Although he made probably thousands of saddles in his working life, very few still remain.

But four generations of Mr Purdue's descendants got their first look at the handiwork of their ancestor at Sovereign Hill on Friday when they inspected a Purdue saddle presented to jockey Jim Barbour who won the Grand National Steeplechase at Flemington in 1895 on his mount Daimio.

Neville Purdue said it was amazing to see the saddle in person after hearing many stories about his great grandfather, who learned the art of saddle and harness making over seven years as an unpaid apprentice in Ireland.

"He was very recognised as one of the best saddle and harness makers. He went to many of the shows and exhibitions around the colonies and was accepted as one of the best saddle makers in the colony at the time," Neville said.

During the Irish potato famine Mr Purdue headed to California in the 1840s in search of gold, then followed the flood of miners across the seas to Victoria, arriving in Ballarat in the early 1850s.

It wasn't until about 1860 though that he returned to his craft, founding the business TW Purdue Saddler and opening his Lydiard St shop in 1865.

"At one stage he had 16 workers and had the building at 7 Lydiard St South next to the old Commonwealth Bank, which would have been a prime position at that stage of the game in Ballarat," Neville said.

The 1867 visit of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred, saw Mr Purdue provide the carriage harnesses for the prince's horses and Mr Purdue, himself a member of the Ballarat Light Horse troop, was one of the prince's escorts.

The following year his business was appointed saddle rs and harness makers to his Royal Highness Prince Alfred.

Over the years TW Purdue became known for his innovation in developing new lightweight racing saddles using different leathers to reduce the weight and size.

"Before they used to race using saddles with long stirrups, like they used when out hunting for foxes, but he designed a lightweight saddle and it wasn't long before all the racing stables used them," Neville said.

Mr Purdue died in 1911 but the business continued with sons Val and Alfred until the mid 1930s. Many of TW Purdue's descendants still live around Ballarat.

"I started a service station of my own in 1964 and Alf (dad) said to me one day when I had the garage at the top of the hill on Dana Street, that just down the road TW was making saddles and now you're up here fixing cars," Neville said.

The saddle now in the Sovereign Hill collection was made of white doe-skin, mounted and bound with seal skin.

It was considered lost until a chance find of a white saddle in a box of sporting goods purchased online eventually saw it return to its original home in Ballarat.

IN OTHER NEWS

Saddle connoisseur and philanthropist Michael Drapac has permanently loaned the rare saddle to Sovereign Hill's Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections.

It came in to his care when friends Janice and Tony Gifford, always on the lookout for rare saddles for the Drapac Collection, heard from a Brisbane leather supplier that a lady had come to the store asking how she could clean an old white leather saddle. Its owner Nina Corbet had left her details with the business and after researching the saddle online she realised she had a rare Purdue saddle.

After a visit to the Giffords, and talking to Mr Drapac who has more than 200 saddles in Australia's largest saddle collection, she donated it to become part of the Drapac Collection where it was restored and now on loan to Sovereign Hill.

Mr Drapac will be at Sovereign Hill's Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections on May 21 for the launch of a new book Wild Ride, The Story of the Australian Stock Saddle, which features his saddle collection.

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