A Useful Heirloom

Doris Hogan of Berry must have known this blue and white earthenware dish was old and quite rare, when she generously donated it to the Berry Historical Society in 1979. But what else did she know? Was it just one of those family household objects that is passed on, found left in the kitchen cupboard […]

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A Lifelong Possession

In 1818 William Stewart of Blair Atholl, Scotland picked up his pen, dipped it into an inkwell, and inscribed his name inside the lid of this case of drafting instruments. He was 18 years old. Was it a special gift for graduating or coming of age, or maybe issued to him as a student of […]

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From White Clay Mountain

Chipped, dusty red, sandstone brick

Throwing a handful of sand around the mould, before filling it with several dollops of wet clay, the maker of this sandstock brick knew that the dusty sand would allow the brick to easily slip out. Using the edge of his wooden strike board, he scraped off the excess clay and pressed the heart-shaped ‘frog’ […]

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Patience and Skill

In the 1870s, when Berry schoolgirl Helena Kinneally stitched the buttonholes, fancy borders and darning to create this needlework sampler, she probably didn’t know how useful those skills would later be, when she became the mother of ten children. Helena Kinneally (c. 1868-1904) was born in Victoria about 1868. She was the daughter of William […]

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