Peanut Butter Christmas

The former ETA Peanut Butter factory in Ballarat Braybrook is pretty much gone now. Once a shining modernist coloured glass box, designed by Frederick Romberg, and some of the framing is stacked.

It was apparently the only Australian design included in the 1962 publication Industriebau, a seminal international text on industrial design, published by the German Institute for Industry.

My recollection, however, is from the santa show done on the top of the awning - a sort of animated illuminated diorama.


Original Wolfgan Sievers image is here: http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictures/0/0/3/im/pi003728.jpg

Image of christmas at ETA by Gary Ayton at http://www.ayton.id.au/gary/genealogy/images/196212_EtaFactory_Xmas.jpg

Melbourne University Archive objects

Here are a couple of odd objects. They come from the University of Melbourne Archives, possibly collected in the 1970s-80s by Frank Strahan, possibly from Melbourne University engineering, chemistry, geology or other department, or from a business that also donated company papers. Unfortunately there are no accession details to go with them.

The first is described as "Rock Over Gauge" and is about 1.5m long with a timber box containing several timber rods.

The other is a group of metal rods, some with turned ends, and two metal rings with wires attached (welded or soldered) I am trying to find out what the writing on a couple is.