Maldon Jan 2006

A bedroom of the gold rush period.
Darn that fire extinguisher !

Service uniforms and memorabilia.

Anyone want to reserve a grave site at Muckleford Cemetery ?
They're cheap !!!
The museum curator told us that this board had to be removed
from the cemetary in case anyone demanded these prices.

He told us not to leave without seeing him first because he had something special to show us.
To get an idea of the size of this banner, compare it with the top of the doorway in the
lower right hand corner. It's kept covered by the blue cloth (which the curator raised
by a pulley setup) supposedly to protect it from deterioration because it's old and fragile.
But apparently the father of the man who donated it to the museum had kept it bundled up
in a box in his garage for years. He'd refused to give it to the museum, saying that it wasn't
his to give, so when he died, his son handed it over.

A symbol of cooperation goes on display
BY DAVID BANNEAR, HERITAGE VICTORIA

THE MALDON BANNER

Funding from Heritage Victoria has allowed a regional heritage treasure, the banner of the Amalgamated Miners Association of Australasia, Maldon Branch, to be conserved so that it can go on public display.

The cotton twill banner painted on both sides with oil based paint, dating to 1887, was purposely made the same size as the Eureka Flag. Prior to the availability of the conservation funding, the banner, due to its great size and poor condition, had to be kept rolled up and out of sight in the Maldon museum.

In the 19th century, conditions in gold mines in Victoria were not good. Pay was poor, and death and injury were commonplace. When a miner was injured or died, there was usually no compensation from the mining company. At Maldon, miners and mine managers lived in a small close-knit community. Mine labourers walked in the same street as the mine owners. They shopped in the same shops, and sat next to each other in church. In time they sought to resolve their differences and the Maldon union banner was designed as a symbol of cooperation.

It features a cameo of a gold miner and an employer, surrounded by the inscription- CONTENTION & STRIFE DECLINED, LABOUR & CAPITAL RECONCILED. For many years the banner was carried through Maldon at the head of huge processions.

The Maldon banner is one of the oldest surviving union banners in Australia and has some features that make it unique: for example, its design harks back to the British banner design of the 1830s.

Getting the banner from storage to display was a collaborative effort. Historian Andrew Reeves, an authority on Australian union banners, provided expertise and coordinated the conservation project.The Maldon Museum & Archives Association and Parks Victoria funded the packing and transport of the banner to ARTLAB Australia in Adelaide, where Kristin Phillips undertook the conservation work.

The banner is now once again in the care of the Maldon Museum & Archives Association and on display in the Maldon Museum. The museum building itself is very much part of Maldon’s history. One of the earliest projects undertaken bythe Maldon Shire Council in the 1860s was the construction of a market building. The market did not flourish, and closed after only a few years. The building was then converted into Council chambers and was occupied by the Shire until 1964.

The Maldon museum is open to the public every afternoon from 1.30PM to 4.30PM.

For more information, please email David Bannear atdavid.bannear@dse.vic.gov.au