AURUM
N
Newsletter of the Ballarat Gold Museum Society
Vol. 25 No 11 2014
DECEMBER MEETING
The next meeting, the last until February 2015, will be on December 11th and will be a visit to
Sovereign Hill to see the newly up-dated mine tour called The Secret Chamber. Please meet
at the Sovereign Hill entrance—NOT the Gold Museum entrance—at 1.30pm.
PLEASE NOTE; there will be a Committee Meeting, starting at 11.30am in the old staff
room, on the same day. Would members please bring their lunch with them.
NOVEMBER MEETING
The excellent Thank-you Christmas lunch was served at the last meeting and an inserted page
from Joanne Gervasoni shows pictures of many of our members who were present. Please
see the President’s notes below for further comments.
GUIDING NOTES
We have lost some of our guides lately, for various reasons, and this has caused problems with having
enough available to cover every afternoon. Recently, five people expressed interest in becoming
guides and have gone through the training. It gives me the greatest pleasure to announce that they are
now new members of the Gold Museum Society and will start as fully-fledged guides in December.
They are Joan McMillan, Vicki Lowe, Vicky Moss, Ellen Frayne and William Stone. If you see them
around do introduce yourself and make them welcome.
Thank you to all the front-of-house volunteers for your work over this year. Have a wonderful
Christmas and New Year.
Helen Muir
Another Viewpoint………from the Archive—Aurum December 1999.
So much has been written and developed as regards the gold and mining associated with Ballarat that
it is easy to overlook the importance of the agricultural industry to the early history of the area. The
pre-gold dependence on the soil is well documented but perhaps the subsequent euphoria had tended
to down play what continued to be an essential ingredient of the progress made.
Livestock sales were an important part in the growth of such hotels as Bentley’s, the George and
Bath’s, at least until the municipal saleyards became part of the fabric of the town. By 1869 Ballarat
was the undisputed centre of the colony’s stock producing area and in that year some 30,000 cattle
and half a million sheep went through the market. The Western district sheep show became a fixture
in 1874. The need for horses for machine power meant the development of farms to produce fodder
and hay and oats took over from wheat as the main crop.
Timber was also a prime industry, difficult as it may be to imagine now, and of course the arrival of
the railway in 1862 allowed the resulting railhead to be of immense importance to the primary
industries as well as mining.
From the President……
For our November meeting we had the annual “Thank You” lunch in the Charlie Napier
Hotel. Fifty Three of us enjoyed first class food and wine—and some laughs with ‘Dr’ Ian
Burton.
At its AGM in October, Sovereign Hill elected one of our former members, Jane Cowles, as
its President. Hopefully, we can now use all our familiarity and friendship with her to
endevour to alert her to the things needed in our museum. Jane spoke warmly of our
activities and knows what is required of our guides in connecting with visitors and enhancing
their knowledge of our exhibits. This has been further enhanced because she has recently
been in charge of training the guides at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone for their contribution over the past year of excellent
work and all my best wishes to everyone for Christmas and the New Year.
Bill McGregor
PRESIDENTS REPORT 2013/14
We have had a variety of guest speakers this year, from the President of Ballarat Health
Services, Andrew Faull, to Sonia Smith, the Nationals candidate for the state seat of
Buninyong. Perhaps our most illustrious speaker was Ewan Jones, the Gold Museum
architect, who spoke to us at the Annual General Meeting. As a change from simply meeting
in the Tattersall’s Pavilion, we had our May trip to Bendigo. This was brilliantly organized
by Bill Llewellyn, on a perfect, sunny autumn day. None of us could complain about any
aspect of this illuminating trip; those who did not come really missed an excellent day.
In August we were again lucky with sunshine when we visited the Comfort Inn
accommodation at Sovereign Hill. Neil Robbins, the Manager, showed us over his
surprisingly large complex. The Committee intends to have more informal meetings in 2015
with a preference for unusual buildings around Ballarat. Many of us have lived most of our
lives in Ballarat but have never been inside some of our prominent historic buildings.
Wartime Memories Open Day on 6th September involved most members and Roger was
pleased with the turn out. Many local people took advantage of the free entry and we were
kept busy showing them our treasures. A special mention should be made of the work of
Alex Ball and Mary Clark who conducted behind –the- scenes tours, together with Roger and
Claire. These four were probably the weariest of our team at the end of the day.
There have been problems with the Guide Roster caused by ill health, people not turning up
on their rostered day and the annual movement of members to northern Australia in the
winter months. Happily, I can report that we have obtained a number of new guides who,
hopefully, will help Helen and Trevor re-organise their roster in the coming months.
I thank Roger, Claire and Joanne for their cheerful assistance to me. My thanks also go to our
Secretary, Helen, who will step down as from the AGM, to Lorraine, our efficient Treasurer,
and to Helen and Trevor who give so much of the time and talents to arranging our extremely
effective Golden Treasures Tour every day.
There have been 5,600 volunteer hours during the year, including 1,400 contributed by our
guides.
Bill McGregor
DAVID JONES CRITERION STORE, MAIN ROAD, BALLARAT 1858
Some questions arose from the Big Picture sessions that were held about the Criterion Store
recently; predominately, where was the glass in the famous windows manufactured. No-one
present could believe that the windows had been transported all the way from the United
Kingdom — but it appears that such , indeed, was the case.
Throughout the nineteenth century, and through to 1930, Australia imported all its flat glass
requirements from suppliers in Britain and Europe. Pilkinton Brothers (St Helens, England,
established 1926) made the first shipment of glass to Geelong, Victoria, in 1856. Sheet glass,
used for shop windows, was, in fact wholly imported to Australia until the twentieth century.
It was so scarce in the early years that it was not unknown for sash windows to be stolen from
a house, stripped of their glass and dumped!
The manufacture of this glass was first introduced to England from the Continent in 1832 and
the product very soon reached Australia. Plate glass in very large sizes was available, but it
was much thicker than today’s product, very expensive and difficult to transport. Can you
imagine the difficulties inherent in bringing such massive sheets of glass across the seas to the
colonies of Australia? Not to mention the fact that once the product reached Melbourne or
Geelong, it had to be transported to the goldfields –by bullock dray, over rough, pot-holed,
dusty or mud ridden roads. An Astonishing Feat!
It seems that significant developments in glass use in the colonies occurred in the 1850’s,
with the importation of the first glass shop fronts which dramatically changed the character of
the city streets. By 1855, according to The Builder, nearly every shop on the right hand side
of Collins Street, Melbourne, was said ‘to have a handsome plate glass window…..’ and by
1860 te use of plate glass in Collins Street and Bourke Street was said to exceed that of most
English towns. The wealth which gold brought to the Colonies speaks again!
Miles Lewis is clear that, though some minor glass products may have been produced early
on in the colonies for the building industry, sheet window glass was not made locally for a
number of decades. Bottle glass was made in Collingwood in 1847, and today Glasshouse
Road in Collingwood commemorates the glassworks which were certainly in operation by
1851. However, with the opening of the twentieth century, Australian glass manufacturers
began to emerge at a steadying pace.
We know that Mr David Jones’ Criteron Store was famous in Ballarat for it’s “magnificent’
plate glass windows—touted as the largest in Ballarat…’being a little short of 12 feet in
height from the footpath” (Balllarat Star, April 7th, 1858). The Star recounted with relish the
story of the hapless fellow who, in April 1858, ‘carelessly walked right through one of the
Criterion Store’s windows panes, which had been ‘undressed’ for the night. The resounding
crash which followed must have echoed around the street and led to the unintentional intruder
being apprehended by a presumably irate proprietor! The stunned individual was permitted to
go free on promising to pay damages of 15 pounds sterling. The Star reported in amazement
that the culprit was not harmed—despite the fact that the glass windows were over ¼ inch
thick!
So when you are talking to visitors and boasting of the Criterion Store’s amazing windows,
don’t hesitate to embellish the story with the astonishing information that they were imported
all the way from the UK—by clipper ship and bullock dray!
__________________________________________________________________________
This information is located in an ‘online’ publication by Miles LKewis, Professor of
Architecture, University of Melbourne, and can be found at mileslewis.net, AUSTRALIAN
BUILDING; A CULTURAL INVESTIGATION, 11.5 Glass
NOTES FROM THE CURATOR
Exhibition News. The Stone’s Style exhibition is now open after twelve months in the
making. It has been a big part of Claire Muir’s work throughout 2014 and combines efforts
of Claire, our designer Miles Pigdon, and a wide ranging team of supporters and contractors.
This has resulted in an exhibition that is beautifully presented and has a great story to tell.
Jessica Simon was clearly a fashion and community icon and the exhibition tells her story in
detail, with great costumes, photographs and artefacts that help tell that story. If you missed
the opening, do take some time to have a close look—it is on until March 1st, 2015—and tell
your Ballarat-based friends to come a look as well. They will possibly know parts of the
story, but not all of it.
From December 18th we will also be exhibiting a show developed in collaboration with the
Albert Coates Trust and the Mount Pleasant Primary School. The focus of the show is the life
and work of Albert Coates, but the story is told through creative projects developed by Year 6
students aided by a Museum in a Suitcase project that was donated by the Rotary Club of
Ballarat South, through a grant they made to the Coates Trust to develop the project. There
are some remarkable entries in this annual competition to create the best project, ranging from
a short documentary through to a board game, posters, a set of dioramas and more. The
collaboration of Mount Pleasant Primary, the Coates Trust and the Gold Museum has been
wonderful and we hope the show conveys even some of the energy of the enthusiastic
students.
As members of the Society are aware, Claire Muir, Assistant Curator at the Gold Museum for
nearly eight and a half years, has now concluded her time at the Gold Museum with a view to
travelling overseas and exploring the wider world of museums and things historical. Claire
has been involved in so many different aspects of exhibitions, collections and public
programs at the Museum and all of us here wish her well and thank her for her contribution
over the years.
Roger Trudgeon
More from the Archive……..
Aurum July 2002……For the Fishermen. It was in 1864 that the first consignmentof salmon
and trout eggs arrived in Hobart from England and were placed in hatcheries. By 1871 there
were enough trout in Tasmanian waters to permit fly-fishing but an attempt to transfer the
operation to the mainland in 1870 was not successful.
Aurum March 2003……When Mr Symonds of the Theatre Royal, Ballarat, advertised in
August, 1864 he was very taken with the following letter;
Dear Sir,
Having a great decire to learn the hart of a dramatic player I beg to offer my survice on the
stage as an assistant in removing the senereys or aney other cappesitey as you may think fir.
Having a little nolige of mussick, I shuld be able to take a part in duets by a little practice;
my wife will hundertake to wash and iron for the company, or any other cleaning the theatr
may require. Salary whathever you my think fit to munchon..., Your obedient…….
Mr Symons managed to engage a full company without having to call on the above services.
BALLARAT GOLD MUSEUM SOCIETY
President: Bill McGregor 53312495;9 Russell St,Newington3350bill@bairdmcgregor.com.au>
Secretary: Mary Clark;53324363;8 Queen St Nth,Ballarat East 3350 email mlclark@vic.chariot.net.au
Treasurer: Lorraine Peterson;5332 2606; 235 Scott Pd ,Ballarat East; email:lorrainevpeterson@gmail.com.au
Editor of Aurum: Elaine Maberly, 0353428307;PO Box Scarsdale,3351 egm154@me.com