Monthly Archive for March, 2010

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Leeches, honey, tamarinds

Published by Debbie Rudder 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Collection: Powerhouse Museum

In the basement recently three highly decorated jars caught my eye – and transported me to a nineteenth century pharmacy. I imagined dozens of beautiful bottles arrayed on shelves, labelled with arcane text – and these three apothecary’s specie jars taking pride of place on the counter, ready for the pharmacist to dip in and dole out their contents.

Collection: Powerhouse Museum

One jar is designed to hold leeches, with holes in the lid to provide air for the bloodthirsty little suckers. The second is for honey, a handy-cure-all. But the third (unfortunately lacking a lid) is for tamarinds. Where do these tropical fruit fit in the picture?

A quick search reveals their laxative properties. In a modern pharmacy, you’d probably find several products boasting the same effect. They’d be tightly wrapped in foil inside a sealed cardboard box, or encapsulated in gel and packed in a tamper-proof plastic jar. Much more hygienic! Maybe it is this raising of hygiene standards that means we rarely need the services of a leech today.

The leech jar was donated by Harold Jones of Ashfield in 1957. The other two jars are part of our John Watson Pharmacy Collection, which was purchased in 1980 with funds donated by Sydney pharmacy chain W H Soul Pattinson. The Museum’s pharmacy collection allows us glimpses into a world of scientific remedies and folk cures; strychnine, belladonna and more modern toxins; chemical and physical (and occasionally biological) treatments; and measured dispensing of prescribed drugs alongside the commercial reality of needing to satisfy all manner of customer whims.

Conservator’s Corner- Creating simple wigs for display

Published by Erika Taylor 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photography Powerhouse Museum © all rights reserved

Ever since the Powerhouse Museum opened in 1988, curator, Lindie Ward and textile conservator, Suzanne Chee have been making simple paper wigs for the museum’s mannequins.

Photography Powerhouse Museum © all rights reserved

The wigs they have created are mimimal and they enhance rather than detract from the dress on display. Yet, with a few strips of carefully cut and placed paper, they have been able to suggest what hairstyle was worn in the period when the dress was in fashion. The strips of paper are attached to the mannequin’s head with archival double-sided tape. It is a very effective way of creating the correct era for a dress.

Photography Powerhouse Museum © all rights reserved

Recently, Suzanne Chee gave a workshop to the Encore Historical Costume group in St Marys. The dozen participants found it very interesting. We will soon write an information sheet with photos demonstrating how to do this technique.

Baby capsule – 1980s Australian product design pt1

Published by Angelique Hutchison 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

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Collection: Powerhouse Museum

Visiting The 80s Are Back exhibition I wondered: if I had to pick the best in Australian product design from the 1980s, what would it be? A Sunbeam kettle or the décor wine cask cooler? The Stackhat or a Caroma toilet? Perhaps a mop bucket or an early ResMed CPAP machine? The 1980s was a productive decade for Australian industrial designers, and the Museum holds many examples of Australian products from the era. So I’ve decided to bring out a series of my favourite Australian-designed products from the 1980s.

Beginning with an innovation that has without doubt saved many lives – the baby safety capsule. Developed 26 years ago, this product is still one of the safest child restraints on the market. In Australia, babies up to six months of age must use rear facing restraints and new child restraint laws introduced this month recommend that children face the rear of the car until age four. All child restraints sold in Australia must meet strict standards, considered to be some of the most stringent in the world.

Of course safety standards haven’t always been this strict. Wearing car seat belts has only been compulsory in Australia since the 1970s and this is when restraints for children began to come onto the market. Babies were either held in arms or travelled in a traditional bassinet that lay across the back seat, secured by the seatbelt with a protective net over the top. There was no really secure way to protect babies in a smash until the baby capsule was developed in 1984.

Rainsfords (later called Britax Childcare), the makers of the Safe-n-Sound child seat restraint, came up with the idea of the capsule. It consists of a bassinet inside a base that can be secured by a seat belt. A release mechanism allows the bassinet to rotate in a crash, keeping the baby more upright and distributing forces uniformly over its body; at the same time, the bassinet pushes against an impact-absorbing bubble in the base. The capsule was designed to fit in an adult seat space. The bassinet can be removed from the base to carry the baby around outside the car.

The capsule was designed by PA Design (later known as Invetech) with Rainsfords Safe-n-Sound and took five years of research and development. It won an Australian Design Award and Design Council Selection in 1985 and the Prince Philip Prize for Australian Design in 1986. The design was improved by the introduction of a harness in 1991 to replace the Velcro body band on the capsule in our collection.

Stay tuned for the next instalment of 1980s Australian-designed products. In the meantime I’d be interested to know – what is your favourite Australian-designed product of the 1980s?

Death in the Museum part 3: ashes to ashes

Published by Erika Taylor 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
Part 3 in a series (click here for part one, and part two)
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Collection, Powerhouse Museum

I have been pretty inspired by recent research done by Einar Docker on Annette Kellerman here at the Museum and I was amazed to find that we have this casket in our collection.

This little box housed the famous Annette Kellerman’s ashes after she was cremated. Her ashes were then scattered on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, a fitting resting place for the ‘Australian Mermaid’.

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Image courtesy of The Story of Swimwear

 The Story of Swimwear

It is now part of the Annette Kellerman collection we hold at the Museum.

This got me thinking of what people actually do with a loved ones ashes? One of the comments, from part one of this blog series, alerted me to an innovative solution, have them turned into a unique diamond! (Saves years of dusting that urn on the shelf)

Or if you prefer a flashier way to go you can make ashes into fireworks!

Or mixed into paint to create an artwork

Or made into an actual coral reef!

Or you can send them into space

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Designed by Nardine Jarvis, © all rights reserved, Image source: www.nardinejarvis.com

My absolute favourite would have to be this one:

You can be made into pencils! This box allows you to retrieve one pencil at a time, you sharpen the pencil shavings back into the box so when all the pencils are used up you are left with an urn. Who would have thought the human body could create enough ash for 240 pencils?

So what about you, would you wear a diamond ring made from nanna’s ashes? Would you want your ashes to go up in a blaze of glorious fireworks?

Needless to say I am pretty amazed there are so many options to create keepsakes out of cremated remains. (and a little creeped out!)

The Frigate Bird II and her Captain Revealed

Published by Melanie Pitkin 12 Comments Tags: , , , .

Collection: Powerhouse Museum

The Powerhouse Museum’s curatorial transport department was recently assisted by Museum Studies intern, Zinnia O’Brien, to work on a large photographic collection relating to Sir P.G. Taylor. “Who?”, you ask. In this post, Zinnia tells us a little about her internship project and the significance of Taylor in the context of Australian aviation history.

As a New Zealander, before I started an internship at the Powerhouse Museum I did not know of the Australian pilot Sir P.G. Taylor. I knew of the exploits of other Australian aviation pioneers, such as Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm, but I knew nothing about the others who had flown with them. I had jumped at the chance to complete my final Masters of Museum Studies internship placement at the Powerhouse Museum but I did not realise the true significance of the aviation project for which I had applied. The project was to research, record and scan a collection of over 300 images which documented Sir P.G. Taylor’s flight to Chile in the Catalina Flying Boat ‘Frigate Bird II’. The group of photographs had been generously donated by the Taylor family and they provided a new insight into Taylor’s life and this important flight.

Collection: Powerhouse Museum


Photograph, black and white, Frigate Bird II over Sydney Harbour on the 21st of April 1951.

Captain Patrick Gordon “Bill” Taylor (later Sir), had been involved in several other significant and hair raising aerial adventures before pioneering an air route from Sydney to Valparaiso in Chile. On the 13th of March 1951, Captain Taylor and a crew of four departed from Rose Bay to cross the South Pacific, from Australia to South America for the first time by air. The Australian Government had given permission to Taylor to carry out a survey flight to establish an air route for use by commercial aircraft. Taylor was allowed to select an aircraft and the best available was a Catalina PB2B-2. The aircraft was named ‘Frigate Bird II’ and given the Civil Registration VH-ASA, the ASA chosen especially to stand for Australia-South America. The roles and personality of the crew who accompanied Taylor on the flight are also revealed in these photographs. They were Captain G.H. “Harry” Purvis (First Officer), E.D. “Blue” L’Huillier (Engineer), Angus Allison (Radio Officer and Bowman) and Sydney Morning Herald Journalist Jack Percival (Official Correspondent and Executive Officer).

Collection: Powerhouse Museum


Photograph, black and white, Crew of Frigate Bird II at Rose Bay prior to departure of flight from Australia to South America, March. Standing in front of a Sandringham Flying Boat are (l-r) Percival, Purvis, Taylor, Allison and L’Huiller.

The ‘Frigate Bird II’ made an initial flight to Grafton, NSW, landing on the Clarence River, before heading east to South America. Stops were made at Noumea, New Caledonia; RNZAF Station at Lauthala Bay, Fiji; Satapuala Bay, Samoa; Aitutaki, Cook Islands; Papeete Harbour, Tahiti; Mangareva in the French Gambier Islands and at Easter Island. The final stop at Easter Island was vital for the ‘Frigate Bird II’ to refuel. However, they had to land on the open sea and there was no sheltered area for take-off, a serious hazard for a grossly over loaded aircraft. There they suffered through a storm, freak swells, broke all three of their anchor ropes as well as Taylor being washed overboard. They managed to sail the ‘Frigate Bird II’ around the Island like a boat and were finally able to take-off with the assistance of JATO (jet assisted take-off) rockets.

Collection: Powerhouse Museum


Photograph, black and white, Frigate Bird II sailing around Easter Island from Ovahe Cove to Hanga Piko, view of port wing. Taken on 22-24th March 1951, during the Frigate Bird II’s outward flight from Australia to South America.

On the 26th of March 1951, ‘Frigate Bird II’ escorted by a Chilean Air Force Catalina, reached Valparaiso, Chile. They landed at Quintero Air Force Base and were warmly welcomed by the President of Chile and Air Force Officials. After nine days in Chile, ‘Frigate Bird II’ departed having successfully completed its diplomatic mission and starting an air link between Australia and Chile. The return flight was just as eventful when the JATO rockets failed to correctly fire when taking off in another storm at Easter Island. The aircraft barely missed crashing into the cliffs. After flying approximately 30,000km, they arrived back in Sydney on the 21st of April to a large reception. The ‘Frigate Bird II’ was subsequently gifted to Captain Taylor by then Prime Minister Robert Menzies, in recognition of the pioneering flights made by the famous aviator.

Collection: Powerhouse Museum


Photograph, black and white, P.G. Taylor in the port blister meeting Chilean Air Force officers. Taken upon arrival of the Frigate Bird II in Chile on the 25th March 1951.

These four photographs hardly illustrate the drama and adventure of this amazing flight but are an indication of the historical value of this huge photographic collection. Not only have I now discovered the story of Sir P.G. Taylor and the ‘Frigate Bird II’ for myself but I have also been able to share this story and images with a new online audience. In the near future more of these significant photographs will make their way onto the Powerhouse’s website. I hope the publication of these photographs will lead to a greater awareness of Australia’s pioneering airmen and the importance of aviation in forging a place for Australia in the post-war twentieth-century. Keep watching for more of this story to be revealed!

Zinnia O’Brien, Student Intern, February 2010