Recent News

Calls for Expressions of Interest – qualified postgraduate Curator for Gidleigh Exhibition Project
Have you recently completed a postgraduate degree in architecture, history, or heritage at Deakin, Melbourne, or another Victorian university with...
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Are you our next Executive Director?
Edit: The application window for this role has now closed. We are thrilled to have had so much interest from...
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Suspension of Victorian Community History Awards
The Victorian government funded the Victorian Community History Awards (VCHA) from its inception in 1998 to 2024. Sadly, the government...
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Happy Retirement to RHSV Executive Officer, Rosemary Cameron
Last night we said farewell to our Executive Officer, who is retiring after 8 years of running the Society. She...
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Spotlight

See what 170 years of clay preserved

Come and see The Burying of Melbourne

What's on at the RHSV

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The Burying of Melbourne

Curated by David Thompson. Designed by Susan Fitzgerald. - 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.

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Collection Spotlight

Visit the Collection Lounge
Grayscale image showing Cremorne Gardens with statues
The Ancient Mariners of Victoria Logo
A pale blue handwritten ledger from October 17, 1854, showing financial accounts between Jo George Mugleston and the owners of the Eureka Hotel, the Bentleys. The document lists services rendered, cash loans, and bowling alley fees, with monetary amounts in pounds/shillings/pence format. This ledger is dated the same day of the historic Eureka Hotel riot that saw the hotel destroyed by fire.
Grayscale image showing Cremorne Gardens with statues
The Ancient Mariners of Victoria Logo
A pale blue handwritten ledger from October 17, 1854, showing financial accounts between Jo George Mugleston and the owners of the Eureka Hotel, the Bentleys. The document lists services rendered, cash loans, and bowling alley fees, with monetary amounts in pounds/shillings/pence format. This ledger is dated the same day of the historic Eureka Hotel riot that saw the hotel destroyed by fire.

Featured Books

Yarra Birrarung: Artists, Writers and the River by Dr Judith Buckrich
Yarra Birrarung: Artists, Writers and the River is an illustrated history of life on the Yarra. Through the lens of artists and writers, the book explores how life has...
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Granville Stapylton: Australia Felix 1836, second in command to Major Mitchell. By Gregory C. Eccleston
Assistant Surveyor Granville Stapylton’s intimate journal, written while serving as Second-in-Command in Major Mitchell’s expedition in ‘Australia Felix’, in 1836, is here published as a faithful transcription from the...
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