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March 2024
Doris McRae: teacher and activist
Two world wars, a global depression and the Cold War transformed the social fabric of Australia. For many teachers with a desire to make a better world for women and children, this meant action beyond the classroom. Presented by Dr Cheryl Griffin, this presentation looks at how prominent Victorian teacher and activist Doris McRae addressed social, industrial and political issues such as equal pay and employment opportunities for women.
Women’s humanitarian work is never done: Women humanitarians and war child refugees in the 20th century
We are delighted that Professor Joy Damousi AM FASSA FAHA, one of Australia’s most distinguished historians and humanities thought leaders, will deliver the 2023 Women's History Month Lecture, part of our Distinguished Lecture series. Joy is the Immediate Past President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and a Fellow of both the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.
CORNERS OF MELBOURNE: THE GREAT ORANGE-PEEL PANIC AND OTHER STORIES FROM THE STREETS
What better defines a city than its street corners? A corner gives you a starting point, a destination and a place to turn. It’s furnished with pillar boxes, newsstands and tram stops, and lamp-posts for light and lounging. Where would you be likeliest to find a pub? At the corner, of course. And who better than Robyn Annear to usher you around the corners of Melbourne, and reveal their bizarre, baroque and mostly forgotten stories?
WESTERN TREATMENT PLANT TOUR
Experience the Western Treatment Plant at Werribee, and discover the historical and environmental importance of this fascinating site. The Western Treatment Plant was added to the Victorian Heritage Register in 2021, recognising its historical, archaeological and technical significance. The historic Western Treatment Plant in Werribee is a world leader in environmentally-friendly sewage treatment, and one of Victoria’s most unlikely hidden treasures.
Doctor, teacher, gardener & spy
A doctor, teacher, gardener and spy. These are four real-life Australians who attracted the attention of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). But who were they and why was ASIO interested in them? What role did social and political activism have to play in this? Come along to find out more!
CATALOGUING CLINICS 2024
Join Jillian Hiscock, the RHSV Collections Manager, each month in this informative and easy-going Zoom forum on all aspects of cataloguing collections for historical societies. Jillian has a different topic each month and is happy to be guided by those who attend as to what they would like covered in upcoming clinics. Bring your questions (no matter the topic) - this is an interactive space where questions are encouraged. The RHSV does not endorse any particular cataloguing software - we believe it is horses for courses - and Jillian will talk about issues that impact on cataloguing whether you are using cataloguing cards or software.
April 2024
Welcome home for our Terlecki timber piano front
Please join us to celebrate the restoration and reframing of our glorious carved Terlecki timber piano front. This piano front was donated to us by Keith Kilner representing his wider family and the recent restoration was paid for with a donation from the Boak family. We are enormously grateful to both families for their generosity. We'll be celebrating in style with a sparkling morning tea at the RHSV premises, 239 A'Beckett St and we'll be hosting members of both the Kilner and Boak families.
EXHIBITION LAUNCH: MELBOURNE’S STORIED LANEWAYS
PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE LAUNCH OF MELBOURNE'S STORIED LANEWAYS Launched by Julian O'Shea Curated by David Thompson Designed by Daisy Searls Thursday 11 April, 5:30pm - 7pm We all have our favourite Melbourne laneway and curator, David Thompson, has chosen his favourites which reveal some intriguing Melbourne stories. When we think of today's gussied-up tourist-friendly laneways like Guilford Lane and Hosier Lane, it is hard to imagine that a mere 50 years ago the laneways were workaday places full…
A G L Shaw Lecture. Anti-Slavery and Protection in Port Phillip and NSW: the Curious Colonial Afterlife of the 1837 Select Committee Report on Aborigines
The AGL Shaw lecture has been presented in partnership with the C J La Trobe Society for many years. It is one of the RHSV's Distinguished Lectures and we are thrilled that, in 2024, Professor Penny Edmonds from the Flinders University will be delivering the lecture. In 1838 Quaker James Backhouse posted the 1837 Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes (British Settlements) ‘hot off the press’ from Cape Town to key figures he had met in the Australian colonies, including missionary George Langhorne, with instructions for it to be sent to Police Magistrate Foster Fyans and Captain William Lonsdale in Port Phillip. The much-studied 1837 report is often described as the ‘blueprint’ for imperial reform and the protection of Aboriginal peoples in the colonies. Backhouse sent the report to New South Wales including to three men of influence whom he had met in Sydney – the Colonial Secretary Alexander McLeay, police magistrate Archibald Innes and Reverend John Saunders. These three men would be central to the formation of the Sydney branch of the Aborigines’ Protection Society or the ‘Australian APS’, suggesting that the report’s distribution was part of a transimperial moment of humanitarian activism.
South Yarra Water Works Company (1854 – 1863)
Our first co-presentation with Engineering Heritage Victoria in 2024 will be by Ken McInnes who will explore the history, the entrepreneurs, the engineers, the operations, the expansion and the demise of the short lived South Yarra Water Works Company (1854 – 1863). In 1854, 170 years ago, Yan Yean Reservoir was completed. Over the following ten years water was progressively reticulated to the houses and businesses of Melbourne and its suburbs.
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