This trowel was made for the public ceremony surrounding building Princes Bridge.
Image: Jon Augier
Source: Museum Victoria
Museum Victoria acquired 17 items at a major auction held by Noble Numismatics (dealers in rare objects, coins, medals, stamps and banknotes) in Melbourne in early August.
The museum is now home to a snuff box presented to Owsley Cockburn: the owner of the ship that rescued the survivors of the Cataraqui, which had crashed into King Island in 1845 due to a navigation error on its voyage from England. The ship strayed off course and hit rocks on the south side of Fitzmaurice Bay.
Only 9 people survived the disaster, including a single passenger; 406 others died. The survivors spent 5 weeks on the island before being rescued by a passing sealer’s boat.The incident involved the greatest loss of life from any Victorian migrant shipwreck.
Another object purchased at the auction was the presentation trowel created for the public ceremony marking the laying of the foundation stone for Princes Bridge in 1886. The bridge itself, spanning the Yarra River between Swanston Street and St Kilda Road, is a significant piece of Melbourne’s infrastructure, indeed a Melbourne icon. The trowel is considered a marvellous example of engraving and jewellery.
The museum was also able to obtain early aviation items, including the gold medal awarded to the only Australian pilot to complete the Melbourne Centenary Air Race in 1934 from London to Melbourne. Charles James (‘Jimmy’) Melrose was awarded third prize, piloting an aircraft named My Hildergarde after his mother and key sponsor. Another find was a souvenir paper parachute made by Shell, which was intended to be dropped from a plane by Melbourne aviator Basil Watson in 1920. The parachute was never used because Watson suffered a fatal crash at Laverton.
The History and Technology collections comprise 260 000 objects, 300 000 images and 42 000 items of trade literature.