From the 1920s, this medicine chest was kept and used by the Gall family on their dairy farm near Berry. It remained in the family until the property sold, around 2007. It is a simple but captivating artefact that offers an insight into basic medical care on a family-run farm in twentieth century Australia. In […]
Dairyman Leslie Crawford knew that the cooler he could make the cream after separating the milk, the finer the butter would be. Fortunately, he had this useful device to help. Cool water entered via the pipe on one side, flowed through the interior, and out through the pipe on the other side, cooling the metal […]
Parents of newborn babies today know that zipper onesies are very practical, especially those in bold colours and printed patterns that hide the inevitable spills and stains. But spare a thought for previous generations, when it was expected that babies be dressed in multiple fancy garments like those in this layette set, which were traditionally […]
In 1878, when her mother Margaret passed away, Phoebe Day (1855-1930) was just 23 years old. Unlike her nine older siblings, Phoebe was probably still living with her mother and caring for her since the death of her father, Edward, two years earlier. As the eldest sibling at home, Phoebe may have taken responsibility for […]
Born and raised at Kangaroo Valley near Nowra, Elsie Campbell (1883-1962) was twenty-seven when she set her mind and hands to making this picture frame in 1910. She crafted it using a technique known as ornamental leather work, also considered a type of ‘fancy work’. Unlike her three older sisters who preferred to embroider floral […]
When raging flood waters and swirling mud swept through Maitland in 1955, eleven people lost their lives and countless others lost their homes and businesses. Three years later, the community was back on its feet and eager to celebrate its recovery. In 1958, with the intention of thanking Australia for its support and demonstrating Maitland’s […]
From a prominent place on a public drinking fountain in central West Maitland, this plaque saw many a carthorse approach to lap at the cool water in the trough below and townspeople stop to drink from its bubbling spout. The fountain was installed in 1889 in memory of Dr Robert James Pierce, and the plaque […]
Dressed in well-pressed uniforms, a group of nurses formed a guard of honour outside the new Maitland Hospital outpatients wing on 7 November 1942. Proud to be present at such an historic event, the Governor of NSW, Lord Wakehurst and Lady Wakehurst began by inspecting the guard, then unveiled a plaque to commemorate the hospital’s […]
In the 2004 book Time gentlemen, please!: Maitland’s Hotels Past & Present, a redrawn copy of this old undated plan of West Maitland was published, with an estimate that it was drawn around, or at least represents, the year 1858. But what evidence places it in the 1850s? For the Wonnarua people, the area depicted […]
When twice-transported English convict Mary ‘Molly’ Morgan (1760-1835) stepped off the ship to serve a colonial sentence at Newcastle in 1814, little did she know that about 170 years later she would become the central character of a musical stage play. What would she have thought of the band’s electric guitars, saxophone and drumkit (not […]
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