Category Archives: Uncategorized

18th March 2024

Teledexes (telephone indexes)

Carol is packing up. So many memories. So many items that were once commonplace but are now obsolete (Or nearly so. I just noticed teledexes are still for sale!)

I’ve seen it claimed that teledexes and rolodexes  were marketted in the 1950s, but that is incorrect. They were advertised in Australia as early as 1907. They were a way of organising all your contact telephone numbers alphabetically, with a quick selection my sliding the button to the relevent letter then pushing the opening tab. In the 1990s business phones were introduced that incorporated a teledex function amongst other features.  No need now with mobile phones! Unless of course your phone dies and your back-up didn’t work …

Coolamon-Ganmain Farmers’ Review (NSW), 19th July 1907 page 12.

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 28th November 1940 page 4.

The Land (Sydney), 20th December 1940 page 20.

Searching in Trove ( https://trove.nla.gov.au) I found new articles involving teledexes. In 1951 a Federal minister complained he had been refused an application to purchase a teledex for his Adelaide office, which he thought was ridiculous in light of the fact that in Adelaide the government kept a pool of 80 cars and 22 drivers. In 1991 a secretary of a jailed businessman was cross-examined on how she tried to cover up links between her boss and a politician he had tried to bribe. She had burnt several phone messages about the bribe and ripping a page out of the teledex that contained the contact number of a person involved, before replacing the page.

AS this story comes from the Australian Jewish Times I am free of the charge of racial sterotyping:

Australian Jewish Times (Melbourne), 16th December 1988 page 56.

Now for something strange: From the Women’s Weekly issue 6th November 1968. A desk set to crochet for a teenager, including a teledex cover.

“These pleasant presents will encourage teenage tidiness.”

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17th March 2024

New Finds

Embassy

The card on the left is an uncommon hybrid card between an earlier and later style. The first Embassy cards featuring the brand within the map of Australia date from 1959. They had no printed price, rounded corners, and no added cotton. Soon after (possibly the same or following year) they were changed to a copy of G. Herring’s cards with the added cotton. The corners were no longer rounded, and prices were printed on the cards, as seen on the card at the right. The hybrid card has the new added cotton, but still has rounded corners. As no price had been printed, a sticker had to be added. They were likely to be using up old cards as they shifted to the new.

Maxart

These date from the mid 1960s.

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16th March 2023

New Finds

C.1960 Beutron Opal-Glo

Early 1960s Beutron

As with yesterday’s Opal-Glo card, these cards have the style (or stock) number, and also the number of buttons to be sewn onto the card. In this case it is not so much a marketting intent, but a guide to the people sewing the buttons. What an effort to stamp evey card. Surely there could have been another way to give instructions to the workers, for example on a slip of paper supplied with a bulk lot of cards and buttons?

c. 1963  Beutron

“New” Beutron must refer to the new ownership that occurred in 1963, when Burns Philips sold the interest they had in G. Herring P/L since 1938, and  F.W. Williams Holdings Ltd bought a 50 percent interest in the firm, now called Beutron Australia Ltd.

Siliconised

The term ‘siliconised’, referring to a silicon finish that made fabrics waterproof. It was first mentioned in Australia in 1954. Soon carpets and venetian blinds , even rock carvings  were siliconised for protection. by 1961 there were siliconised hand care products (barrier creams). In 1962 firms were offering siliconising treatments to protect your carpets and furnishings. In this case, I guess the treatment improved the buttons wash resistance.

Queensland Country Life, 1st July 1954 page 6.

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15th March 2024

Imitators

Since the 18th century, if not earlier, button manufacturers have used their ingenuity to fashion buttons from materials that are a cheaper substitute for more costly materials whilst having a similar appearance. A classic example of this were the cut steel buttons which were, to quote the 1991 edition of The Big Book of Buttons, ” .. originally conceived as a substitute for diamonds and their substitute, marcasite … ” and glass buttons made to imitate jet, fabric, passementerie, jewels, etc. In the modern era, plastics have been used to imitate probably all other materials, and also each other. In fact the developement of plastics was driven by the need to find substitutes for materials such as ivory and tortoiseshell, so you might say that imitation has been built into plastics DNA.

Beutron Style 212

These Beutron Opal-Glo buttons are moulded to represent fabric covered buttons with decorative stitching around the circumference. It is marked as ‘Style 212’. G. Herring, from the late 1940s-early 1950s made a point of labeling the style numbers of their buttons on some cards, an effort no other firm bothered with. I wonder why they did?

Below is a detail from a 1950 advert of this style of button.

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14th March 2024

Uniform Button

Royal Aero Club of New South Wales

Backmark: Angus & Coote Ltd. This is what happens when you don’t pay for a good diesinker to design your button! A very awkward and cramped flying kangaroo!

From a 1936 yearbook.

Thanks again to Cam Smith.

In 1914 some officers at the Point Cook base of the newly formed Australian Flying Corps established the Australian Aero Club. In 1920, after the interruption of the war, a New South Wales section was formed. Under the leadership of Colonel Oswald Watts, they became heavily involved in air safety, including airworthiness, safety standards and pilot training.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 12th November 1919 page 11.

The Daily Telegrapgh (Sydney), 23rd May 1921 page 5. Unfortunately,, Watt drowned in the surf, aged only 43 years.

The Labour Daily (Sydney), 1st August 1935 page 4.

The Royal title was bestowed in 1935. Unfortunately, the club was placed into receivership during the 1990s, only being re-established in 2023 as a not-for-profit organisation.

The Australian Woman’s Weekly, 1st April 1981 page 11.

https://royalaero.com.au/our-heritage/

Angus & Coote Ltd

Angus & Coote, jewellers, were established in Sydney in 1895, and became a Limited company in 1912. They specialised in jewellry, time-pieces, giftware, and trophies. From 1908-1942 they had divisions specialising in opticial services, and from 1934-1992 sold hearing aids! They are still in business but no longer for hearing and vision.

Sunday Times (Sydney), 1st December 1895 page 4.

They gave evidence at the 1935 tariff enquiry into badges, buckles and buttons. This is the first uniform button I have seen marked by them, although I am aware they made badges for the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland at one time. From 1937-1945 they advertised that offered repairs of military button and badges, as well as for jewellery. I found only one advert with gold sleeve links featured. Unlike some jewellers, they did not seem to make or sell button gift sets.

The Highlander : monthly magazine of the 30th Battalion, N.S.W. Scottish Regiment, July 1937 page 20.

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13th March 2024

Uniform Buttons

Thanks again to Cam Smith for identifying uniform buttons for me.

Urrbrae Agricultural High School

Located in Adelaide, South Australia, this high school has a forty hectare farm and  a dedicated wetland area to allow for studies in agriculture, animal husbandry, crop production along more standard secondary school subjects.

It was established on land donated by Peter waite in 1913, and bequested in 1922 by his widow, with government funding approved in 1926. However, building had not yet begun in 1929 when it was added to a list of schools to be built urgently (so claimed!) to provide work for the unemployed within the building trade (presumably due to the Wall Street Crash) with the opening of the unfinished school in 1932. The initial intention was to provide boarding for country students, this never eventuated.

The Brisbane Courier, 22nd November 1922 page 12.

It appears it was taken for granted that this was a boys school in the early days; boys were receiving ” a sound general secondary education and a sound grounding in the elemental theory and practice of agriculture.” (As reported in 1953). After all, girls just had to marry farmers, not actually be farmers, right? It was not until 1972 that any girls were admitted, with the school becoming co-educational in 1974.

The Mail (Adelaide), 12th December 1953 page 8.

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11th March 2024

Tailor’s Button

J. Bidencope Hobart Town

This trouser/pants/braces button shows just how a humble button, not intrinsically valuable,  can shed light on history and be a fascinating object non-the-less.

Hobart Town

The British, motivated by their usual paranoia about the French, set up the first European settlement on the eastern shore of the Derwent River in 1803. In 1804 the settlement was moved to the current site of Hobart, and a penal colony was established with the military, settlers and convicts from the failed and abandoned Port Phillip settlement (which had been set up near present day Sorrento). The town was originally known as Hobart Town, or Hobarton, after Lord Hobart, the then British Secretary of State for war and the colonies. it was not until early 1881 that it was renamed Hobart.

The Mercury (Hobart), 12th September 1903 page 1. Details from a longer article.

The Tasmanian (Launceston), 1st January 1881 page 14.

From the Australian Dictionary of Biography, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bidencope-joseph-12797,  it is claimed that Joseph Bidencope operated his own business from 1858 in Hobart Town. He advertised for the first time in September 1860, and by 1861 was describing himself as a naval and military tailor. He was also supplying government uniform contracts.

The Mercury (Hobart Town), 1st November 1861 page 3.

The Mercury (Hobart town), 5th December 1860 page 3.

In 1869 the firm moved to Murray Street and expanded into producing and selling hats, for which they became renown. In 1881, when Hobart town became Hobart, he was still trading as J. Bidencope.

University of Tasmania collections (Image Number oai:sparc.utas.edu.au:UTASSPARC_14118, AU TAS UTAS SPARC W9-Ph-133-6) of Murray Street, c.1880, showing Bidendorps store near the centre.

It was not until 1887 the firm was quoted as ‘Bidencope and Son’, then in 1891 as ‘Bidencope & Sons’ . From 1913 until 1920 the firm was referred to as either Bidencopes Ltd or Bidencope & Son Ltd, then Bidencope & Son Pty ltd from 1921 until around 1979. The family had sold the business in 1977.

The Mercury (Hobart), 26th November 1924 page 5. The updated store in 1926. Above the entrance is the claim “Est. 1858”.

Libraries of Tasmania (Image Number oai:oai.statelibrary.tas.gov.au:NS6404-1-11) a bus in front of the store in 1956-7.

In 1994 R. M. Williams was applying to have Centrepoint Fashions Group Pty Ltd (trading as Bidencopes) wound up. Whether this happen, I cannot tell, however, a firm by the name of Bidencopes Pty Ltd was registered in 2020.

For a detailed history of the birth of Tasmania, from a newspaper edition at the celebration of its centenary: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/855171

See http://www.austbuttonhistory.com/branded-buttons/branded-buttons-tailors-buttons-a-h/#B  for a button marked Bidencopes Ltd.

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10th March 2024

New Finds

Realistic dog buttons.

These lovely plastic buttons with hand-painted detailing are found on Rex C. Norris ‘Jack and Jill’ cards. Some, presumably the earlier, ‘Jack and Jill’ cards are marked as produced soley by Rex C. Norris, which may date from 1940. In 1946 Mr Norris combined his two concerns, ‘Rex C Norris’ and ‘Norris Accessories’ into ‘Rex C. Norris Pty Ltd”. Blue versions of this button appear on a Pty Ltd version of the card. They were advertised only in 1953.  Therefore these dogs date from approximately 1946-1953.

 

Glass Kangaroo

I hazard that this button was produced in “Western Germany”  in the early 1950s, although it could have been produced in Czechoslavakia. Similar glass buttons with gold or silver painted highlights exist for kookaburras and koalas. I also have a black glass platypus without painted highlighting.

See http://www.austbuttonhistory.com/australian-button-history/australiana-fauna-and-flora-on-buttons-and-other-kitsch-kkks/  for more examples.

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9th March 2024

New Finds

Circa 1960 Beutron

On the back of this card it states that Beutron factories existed in New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan. As they opened a factory in South Africa in 1962-63, this card dates before then. I have not found any information about the Japan factory or factories. The card also stated that whilst the card was printed in Japan, the card itself, and the buttons, were produced in Australia.

 

Walkers Buckle

On the back of the packaging is a Myers price sticker for 55 cents. ‘Fashion Accessories’ was a registered brand of Walkers around 1983-5.

The Canberra Times, 26th January 1985 page 31.

Although the advert claims the firm had ‘been trading successfully for over 60 years’ they were actually selling themselves short. The earliest incarnation, ran by Ernest Richard Walker was described as a fancy goods manufacturer under the name ‘Ernie Walker’ in Sydney, from 1919 until 1923.

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8th March 2024

Country Fire Brigades Board

Backmark: K C Luke Pty Ltd Melb. Date 1930-1944.

Established under the Fire Brigades Act of 1890 to have responsibility for all fire brigades greater than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Melbourne whilst the Metropolitan Fire Board (MFB) took care of Melbourne and its near suburbs. The first meeting was held on 18th March 1881. It was largely responsible larger towns such as Ballarat, Geelong and Bendigo which left rural services in the hands of local landowners with little assistance, training or equipment although 220 local units were formed by 1931, and by 1944, with the Forests Commission’s partial support, 768 Bush Fire Brigades.

The calamitous Black Friday bush fires in 1939 lead to a Royal Commission recommending the creation of a single fire service for country Victoria to improve the ineffective rural services. Possibly delayed by the War, the 1943/44 fires placed further pressure on parliament to finally implement this. The Country Fire Authority (CFA) was appointed on 19th December 1944.

Photos below: published in the Australasian (Melbourne), 20th March 1897 page 24, of Fire Brigades participating in an annual demonstration and parade.

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