Series 02: Norman Martin - photographs, 1922-1998 and realia, ca. 1971 / collected by Jeanne Gehue

PXA 1085
R 970
ON 287

series

ca. 1922-1998

Graphic Materials, Photographs, Medals, Badges

448209

12 photographic prints - 18.6 x 25.4 cm. or smaller - silver gelatin, include 2 mounted)
57 photographic prints - 15 x 21 cm. or smaller - colour
16 negatives - 35 mm. - colour
15 transparencies - 35 mm - colour
2 medals

PXA 1085
NORMAN MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHS
1-2. Norman Martin on church excursion, Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island, 1948
3-4. Norman Martin in Fiji
5. Methodist Central Hall, built 1905, Leichhardt
6-8. Opening of Epworth House, 4 May 1957
9. Leichhardt-Annandale 1st Grade Metropolitan Soccer Team, undefeated 1949 Premiers: manager, Norman Martin; captain, G.Gardiner; minister, Albert Skinner
10. Leichhardt-Annandale Metropolitan Soccer Team, [in uniform ca. 1950]
11a-b. [Foucart Street broom factory picnic, Ferryland, Hunters Hill, 1924 (colour photocopy key to the photograph marked with members of the Ferrier and Grubmeier families, also Richard Ledbetter, Mrs Ernie Wilson and Mrs Baker)]
12. Balmain Fernleigh Football Club, 1922 / Sidney Riley Studios
L to r, back row: H.Sullivan, C.Russell (vice-president); 2nd back row: G.Wilson (v.p.), S.Storey, A.Law, G.Cartwright, J.Adams, F.Hancock, M.Roach; 2nd front row: R.Baker, F.Yabsley, E.Ferrier (captain), J.Smith (president), H.Battin (vice-captain), R.Leadbetter, E.Wilson (v.p.); front row: G.Turner, J.Fisher, A.Phillips; insets: Dr H.K.Porter, F.Baxter, J.Ferrier, W.Clarke

EXTERNAL VIEWS OF THE COTTAGE AND FACTORY, 84 FOUCART STREET
1A. Looking up Foucart Street towards Darling Street. The cream coloured cottage is 84 Foucart Street. Across the road is the old carrier's depot which was occasionally used by the broom factories to transport brooms to Darling Harbour. The horses were stabled elsewhere but this is where the business was run. This building was still in good repair in Oct 1998, current use unknown.
2A. Looking down Foucart Street towards cottage at 84 Foucart Street
3A. Looking down Foucart Lane towards the broom factory. The millet store, now used as a shed, is across the road from the car.
4A. External of window to small office in broom factory
5A. Corrugated iron millet store, Foucart Lane, used by both the Federal and Commonwealth Broom Factories. Both factories shared the cost of the initial cleaning of the millet, done in the lane.




6A. Detail of factory office door with delivery gate
7A. Detail of corrugated hood used to protect steam engine from weather, located rear of factory in the cottage garden
[8A.] Broom factory from Foucart Lane

INTERNAL VIEWS
1B. Detail of office door. The office was located to the left. To the right was louvred glass which looked onto the factory floor. At the end of the small passage one could turn left and go up narrow stairs to the mezzanine, or right onto the factory floor. Originally behind the stud wall of the second photograph was an outside courtyard. As this building was once a foundry, the water tanks were kept there. Broom makers used the area to sort and smoke the millet. in the 1950's the back wall was built and a perspex roof put over the area.
2B. Sandstone boundary wall, the left hand wall of the factory and exterior buildings. Viewer has their back to the factory floor. The windows are part of the office and left are the stairs to the mezzanine
3B. Wooden stairs with corrugated iron back and leading to the mezzanine
4B. View from factory floor to the remains of the mezzanine, office underneath
5B. Detail of one remaining hand hewn beam found on factory floor
6B. On the right hand wall of the factory, the remains of the belt and pulleys used to power broom-making stations. Steam was the first power source, then diesel and kerosene, then finally electricity
7B. Internal view from the factory floor area to smoking-sorting room. The dipping tank can just be seen, next to a brick closet where the millet was "smoked clean"
8B1. Office on the other side of makeshift corrugated iron wall. This wash area adjacent to sandstone dipping tank and the brick smoke closet were in the open until 1950
8B. Door connecting cottage with factory. The Brick wall is part of the smoking closet. The buildings in the courtyard are the toilet and bathhouses of the cottage. This area was closed-in and made part of the factory in the 1950's.

BROOM MACHINES
When Norman Martin bought the Commonwealth Broom Factory, he made it a wholesaler. Hired as a young boy to be a runner, Martin never completed his training and remained a "sewer". The Federal Broom Factory, Fred Street, bought much of the equipment. It was some of this equipment which was later used by the Aboriginal community in north-western NSW to begin a broom co-operative, but most remained at Fred Street. In the 1980's, After the French family sold the Federal, it was stripped of Sabco by the American owners and declared bankrupt. One of the company's creditors was Phil O'Halloran of Tumut, whose family were millet growers who had sold millet to the Federal and the Commonwealth. O'Halloran took the Federal and Commonwealth equipment and the name "Queen Brooms" and set up the Queen Broom Company in Tumut. The C series of photographs were taken in his Tumut factory where he is currently setting up a museum to display the machinery.
1C. A hackler: powered by electricity, hacklers are kept outside to protect against millet dust and debris. It was a noisy, dangerous job, the first to be learnt by runners in their training to be broom makers
2C. Detail of a hackler: 6"-8" teeth on a steel drum scrape the millet before it is sorted into lengths. The hammer, pick and knife are used to finish the task
3C. Broom maker's station
4C. Broom maker's station: now powered by electricity, the spindle is used to join the millet to the handle. The lock is hammered over the top and the broom is ready to be stitched
5C. Broom maker at work. The yellow on the handle is the lock. String loosely binds the millet before stitching
6C. When the stitching machines became semi-automatic, it was possible for women to work as more than just sorters. Previously great physical strength was needed as the quality of the broom was judged on the ties
7C. The millet is guillotined
8C. Modern stitching machine from the Commonwealth Factory when Martin bought it, keeping it after selling all the other equipment to prove he was a broom maker. When he retired Martin sold it to Spiro of P.F. Bradley & Co., Sydney
BROOMS & BRUSHES
1D. Before the modern millet or straw broom, the most common broom was a besom. These besom brooms (handles hickory and twigs native broom) were made by Howard Archford of Barrington Tops
2D. Unstitched millet brooms, Queen Broom Factory, Tumut
3D. Queen, woolshed and kitchen brooms, unstitched, Tumut
4D. Handmade and stitched millet broom from Hungary. Phil O'Halloran bought this broom in a Melbourne clearance shop
5D. Handmade brushes made by the Commonwealth and Federal factories. They are owned by Suzie Cheel who lives across the road from the Commonwealth factory. The corrugated iron is part of the factory

FACTORY, INTERNAL & EXTERNAL
1E-3E. External detail of factory facing Foucart Lane, incl. Albert "Splinter" Giles
4E. Looking into office from factory floor
5E. Corrugated iron wall with timber louvre window looking towards factory floor from the wash & sorting area
6E. View from wash-smoke area to factory floor, the doors and walls originally the exterior walls until the 1950's when enclosed.
7E. Door of smoking closet
8E. Inspector's map of Foucart Street area, 1870's. The broom factory is the last building in the lower right hand corner, last row, the lane being the boundary between Balmain and Leichhardt. The cottage was built later than the factory. Source: water Board Archives, Black Wattle Bay Maps
9E. Tracer's copy of Inspector's map, early 1880's, with cottage shown
10E. Amended copy map showing factory and cottage, 1885
11E. Martin Hall, Wetherill Street, built with funds donated by Norman Martin and still run by the Methodist Church
12E. Martin Hall, opening plaque, 2 Sept 1959
13E. Machine valve on timber truss
14E. Main factory floor

R 970
MEDALS & BADGE
British Empire Medal and Service Medal of the Order of St. John (1975), awarded to Norman Martin, ribbons suspended from a single bar, in British Empire Medal case.
Canterbury Junior Soccer Club, Club Champions & 50 Years affiliation badge, 1972, gilt & blue enamel, with blue and gold ribbon.

ON 287
NEGATIVES
16 colour negatives and 15 colour transparencies

Jean Gehue's original numbering and Contents list

Access via appointment - Applies to R 970 and ON 287

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Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder