Hammer held aloft, the man prepares to bear down on the hot metal. He strikes it until it forms the shape of a cog which fits like a puzzle piece into his new invention. Over thirteen months, Melbourne sculptor Paul Smits skilfully captured this moment in this bronze sculpture for the Headlie Taylor Header Museum, […]
Those familiar with Headlie Taylor (1883-1957) might feel inspired upon entering his humble blacksmith workshop. The building was originally constructed by his parents as part of their family farm, ‘Emerald Hill’ near Henty in southern NSW, in 1880. Emblematic of farm buildings of the time, the functional shed had an earth floor while the pole […]
Migration is the result of push and pull factors and the German settlers who eventually ended their journey in the district of Jindera in the 1860s experienced both. Schism in the Lutheran church and economic factors drove the German settlers from Prussia to the colony of South Australia and the attractiveness of the NSW Robertson […]
Paul Vonthien (1871–1945) the owner of this marking hammer, was one of twelve children born in Jindera to Carl (1833–1908) and Helene Vonthien (née Lindner 1834–1878). Paul was to follow his brother Carl Heinrich (Harry) to the Western Australia gold-fields in the mid–1890s, and stayed on after Carl died in Fremantle in 1895. After a […]
Inspiration comes from many places. Sometimes an object’s story is much bigger than simply what it is or did. Hinting at what inspired Headlie Taylor’s (1883-1957) innovative agricultural inventions, this comb also reveals the story of the dynamic Henty community the designer was a part of. This comb is known as a short comb, most […]
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