More from under the Floorboards

We cannot wait until we have time to properly photograph and examine all the items that came from under Dr Backhouse's home - each one is fascinating in its own right. Here are a few more of the items:

A small piece of early china, with a perfect butterfly.

A tiny head from either a doll or an ornament

A plastic broach - which we have tested, and it is not luminous - although we remember ones like this from the 1950s.

And finally, we could not resist this one:

Yes - a better photograph of the fish head. Apart from the fact we think it looks a little like a mask from a Greek tragedy, and that we could now write a PhD thesis on how to photograph an item such as this with a cheap digital camera - we still need to know what sort of fish it is.

Can anyone help?

Next Meeting - The Knob

Next meeting of the Stratford Historical Society is 7.30pm on Monday 22 February, in the room next to the Stratford Library.

After a short business meeting we will be hearing about the history of The Knob, the reserve above the Avon River on the outskirts of Stratford. Members will then pool their knowledge on the subject, and examine the photographs in the collection. The Knob was an important gathering place for the local Aboriginal people, and then important as a picnic site for Stratford townspeople. The New Year's Day picnic was a major event for many years.

Everyone is most welcome - there will be a cuppa at the end of the evening.

The Fence is getting Closer

The fence is getting closer. This was one very impressive tractor, removing the old posts last week. We cannot wait.

On Display

Two new items have been placed on display.

The first is Mack Ross' group of six sketches of historic Stratford buildings. We have them, and two earlier oils, out in conjunction with our mapping of the town's buildings.

The other is this overcoat, donated relatively recently by Beth Ripper:

This overcoat was made by Beth's mother, then Betty Taylor, in the 1940s. It was made from a blue blanket, as clothing was in short supply, as were coupons for them or fabric. It was worn by her mother, then Beth, and then Beth's daughter, before being donated.

As with all our clothing/textiles, it will be on display for about a month, then returned to store.

J.P. Nicholas, Chemist

Some time ago we had the Nicholas folio out on limited display. There are posts about it HERE and HERE.

Since then, Old Gippstown has located a photograph of the shop of J.P. Nicholas at Trafalgar - taken just after the family left there to move to Stratford.