This hand axe was found in 1931 by Louis Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, and is dated to about 1.2 million years ago. Continue reading
Objects Through Time: exploration
A collection of telegraphy equipment used by the Postmaster General’s Department of between 1901 and 1937. Continue reading
A set of mariners compass thought to have belong to British Explorer William Dampier. The compass is made from brass with the inscription Poncet 9 on the barrel. Continue reading
A basic dugout canoe constructed in an ancient and universal style called the ‘5 part canoe’. Continue reading
Former mosque relocated from the Afghan Camp and later the cemetery in Broken Hill. Continue reading
The Greg Ritchie Negative Collection is a collection of over 3000 negatives featuring buildings and other sites in the City of Canterbury. Between 1990 and 1998 Canterbury City Council staff documented their day-to-day duties through photographs. Continue reading
The shield holds considerable historic value of the first contact between Europeans and Aboriginal people on the east coast of Australia. Continue reading
The letter from Frenchman Francis Barrallier to Governor King in 1802 during an expedition seeking a route across the Great Dividing Range is historically significant as a rare document describing and interpreting a French view of the pre-1788 Sydney Aboriginal people’s environment and culture. Continue reading
Discover the Dutch Vergulde Draeck Collection excavated from the VOC ship Vergulde Draeck that was wrecked on the Western Australian coast in 1656. Continue reading
Discover the Lapérouse Museum’s collection of objects from the ill fated expedition of Jean François de Lapérouse in 1785 -88, France’s great voyage of discovery of the Pacific. La Pérouse met the British First Fleet and Aboriginal people at Botany Bay NSW on the 26th January 1788. Continue reading
The watercolours have historical significance as rare portraits and objects related to probably the most important figures from the early colonial period who brought civil administration, arts and architecture and a humanising and egalitarian influence that transformed New South Wales from a gaol to a colony. Continue reading
Discover the collection of tools, shingles and convict made bricks and nails from the early township of Liverpool NSW. Continue reading
Discover the Liverpool Scar Tree. There are many Aboriginal scar trees surviving. Most of them are in the rural areas surrounding the city and suburbs, but many still exist in urban areas. Continue reading
Discover the cast iron bow anchor and cannon from HMS Sirius (1780 – 1790). HMS Sirius escorted the British First Fleet on their historic journey to Botany Bay in 1787- 1788. Continue reading
Discover the stump from Frenchmans Cove at La Perouse, New South Wales that was engraved by the crew of the Thetis and Esperance in 1824 to mark the grave of Peré Reçeveur, chaplain and naturalist to France’s great voyage of discovery in the Pacific of 1785 -1788, led by Jean François de Lapérouse. Continue reading
Discover the Dirk Hartog plate, left by Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog when he landed at Shark Bay, Western Australia in 1616. Continue reading
Discover the portrait miniature of Eber Bunker c.1810 founder of the New South Wales colonial whaling and livestock industries and builder of Collingwood House at Liverpool. Continue reading
Discover the 1787 Draught Instructions for Governor Phillip that empowered Captain Arthur Phillip to establish a British Colony at Botany Bay, grant land and issue regulations to the Colony from 1788. Continue reading
The bicorn hat has historical value. It was owned by Matthew Flinders, one of the greatest navigators and cartographers in Australian history, and later by the Flinders family.
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The Proclamation of Governor Bourke, 10 October 1835 is historically significant. It implemented the doctrine of terra nullius upon which British settlement of New Holland was based. National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, U.K. Continue reading
Discover the Endeavour cannon, thrown overboard when Cook’s ship struck a coral reef. Continue reading
Discover the Secret Instructions in a letterbook to Lieutenant James Cook, dated 1768.
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Discover the Sextant used by Captain James Cook on his third Pacific voyage that is from the British National Maritime Museum, London, UK. Continue reading