History of Item
Item from the Abikhair's Haberdashery Store on the corner of Olive street and Swift Street. Saad Abikahir opened his second haberdashery, S M Abikhair's Federal Stores in1928 then the name became S M Abikhair's. His children, Allan, Walter and Thelma, along with his wife Shefia manned the store after Saad's death. The remaining family member, Walter, closed the store in 1996 when this object was purchased by the Albury Regional Museum from the Abikhair Family with grant money.
Gravestones throughout Australia are carved with Chinese characters providing the names and in many cases the villages of those buried under them. Carvings involved a member of the Chinese community providing an inscription on paper that the local headstone marker could then use to accurately carve the Chinese. As with many such utilitarian objects that paper was then discarded. This is a rare chance survival of such a gravestone stencil.
Source: Dr Michael Williams - Scattered Legacy database
Online Collection