Silver pin badge issued to servicemen who were given an honourable discharge from active duty during WWI. Worn by injured servicemen to prevent abuse from members of the public if their injuries were not obvious. Bears the Royal monogram and the words “For King and Empire, Services Rendered”.
Silver and blue enamel Admiralty lapel badge given to essential shipyard workers during WWI. Bears a silver crown and the words “On war service, 1914”. On the reverse are stamped the numbers 12485, suggesting that it was numbered after 1916.
Whole coconut found on the shore at the Ringing Stone in April 2019. It will have floated from the Caribbean on the Gulf Stream currents.
WWII sea mine discovered under gravel on the Sandaig shore in August 2016. Visible are the locations of the detonation horns and the hole where a time-sensitive self-destruct mechanism was installed. Hundreds of pebbles and shells are fused onto its surface. Tens of thousands of similar mines were laid around the Hebrides and the North Sea during the first and second world wars.
Colour photograph of a handwritten notice in one of the refrigerator units in the Coop in 1995. It reads “Sorry. No milk, chilled or frozen food today. Driver slept in.”
Colour photograph of Nan MacLean outside her butcher’s shop in Scarinish in 1995, with the butcher’s van and a German visitor.
Black & white photograph of Graeme MacKinnon (1921-2000), grandson of Archibald MacKinnon, Vaul, who emigrated to Australia in 1876. Graeme became an Antarctic explorer and geographer responsible for mapping Antarctica. McKinnon Island and McKinnon Glacier in the Antarctic are named after him.
Black & white photograph of Archibald McKinnon, Vaul (1844-1902) and his wife Elizabeth (Betsy) Cowling in around 1880. Archibald emigrated to Sydney, Australia, as a ship’s carpenter aboard the ‘City of Grafton’ paddle steamer in 1876. He and Elizabeth married the following year.
Original programme for ‘Bon Voyage’ (1945), a performance by The Tireans – a drama group formed by members of RAF Tiree during WWII. Judging by the stains and cigarette burns, the programme was well handled by members of the audience, including the donor’s father, airman Joseph Roy Stephens
Large metal marlin spike for splicing heavy rope. Probably from the Vaul boat-builders.
