An International Woman: Emily Dobson (nee Lempriere)
Community Archives recently purchased a studio portrait of Emily Dobson (nee Lempriere) (1842-1934) as a young woman. It provides a rare window on the early life of a woman who entered the public sphere in her 50’s and was a prominent activist until her death at 91.
Emily Dobson was a wealthy, nineteenth-century woman who used her position in society to organise and influence her community into action. Mrs Dobson is known for creating, and being the driving force in at least nineteen philanthropic societies. She was endlessly curious and had a wide range of interests that evolved throughout her life. Her interests ranged from alleviating poverty through health, sanitation, food and housing, and caring for the needs of the sick and people with disabilities, through to social and educational organisations for women and girls, such as the Girl Guides, Victoria League, Alliance Francaise and Lyceum Club. Although Emily did not agitate politically or challenge the establishment, she worked hard to improve society in the ways she felt were proper.
Isn’t it good, Taswegian Wood: Experiments in Growing Cricket Bat Willow Trees and a Wooden Cricket Pitch
In the 1930s and 40s cricket bats were a precious thing. Around the world, bats were in short supply, largely due to an increase in demand for English willow (Salix alba var. caerulea) for use in a range of items both during and after the Second World War. As was noted in correspondence between J. M. Crockett and The Commissioner of the Australian Council of Agriculture in July 1940:
every available tree of this type has been taken over in Gt Britain for War Purposes, the chief item being aircraft construction, the timber being the best substitute for spruce, which is all tied up now in countries occupied by the enemy … The other uses for this willow is artificial limbs for which no other timber is suitable, and recently has [been found to have] the quickest, and most powerful detonation as a component in high explosive fuses for shells … So you can see that none of the tree is not of high commercial value.
As a cricket bat manufacturer, J. M. Crockett (Jim) had obvious motives in writing to the Commissioner and highlighting both the current global willow shortages and the value of willow timber more broadly; he wanted to propose the planting of willow trees as a viable and profitable agricultural activity in Australia. As Jim Crockett continues in his letter, ‘in normal times Australia’s requirements alone is 100,000 cricket bats annually, for which 4,500 mature trees would be required to produce the same.’ Kashmiri willow, which today is a major source of cricket bat willow, had not yet been fully developed as an industry outside of India, and so the bat-making industry was having to look further afield to other sources of willow. Australia, and most particularly the cooler and wetter climate of Tasmania, was certainly a strong option worth exploring. Over the next few years Jim Crockett made several visits to Tasmania, noting the ‘climatic conditions ideal’ for willow bat propagation. Indeed, he went so far as to state that ‘not only could Tasmania make Australia self-sufficient, but an export trade to the empire’s cricketing Dominions was extremely likely.’
Continue reading “Isn’t it good, Taswegian Wood: Experiments in Growing Cricket Bat Willow Trees and a Wooden Cricket Pitch”Preservation Digitisation Project
In February 2021 the Tasmanian Libraries launched a major project – the Preservation Digitisation Project – across Digitisation Services, the Government Archives, and the Community Archives teams. The aim of this project is to preserve our Tasmanian film, sound and video collections for long-term preservation and access by the public. Our priority is the magnetic tape collection which is at great risk of being lost forever if not digitised before 2025.
Continue reading “Preservation Digitisation Project”Recently Digitised Material: October-December 2021
This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania.
Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue and Tasmanian Names Index or visit us on Flickr, YouTube and Instagram.
In this blog:
- Photographs of Tasmanian Cricket Teams – Ref: PH40/1/3625-27
- Photographs of Launceston and Perth– Ref: NS7193/1/5-8
- Artwork of Launceston Mechanics Institute – Ref: LPIC41/1/1
- Artwork of Hobart Town, on the River Derwent, Van Diemen’s Land by W.J. Huggins (Allport)
- Photograph of Twin Ferry Kangaroo, Hobart – Ref: PH30/1/3269
- Advertisement for Weaver and Co, Wellington Bridge Hobart by T Midwood – Ref: NS6760/1/7
- Glass Plate Negatives by A Rollings of Sorell Area – Ref: NS1553/1/1010-1099
- Register of Convicts B, M-Z 1835-47 – Ref: CON22/1/4
- Register of payment of salaries to officers of the police, 1855-57 – Ref: AUD45/1/1-3
- Journal of a voyage from Liverpool to VDL, 1833 – Ref: NS5739/1/1
- Copies of Wills Recording Granting of Probate – Ref: AD960/1/6, AD960/1/7
- Film of opening of Launceston library after refit – Ref: AG279/1/2
- Film of the Launceston children’s library – Ref: AG279/1/1
10 ways to boost your Tasmanian Names Index searches
There have been some recent enhancements to how you can search the Tasmanian Names Index.
We have added more fields to the search filters on the drop-down menu to the left of the search bar. Some of these have always been there (while some are new additions). Many of you might not have been aware of the drop-down menu at all, but it can be a useful tool for refining your searches in our ever-expanding database of Tasmanian life.
Here is a short guide to what those options mean and when it might be useful to use them.
Continue reading “10 ways to boost your Tasmanian Names Index searches”Recently Digitised Material: July-September 2021
This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania.
Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue and Tasmanian Names Index or visit us on Flickr, YouTube and Instagram.
In this blog:
- Richard Simson Photographic Collection – Ref: NS6351/1/1-95
- Albums of Gladys Midwood – Ref: NS6759/1/2-3
- Photographic Albums by Margaret Smithies, Ernest George Record and the McDowell family
- Tasmanian Government Railways
- 1920s aerial view of Hobart city block bounded by Murray, Harrington, Liverpool and Melville Street looking North from behind His Majesty’s Theatre and Hobart Rivulet – Ref: NS892/1/61
- Artworks of Launceston
- Emu Bay by Thomas Unwin
- The Pests of the Prince by Henry Manly
- TGR Williams glass plate negatives – Ref: NS1409/1/46-48
- Judges notes on capital offences committed at Norfolk Island, 1846 – Ref: CSO20/1/449
- Burial Plot Maps, Cornelian Bay Cemetery 1915-16 – Ref: AF86/1/1
- Wills from AD960/1/5
- 1829 journal written from London to Van Diemans Land by John Owen Lord – Ref: NS301/1/2
Hidden figures: Tom Midwood, caricatures and Tasmanian Railway Records
Sometime in the 1990s it came to the attention of the National Archives (then responsible for Tasmanian railway records) that a large collection of railway plans was languishing in haphazard storage at the Inveresk Railyards in Launceston. Archivists were dispatched to investigate and encountered a chaotic situation. Records had been stored anywhere and everywhere, including stuck up a disused chimney! Many had been badly affected by the 1929 floods and by the incursion of soot from coal-fired steam engines. However, the collection was one of marvellous significance, documenting Tasmania’s railway infrastructure. The archivists made a case for the preservation of this collection and secured funding to perform the mammoth task of cleaning, organising and properly storing the recovered hoard. In the process they found something quite unexpected.
Continue reading “Hidden figures: Tom Midwood, caricatures and Tasmanian Railway Records”Recently Digitised Material: January-June 2021
This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania. Each year, we place items online to help promote and preserve our rare and special collections. These images and films are just a tiny sample of an amazing treasure trove of Tasmania’s heritage. From colonial artwork to convict records, fragile glass plate negatives to rare films, private letters to government records, our collections (including the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts and the W L Crowther Collection) tell millions of stories from Tasmania and around the world.
Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue or visit us on Flickr, YouTube and Instagram.
In this blog:
- Photographs related to the history of Tasmanian trams, buses, equipment and staff – Ref: AG184/1/1 to 33
- Glass plate negatives of Hobart and Surrounds by William James Little (c1870 – 1920s) – Ref: NS526/1/1 to 49
- Photographs collected by the Cox Family (c1850-1929) – Ref: NS6904/1/1 to 87
- Photographs of Launceston sent to Overseas Pen-Friends – Ref: NS5622/1/1 to 15
- Photographs of Hobart and surrounds taken by James Chandler (c1920s) – Ref: NS1231/2/1 to 22
- Small collection of glass plate negatives from the Black family (c1930s) – Ref: NS5583/1/1 to 13
- Album of Thomas Midwood – Ref: NS6759/1/1
- Port Arthur Circuit – Baptism Register (1828-43) – Ref: NS499/1/531
- Port Arthur Circuit – Burial Register (1832-43) – Ref: NS499/1/532
- Wills from AD960/1/1, AD960/1/2, AD960/1/3 and AD960/1/4
- Travel Diary by Ernest Bailey – Ref: NS5845/1/1
Banks’ Florilegium Society Islands 1769
Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts exhibition – closes 31 July 2021.
Leisha Owen – Curator
Banks’ Florilegium – Society Islands, 1769 comprises framed botanical prints individually colour-printed in the 1980s, from the 18th century copperplate engravings of Sydney Parkinson’s drawings. Parkinson was the artist who drew the fresh plants collected in the Society Islands by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, as part of Captain James Cook’s first voyage round the world.
Continue reading “Banks’ Florilegium Society Islands 1769”150 Years of Tasmanian Railways
From staggering feats of engineering and the enabling of complex mining operations, to employment for men and women and family social outings, for 150 years railways have played an important role in the economic and social history of Tasmania. The story of the Tasmanian Railways is one of great successes, but also of hardships, economic failures, and disasters. It is a colourful and dynamic history.
In this series of blogs, we highlight a couple of colourful figures and incidents in the history of Tasmanian railways to highlight the human and social side of the railways. Railways provided livelihoods for a range of different people, not just those who were employed as drivers or engineers, but for the community at large. We will focus on the social life that popped up around the railways, the hubs of activities and social life that developed in Tasmania around or directly because of the railway.
In concert with these blogs we are celebrating the occasion with an exhibition of railway records and memorabilia in our State Library Reading Room, which will then travel to libraries around the state.
We have also released a new and expansive Tasmanian Railway Guide to our railway records, which should greatly assist researchers who want to delve into those intricate technical drawings, expansive line plans and registers of rolling stock.