbourne, but lucky for us they looked up Gunning and found there was a Historical society, so decided to donate them to us. 

And it was by chance that this great collection was found. Margaret and her mother Phyllis were cleaning out cupboards in Phyllis' house when they came across them in an envelope. Margaret thought they may have been old wills as her Mothers' partner Alan Belcher who had passed 4 years earlier was a solicitor. Who gave them to him, or how he got them, they don't know. 

 

Gunning Town Purchase by William Pursehouse 11th December 1838

It is an amazing collection of documents going back to the first town lots being sold in 1838. One in particular mentions William Pursehouse. William arrived as a convict aboard the 'Royal Charlotte' in 1825, received his Certificate of Freedom in 1831, married in 1836 and by 1838 he is buying lots in the town. Very industrious! They date from 1838 all the way up to 1974 and mention some very familiar names; Rudd, Meldrum, Hazell, Birch and Clancy just to name a few. 

Dating from 1838 until 1974 these documents help tell the story of Gunning

They are beautiful narratives of our past, the hand written script is a reminder of penmanship of a time long ago, and to see the signature of Sir George Gipps, once Governor of the Colonies on these chronicled documents gives you tingles. 

Handled with cotton gloves, they are currently getting a bit of TLC as part of a grant from Veolia Mulwaree Trust, for which we sincerely thank them.  These records are testaments to our past and we are so fortunate to add them to our Historical Archive Collection.

Donations courtesy of Margaret & Phyllis Iliff

~~~~~~~~~~

Round Shot Maker, c1830-1870

Donated by John Searl, the Round shot maker is a fantastic addition to go with the Gunning Gaol Cells Heritage Precinct Display we are currently organising. 

Round shot maker mould, No 13

Cast iron musket ball mould with two curved arms with the number 13 on the inside of one arm, (one of the arms seems to have been broken off at some stage and the other arm has been turned up in a hook to make it usable), they meet in a flat hinge with a central pin, and end in barrel shaped jaws which enclose a hollow spherical section in between the two halves. The two halves are circular inside and semi-circular on the outside with flat outer edges

 

Inside view of the mould

Each half has a semi-circular hole cut out of one edge so that when the mould is held closed, they meet up and form the opening for the molten lead to be poured into. The lead would cool and solidify within the mould and the jaws could then be opened to release the musket ball. 

The ball would be round apart from a small section of projecting metal (sprue) from the hole where the lead was poured in. This mould has a sprue nipper just before the hinge to trim away the projection after the ball had cooled.

 

C.1840-1870

Imagine if it once belonged to a Bushranger or maybe one of Police Troopers. There is a great article in a magazine called 'Arms Cavalcade', Issue September 2020 called 'A Selection of NSW Colonial Police Arms' by Mal Southwell & John Newton that gives a fascinating insight into what kind of arms the NSW Police used - https://issuu.com/armscavalcade/docs/armscavalcade_2020  also check out Sydney Living Museums website  https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/troopers-trackers-bushrangers-and-their-weapons which shows the types of early guns used, videos on how they made the round shots, loading and firing them. 

Round Shot balls

~~~~~~~~~~

Hand Forged Leg Irons  

Made and donated by John Boddington @Ropsley Forge, Dalton

 

Leg Irons made by John Boddington, Ropsley Forge

To go along with our display in the Gunning Gaol Cells we asked John Boddington, Blacksmith extraordinaire if he would be interested in fashioning a set of leg irons. He quite liked the idea of testing his skills with the prospect and while he was able to source numerous photos of leg irons, lacked a photo with a scale. So he contacted the Sydney Living Museums, and Scott Cumming, the Visitor Services Coordinator, was happy to photograph a set with a handy scale for him.

Originally of course, the irons were riveted in place by a (convict) blacksmith, but John attached bolts to make the irons removeable. Not much difference between John's set and an original set below is there.

Original Convict Leg Irons (Joy of Museums - Old Treasury Building, Melbourne)

John has and does make a wide variety of items using his blacksmithing skills. You can buy examples of his fine craftsmanship at Creative Gunning, he also attends markets in the surrounding districts including the Gunning Lions Markets and of course his leg irons will be on display at the Gunning Gaol Cells. Blacksmithing origins first trace back to 1500 BC when the Hittites discovered the process of forging and tempering iron ore.  It is fantastic to see such a ancient artistry still being practised by skilled craftsmen such as John.

 

John working hard on the leg irons in his Blacksmithing shed

 ~~~~~~~~~~

Wall mounted Bakelite Telephone

Donated by John Searl this will also go into our Gaol Cells display.

 

Bakelite Wall Mounted Phone 

This Australian Post Office 184 black coloured bakelite wall mounted phone part of the PMG 300 series c1940 was initially developed by Ericsson Telephones Ltd Britain in 1939, but during and after World War 11 they were made in Australia through Australia Post. This unit looks like it could have had a winder arm in the centre, maybe a magneto.

Many early manual telephones had an attached hand-cranked magneto that produced an alternating current (AC) at 50–100 V for signaling to ring the bells of other telephones on the same (party) line, and to alert an operator at the local telephone exchange. These were most common on long rural lines served by small manual exchanges which did not use a common battery circuit. The telephone instrument obtained talking current by powering a carbon microphone with a local battery, consisting of "N° 6" zinc-carbon dry cells. By around 1900, large racks of motor-generator sets in the telephone exchange could supply this ringing current remotely instead and the local magneto was often no longer required,[2] but their use continued into the mid-20th century (Wikipedia)

 

These PMG 300 series wallphones are very rare

Made of Bakelite, they were produced in black during the war.

PMG 300 wall model shows its fold down front for servicing

On the winder plate is typed instructions for us " turn handle, lift handset" and below the handle "when finished, replace handset, turn handle".

Type 300 Telephones in Australia

~~~~~~~~~~

Butter Churn 

Donated by John Searl this will go on display in Pye Cottage.

 

Hand operated Bentwood Butter Box 

This beautifully well looked after butter churn has the markings “Cherry & Sons Gisborne Vic 3” on the front panel.

These Butter churns were used to make up to 14 pounds of butter

Arriving in Australia in 1855, Edward Cherry set up a joinery workshop at Gisborne, Victoria in 1858 and was making butter churns in his spare time. They became so popular he started a factory in 1875, specialising in making all types of butter churns & equipment for both domestic use and eventually into large scale industrial churns. He expanded into making all kinds of dairy equipment as well.

 

Cherry's Churn Factory destroyed by fire
(Trove article - Bacchus Marsh Express, Sat. 17th Feb, 1912, pg 4)

On Wednesday 7th February 1912, Cherry & Sons Butter Churn Factory caught fire and all but the front office was saved. Although it was insured, it was at it's full cost, despite this the Cherry family rebuilt. 

Edward Cherry passed away in 1909, his son George taking over until his death in 1917, the company continued into the 1970's.

~~~~~~~~~~

Display Cabinet

Donated by Max Cullen & Margarita Georgiadis of the Picture House Gallery & Bookshop, Gunning.

https://www.facebook.com/ThePictureHouseGalleryBookshop/

The Display cabinet at the Picture House Gallery & Bookshop, Gunning

This cabinet is a welcome addition to GDHS and has found a new home in Pye Cottage, currently displaying memoirs from the wedding of Ethel Daisy Wheatley to William Charles Bladwell in May 1905 as part of the Gunning Arts Festival 2020. 

Display cabinet exhibiting memories from the wedding of Ethel Wheatley to William Bladwell

The collection of Ethel's clothing from 1890-1920 was donated by Nancy Foord and Mary Waters and are an integral part of the current display in Pye Cottage Museum.  

Foyer of the Picture House Gallery & Bookshop

Book Nook at the Picture House Gallery & Bookshop