Paraguay was the destination to an Australian diaspora that began 120 years ago. New Australia and Cosme were socialist utopian colonies established in Paraguay in 1893 and 1894 by a group of Australians migrants led by William Lane. Continue reading
Objects Through Time: labour-movement
White painted Bakelite hard hat, Snowy Mountains Authority, Australia, c 1953-1954. Standard issue protective clothing for use on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric scheme. Continue reading
Engraved gold cigarette case presented to Major F. E. De Groot, 1932 Inscribed with the caption He is not insane. 21st March 1932. In appreciation W.J.H… Continue reading
The Broken Hill Ottoman Flag is rare being unique and one a few items from the New Years Day attack at Broken Hill in 1915. Continue reading
This document has historic value because it has direct links with Federation and the drafting of the first Australian Constitution that put in place the law that was the cornerstone of Australia’s ‘White Australia’ policy. Continue reading
The pincers are historically significant as they were made by Carl Konemann. The Konemanns’ are regarded as one of the early pioneering families in Fairfield, providing the essential services of horse shoeing, tool making and repairs and coach building. Continue reading
The 1831 convict brinks are historically significant because Horsley House is the only Australian colonial house that can be directly related to Anglo-Indian architecture. Continue reading
This cane stripper has historical and technological significance in that it demonstrates the the hard manual labour involved in planting, cutting and loading sugar cane before mechanisation of the sugar industry, first of planting and loading sugar cane and later of harvesting the crop.
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Discover a collection of late nineteenth century personal effects and shop stock owned by the Wong’s – an Anglo-Chinese family from Bolong, Australia. Continue reading
The harrow is part of a series of regional collection of objects integral to the story of the Chinese on the goldfields, agriculture and the establishment of regional Chinese communities. Continue reading
Discover the medal presented as a mark of esteem to Charles De Boos, Gold Fields Warden, from Chinese Miners in the Braidwood district in 1881. Continue reading
Discover a typical opium pipe used by nineteenth century Chinese miners that is a part of a series of regional collections integral to the story of the Chinese on the goldfields and the establishment of regional Chinese communities. Continue reading
Discover the Gold Miner’s Licence from the 1850s. Miner’s licences were hated by the diggers and this with other antagonisms with the government and police led to the famous Eureka Rebellion of 1854. Continue reading
Discover the NSW Trades Hall Union Banner Collection. Continue reading
The banner’s historic value lies in its relationship to the themes of the gold rush experience, racial antagonism, the fear of the exotic and unknown, and ideologies that culminated in the first act of the newly Federated Commonwealth of Australia, the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act. Continue reading
Discover the leather brief case of Sir Henry Parkes.
By 1929 the world economy began to slow. Rural product prices were falling and farmers found it hard to sell their produce overseas. In the cities, businesses found it harder… Continue reading
The game has historic value as evidence of the prevailing view in the early 20th century of Australia’s ethnic purity and the desire to restrict Asians and Pacific Islanders from migrating there. Continue reading
Laws directly aimed at restricting the influx of Chinese were passed in New South Wales in 1881 and 1887… Continue reading