Category: Recent News

Melbourne was growing fast in the 1850s. No longer a colonial outpost it had boomed into one of the leading cities of the Empire.

People flocked here, people were born here, people died here. And it was the dying that created the problem.

Melbourne needed a morgue but wasn’t sure it wanted one. This was the beginning of a 150-year-journey through place, time and purpose as the morgue evolved from an unpleasant necessity to an internationally respected institution.

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Monday 25, Tuesday 26, Wednesday 27 November

Open until 7pm

For these three days we’ll extend our bookshop hours for Christmas shopping. Don’t forget we’ll be able to gift wrap your books. We will also have a mini-book fair of our second-hand titles from the book shop and lots of books which simply haven’t made it on to our website yet.

As I write this post, Christmas is only 13 weeks away and our extended shopping nights are only 9 weeks away.

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After 6+ years at the RHSV, our fabulous Treasurer Daniel Clements is standing down from the role. Daniel has moved out of Melbourne to Port Arlington and the commute, despite the bracing ferries, is just too arduous. Daniel has overseen a period of growth and reform for the RHSV and, financially, we have never been in a better position.

So the search is on for a new Treasurer. The full PD can be read here

The Treasurer automatically joins the RHSV Council and a couple of other committees.

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Do you know an unsung hero who has left a lasting legacy in the local history of your community? You are invited to nominate someone who has made a significant contribution to be considered for commemoration in a new place name.

Anyone who has left a lasting legacy can be nominated. For example, the person may have been known for community and volunteer work, healthcare, science, architecture and building, sport, arts,

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31 March 2025 is the extended deadline for lodging the annual not-for-profit self-review return. Nearly all historical societies, if they are an incorporated association, will need to lodge this return. However, if your society is already a charity it is exempt from lodging a self-review. By lodging this return you are proving to the ATO that your society is exempt from paying income tax. 

This is the link to the page on the ATO website where it outlines the steps you take to lodge the review.

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The latest RHSV article in CBD News has been published and can be read in full here (scroll down to P20). Written by Julie Bevan

 

The man in his coat and stovepipe hat drives his cart away from us down the empty street towards the nothingness at the centre of the image, leaving only the newsboy to stare towards us sentinel-like defending his territory. And defending his territory was a necessary skill.

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An elegant colossus reaches for the sky

” Captured by amateur photographer Pierre Robin in early September 1959, this is one of the last photographs to capture the solid presence of the Colonial Mutual Building on the north-west corner of Collins and Elizabeth streets.

It rises here from a busy urban setting, trams running along the two major thoroughfares, jostling for space with pedestrians and vehicles. In the foreground is an iconic two-toned Holden FE station wagon,

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Congratulations Ruby Louise Oosthuizen!

The annual Don Gibb RHSV Australian History Prize is awarded to the La Trobe University student who gained the highest mark in the third-year subject ‘Making History’ and , in 2024, the prize was presented to Ruby Louise Oosthuizen. Ruby made a podcast: ‘The Whitewashing of Australia’s Ecological History Seen Through the Tale of a Platypus’. Ruby is completing a double degree in Science and Arts. She earned a cash prize and an RHSV membership,

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We hope to be able to make an announcement soon about the launch of the Victorian Community History Awards 2024.

 

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We look forward to welcoming as many members as possible to the RHSV’s Special General Meeting (SGM) and Annual General Meeting (AGM). To register for the SGM and AGM or to record your apologies please click here.  You can use the same link to book for the Weston Bate Oration which follows the AGM (with a short break for refreshments). Non-members too are always welcome.

On Tuesday evening,

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Our 4th podcast, VOICES FROM MELBOURNE’S CHINATOWN, is available for download from Spotify.

 

In this episode of our History Victoria Podcast, Past Lives, Sean Reynolds interviews Mark Wang, CEO of Melbourne’s Chinese Museum to explore the evolving identity and culture of the vibrant Chinese-Australian community. 
 
Mark delves into his family’s deep roots in Victoria, tracing back to his great-great-grandfather who arrived before the gold rush.

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PROV is facing more than just funding cuts at the moment.

A bill was introduced into the Legislative Assembly this week by the Government that would, amongst other things, see the abolishment of the Public Records Advisory Council.  Given the importance of the PRAC in advising the Minister and the Public Records office on the operation and implementation of the relevant Act, and subsequently the storage and archival of public records, we were looking for feedback from the perspective of historical societies,

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