Archive for the 'objects' Category

Suburbia, apartmentia, adapturbia

Published on June 17, 2013 by Charles Pickett in Architecture, Architecture and Urban Design, climate change, Design and Designers, Environment, Object of the week, objects and Sydney. 0 Comments Tags: Adam Russell, adapturbia, baby boomers, Chris Johnson, ecologic, Lend Lease, Long Bao Tran, Long Boa Tran, Nelsons Ridge, Robert Nelson, suburbia, Tone Wheeler, William CAi.

Nelsons Ridge housing estate, photo by Marinco Kojdanovski 2012

Are baby-boomers responsible for Sydney’s unaffordable housing? It’s becoming a common theme of the property media with story headings like ‘Boomers put super squeeze on first home buyers’. And similar arguments are being made in the planning and architecture world.

Former NSW Government Architect Chris Johnson: ‘The big issue right now for Sydney is the pendulum swing from low density detached housing to more urban apartment living.…With a growing army of ageing baby boomers wanting to protect suburbia, Sydney needs a new swat squad of younger urban dwellers to support the new apartmentia’.
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Botanical illustration from the early Museum

Published on June 5, 2013 by Lynne McNairn in Environment, Object of the week and objects. 0 Comments Tags: Agard Hagman, botanical art, botany, Joseph Maiden, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Tristania laurina, Water Gum.

This painting is another botanical illustration by Agard Hagman from 1887.

The first curator of the Museum of Applied and Sciences was the botanist Joseph Maiden who later became Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens. In 1887 Australia’s natural resources were little explored. A major focus for the museum during it’s early years was the collection of Australian plants and the investigation of their potential for commercial purposes. During the late 1880s many drawings were commissioned from Agard Hagman.
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An evocative object: sail-maker’s seam rubber

Published on May 22, 2013 by Debbie Rudder in Industry, Museology and objects. 0 Comments Tags: bone tools, evocative objects, sail-making, seam rubber, Sherry Turkle.

Powerhouse Museum Collection, object H8736. Gift of the Australian Museum, 1969.

When I picked up this small bone tool in our basement store, I experienced a visceral reaction, the shock of sudden realisation: it linked me to a great-grandfather I never met. The object evoked thoughts and emotions as I remembered listening to countless stories told by my grandfather, Hal Hooker. He was a warm, fun-loving raconteur, a first-class cricketer and a professional radio and TV sports commentator.

I vividly recalled him telling me that his father George was tall, had huge hands, and was boxing champion of the British merchant navy. Once George’s sailing days were over, he settled in Sydney and set up a canvas-goods business. He must have learned sail-making skills while at sea – and he would have used an object like the one I was holding.

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How do you package and send glass objects to Washington State ?

Published on April 22, 2013 by Kate Chidlow in Conservator's Corner, Museology and objects. 0 Comments Tags: crating glass, Transporting glass, Washington Museum of glass.

2005/188/1 Glass diorama, ‘Little Known Facts’, glass, designed and made by Tom Moore, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, 2004

Very carefully. This was the dilemma that 2 conservators and 2 registrars were recently faced with.To ensure a safe transit, each of the beautiful delicate glass objects has had a padded acid –free box made for it. Continue reading ‘How do you package and send glass objects to Washington State ?’

Doing jigsaws at work, recapturing an 1880s image

Published on March 20, 2013 by Kate Chidlow in Chemistry, Collections, Conservator's Corner, objects, Photography, Posters and Regional Services. 0 Comments Tags: conservation, experiments, Freeman Brothers Studio, glass plate negatives, museum object storage, photography, Photoshop, preservation.

The Mr Taylor recovered glass plate negative

The recaptured image from an all but destroyed glass plate negative

Most people don’t have the patience to attempt what our recent intern, Amir Mogadam from the Universtiy of Newcastle has just finished – probably one of the most challenging jigsaws you’re ever likely to see. But conservators are a patient if somewhat quirky mob. Amir worked with conservator Rebecca Main on a storage project to condition report, treat and rehouse a collection of large glass plate negatives (515 x 415mm) which were produced around 1870-1880 at the Freeman Brothers Studio, Sydney.
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Counting cash with brass – cash register from 1900

Published on January 16, 2013 by Lynne McNairn in Object of the week and objects. 2 Comments Tags: antique cash registers, brass cash register, cash register, National Cash Register Co, NCR, retailing, Whats in Store Exhibition.

86/4466 Cash register made by The National Cash Register Co, Dayton, Ohio, United States of America, c. 1900

With Christmas over and the sales in full swing, it seemed like a good time to look at this beautiful old cash register.

This cash register was made in about 1900 by the National Cash Register Company, in Dayton, Ohio the first company to manufacture and promote cash registers. This machine is an example of the ‘brass era’ when cash registers were designed to look beautiful as well as register sales. They featured elaborate moulded brass casings and viewing panels so that people could look through to the mechanism inside. Such machines would have been important status symbols and indicated to customers that this was a thriving business.

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The halcyon days of the Sunbeam motorcycle

Published on November 14, 2012 by Lynne McNairn in Object of the week, objects, Planes, Trains, Automobiles and Engines and transport. 0 Comments Tags: English motor cycles, John Marsden, John Marsden Ltd, motor bikes, Sunbeam 500cc touring motorcycle 1929, vintage motor bike, vintage motorcycles.

B2577 Motorcycle and parts, 'Sunbeam' touring motorcycle, painted metal/plastic, John Marston Ltd, Wolverhampton, England, 1929

Sales catalogue for Sunbeam motorcycles, England, 1929

This charming drawing is from the cover of a sales catalogue for the 1929 range of Sunbeam motorcycles. The drawing shows a man astride his Sunbeam in the English countryside, with an empty country road stretched out behind him. These were the days of little traffic, few road rules and certainly no helmets. Driving and motorcycling could be pure adventure!
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Rare Doulton dessert plate painted by Louis Bilton with Australian wildflowers

Published on October 3, 2012 by Lynne McNairn in Art, ceramics, Object of the week and objects. 0 Comments Tags: Australian wildflower painting, Australian wildflowers, botanical art, Calytrix tetragona, China painting, Doulton and Co, Louis Bilton.

2007/16/1 Dessert plate, Australian wildflowers, porcelain (bone china), made by Doulton & Co, painted by Louis Bilton, Burslem, Staffordshire, England, c. 1892

This beautiful dessert plate from the collection features a plant common in Sydney bushland but unusual as a subject for china painting. The plant is the Fringe Myrtle or Calytrix tetragona. Waratahs, Flannel Flowers, Christmas Bells, Wattle and Gum Leaves are frequent subjects but the Fringe Myrtle has not attracted many artists to its cause. The Museum database notes:
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The Bradbury motorcycle and sidecar – respectable transport

Published on August 16, 2012 by Lynne McNairn in holidays, Object of the week, objects and transport. 0 Comments Tags: Bradbury motorcycle, Bradbury sidecar, holiday transport, motorbikes, sidecars.

B1174 – Motor cycle and sidecar made by Bradbury & Co Ltd, Oldham, England, 1914.

Motorcycles or motorbikes can have unsavoury connotations in current times with the phrase ‘outlaw motorcycle gang’ rarely out the headlines but in 1914 when the Bradbury motorcycle and sidecar were built they were the height of middle class respectability.
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Photographing the 1874 Transit of Venus

Published on June 6, 2012 by Geoff Barker in Object of the week, objects, Photography, science, Scientific Instruments and The TAM team. 0 Comments Tags: 1874, 2012, astronomy, Camera, Dallmeyer, Fairfax, George Airy, Greenwich, H C Russell, Janssen, Obrevatory, photographs, photography, photoheliograph, Royal Observatory, scientific instruments, Scroeder, Sydney, Transit of Venus.

Composite portrait, frontispiece for publication 'Transit of Venus 1874', 1892, Powerhouse Museum,P3548-780

The Transit of Venus on 6 June 2012 is the latest occurrence of an event that has shaped the scientific history of Australia. Captain Cook’s expedition to observe the 1769 transit in Tahiti led to the European settlement of Australia. The 1874 transit may not have been quite as auspicious but it did lead to some major advances in the use of photography for astronomical observations.

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Archive for the 'objects' Category

Suburbia, apartmentia, adapturbia

Botanical illustration from the early Museum

An evocative object: sail-maker’s seam rubber

How do you package and send glass objects to Washington State ?

Doing jigsaws at work, recapturing an 1880s image

Counting cash with brass – cash register from 1900

The halcyon days of the Sunbeam motorcycle

Rare Doulton dessert plate painted by Louis Bilton with Australian wildflowers

The Bradbury motorcycle and sidecar – respectable transport

Photographing the 1874 Transit of Venus

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