Each month we are conducting a close study of an object from the museums vast collection. These objects are indicative of the Sutherland Shire and important to the Shire's unique history. They represent each of the museums main collections.
July 2020 Silver Plated Trowel
This silver-plated trowel, donated to the Sutherland Shire Museum many years ago, is inscribed:
'Presented to WH Mitchell Esq JP on the Laying of Foundation Stone Jannali School of Arts, 1.10.28'
A 1928 newspaper clipping from the Sunday Times, confirmed that indeed the foundation stone for the Jannali School of Arts was to be laid on 1st October 1928 by WH Mitchell, after the erection of Jannali railway station (eventually completed in 1931) when there was expected to be ‘great building activity’. A 1935 Sydney Morning Herald article reported further that on his death Mr Mitchell, ‘a retired schoolmaster, late of Haberfield,’ had bequeathed £100 and a block of land in Alice Street for the School of Arts.
So what happened to the proposal Jannali School of Arts?
Historian Pauline Curby, in her article for the SSHS Bulletin in May 2014 (p.26, ‘A Shire Mystery, Jannali School of Arts’), writes that lack of finance for such a construction during the Depression was one reason. Another, she suggests, was the fading role of schools of arts through the 20th century. The alcohol-free evening amusements they provided had been important and rare alternative to pubs and hotels. This role was gradually taken with the notable exception of a few such as the Cronulla School of Arts, schools of arts generally were either dissolved or taken over by councils.
No doubt, concludes the author, that had work in Jannali School of Arts been 20 years earlier, in more prosperous times and when such institutions were thriving, it may well have been a success story.
July 2020 Silver Plated Trowel
This silver-plated trowel, donated to the Sutherland Shire Museum many years ago, is inscribed:
'Presented to WH Mitchell Esq JP on the Laying of Foundation Stone Jannali School of Arts, 1.10.28'
A 1928 newspaper clipping from the Sunday Times, confirmed that indeed the foundation stone for the Jannali School of Arts was to be laid on 1st October 1928 by WH Mitchell, after the erection of Jannali railway station (eventually completed in 1931) when there was expected to be ‘great building activity’. A 1935 Sydney Morning Herald article reported further that on his death Mr Mitchell, ‘a retired schoolmaster, late of Haberfield,’ had bequeathed £100 and a block of land in Alice Street for the School of Arts.
So what happened to the proposal Jannali School of Arts?
Historian Pauline Curby, in her article for the SSHS Bulletin in May 2014 (p.26, ‘A Shire Mystery, Jannali School of Arts’), writes that lack of finance for such a construction during the Depression was one reason. Another, she suggests, was the fading role of schools of arts through the 20th century. The alcohol-free evening amusements they provided had been important and rare alternative to pubs and hotels. This role was gradually taken with the notable exception of a few such as the Cronulla School of Arts, schools of arts generally were either dissolved or taken over by councils.
No doubt, concludes the author, that had work in Jannali School of Arts been 20 years earlier, in more prosperous times and when such institutions were thriving, it may well have been a success story.
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June 2020 Victor Typewriter
The exquisite Victor was the world’s first ‘daisy wheel’ typewriter.
A daisy wheel is a ‘type element’, which is a typewriter component that has all of the characters of the keyboard embossed on its surface. A daisy wheel looks like a small bicycle wheel with a spoke for each character. On the end of the spokes are the molded characters, which imprint onto the paper.
Many electric typewriters and some of the first computer printers used a daisy wheel in the 1970s and 80s but the first daisy wheel actually appeared on the Victor typewriter in 1889. The Victor’s daisy wheel has brass fingers radiating from the central hub (again, just like spokes on a bicycle wheel) with hardened rubber characters on their ends. The daisy wheel rotated into position when a character is selected with the swinging lever. A key is then depressed causing a small rod to push against the end of the brass spoke making the hardened rubber character press against the paper to print.
The daisy wheel was only used on a very few 19th century typewriters, including the Edland, which can be seen in this collection. This innovative means to print would have to wait close to a 100 years before it would find real success in the 1970s and 80s.
This typewriter originally sold for $15.
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September 2020 Frederick Holt's Prayer Book
Frederick Samual Ellis Holt was son to Thomas Holt who, after becoming interested in the area, purchased most of the available land in an area that is now known as the Sutherland Shire. This ended up being about 12000 acres, with the largest single piece coming from the financially distressed John Connell Laycock. The Holt’s tried many types of enterprises, most ending in failure. The most successful being land sales.
Frederick was born at the Holt’s Liverpool estate in 1846. In 1852 he and his younger brother Thomas Edwin Holt contracted Scarlet fever. Frederick survived, but was profoundly deaf. His younger brother Thomas died as a result of contracting the disease.
To overcome his disability he was tutored and mentored by the Rev. Thomas Arnold a Congregational Minister from Balmain. The Rev. Arnold continued Frederick’s education and took him back to England for this purpose. When Frederick was 20 he came back to Australia with a very good command of his speech and became involved with his father’s businesses in Queensland.
After some time he became his father’s secretary and when his father went back to England in 1881 he took over the running of the family’s affairs. He lived at the Warren, Sutherland House and Winterdyne, Wyalong St. Burwood.
Frederick married Lucy Florence Harris in 1875, Lucy was the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Sydney.
Unfortunately due to his deafness he met his demise in 1902. He and his family were staying at Wentworth Falls for a summer retreat and his daughter crossed the railway lines to the station with Frederick following, he stepped out from behind a stationary carriage and not hearing the approaching locomotive he was hit and died later that day.
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August 2020 Ceramic Elephant - an 'End of Day' Item
About this object
Objects such as this are known as ‘end of day’ items because they were made by hand by employees in their spare time at brick and tile factories from left over clay. This type of often primitive folk art was made in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
This piece is a fine example. It was made at the brick pits at Kirrawee, a prominent feature on the Kirrawee ridge. Exploiting clay deposits, the Sutherland Brick Co. Ltd opened in 1912. It was taken over in 1917 and sold to the Punchbowl Brick and Tile Co. in 1927 that operated until 1974 when clay deposits ran out. The site remained vacant until its redevelopment as a retail and housing development that opened in 2018.
October 2020 - Aboriginal breastplate
Aboriginal breastplate, an engraved metal gorget issued to certain Aboriginal men, encouraging cooperation and loyalty and was a visible reward for service or acts of bravery and honesty. The bearers of breastplates acted as intermediaries between colonists and Aboriginal people. They were styled Chiefs or Kings
Aboriginal breastplate, an engraved metal gorget issued to certain Aboriginal men, encouraging cooperation and loyalty and was a visible reward for service or acts of bravery and honesty. The bearers of breastplates acted as intermediaries between colonists and Aboriginal people. They were styled Chiefs or Kings
