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Orrery, c1770 - part 1

This is a close-up of a mechanical model of part of the solar system, commonly known as an orrery, made by renowned London instrument maker Benjamin Martin in about 1770. This bronze model features a cylindrical clockwork mechanism with an orb representing the Sun placed in the centre. Extending from this on an arm is a ...

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Wolter and Echberg washing machine, late 1800s

This is a late-19th-century compressed-air washing machine, made by Victorian manufacturers Wolter and Echberg. The machine is made of galvanised steel and has a distinctive rocket-like appearance, with a central drum, in which the clothes are washed, consisting of two cone shapes on either end of a cylinder. On the drum ...

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'Sergeants Freehold Quartz Gold Mining Company's claim, Redan, Ballarat', 1881

This is a pen, ink and watercolour drawing, measuring 43.5 cm x 55 cm, of Sergeants Freehold Quartz Gold Mining Company's claim at Redan, Ballarat. It was drawn in 1881 by T G Moyle, a gold fields artist working in the 1880s and 1890s. Extensive mine buildings are spread over a wide area, but dwarfed by a huge pile of quartz. ...

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Women unionists marching on Black Friday during the Brisbane General Strike, 1912

This is a black-and-white photograph of an orderly procession of women walking four or five abreast past Brisbane's Treasury Building in the city centre on 2 February 1912, a day that became known as 'Black Friday'. The majority of the women appear to be dressed in their best and wearing hats for the occasion. Several horsedrawn ...

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Troopers protecting non-union labour during the Shearers' Strike, 1891

This is a black-and-white photograph of 121 armed officers and men of the Townsville Mounted Infantry escorting about 60 non-unionist shearers, known as 'blacklegs' or 'scabs', to Hughenden Station on 22 April 1891 during the central Queensland Shearers' Strike. Several crowded 'German' wagons follow, some containing more ...

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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 ...

Audio

Bob Brown recalls the launch of the Blue Streak, 2006

This is an edited sound recording of Bob Brown recalling the excitement in Woomera in South Australia at the intended first launch of a Europa Blue Streak rocket from the nearby rocket range in June 1964. He tells how hundreds of families gathered to watch, only to be let down when the launch was cancelled with just seconds ...

Audio

Brian Manning recalls the Wave Hill walk-off, 2007

This is an edited sound recording of Indigenous rights activist Brian Manning talking about the Wave Hill walk-off in the Northern Territory in 1966, when Gurindji workers on the Wave Hill cattle station went on strike. Manning tells how he was involved in organising the walk-off, assuring the Gurindji that, unlike previous ...

Video

Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion, c1942 - item 1 of 2

This clip from a silent black-and-white home movie shows Torres Strait Islander servicemen undertaking army training drills on Thursday Island (Weiban) during the Second World War. It opens with a long shot of barefoot uniformed men marching in formation, and passing behind a squad of stationary men. It then cuts to shots ...

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Portrait of Robert Long, South Sea Island Mission, Nambour, 1906

This posed black-and-white photograph is a head-and-shoulders portrait of Robert Long, a leader of the South Sea Island Mission at Nambour in Queensland. Long is shown resting his arms on an unseen surface at chest height and holding what appears to be a Bible. The photograph is in an oval frame and is one of a series of ...

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Chinese men on the road to the Palmer River gold field, 1875

This black-and-white wood engraving shows a stereotypical image of Chinese men walking in a line to the Palmer River gold field in northern Queensland. It appeared in the Australasian Sketcher with the title 'CHINESE ON THE ROAD TO THE PALMER'. The six men in the foreground are wearing a variety of traditional clothing ...

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US soldier and air-raid shelter, Brisbane, 1942

This colour photograph taken in May 1942 shows a US army officer posing at the entrance of an underground air-raid shelter in Brisbane. The photo was taken in the grounds of Somerville House, an exclusive girls' boarding school requisitioned by the US forces in the Second World War as one of their headquarters in Brisbane. ...

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Sketch of Moreton Bay penal settlement, 1835 - item 1

This detailed pencil sketch, attributed to Henry Boucher Bowerman, depicts Moreton Bay (Brisbane) penal settlement from present-day Kangaroo Point. The panoramic landscape view takes in the Brisbane River in the foreground and existing government buildings necessary to a convict settlement, spread across the land behind. ...

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Sketch of Moreton Bay penal settlement, 1835 - item 2

This detailed pencil sketch, attributed to Henry Boucher Bowerman, depicts Moreton Bay (Brisbane) penal settlement from present-day South Brisbane. The panoramic landscape view takes in the river in the foreground and existing government buildings necessary to a convict settlement, spread across the land behind. The buildings, ...

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Students digging trenches at Ascot State School, Brisbane, 1942

This black-and-white photograph shows schoolchildren digging air-raid trenches in the grounds of Ascot State School in Brisbane, Queensland, on 24 January 1942. Working in the slit trenches, knee deep or deeper, the male students use picks and shovels to dig and remove the earth. A man digging with them on the right is ...

Interactive

Biography: Federation people: Joseph Abbott

Investigate Joseph Abbott's role in Federation. Examine two different types of biographies of Abbott: one short and the other more detailed. Inspect examples of how he was visually depicted in his time. This learning object is one in a series of objects in the 'Biography: Federation people' series.

Interactive

Biography: Federation people: James McGowen

Investigate James McGowen's role in opposing Federation. Examine two different types of biographies of McGowen: one short and the other more detailed. Inspect examples of how he was visually depicted in his time. This learning object is one in a series of objects in the 'Biography: Federation people' series.

Interactive

Biography: Federation people: William Moore

Investigate William Moore's role in the move towards Federation, particularly in the development of the Australian Constitution. Examine two different types of biographies of Moore: one short and the other more detailed. Inspect examples of how he was visually depicted in his time. This learning object is one in a series ...

Interactive

Fish market

Buy and sell fish in trading markets in a range of Australian and New Zealand cities. Compare market prices, supply and demand. Get to know other traders to find the best deals and discover new markets. Find a rare fish. Maximise your profit and reputation as a smart trader. This learning object is the last in a series ...

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'Port Arthur during occupation, A.D. 1860'

This is a sepia-toned black-and-white photograph measuring 8.8 cm x 13.6 cm, taken from an elevated vantage point behind a cottage in the township of Port Arthur, looking across Manson Cove with its wooden wharves to Settlement Hill. It shows the Port Arthur Penitentiary (the large building in the centre of the image), ...