Trevor Cottee Collection

The diary in the collection was kept by Sir Ellis Murphy from 27 November 1940 to 10 August 1941 while serving in the Second World War. The collection also includes 29 reels of film. The home movies, taken by and of the Murphy, Cottee and Beirne families show large family groups enjoying various activities such as Christmas and birthday celebrations, family picnics in various locations, family beach holidays at the Gold Coast, children playing in a variety of locations and different homes and gardens. Boats, including row boats, sailing yachts, speed boats and toy sail boats feature in many films. There is also footage of a family holiday in England, footage of Gladstone, New Guinea, London, Ireland, and Munich. The films were taken from 1928 to 1968. Also included are miscellaneous family photographs and negatives. Many of the images were taken during World War II and show Dr Murphy, groups of soldiers and nurses and locations including Gaza, Tel Aviv and Torbruk.