Treatise into Virtue and Merit.

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Sign in to save favourites.

Type
Books
Date
1749
Materials
Card, Leather, Paper
Collection
Springfield - Faithfull Family collection
Accession number
2005.0005.0310

Description

Book with a tan hardback cover. Number '1' is printed on the spine, with decorative gold edging. Information on the title page: "CHARACTERISTICS. / VOLUME 1. / A / LETTER / CONCERNING / ENTHUSIASM. / ENSIS COMMUNIS; / AN ESSAY ON THE FREEMOM OF WIT AND HUMOUR / SOLILOQUY, OR ADVICE TO / AN AUTHOR. /" 1749. Handwritten inside the front cover is "Rob. Deane".

About the collection

The Springfield Collection comprises about 1550 artefacts from Springfield station, south of Goulburn. It includes colonial era costume, a bushranger medal, surveying instruments, a late-19th century landau, firearms and edged weapons, wool samples and Joseph Foveaux's pocket watch and bible. The objects are complemented by over 400 photographs. This diverse collection reflects the growth and economic success of the property, responses to changes in the wool market and the daily lives of the people who have lived on Springfield. Springfield has grown from a 518-hectare land grant given to William Pitt Faithfull in 1828 to the current 3183 hectares with ownership remaining in the one family. William Pitt Faithfull established the Springfield Merino Stud in 1838 with ten rams selected from the Macarthur Camden Park stud. The stud evolved slowly over the years until the early 1950s when, under the management of Jim Maple-Brown, a scientific approach to wool-growing was adopted and the stud's name was changed to Fonthill to reflect this.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 4:58:27 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2026-09-30. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.