Recent News

Media release: Free Toolkit Empowers Communities to Reclaim Women’s Place in History

The Royal Historical Society of Victoria and Gender Equity Victoria's Put Her Name On It campaign have released a free,...

Reclaim Her Name: addressing the gender place-name gap

Reclaim Her Name: A collaboration between RHSV and Put Her Name On It Despite making up more than half of...

Urgent: Protect the State Library of Victoria

The State Library of Victoria’s leaders have decreed it shall now be a pleasure dome (‘State Library to slash staff,...

Media release: Royal Historical Society of Victoria announces new Executive Director

On behalf of the Council of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV), President, Robert Pascoe, is pleased to announce...

Spotlight

Explore our MacRobertson collection

Best known for founding Macrobertson's confectionery, Macpherson Robertson was prolific businessman and philanthropist whose contributions shaped Melbourne and Australia

Delve into our MacRobertson collection

What's on at the RHSV

Cataloguing Clinics 2026
February 26 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Join Jillian Hiscock, the RHSV Collections Manager, each month in this informative and easy-going Zoom forum on all aspects of cat...
Reclaim Her Name: how to research and write about women worth remembering
March 13 @ 10:00 am - 12:30 pm
Aimed at those in Melbourne, this session brings together Kerry Wilson of Put Her Name On It and history researchers from the RHSV...
Women’s History Month: Who? Hester Hornbrook and her ladies: Melbourne’s first social carers in the 1850s and 1860s
March 17 @ 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Each year, to celebrate Women’s History Month, the RHSV offers our Women’s History lecture, part of our Distinguished ...

See More Events

Current Exhibition

The Burying of Melbourne - 4 September 2025 to March 2026

In the mid-1850s, some areas of the Melbourne CBD were buried under a layer of clay at the direction of Melbourne City Council, a rather extraordinary event that until recently had been largely forgotten. The Burying of Melbourne exhibition tells the story of the events leading up to the burial event, the consequences of the filling, and looks at some of the archaeology discovered beneath the clay.

Upcoming Victorian History Events

Submit your local history event

Duneira Estate 150th Celebration Victorian Ball
March 14 @ 7:00 pm - 11:30 pm
Come along to a Victorian ball with a Scottish twist to celebrate Duneira Estate’s 150th anniversary. It’s going to be...