Technological Museum of New South Wales

Abstract

THE annual report of the curator of the Technological Museum of New South Wales for the year ended December 31, 1942, states that the scientific work of the Museum has been placed on a war footing without necessitating any reorganization of laboratory work. Chemical investigations of national importance have included the recovery of by-products from charcoal burning, dyeing of khaki cloth, preparation of coloured flashes and composition of flash powders and smoke screens from motor exhausts, fireproofing paper and 'Cellophane' gas respirators, Australian essential oils as mosquito repellents, rot-proofing of sandbags, strength of laminated plastics, for aircraft, production of lactic acid and lactates from waste whey, and sources of quinine and similar alkaloids in Australia. Work has also been done on synthetic wax, fire-proofing fabrics for camouflage purposes, synthetic rubber from acetylene, production of drugs and natural dyes from Australian plants, camouflage materials, especially paint, wax from sugar-cane, and the relative humidity for controlling the development of moulds likely to attack silk parachutes in Queensland. Botanical investigations into the cultivation of the tung oil tree in Australia, as well as on suitable Australian fibres to relieve the shortage of imported material, and the important research on the cytology of the eucalypts and other genera, were continued. Much time has been devoted to the study of fot-proofing problems in the preservation of jute hessian, canvas and manilla, hemp and cotton rope and to the waterproofing and rot-proofing of canvas duck. Lists of lectures, etc., delivered, papers read before scientific societies, exhibits and publications are included.