About the Collections

Natural History

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Natural History *

The divisions of this collection largely contain specimens I have collected myself along with some occasional purchases.

Divisions of Natural History:

  • Marine Zoology, including shells, sponges, and urchin tests;

  • Land Snails;

  • Entomology;

  • Ornithology, including bird nests and skeletons;

  • Botanical Curios, such as dried gourds, unusual seed pods, etc.;

  • Algae and Sea Plants, pressed and dried;

  • Geology and Fossils.

All the specimens were collected responsibly or with appropriate permissions, and in the case of zoological items, were always from already-deceased animals.

This collection will require some work before it can be uploaded to the digital catalogue, so please be patient while we endeavour to photograph everything!

A light brown, sea sponge with a long, tapered tail, isolated on a white background.

Sponge. MZ40.

Gourd with the top stem area resembling the head and a curved neck creating a creative shape.

Bottle Gourd. BC1.

Antiques, Art & Anthropology

Green glass bowl with a scalloped edge and intricate radial pattern inside, placed on a dark background.

Uranium glass Art Deco dish under UV light. A79.

This department showcases my collections of various antique, vintage and collectable items I have purchased from antique shops, auctions and sites like ebay.com and gumtree.com.

Divisions of Antiques, Art & Anthropology:

  • Antiques and Anthropology, including ornaments, decorative arts, technology, furniture, costume and instruments;

  • Artworks, including original works, prints, and selected photographs - framed and unframed;

  • Coins, Medals and Tokens;

  • Musical records and mechanical reproduction items, which can be viewed on their own page!

This will be the first collection uploaded to the digital catalogues.

Contemporary

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Contemporary *

This department comprises some of the collecting I have undertaken for things which do not fit with the other collections of my museum.

Divisions include:

  • Photographs, documents and clippings from the 2020-2023 Covid-19 Pandemic;

  • State and Federal election ephemera (letters, How to Vote cards, campaign flyers);

  • General social history ephemera;

  • Badges and Pins representing various social causes.

Postal & Telephone

Black vintage rotary telephone on a plain white surface with a gray background.

Central Battery 1930s-1940s PMG 300 series bakelite telephone. PT2024.49.

This collection is separated from Antiques, Art and Anthropology by virtue of it being almost exclusively concerned with the history of postal, telegraph and telephone services in Australia from the colonial period until the breakup of the Commonwealth Postmaster-General’s Department into Telecom and Australia Post in the 1970s.

Many of the items in this collection are in working condition and are actively used in a museum-wide telephone network!

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