Gold Museum, Ballarat ~ Showcasing Ballarat's history

World War One artillery shells

Artillery shell (Gold Museum collection, 75.175)

World War One  is often characterised as an artillery war.

Millions of rounds of shells were fired to devastating effect on troops and the countryside.

Soldiers who escaped being blown up by high explosive or cut to pieces by shrapnel were still in danger of suffering shell shock.

Repeated exposure to the sheer concussive force of an extended barrage often leading to the nerve and psychological damage now known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In the Belgium and French countryside farmers every year turn up an ‘Iron Harvest’ of shells, both live and spent.

This shell is on display at the Gold Museum as part of the Shrine of Remembrance’s exhibition Australia Will Be There, on show until September 18, 2016.

Written by Katrina Nicholson, Centenary Exhibition Research Officer, Shrine of Remembrance

Horse Saddlebag, 1914-1918

German Cavalry Saddlebag (Gold Museum collection, 75.0175)

World War One marked a transitional period in the use of the horse in warfare.

Cavalry had limited use after 1914 on the Western Front, where entrenched positions, and extensive barbed wire and machine gun emplacements, prevented their traditional function of breaking up enemy infantry concentrations.

After the Boer War (1899-1902) British cavalry units were increasingly trained in the use of rifles and dismounted manoeuvres, which made them more adaptable to the changed conditions.

German cavalry units maintained traditional weapons and tactics and, after 1914, were primarily used on the more mobile Eastern Front.

Horses were used for reconnaissance, messenger duties and, overwhelmingly, to haul supplies, ammunition, artillery, and ambulances, across ground that defeated mechanised transport.

It is estimated that as many as eight million horses, and countless mules and donkeys, died during World War One.

This saddlebag is on display at the Gold Museum as part of the Shrine of Remembrance’s exhibition Australia Will Be There, on show until September 18, 2016.

Written by Katrina Nicholson, Centenary Exhibition Research Officer, Shrine of Remembrance

German gas mask and case, circa 1915-17

Gas masks provided some protection from the various types of deadly gas used by the opposing sides during World War One.

Tear gas and the deadly chlorine and phosgene gases were widely used, but the irritant mustard gas was the most effective in disabling troops.

Mustard gas had a devastating effect on the skin and eyes, often leading to blindness, and, when inhaled, resulted in blistered lungs and throat.

It could linger in the soil for months until reactivated by heat.

This German gas mask is on display at the Gold Museum as part of the Shrine of Remembrance’s exhibition Australia Will Be There, on show until September 18, 2016.

Written by Katrina Nicholson, Centenary Exhibition Research Officer, Shrine of Remembrance

DRESS WORN BY MARY FENTON WHITELAW FOR ROYAL BALL IN BALLARAT, 1867

Mary Fenton Whitelaw’s Ball Gown (1867)
Image: Gold Museum Collection (91.0431)

Mary Fenton Whitelaw’s green silk gown from 1867 is one of the highlights of the Gold Museum’s Costume Collection. At the age of 17, she wore it to an exclusive ball in Ballarat, to celebrate the visit of His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. This was an important event in Ballarat’s social history, as it was the first time the city had hosted royalty. Prince Alfred was the second son of Queen Victoria, and he spent five months touring Australia in 1867.

Mary’s dress is part of a collection of more than 50 items relating to her family, including letters, photographs and objects. Together they provide a glimpse of what life was like for a respectable middle-class family in Ballarat from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries.

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PHOTOGRAPH OF A “MERMAID”: AN EXAMPLE OF A POPULAR FORM OF FAKES AND HOAXES

Fake “Mermaid” (1923)
Image: Gold Museum Collection (2011.0072)

This unusual photograph was donated as part of a larger collection of social history items relating to a local Ballarat family. The donor’s father had a keen interest in photography, collecting images as well as taking them himself. The donor believes that this particular image may have been brought back to Australia by a member of her father’s family who went overseas to serve in the First World War.

Close inspection of the bizarre object depicted in the centre has revealed that it is a fake “mermaid” (or “merman”). Although the handwritten caption on the back of the photograph states that it was “caught in China Sea, half human, half fish, now be exhibited in South Africa (Nov. 1923),” it looks remarkably similar to other famous fakes such as the “Banff Merman” that is currently exhibited in the Banff Indian Trading Post in Canada.

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MODEL LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE CREATED BY APPRENTICES FROM THE PHOENIX FOUNDRY, BALLARAT

Model Locomotive Engine, Ballarat Historical Society Collection (78.0953)
Image: Gold Museum Collection

One of the highlights from the Ballarat Historical Society Collection is this working model of a locomotive engine. It was manufactured by five apprentices from the local Phoenix Foundry Company for the Australian Juvenile Industrial Exhibition held in Ballarat in 1878.

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ELIZA PERRIN: THE STORY OF AN ORDINARY WOMAN ON THE BALLARAT GOLDFIELDS

Eliza Perrin and her children (c.1860s)
Image: Gold Museum Collection

Life on the Ballarat goldfields in the mid-nineteenth century was hard enough for a man trying to make a living and survive, but for a miner’s wife it could be even more difficult, as her own fortunes were bound to the decisions her husband made. Eliza Perrin was an ordinary woman who followed her prospecting husband from England to the goldfields of Victoria, but her story is representative of the experiences of so many others.

The Gold Museum holds a collection of items relating to Eliza and her family including copies of letters written to her sister in England, a photographic portrait with her children (depicted left) and the exact dress she is wearing in the photograph.

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THE STEVE LANGTON GOLD NUGGET COLLECTION

The recent discovery of a 5.5 kg (177 oz) gold nugget found within 30 km of the Ballarat city centre just goes to show that there is still treasure out on the Ballarat goldfields waiting for those who seek it. In the 1980s, one such lucky prospector was Steve Langton,a retired mining engineer and speedway motorbike rider, who discovered the magnificent collection of 13 nuggets currently on display at the Gold Museum.

The Archbishop Nugget
Image: Gold Museum Collection

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ARTIST OF THE GOLDFIELDS: SAMUEL THOMAS GILL

Cradling at Forest Creek (1859) by S.T. Gill
Image: Gold Museum Collection (96.11503)

The Gold Museum holds a large collection of artworks by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-1880), better known to history as S.T. Gill, or ‘the Artist of the Goldfields.’ As there are few photographs from the 1850s and 60s still in existence, his vivid illustrations provide some of the best examples of life on the early goldfields of Victoria. Continue reading »

This is the first post in a series that will examine some of the highlights of our collection.

Miniature Tombstone (1890s)
Image: Ballarat Historical Society Collection (78.0712)

This tombstone, standing only 34 cm tall, was placed in the centre of Sturt Street, Ballarat by protesting cab drivers in the 1890s. The Mayor of the day, Councillor Charles Collett (C.C.) Shoppee, had ordered the horse-drawn cabs to move elsewhere in the city to allow the creation of a new median strip garden between Armstrong and Doveton Streets. Despite protests to the municipal council, the cabs were moved on and the garden was developed.

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