‘Make-do’ or ‘makeshift’ chairs, like the examples pictured here, were a product of the Depression-era and an inventive way to provide both seating and storage in the home. This type of chair was illustrated in Makeshifts, a booklet published in 1925 outlining how to build one. More often made from used kerosene packing cases as […]
At this point, the history of Newcastle, located on Awabakal and Worimi country, is enmeshed with coal mining – but this was not always the case. Though these twentieth-century drills bits may have seen use in one of the many coal mines in the region, they are actually typical of those used for woodworking or […]
A grand house deserves fancy furniture. Perhaps that’s why James Martin Hillhouse Taylor (c1814-1875) purchased this elaborate dining chair and ‘grandmother’ chair in about 1849 – to furnish his new residence in Morpeth. As a shipping agent for the Hunter Valley Steam Navigation Company, with a profitable side business selling spirits and other goods, Taylor […]
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