From a remote hilltop

This photo was submitted by the Collingwood Historical Society as part of week 47 of the the 2014 Flickr Challenge Friday group for the theme of "Remote".

It looks across leafy Abbotsford to the skyscrapers of Melbourne. In the middle distance left is the Collingwood Town Hall.

Collingwood Town Hall clock 52/24/2 #fp13 #wind #blogjune Day 14

Collingwood Town Hall clock 52/24/2 #fp13 #wind, a photo by Collingwood Historical Society on Flickr.

The clock in the Collingwood Town Hall tower is a good example of the complexity of the mechanisms needed to wind and keep going a four faced clock in a tower. The clock was not installed in the tower at the time of the opening of the new Collingwood Town Hall but was installed a couple of years later. It is thought to have been donated by Cr Eade and to have been originally installed in the Melbourne GPO.

This photo was submitted by the Collingwood Historical Society to the Flickr Friday Photos challenge under the theme of "Wind".

Craftsman Larry Harrigan's work 52/11/1

Craftsman Larry Harrigan's work 52/11/1, a photo by Collingwood Historical Society on Flickr.

This photograph is part of the Flickr Friday Photos 2012 group under the theme of "Craft".

We don't know much about the many craftsmen who would have worked on the building of Collingwood Town Hall. But we do know about the work of Master Plasterer Larry Harrigan who worked on the restoration of the building in the 1980s.

This photo of the south east corner of the building shows many examples of work that needed the hands of a skilled craftsman like Larry. Examples of this are the capitals of the columns, the window arch, the parapet in front of the window and the urns on top.

There are a number of photos of Larry at work. You can see them here. There is also a DVD about him available at Collingwood Library. One of them is shown below where he puts the finishing touches to a cement-rendered urn similar ro those in the photograph at the beginning of the post.

Former Collingwood Library 52/7/2

Former Collingwood Library 52/7/2, a photo by Collingwood Historical Society on Flickr.

This photo is submitted as part of the Flickr Friday Photos 2012 group under the theme of "Reading".

Collingwood Library was located in the northern portion of the Collingwood Town Hall once it was opened in 1887 and municipal functions moved here. Initially there was a subscribers' reading room and lecture hall on the ground floor and ladies' and men's reading rooms on the upper floor.

Collingwood Library became part of Carringbush Regional Library (Collingwood and Richmond Councils) in 1976 and moved around the corner to Stanton Street in July 1978. At the time of becoming part of the region, Collingwood Library consisted of a staff area at the front of the ground floor, a storage area under the stairs, and another one to the south of the adult library as well as the adult library. Upstairs were the children's library and associated workroom. The men's reading room had by that time become the Upper Supper Room.