Historic map of Dandenong

This is quite awesome. One of the gents who runs the Springvale Historical Society bought this in to show us yesterday. It’s a hand drawn map of Dandenong by our very own Robert Woodcock, the gent who owned Laurel Lodge last century. You can clearly see how Dandenong was broken up back then and all of the local street names can be found as the last names of people who own the various properties. You can even see the road where we are (in the second shot) but oddly enough, Mr Woodcock didn’t mark his property on the map.

We love the old brown of the paper (wonder what colour it was originally?) and the fact there are a number of ink drops on them. Did Nellie get too close to her father’s desk as he was drawing the map? We’ll never know, but still, it’s so wonderful to be able to see such history so close up.

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Happy International Museum Day our friends!

Did you know, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) established International Museum Day in 1977 to encourage public awareness of the role of museums in the development of society.

As Heritage Hill is, amongst other things, a museum, we have a warm fluffy feeling in our hearts today knowing that all around the world, people are celebrating the role museums have as keepers of culture, repositories of history and investigators of the future.

Today, Melbourne Museum flagged a beautiful comment on their Twitter stream. A young woman had written “I heart museums because visiting is often like time-travel”. Museums allow you to get up close and personal with history, reminding visitors where we, as a society, culture and civilisation, have come from.

In the spirit of today’s international celebration, we thought we’d wander through our collection and highlight some of the tiny details that connect us, the viewers, with people and lives of years gone by.

 

Laurel Lodge’s butter pat

Home made lemon cordial

Detail of a lady’s hat in Laurel Lodge

A long empty jar that once held honey

Another iron from the laundry, an older one than the other

A beautiful glass citrus squeezer

Benga’s front door knocker

Handmade netting to keep the flies out of the food. This one has an unusual wire rim to keep it stiff

Dr Hart’s phone. As he was one of the local doctors, he had a phone that connected straight to his medical practice for emergencies.

A plant on the upstairs landing of Laurel Lodge

When eletric stoves were first introduced, there was a flurry of recipe books published to help housewives adjust to the change. This one was published by an electric cooker company

Stained glass surrounding the front door of Benga

A beautiful pattern created from inlaid wood on an occasional table

Some old tins in the kitchen

A hand crocheted tea cosy of garden flowers

Our Singer sewing machine complete with painted roses

One of our irons

 

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The historical and botanical significance of the Springvale cemetery

Today there’s a great write up in The Age newspaper about Dr Celestina Sagazio, historian and manager of cultural heritage at the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust. The article focuses on the history of the cemetery and some of the famous people who are buried in there. You can read more about it here.

We’re really excited that this article has been published now, as Dr Sagazio is doing the a talk about the historical and botanical significance of the Springvale cemetery here in a week’s time and for only $12. The details are below:

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Historical sleuthing

Today marks a passing of history. For many years, Benga house had a persimmon tree in it’s front garden, with a beautiful seat around it which was a rather comfy place to sit and eat lunch. It’s been sick for a number of years and last week it was finally decided that it had to go.

Our volunteers Maria and Ernie under the Persimmon tree

I had read somewhere in our documents a passing reference to the fact that the tree was the only link back to the orchard that stood on the property before the Hart’s built their house here. So I decided to do some sleuthing to see if that was correct. Off to the photo files!

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Researching History

The internet is an amazing place for historical information, as long as you know how to find it! For instance, did you know that National Library of Australia is in the process of digitising Australian history? It has in it’s archieves papers, books, photos, recordings, maps and more and it’s slowly going through and linking them all together in a project called Trove. It was through this archive that I found the article below, in which Mrs Harts father, Dr Langley, gives medical advice and instructions on how to amputate a leg over the phone to a man who’s empolyee has had his leg manged in a threshing machine. The very idea makes you even more thankful for modern ambulances and the health service, doesn’t it?

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Introducing two of our volunteers – Maria and Ernie

Heritage Hill is run by a small staff ably assisted by a dedicated group of volunteers. Today I would like to introduce you to two volunteers who have been with us for 18 years, Maria and Ernie. They popped by this morning so I took the opportunity to ask them a couple of questions.

Maria and Ernie under the Persimmon tree

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Senior’s Week – Tour and Devonshire Tea

Today for Senior’s Week we had a special senior’s tour with Devonshire Tea. (If this sounds like your cup of tea (and scone!) you can book one yourself by calling us on 9793 4511). These tours start off in the historic St James’ Church next door. Our tour guide today was Michelle, the Vicar’s wife.

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