Next time you park at your local shopping mall, consider how the site might have once looked before concrete, glass, and steel conquered the landscape. It’s curious to think about how such urban spaces have been transformed over time, and what might have influenced the design vision of the architect. In the 1950s and early […]
With today’s digital library resources, it’s easy to forget how libraries once relied entirely on paper catalogues. In Maitland, sometime after 1860, the librarian of the West Maitland School of Arts library (which boasted 417 volumes) cut a length of adhesive tape and stuck it along the spine of this copy of the institution’s catalogue […]
A symbolic aeroplane and the bold letters ‘PROGRESS’ keep no secret that William Claude Johnston, who published this booklet, had a clear message to communicate. It was 1935, and the 50th anniversary of his family’s footwear business coincided with the centenary of the proclamation of West and East Maitland. It was a golden opportunity to […]
‘At present nuclear attack on Australia is unlikely,’ reads the final page of this booklet, ‘Should our strategical circumstances change and it become advisable for you to prepare to meet the dangers of fallout, you will be informed.’ Locals of the Greater Newcastle area would have had mixed emotions when these pamphlets began arriving for […]
When Albert Wallbank (1887-1953) joined the Police Force in 1913, there was no state-wide police uniform in New South Wales. Prior to 1934, country police were issued a mixture of khaki and blue uniforms. This particular blue heavy serge fabric, shaped in a tunic style jacket, with a high celluloid or linen-lined collar and double-breast […]
Made in the famous J Hudson & Co Ltd factory in Birmingham, this whistle belonged to Senior Constable Albert Wallbank (1887-1953), a long-standing officer at Dudley Police Station, south of Newcastle. Like many aspects of standard police issue equipment in New South Wales, this whistle was inherited from the British ‘bobby’ (slang term for a […]
One Sunday shortly before Christmas in 1928, Frederick V. D’Arcy (1901-1996) sat down to write the following inscription on the first blank page of a small leather-bound bible: ‘16th December 1928, Presented to Mr. B. Wallbank, From the Dudley Presbyterian Sunday School, F.V. D’Arcy, Superintendent.’ D’Arcy was born in Walcha, New South Wales, on Anaiwan […]
The Gould League of Bird Lovers was one of Australia’s early organised societies for budding ornithologists and general bird nerds. The League was formed in 1909 with the view of protecting Australia’s avian species. It was named after John Gould (1804-1881), the English naturalist who researched Australian birds from 1838-1840, and his wife Elizabeth Gould […]
A clean, orderly, and peaceful facility with smokeless chimneys – it is so picturesque that even a family of ducks float happily nearby. The Pasminco Smelter, also known as Cockle Creek Smelter or ‘The Sulphide,’ was a zinc and lead smelter covering approximately 190 hectares at the northern end of Lake Macquarie in Boolaroo. Founded […]
After 24 years of service at Dudley Police Station, on the 20th July 1945, Constable Albert Edward Wallbank (1887-1953) was promoted to the rank of Senior Constable. Upon receiving his new rank and responsibilities, Wallbank also earned these Senior Constable stripes that were affixed to his uniform. As a policeman, Wallbank dealt with his fair […]
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