Atherton and Herberton Qld. 3 August 2017

We came across to Atherton, from Georgetown yesterday and the drive of 320km was a chore, climbing all the way and right into a headwind. Arriving at the Big4 at Atherton was a relief and we have a nice private, bushy spot where we can relax for a few days.

We were last here 4 years ago, but the 'must do' here is to go the 18km up the road to Herberton and visit the Herberton Historic Village, and it didn't disappoint. If anything it was better than before with more buildings, better displays and lots of manicured lawns where there was once gravel.

Herberton Historic Village. Herberton Qld

We took way too many photos to put in here, so I'll take you for a walk and show the things that interested me:

Herberton Historic Village. Herberton Qld

I have a big tin box full of pennies that my mother and I once collected. The thing at the time was that  nobody was ever going to have a 1930 penny, so the collection book didn't even have a place for one, and to be sure, I've never ever seen one. So when we came across this in one of the buildings I just had to take a snap (sorry about the blur) and if it's one of the reputed 1200 let into circulation, then its worth a lot more than One Penny. Rubbed ones like this might be worth $20,000 or more.

Herberton Historic Village. Herberton Qld

I love all kinds of old machinery, including cars, and they have many many cars, trucks, tractors and the like. The interesting thing is that they have all been sprayed with a clear rust converter / preventer which keeps them all in this same condition almost forever, and they just look so much better. It's something that I've not seen anywhere else.

Herberton Historic Village. Herberton Qld

There are signs like this all over the place, but this one caught my fancy, showing an advertisement for Golden Fleece petrol. HC Sleigh and Co imported petrol from the USA and sold it in drums as Golden Fleece. They installed the first petrol pumps in 1920 and were the first company to have single brand service stations. Ultimately the company was consumed by Caltex in 1981 and the Golden Fleece emblems have long disappeared from our roads, although you still get 'fleeced' every time you buy fuel.

Herberton Historic Village. Herberton Qld

And cameras, of which I have had a 'few'. Pride of place here is the Brootherm half-plate studio camera, used by Jack Cato, the pre-emminent studio photographer in Melbourne in the 1920s,  to take snaps of 'persons of importance' such as Prime Minister Billy Hughes and the world famous singer Dame Nellie Melba.

Radiola Personal Portable radio
Herberton Historic Village. Herberton Qld

Having bought my first transistor radio when I was 17, and copped an earful for wasting two-weeks wages on a plaything, I was instantly drawn to this portable, about the size of a small house brick. I have never seen one like it and all I can find out is that it's marked 'Radiola Personal Portable'. Radiola was the brand name of RCA, Radio Corporation of America. 

Elderslie House
Herberton Historic Village. Herberton Qld

Elderslie House
Herberton Historic Village. Herberton Qld

Elderslie House was the residence of the Newell family that founded Herberton in the 1880 and built this in 1888. He was an early tin miner and found his Eureka moment at a site they called herberton. The house was transported here (as were almost all the other buildings) and fully restored and it is magnificent inside and out. As you can see from the dining-table setting, the one time miner and one time mayor of Herberton, did pretty well for himself.

Martin's Chemist
Herberton Historic Village. Herberton Qld

This is inside the Apothecary known as Martin's Chemist and is fabulous; row upon row of beautiful clean bottles of all kinds of strange and mysterious chemicals and potions. Oddly, the bottle marked 'Arsenic' was empty. Arsenic was used extensively at the time for controlling pests, extracting precious metals from base ores and of course, curing all sorts of ills, just as long as the dose was right!

Herberton Historic village owes its life to the original collectors Harry & Ellen Skennar, and of course to the current owners and people who obviously love our history and this country: Connie and Craig Kimberley.