POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Collection of 'Nally Ware'

Object No. H3743A

The museum's plastics collection began in the 1930s with the acquisition of specimens of plastic raw materials and finished products. The collection was driven largely by Arthur de Ramon Penfold (1890-1980), a former industrial chemist, who worked as curator and later director of the museum from 1927 until 1955. Between 26 and 28 of September 1934, Sydney Technical College's Chemical Society and the Sydney Technological Museum collaborated to develop what was advocated as the first Plastics Industry Exhibition in Australia. A permanent display of plastics was established at the museum, and was described by the Sunday Telegraph as 'the best display of plastics and fibres in the world ... show(ing) the complete history of plastics from first experiments to the latest developments' (Sunday Telegraph, 1945). The exhibition label for these objects states that they are: 'Samples of the first plastic articles to be moulded in Sydney.' Though it could be disputed that Nally were the first to mould plastic articles in Sydney, they were pioneers in this industry. These objects document the range of applications of moulded plastics. These objects are part of a large collection of plastics and plastic moulding powders acquired by the museum during Arthur Penfold's career. The collection gives insight into a period of great social, material, technological and scientific development, along with some of the aims and collecting practices of the museum at the time. REFERENCES: A. Penfold, News Bulletin of the Sydney Technological Museum, No. 6, September, 1941, p.4. A. S. Harrison, 'The Plastics Industry in Australia', Australasian Manufacturer, August 30, 1944. K. Fahey, 'An Island of Plastics': Australian Plastics Processing in the 1980s, The Editors Desk Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 1989. Rachel Dowling / Erika Dicker Assistant Curators, May 2008.