Visitors Book from the Munitions Supply Laboratories, Maribyrnong

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1923 - 1943

Overview

Cloth covered ledger book with feint-ruled paper. Each page has been divided into three columns using red pen - the first for the date, the second for the name, and the third and largest for the address or description. The book covers are blue with a red contrasting binding.
Both the first and last pages of the book have been handwritten by someone in the Munitions Supply Laboratories (M.S.L.) and document the visit of a large government and military delegation in 1923, and the visit of Eleanor Roosevelt and her party on 6 September, 1943.
Each page is a snapshot of social history. There are governnment ministers and officials from Australia and abroad; people from government departments such as C.S.I.R., Forestry Commission, State Electricity Commission; academics and students from various universities and institutions; leaders of industry and manufacturing; journalists; and members of the armed forces, from cadets through to high ranking officers.

Historical information

The Commonwealth Government Explosives Factory was the key installation in a network of defence factories which made Maribyrnong the Arsenal of Australia from 1910 to the 1980s.
The Explosives Factory was critical in the establishment of defence industries in Australia, making it one of the most important outcomes of Federation effecting defence and foreign policy in the 20th century.
The EFM was the first Government explosives factory (and only one until the Second World War) manufacturing Cordite for ammunition shells and other propellants and explosives.
The Defence site of 315 acres housed up to 500 structures in its heyday. The Munitions Supply Laboratories (M.S.L.) was another of the important facilitires on the site.
Local and foreign dignitaries were taken on tours of the site to show off Australia's defence capabilities.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW00117

Item type

Administrative Records