Digital Storytelling Award

- Steven Cooke

Joint Winners

La Mama. The Biggest Little Theatre in Australia

Rachel Fensham and Andrew Fuhrmann for the Digital Studio at University of Melbourne and Digital Heritage Australia

https://digitalheritageaustralia.com/lm08/

 

Carlton’s La Mama theatre holds an iconic place in Victoria’s cultural landscape, and this web project provides an interactive tour exploring the history and significance of the theatre by inhabiting its archive as a material and virtual space. 

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History Article Award

- Steven Cooke

Woman’s Sphere Remodelled. A Spatial History of the Victorian Woman’s Christian Temperance Union 1887‒1914

Ruby Ekkel

Victorian Historical Journal, vol. 91, no.1, June 2020

 

This is a thoroughly and deeply researched article presented with a verve and pace that makes it both conceptually strong and persuasive.  By undertaking a spatial analysis of the activities of the WCTU in Victoria between 1887 and 1914 the author demonstrates the ways in which these women negotiated the ideological framework of ‘separate spheres’ to expand the definition of the ‘private sphere’ women were allowed to occupy.  

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Victorian Premier’s History Award

- Steven Cooke

Printed on Stone. The Lithographs of Charles Troedel

Amanda Scardamaglia

Melbourne Books, Melbourne, 2020

 

Born in Hamburg in 1835, Charles Troedel became an apprentice lithographer to his father before being recruited to Melbourne by a Norwegian printer. Troedel founded his own business in 1863 and attracted praise for The Melbourne Album, which is reproduced here. A master of lithography, the technique of printing on stone, which transformed the production of graphic arts,

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Judges’ Special Prize

- Steven Cooke

The judges can award a special prize for any outstanding entry outside of established categories.

Visions of Victoria. The Magic of Kodachrome Film, 1950‒1975

Nick Anchen

Sierra Publishing, Melbourne, 2019

 

Visions of Victoria provides a window on Victoria’s past in the third quarter of the 20th century. Most of the photographs it presents were taken in Melbourne, but Bendigo, Ballarat and a range of smaller rural towns also feature.  

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Oral History Award

- Steven Cooke

Out of the Madhouse. From Asylums to Caring Community?

Sandy Jeffs and Margaret Leggatt

Arcadia, Melbourne, 2020

 

Out of the Madhouse is an outstanding history, in every regard. The ‘madhouse’ was Larundel Psychiatric Hospital, a Melbourne institution from 1953 to 1999. 

 

Drawing upon 71 interviews with former inmates, their family and friends, nurses, doctors, allied health workers and other staff, Out of the Madhouse brings to life the shocking consequences of mental ill-health and the equally shocking treatments;

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LIBRARY & GALLERY OPEN

- Steven Cooke

Hooray! The RHSV is now open to the public and members who want to visit the gallery or conduct research in the collection. The bookshop is also open and we’ll be reinstating Chris Manchee’s popular walking tours of historic Flagstaff Gardens. Please remember if you are visiting the Drill Hall that masks and sanitising are mandatory.

All historical societies across Victoria can open to their volunteers and the public as long as they have a COVID plan in place and follow all the Government regulations re social distancing,

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Brainstorm History Month event ideas

- Steven Cooke

We can help you with your event for History Month if you’d like to do something over Zoom. We also have a great many ideas for different kinds of events below, which we hope will inspire you. 

When you have an event upload it to www.historymonth.org.au . If you have any queries contact Jo on inf*@historymonth.org.au

HELP FROM THE RHSV

  • Need a guest speaker? We have some fabulous historians on our Council who are happy to do Zoom events wherever you are in Victoria.
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DRILL HALL CLOSED FROM TUE 4 AUG

- Steven Cooke

Sunday 2 August 2020

With level 4 restrictions coming in to place tonight from 6pm we have decided that all staff will work from home for the next 6 weeks or the duration of level 4 restrictions. Our phones are switched through to Rebecca’s mobile and we are still accessible by email. Our Zoom events and meetings will go ahead as planned. The bookshop will still be operating however, apologies in advance, we will only be posting books once a week so deliveries will be slower than usual.

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WHO GUARDS WORLD HERITAGE SITES?

- Steven Cooke

The RHSV’s Heritage Committee has just made a submission to the Draft Heritage Management Plan for the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens. More can be seen here. In this submission, we noted the lack of a single responsible authority for the world heritage site. In our response to the Discussion Paper preparing the Review of the Strategy Plan for the World Heritage Environs Area, we noted the betrayal of promises to protect the surrounding areas from high-rise building.

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TRYING TO TOUCH THE SKY

Steven Cooke

Cheryl Griffin looks at an early 1950s Melbourne streetscape – more pointedly it is of the Commonwealth Bank Building at 219 – 225  Bourke St.  This 11-storey building dwarfed the Victorian buildings around it but the word ‘skyscraper’ wouldn’t be used for another 5-6 years when the breathtakingly tall 19-storey ICI House was built.

Cheryl’s full article can be read in the August 2020 CBD News.

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RHSV makes a submission to Juukan Gorge Inquiry

- Steven Cooke

22 July 2020

Read our submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the destruction of the 46,000-year-old caves at the Juukan Gorge (link below). We argue that it demonstrates profound failings in the legislation to protect Australia’s heritage, not only in WA, but also in the Commonwealth, which was missing in action.

Commonwealth Environment Minister Sussan Ley justified doing nothing on the grounds that there was no application for protection, but it emerges today that when the traditional owners of the Shenhua Watermark site on the Liverpool Plains did apply for protections,

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RHSV Protests Minister’s Short-Circuiting Heritage Listing of GMH Site

- Steven Cooke

The iconic GMH site at Fishermans Bend, where Ben Chifley launched the first Holden, was on track to be listed on the Victorian Heritage Register until, in February, Planning Minister Richard Wynne called in the nomination. The Minister is short-circuiting the heritage and planning processes to facilitate a development that will destroy much of the historic fabric before the site is registered. We have written to the Minister to urge him to follow proper process.

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