Decipher our collections,
discover hidden archives
and contribute to knowledge

This project will see the transcription of a second Sales Day Book from the nationally significant Gembrook/C.A. Nobelius & Sons Nursery Collection, held by Emerald Museum, Victoria. At its peak, the Nobelius Nursery was the largest fruit and ornamental tree exporter in the southern hemisphere. The Emerald Museum’s Nobelius Nursery sub-collection includes a series of nationally significant cash books and ledgers from the Nobelius Nursery. In 2024, the digitisation of 23 hardcover and paperback catalogues and ledgers from this collection was undertaken, with the support of a NLA Community Heritage Grant. Through this selected sales ledger, spanning the period of 1916 - 1920, the destinations of stock purchased from Nobelius Nursery can be traced, with potential for research into any extant plantings that exemplify the Nursery’s influence on fruit and ornamental tree supply within Australia and abroad. This specific Sales Day Book has been selected as a corresponding Stock Catalogue (1915) has also been digitised and may serve as a dictionary of key terms found in the handwritten ledger. 

While the ledgers are currently being made available on Victorian Collections and Trove, it is expected the transcription of key fields of data will contribute to research and studies across multiple disciplines. This project may benefit the approximately 419,600 students studying agriculture, environmental, commerce and related studies at vocational and tertiary levels across Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022). Moreover, horticulture is Australia's third largest agricultural industry, and admissions into higher education horticulture-related programs have increased by 20-30% since 2020 (Greenlife Industry Australia, 2021). The information contained in these documents is crucial for a whole variety of researchers, such as those studying international relations, companion planting, climate change, economics during WWI, and the introduction of exotic plant and tree species to Australia.