Table
Maker & role
Board of Ordnance (estab. 15th Century, closed 1855), Producer; Douglas Bros, Manufacturer
Production date
1889
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Object detail
Production place
Collection
Measurements
1 - Table top, L: 181.5 x W: 74.5cm (L: 1815 x W: 745mm); 2 - Legs, H: 76 x W: 75.5 x D: 29.5cm (H: 760 x W: 755 x D: 295mm); 3 - Legs, H: 76 x W: 75.5 x D: 29.6cm (H: 760 x W: 755 x D: 296mm)
Production notes
UK? / Tasmania.
Signature & marks
Various stamps including broad arrows, dates and sheet iron supply companies.
-2 "DOUGLASS BROS / C & M 1899" on bar between legs.
-3 "...RMAN Co / 1912" (?) illegible)
-2 "DOUGLASS BROS / C & M 1899" on bar between legs.
-3 "...RMAN Co / 1912" (?) illegible)
Credit line
Purchase, 2008
Hyde Park Barracks Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Hyde Park Barracks Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
Ordnance table, 1889
Description
These now rare tables, once ubiquitous to Mess rooms, asylums, prisons, poor houses and hospitals were the standard model of transportable, all purpose table. They appear to have been introduced in the 1840s and continued to be used into the first decade of the 20th century.
They were issued extensively to the military, used in workhouses, and by government employees as institutional furniture and anywhere else that robust, utilitarian trestles were required. With imported iron, worked locally, the tops of pine would be through bolted and bound, dropping into the trestle bases.
It is believed these tables came from the asylum at New Norfolk which was run and supplied in a very similar manner to the Destitute Women's Asylum at the Hyde Park Barracks. Less than a dozen are known locally to survive.
They were issued extensively to the military, used in workhouses, and by government employees as institutional furniture and anywhere else that robust, utilitarian trestles were required. With imported iron, worked locally, the tops of pine would be through bolted and bound, dropping into the trestle bases.
It is believed these tables came from the asylum at New Norfolk which was run and supplied in a very similar manner to the Destitute Women's Asylum at the Hyde Park Barracks. Less than a dozen are known locally to survive.
Accession number
HPB2008/2-1:3
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