braille

Not actually the roof of a home for the blind: See Notes Under

Thanks for tracking down the likely site and story behind the roof garden. We'll add information to this and related images when we next update.

Lady Lavarack was the wife of Queensland Govenor,Sir John Lavarack "Lieutenant-General Sir John Lavarack has been appointed Governor of Queensland, in succession to Sir Leslie Wilson. The new Governor is a Queenslander, born in Brisbane 60 years ago. He has had a distinguished military career, and is regarded as one of Australia's best generals. He returned recently from Washington, U.S.A., where he was the head of the Australian Military Mission; he was also a member of the Far East Commission. Sir John will leave the Army on September 15, and will take up his new duties soon after that. Lady Lavarack (formerly Miss Sybil Ockiltree) whom he married in 1912, is the daughter of a Ballarat doctor. They have three sons, all professional men. The eldest, Dr. John Lavarack, is on the medical staff of Melbourne University. All three served in the war. Sir John Lavarack has five brothers and two sisters all living in Queensland. The original home of their parents was at Julia Creek. Mr. Frank Cooper remains Lieutenant-Governor. From the Worker newspaper 2 Sep 1946 nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71428509

Were they using Braille?

It's a Stereograph, and it's got "The N.Y. Inst. For The Blind" written on the front right.
It's a machine for embossing zinc plates with Braille, to use as publishing masters and is described in the Institution's 1899 annual report. The description is for use of basically the same machine pictured above, except it is operated with a foot treadle instead of an electric motor:


A letter from the school superintendent to his boss is also in the report:
"We have thoroughly tested the value of the Stereograph and find it to be of so much practical value in our school work that we do not now see how we could do without it The Stereograph has practically put our students on a footing with the sighted It saves valuable time to both teacher and pupil The Stereograph is a perfect machine It will do all you claim for it and more In giving us this machine you have wonderfully facilitated our work."
books.google.com/books?id=f1HKAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA51&o...

Thanks for the info. That letter sounds like it might have been a paid endorsement. We lived in a town with a school for the blind for years so this is of particular interest.

artolog: Thanks so much for the illustration and explanation (and for pointing us to the source!). We can add some information to the description when we next update.