Author: RHSV Marketing

The Royal Historical Society of Victoria and Gender Equity Victoria’s Put Her Name On It campaign have released a free, downloadable toolkit enabling anyone to run a session recognising outstanding women in their community.

Across Victoria, countless women shaped our communities, our streets, our suburbs — yet their names are missing from the public spaces they helped build. A new, free toolkit by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV) and Gender Equity Victoria’s Put Her Name On It campaign is designed to change that,

On behalf of the Council of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV), President, Robert Pascoe, is pleased to announce Dr Steven Cooke has been appointed to the role of Executive Director.

Dr Cooke brings to this role many years of experience in the cultural heritage field.

The RHSV was formed in 1909 to advance how Victorians understand our history.

It serves as a catalyst for the 340 historical societies across the state,

The Victorian Community History Awards (VCHA) will not run in 2025. We hope they will return in 2026. Stay tuned. 

The RHSV, in a joint statement with the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), call on the Victorian Government to ensure that the state’s planning reforms deliver more housing without sacrificing the heritage, character, and green spaces that make our neighbourhoods liveable and loved.

We invite our supporters to join us in this advocacy. Read the full media release below, and email your local MP to make your concern heard.

National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and Royal Historical Society of Victoria Joint Statement on Victorian Planning Reforms 

Quotes attributable to Collette Brennan,

Welcome Claudia Donovan, the newest member of the RHSV team! She will be joining us mid-May to start her new role as images collection officer. We have a huge amount of material catalogue and preserve, so we welcome the extra hands to help us with it.

Claudia holds a Master of Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies with a specialisation in Curatorship and Collections, alongside a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History, Sociology, and Anthropology.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the 2024 Victorian Community History Awards!

We extend our heartfelt thanks for your invaluable contributions to our collective understanding of Victorian history. We know that the amount of work that goes into the creation of submissions like these. Your efforts ensure that the stories of the past continue to inspire and educate future generations.

Click here to see the full website for all the details of the winners,

Heritage groups, community groups and individuals across Melbourne are condemning the City of Melbourne’s new plan to surround the Queen Victoria Market with three 25 – 40 storey towers. The $1.7 billion proposal, known as Gurrowa Place and announced in late June, also includes plans for a city square to be built on the market’s current southern car park.

Since the announcement, Charles Sowerwine, Chair of the RHSV Heritage Committee, has been a prominent voice in the media, 

Tuesday 13 June 2023

Dear RHSV members,

I am sure you are as concerned and disappointed as I, and the RHSV Council, are by the recent decision in the 2023 state budget not to fund community history – both PROV’s Local History Grants Program and the Victorian Community History Awards.

History in this state and indeed across the country now receives very little support from government.  History is currently not part of government thinking at all levels on funding for the Arts or cultural policy.

The Royal Historical Society of Victoria acknowledges that Friday 26 May is National Sorry Day in recognition of the Stolen Generations in our history. We acknowledge the trauma experienced by Indigenous families across Australia, caused by the invidious policy in all jurisdictions for generations of removing Indigenous children from their families in the wrong and vain hope of separating them from their cultures. In some circumstances this continues making the need change and reconciliation even greater.

The famous Robur Tea House on Clarendon Street, Southbank faces another attempt to reduce its heritage value and architectural significance. A proposal has been submitted to redevelop the site, including the partial demolition of the Tea House and construction of office, retail and residential buildings, including a 25 story apartment and hotel complex.

The proposed Tea House Hotel will be more than 100 metres tall and will dwarf the six storey original building.

16 March, is National Closing the Gap Day. Ever since the Apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008 governments have pledged to Close the Gap on a set of agreed socio-economic indices concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage. For ten years progress was slow, which was to be expected given the gap to be bridged, the slow movement of change over each year, and also that First Nations peoples were not fully consulted on the programs.