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Sunday 26 May 2013

Sydney Type-In!

As expected, today's three-hour typewriter workshop in Sydney turned into a Type-In - only the second in Australia and the first in Sydney.
The occasion was the conference of the Australasian Society of Forensic Document Examiners.
For the workshop, I took along 37 typewriters (17 of which were pressed into acti0n):
Remington 2
2 Remington upstrike demonstration machines
Salem Hall Index
Blickensderfer 5
Simplex Index (1st model)
Monarch standard
Standard Folding
Junior (Bennett)
Bennett
Corona 3
Underwood 3
Simplex Index (1913 model)
Imperial Model B
Noiseless portable
Hammond Multiplex
Mignon
Adler Favorit
Underwood 4 (USB)
Bijou Model S
Erika Model 5
Underwood standard
Underwood Noiseless 77
Remington Model 1 portable
Everest Model 80
Hermes 2000
Olympia Robust
Olympia Plana
Royal Quiet Deluxe (gold-plated)
Olympia Monica
Groma Kolibri
Rooy
Imperial 65
Olivetti Praxis 48
Olivetti Valentine
Mock S & G
Brother crossover electronic typewriter
The event was appropriately held at 300 Elizabeth Street, across the road from Sydney Central Railway Station.  On the same street, just two blocks back up the hill, closer to the bustling heart of Sydney City itself, was the building once called "Remington House". This establishment, owned by the Chartres brothers, was where in the 1930s US-made parts were assembled by Australian workers into "Australian Built" Remingtons - the closest we have ever come to having our own typewriter industry.
The three-hour workshop was a great success and at the end of it I was even presented with a certificate and a lovely gift (no, not a typewriter, but another writing implement, one Bill, Adwoa or Tino would love). It was a 12-hour round trip from Canberra, laden down with 37 typewriters, but one that was much appreciated and very much well worth the effort:

11 comments:

Vikram said...

That must have been fun! The shot of the USB typewriter on a MacBook must be symbolic in some way. A comment on the duality of planned obsolescence and unplanned durability?

Bill M said...

WoW! I wish I were in Syndey! That is quite and impressive list of typewriters and it looks like they were greatly appreciated. Looks like a huge amount of fun. Unplanned perhaps made it all the more exciting.

One thing I never mastered (except for one finger hunt and peck) is stand-up typing -- or keyboarding for that matter.

Nice certificate.

Spiderwebz said...

That's a nice list of typewriters! Not too many plastic's among them as far as I can see on the pictures. This won't make it too hard to enjoy this workshop for the Society of Forensic Document Examiners. ;-)

Scott K said...

Looks like you brought out the quality stuff! Excellent. I'd love to see what they did with the type samples afterwards!

TonysVision said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TonysVision said...

Your energy, as exemplified here by hauling 37 typewriters, seldom fails to induce some sort of typewriter activity on my part. Today it will be hauling one typewriter - probably the Olympia Report, out onto the porch to write a letter to a granddaughter.

Richard P said...

Good for you! How did you get 37 typewriters down to Sydney, did you rent a truck?

Robert Messenger said...

Thank you Vikram, Bill, Spider, Scott, Tony and Richard for your comments.
Richard, with some difficulty I got them all into my car. It took me ALL day Saturday, 9 to 9, to sort, load and prepare. In Sydney, I luckily found a park right behind the building. Ten conference attendees came out with trolleys and we moved the machines upstairs in the lifts and set them up. After the workshop they helped me reload the car. Back in Canberra two of my sons helped me unload.

Unknown said...

hello , i need your help ,i have a letter and i would like to know which type of typewriter wrote it can any one identify it , is there any possibility? i can scan you the letter but i need an answer thank you in advance

Unknown said...

hello Mr. Robert i need your help, i have a letter and i would like to know which type of typewriter wrote it can any one identify it , is there any possibility? i can scan you the letter but i need an answer thank you in advance.

Robert Messenger said...

You will need to contact a forensic document examiner to do this.