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The article presents the author's insights on the red cabbage experiment of his grandson wherein he loved the intensity and the colours as the ice blocks melted.

The article focuses on the conservation of the SS Xantho steam engine. Topics discussed include the survey of the historic iron shipwreck by Neil North and marine biologist C. J. Beegle, the concept of the engine built by John Penn and the management of the historic resources tied up in the iron steamship wrecks. Also mentioned is the reconstruction of the engine room. INSET: Corrosion and reconstruction.

An obituary for corrosion science expert Ian McKay Ritchie is presented.

The article focuses on the case of home-nurse Eliza Jane Downey who received over a 100 postcards from six soldiers serving in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during World War I. It mentions how writing was encouraged to troops in order to maintain their morale, how the postcards provide a glimpse of their service life and background information on the soldiers writing to Downey who include miner and admirer Jack Bonney, miner Alfred Thomas Baldock and cousin Archie Ritchie.

The article features the bronze apothecary's mortar which is on permanent exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, Australia. The bronze item was discovered in the wreck site found in 1976 which archaeologists believe to belong to Jeronimus Cornelisz, a mutineer of the "Batavia" which wrecked off the Houtman's Abrolhos Islands in Western Australia in 1629. It describes the condition of the treasure which the author says highlights effective corrosion control.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience of witnessing the restoration of the bronze statue made by Chester French at the state parliament in Wisconsin.

The author discusses the important role played by chemists in museums. Chemists manage various museum collections, conduct hands-on treatments of artifacts that were subjected to accelerated decay, and perform chemical interventions to some items. It notes that many museum conservators in the world were trained as chemists. Information is also given on the hand-held Bruker X-ray fluorescence machine acquired by the Western Australian Museum which was used to examine a Mexican brass bowl.