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Advisory Road Sign

Photographs courtesy TSA (Newton).

This metal road sign is an example of one of the methods used to create road signage and the different technologies employed since numbers were first carved into native timber. The steel plate sign is 60 cm square. Each of the aluminium numbers were attached separately using aluminium rivets that were then manually peined over.

Advisory road signs were first used in the early half of the 20th century to assist people taking drives into the country to find their way home. They gained importance as trade and transport of goods extended into rural areas.

Signs like these were made by hand between the 1930s and the 1950s. Once the sign was set out, the drilling and riveting of this example would have taken around two hours to complete. Compared with the convenience of later adhesive material, attaching the letters was labour intensive. This type of sign replaced earlier baked enamel signs as the materials were more durable. This sign was made before the introduction of retro-reflective materials.

Cheaper, better technology led to more road signage.

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