Up Close & Inside
Cobb & Co Coach, at 
">Melbourne Museum.
The associated info panel says"
This coach is believed to have been built in Geelong in about 1880 for the Western Stage Company, which ran coaches throughout western Victoria under the 'Cobb & Co' banner. Pulled by four or five horses, the coach carried up to 17 passengers. Mail and luggage were stowed in the compartment below the driver's seat, and on the rear luggage rack or roof.
I didn't get a photo of the whole ship so I'll have to use one from Wikipedia Commons
Paddle Steamer Alexander Arbuthnot, Echuca Paddlesteamers. Photos from July 2019
The Alexander Arbuthnot is the last paddle steamer built as a working boat on the Murray River, Australia. The ship was built by the Arbuthnot Sawmill at Koondrook, in 1916, as a barge, and named after the sawmill's founder. She was fitted with an engine and superstructure in 1923. The engine was built by Ruston & Hornsby of England and was once used in an earlier boat called The Glimpse.
Wikipedia.
Her normal schedule was to tow two outrigger barges upstream from the mill, with two men to each barge. She would drop them off at a landing where the barges would be loaded with logs and then floated, unaided by the steamer, downstream back to the mill. Meanwhile, PS Alexander Arbuthnot would return to the mill, collect another barge and ply downstream to Campbell’s Island where she would await the loading of the barge and tow it back. Each barge was capable of transporting about 300 tons for red gum logs.
Echuca Paddlesteamers
Railway station at Echuca including interior, public toilet, platform & some surrounding structures.
The railway reached Echuca in 1864, and transformed the town into a major river port, with the opening of the Echuca Wharf and substantial urban growth in the 1870s. In 1876, the Deniliquin and Moama Railway Company opened their 71 km (44 mi) long private railway northwards to Deniliquin. The brick station building at Echuca was provided on opening of the line, along with a double gable roofed brick goods shed, and three road locomotive depot. The station building was expanded in 1877, a large water tower being erected in the same year (demolished in 1977), and the iron footbridge was added in 1880. The concrete rail bridge over the Murray River to the north of the station opened in 1989, replacing a road and rail bridge which opened in 1878.
Wikipedia.
Port of Echuca Discovery Centre
From information panels:
Guard's Van
In Australia, guard's vans were often also used for carrying parcels and light freight and usually had large compartments and loading doors for such items. Some of the larger vans also included a compartment for passengers travelling on goods services or drovers travelling with their livestock. The small compartment at the front of this van would have been used to carry passenger's pets or a drover's dog.
Guards Van (Brake Van) (ZL 448)
...
This of is an example of the most numerous type of brake van used by Victorian Railways over a very long period. It was built at Newport Workshops and entered traffic in 1914. In 1961 it was altered to. incorporate long travel draft gear.
Back to Steam train, Echuca, Victoria
A2 steam locomotive, Port of Echuca Discovery Centre
The A2 class was an express passenger locomotive that ran on Victorian Railways from 1907 to 1963. A highly successful design entirely the work of Victorian Railways' own design office, its long service life was repeatedly extended as economic depression and war delayed the introduction of more modern and powerful replacement locomotives.
Wikipedia.
Back to Steam train, Echuca, Victoria
From the information panel just before going aboard, the Gem was built in 1876 as a barge, but a year later "was fitted with’4 40 horsepower steam engine, wood fired boilers and upper works enabling her to be employed carrying freight and passengers on the River Murray as a steamer.
In 1882, she was "cut in half using simple hand tools and the two pieces dragged apart by bullocks. A new 12 metre section was inserted in the space and an extra deck was added to allow more room for both passengers and cargo."
"In service, her lower deck was used for cargo storage; engine room, dining room and galley. Passenger accommodation was located on the middle deck, while the top deck was used for the wheelhouse and to accommodate the crew. The Gem also had a Smoking Room at the rear of the upper deck for gentlemen and a Music Room for the ladies at the front of the middle deck."
Part of the horse-drawn vehicle collection at Swan Hill's Pioneer Settlement.
The horse-drawn Omnibus was a French invention which came to Australia via England in the mid nineteenth century, it was the equivalent of the modern suburban bus. Similar to the Family Wagonette in that it has parallel side seats, panelled sides and a rear entrance. Unlike the Wagonette though, it also has a fixed top, and windows.
The Omnibus displayed here is a basic model suited to a provincial Mallee town. It lacks the glass widows and the rooftop seating that were found on omnibuses in major cities. The history of this vehicle before arriving at the Settlement is, unfortunately, unknown.
Part of the horse-drawn vehicle collection at Swan Hill's Pioneer Settlement.
This Hearse was manufactured in Scotland, probably towards the end of the nineteenth century, and was imported for use in the suburbs of Melbourne. Once horse-drawn hearses started to fall out of favour with the more modern citizens of the City, it was transferred from Ravens Undertakers in Kew to their branch in Nagambie and then later again to Castlemaine.
Earlier hearses were much plainer, simply black, glass sided boxes, which looked very depressing. Towards the end of the nineteenth century though, there was a move towards a more flamboyant, if still understated, look and the cost of a funeral would be affected by the type and amount of decoration required on the Hearse and horses.
2008
Conversatory at Entally Estate, interior and exterior.
Photos 2008.
More photos, interior & exterior.
At its peak, Central Deborah Gold Mine reached a depth of 412 metres. It has 17 separate levels and 15 kilometres of drives and cross cuts (tunnels). The Central Deborah was very much a hands-on mine and the conditions that the miners worked in would be considered shocking by today's standards – being lowered underground in a cage with only two sides, often working ankle to knee deep in water, filling up to 32 ore trucks a shift by hand which were then pushed a mile or more along rails in the drives, working by carbide lamp, breathing in the fumes and rock dust and communication by bells. Geez, they were ironmen. However, at the time working conditions were considered to be among the best on the goldfields at Central Deborah, after all it was one of the only mines that had hot showers. From website
"Robert's Double Drum Haulage Winch"
Partly crushed quartz containing gold was fed into the back of these battery boxes along with a steady flow of water. In operation, the large stampers, which life and drop about 90 times a minutes, crushed the quartz into a fine sad. Mercury, or quicksilver as it was called, was placed in the bottom of the battery box to take up most of the gold.
As the finely crushed material washed through the sieves, or screens, in the front of the battery box, gold that escaped was caught on a mercury-coated copper plate. Any fine gold that happened to get past the plate was caught in the blanket material on the lower end of the plate table. All the finally crushed material was then washed onto the Wilfey[?] shaking table. The shaking action of the table separated minerals such as iron pyrites, and others, away form the quartz.
CARBIDE LIGHT ROOM
Carbide lights were used extensively underground by miners. Refillings lights with carbide was done in this room, which was equipped with special light fittings and switches to prevent sparks. By combining carbide and water acetylene, a flammable gas was produced to create a flame. The carbide was stored in air tight drums to ensure that no dangerous explosives were generated.
FIRST AID ROOM
Jennings of 278 Post Office Place advertised safes for sale from 1891 to 1917. (Just prior to that, their address is 272 Post Office Place/Little Bourke Street.
Advocate (Melbourne), 24 November 1917
Located in Neil Pitt's Menswear in Launceston, which was formerly the Majestic Theatre, Launceston.
WESTERN ELECTRIC
FILM PROJECTOR
1929
This carbon arc projector was one of two main projectors used in the Majestic Theatre between 1929 and the early 60's. It was most recently kept as part of the collection of Geoff Scholes who regularly screened 35 mm films to friends and family. It's partner projector can be seen the George Town museum.
