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Panning for gold on the Mulgrave River, c1888

This is a black-and-white photograph showing five miners prospecting for alluvial gold on the banks of the Mulgrave River in Queensland. Two of the men hold shovels and stand by a sluice, two others pan for gold and the fifth rests on a wooden wheelbarrow. Several other mining implements are in evidence - a pan, pick, shovel ...

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'The new rush', 1865

This is a coloured print, measuring 19.4 cm x 25.2 cm, by the famous colonial artist Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), published in 'The Australian Sketchbook' in 1865. It shows a gold rush scene, probably in Victoria, with a stream of prospectors travelling along a dirt road. Several are walking beside their horses and heavily ...

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Schoolboy being vaccinated against diphtheria in Brisbane, 1940

This 1940 black-and-white photograph shows a young boy, not entirely at ease, being vaccinated against diphtheria at East Brisbane State School by the City Medical Officer of Health, Dr R Weaver. A woman dressed in white stands behind the boy and steadies his outstretched left arm for the injection. Medical implements and ...

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Riding a horse to school, 1928

This posed 1928 black-and-white photograph shows five girls on a horse on their way to the Glass Mountains State School, as it was known at the time, in Queensland. The girls are pressed together from the base of the horse's neck to its rump. They wear hats and hold their school cases. The horse has a bridle and one girl ...

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Indigenous Australians defending their land, c1817

This is a 17.7 cm x 27.9 cm watercolour showing about 40 Indigenous Australian people attacking a rowboat carrying five colonists. Most of the warriors are on a steep, rocky headland and those close to the water have spears raised. Two appear to be picking up stones while those further up the cliff watch on. About ten Indigenous ...

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City railway terminus, Melbourne, 1854

This is a black-and-white lithograph measuring 12.5 cm x 20 cm, depicting the city terminus of the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company in Melbourne in 1854. An early type of steam locomotive is shown approaching a platform where passengers and freight are waiting. The drawing was made by Samuel Thomas Gill and his ...

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Penny-farthing bicycle, c1888

This is a penny-farthing, or high-wheel bicycle, built in Melbourne by H Bassett and Co in the late 1880s. Called 'The Victory', it has a 142-cm diameter front wheel and a smaller rear wheel, both with solid rubber tyres. The pedals are fixed directly to the axle of the front wheel. The leather seat sits on a 'cradle spring' ...

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Thor 'Automagic' washing machine, 1940s-50s

This is an automatic electric washing machine produced in the 1940s or 1950s by US manufacturer Thor, called the 'Automagic'. The machine has a rectangular, box-like shape with rounded edges, a white enamel coating and a green lid. It measures 95 cm x 62 cm x 62 cm.

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Sunshine stripper harvester, 1884

This is a Sunshine stripper harvester, the design of which was developed by Hugh Victor McKay on his father's property at Drummartin, Victoria, in 1884. The harvester has three wheels, one at the front and two at the back. It is designed to strip, thresh and clean wheat grain. It is painted in brown and yellow, and features ...

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Wool sorting at Gilgandra, 1936

This is a black-and-white photograph, measuring 21.3 cm x 16.2 cm, of four men skirting fleeces and classing wool at Berida Station near Gilgandra in New South Wales. They are using two long tables in a large shearing shed. The station manager's daughter, a shearing contractor and two shed hands are looking on. In the background ...

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Touring possible sites for the federal capital, 1902

This is a black-and-white photograph, measuring 18.8 cm x 24.0 cm, taken in 1902 during a tour of inspection by senators from the Federal Parliament of possible sites for the proposed federal capital. Having alighted from a horse-drawn stage coach, five members of the party en route to Tumut, New South Wales, are standing ...

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Metters 'Moffat' electric stove, late 1930s

This is a cast-iron stove called the 'Moffat', produced in Melbourne by Australian manufacturer Metters KFB in the late 1930s. The stove is set on four iron legs and consists of an oven, cooktop and griller. It is finished with green enamel and three cream enamel panels inset on the knob interface, griller door and oven ...

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Visit of Australian cricketers to the USA, 1913

This is the front page of a program printed in rust-red-and-black letters on a beige background, with the words 'OFFICIAL PROGRAMME COMMEMORATING THE VISIT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS TO AMERICA 1913'. The text is set within decoration in the Art Nouveau style.

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Dame Nellie Melba in a procession at Lilydale, 1902

This is a black-and-white photograph that shows the arrival of operatic soprano Nellie Melba (1861-1931) in a procession at Lilydale in Victoria during her 1902 tour of Australia and New Zealand. Melba is seated in a buggy at the front of the procession. The procession, which is made up of people in buggies and men on horseback, ...

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'Girl at Gees Bend', 1937

This is a black-and-white photograph of Artelia Bendolph, a member of an African American tenant farming family at Gee's Bend in Alabama, USA. The photograph was taken by Arthur Rothstein. Bendolph is portrayed looking out through an unglazed window. The open window shutter lined with sheets of newspaper is to the left ...

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Muslim journeys

This is a rich resource about the lives of Muslim people who came to Australia from Asia and Europe in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Developed by the National Archives of Australia, it consists of a historical essay by Hanifa Deen illustrated by a collection of archival documents and images. The resource has five tabs: ...

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Migrants Enriching Australia

This is a rich collection of stories that focuses on the life experiences of two individuals, one of Greek heritage and one of Polish heritage, who immigrated and settled in Victoria post World War II. The resource explores how these people shared their cultural heritage and how this enriched Australian life at this time. ...

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The first modern humans in south-east Asia

This is a multilayered resource about the theories and evidence of the origins of the first modern humans in south-east Asia. It has four sections: Theories; The sout-heast Asian fossil record; The appearance of sout-heast Asian features; and The first modern Indonesians. The Related sections, Related items and Related ...

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Vindolanda

This resource is about the Roman garrison established at Vindolanda. It includes extracts from the Vindolanda tablets dating from the period AD 97-103, which documented details of everyday life for a Roman soldier on the north-west frontier of Roman Britain. The resource describes the discovery of the tablets and their ...

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Mummification in Bronze Age Britain

This resource is about the discovery of two Bronze Age mummies in Britain. It describes the discovery by a team of archaeologists of the bodies of a male and a female under the floor of a prehistoric house on the Hebridean Island of South Uist. It presents the evidence for mummification following investigations using archaeological ...