Royal Historical Society of Victoria

Book Launch: Victoria - Suffering to Statehood by Michael P. Rucker
2025-10-15 17:30 - 19:00 (Australia/Melbourne) | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Join us to celebrate the publication of Victoria – Suffering to Statehood by Michael P. Rucker
Victoria – Suffering to Statehood provides intriguing, and occasionally poignant, details of history not generally found in most Australian history books. Every detail of this fascinating book; political, social and economic, is carefully researched and annotated. The author delves into the actions of Victoria’s founders to determine their personalities and motives. Particular emphasis is placed on the pathos of Australia’s first occupants and their unfair, and often brutal history, at the hands of the settlers.
Michael Rucker is a world traveller and historian who became captivated by Australian history while residing in Melbourne. His research into the colourful characters who founded Australia and, in particular Victoria, led to his detailed research for this thoughtful and informative volume. His narrative moves along at a dramatic and exciting pace. He applauds the characters accomplishments and chastises them as appropriate.
Housekeeping
As with most RHSV events, refreshments will be served from 5:30pm – 6pm when the speakers will commence.
This event is an in-person event only.
An automated confirmation email is sent to your email address when you book. If this email doesn’t turn up in your inbox please check your Spam or Junk Mail folders. Don’t worry if you cannot find it – there will be a list of names at the door so you will be able to gain entry without your ticket.
The RHSV Gallery Downstairs is an accessible venue.

Can I Help You? Recognising and Improving Artificial Intelligence as History Maker
2025-10-16 18:00 - 19:30 | State Library of Victoria, Entry 3, Village Roadshow Theatre, La Trobe Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Please join the History Council of Victoria’s Annual Lecture to be delivered by Distinguished Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington AO.

The evening will also include the presentation of the History Council of Victoria’s major awards:

Jane Hansen Prize for History Advocacy
Lynette Russell Prize for First Peoples’ History in Schools

Can I Help You? Recognising and Improving Artificial Intelligence as History Maker
Distinguished Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington AO
University of South Australia/Adelaide University
Can I help you? If you use digital devices, you probably receive many offers of help every day. Help with the next word you might want to write in a message, or with generating a document or an image, or suggestions about what you might buy, watch, study or borrow. This oration explains how these offers of help are part of a wider invitation for us to recognise AI as history maker. Using examples, it shows how AI makes meaning from past data to make recommendations for the present and the future. It also argues that seeing AI as history maker is important for making better AI technologies, and histories. Knowing what histories are written about you and others, and knowing how those histories can be made is critical for social and economic health.

Distinguished Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington AO PFHEA B.Ed (Hons) Tas, DPhil Oxon

A graduate of the Universities of Tasmania and Oxford, Marnie has a global profile as a philosopher and as an historian. She is Provost and Chief Academic Officer and Bradley Distinguished Professor at the University of South Australia. Her current work looks at how AI makes histories, and how histories might be made in future which are efficient, safe, and ethical. Her writing has been translated into five languages, over 26,000 copies of her books have been sold, and her theories are taught across the world. She has led or been an investigator on a total of $18 million in grants. Her most recent books are History from Loss (edited with Daniel Woolf, 2023) and The Routledge Companion to History and the Moving Image (edited with Kim Nelson and Mia Treacey, 2023) and she is co-secretary general of the International Commission for the History and Theory of History. In 2022 she was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for her contribution to higher education governance, leadership, and mentoring.

Port Fairy Historical Society: Presenting and Preserving Our Stories
2025-10-18 - 2025-10-19 | Port Fairy Community House, 5 Railway Place,, Port Fairy, Victoria, 3284, Australia
Some insights into the work we need to undertake to bring our untold historical stories to the notice of the general public. Join us to discover the world of historical archives and how to preserve them, present our stories in an engaging and practical way, and how to carefully preserve those records whatever their form.
The speakers have been chosen to help our societies better understand our archival material and tell the stories contained within. We have allowed for time to ask questions of each speaker. However, there will be an extra half hour at the end of the day to allow for general discussion.
Program for Saturday 18 October
For those intending to be in Port Fairy on the Saturday afternoon, a walk around our town will begin from the Visitor Information Centre at 2.30 pm being guided by Glen Foster and will include the Main Street and the wharf before ending at the Museum which will be open from 2 pm until 5 pm.
At 6.00 pm a dinner has been arranged at Charlie’s on East, Hughes Avenue.
The meal is at your own cost to cater for everyone’s needs and tastes.
The guest speaker will be Mr Richard Patterson who will be taking a light-hearted look at local history and at ways in which it might be improved.
Program for Sunday 19 October
9.00 – 9.30 am: Registration
10.00 am: Welcome and IntroductionMargaret Whitehead, President of the Port Fairy Historical SocietyLynda Tieman, Collection Manager of the Port Fairy Historical Society
10.30 am: Mr John Miller, ‘Wyperfeld National Park – Curation of the park plant collection’John’s presentation is about his work in the curation and augmentation of the historic Wyperfeld National Park herbarium housed in the Visitor Information Centre in the Wonga Campground.The park herbarium is near to his heart as it gave him the opportunity in the 1970s to become a botanist and set the course for the rest of his working life.
11.30 am: Morning Tea
11.50 am: Margaret Anderson, ‘Exhibiting history’Outside the classroom, how do most people learn about their past? You might be surprised to find that it is rarely by reading history books. Ironically, as school enrolments in history languish, the popular consumption of history is booming. Impressively large audiences listen to what is now a huge variety of historical podcasts, but many also encounter history through exhibitions. In this presentation Margaret Anderson reflects on some of the challenges of creating historical exhibitions, especially where resources are limited. But she also suggests that exhibitions give us an opportunity to engage our communities to connect with their past, and to construct a more nuanced, inclusive view of their history.
12.50 pm: Lunch
1.30 pm: Mark Moore, ‘Archiving in the Digital Age’Archiving in the digital age has transformed from the physical storage of documents to the dynamic preservation of digital content, requiring new strategies to ensure long-term accessibility, authenticity and security. With the proliferation of digital formats—from emails and websites to multimedia and social media—archivists must navigate challenges like data degradation, software obsolescence and metadata management. Cloud storage, blockchain verification, and AI-assisted indexing have become essential tools, enabling more efficient organisation and retrieval while safeguarding against loss and tampering. Ultimately, digital archiving is not just about preserving information but about maintaining its context and integrity for future generations.
2.30 pm: Craige Proctor, ‘Lindsay Russell: Notorious Novelist’In 1883 Ethel Stonehouse was born at Nhill. In the 1900s Ethel was working as a journalist in Melbourne but by 1912 she had reinvented herself as ‘Lindsay Russell’, novelist. Her first novel propelled her into a celebrity and she was off to London. Meanwhile, in a small town in south-western Victoria, copies of her book were publicly burned and she was denounced as a villain. In 1920 Lindsay Russell arrived in that small town in which she had been denounced – Mortlake – where she would spend the next 44 years and is still remembered by some locals.
3.30 pm: Forum and general Discussion and a cup of tea.
4.00 pm: Close
About the Presenters

Richard Patterson

John Miller

Margaret Anderson

Mark Moore

Craige Proctor

Richard Patterson was born in England and educated in Worcester and Hull, Yorkshire. He has a degree in Classics. He spent almost forty years working in Human Resource Management. He has published three books about Beechworth’s history and a series of six booklets about Beechworth’s buildings and related topics. He moved to Port Fairy in 2015 and has written two books about the town: The Lighthouse Keeper and the One-Armed Cricketer and Port Fairy’s Wars. He has also edited a book by the late Stan Evans – The Casino Story. For almost five years he edited the Port Fairy Historical Society’s newsletter.
John Miller, ‘Wyperfeld National Park – Curation of the park plant collection’John is a retired botanist who now lives very happily with his wife Maggie in Port Fairy.All of John’s working life has been related to studying and managing the natural resources of western Victoria.He has been the Ranger-in-charge of Wyperfeld and Brisbane Ranges national parks and was the first manager of the Grampians when it became a National Park in 1984.Following his time in national parks, John worked for 10 years in the School of Science at Ballarat University (now Federation University) and finally for 15 years as a botanist and Manager of the Ballarat office of a private consulting firm.He is now an active volunteer course presenter with U3A Port Fairy and is a committee member of the Friends of Wyperfeld National Park. John, along with colleague Peter Ryan, has recently published the Wyperfeld App which is now available for both Android and Apple mobile devices.He has Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Natural Resource Management and is an Honorary Associate of the National Herbarium Melbourne.
Margaret Anderson FFAHS, ‘Exhibiting history’Margaret is a public historian who is the Director of the Old Treasury Building. She has held senior museum positions in South Australia and Western Australia and between museum posts taught history and museum studies at Monash University. She is a council member of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies and is Deputy Chair of the History Council of Victoria. Her historical research has focused on women and the family in Australian history.
Mark Moore, ‘Archiving in the Digital Age’Mark, originally from England and in Australia since 1979, has established a noteworthy career in theatre production, technical supervision and event coordination. He has managed large student productions at Pascoe Vale Girls Secondary College and overseen events for organisations such as the National Theatre, Darebin City Council and Durham Audio Visual, covering logistics, risk assessment, contractor management, and venue maintenance. His experience includes supporting student programs at La Trobe University and driving improvements to exhibitions and operations at Broadmeadows Museum, boosting both visitor experience and collection management.
Craige Proctor, ‘Lindsay Russell: notorious novelist’Craige is a fifth generation Mortlakeite and local historian who first heard of Lindsay Russell from his mother and grandmother; it was simply too enticing a story not to pursue when he was older. Craige is a long-standing member of the Mortlake & District Historical Society, has produced or co-produced six books on the district’s history, loves storytelling and now that he has retired from teaching he is enjoying telling more stories whenever he can. He is also President of the W.V.A.H.S. and Chair of the RHSV’s Historical Societies Support Committee.

Harpsdale - Celebrating 150 years
2025-10-26 10:00 - 17:00 | Harpsdale Homestead, 860 Craigieburn Road, Yuroke, Vic, Australia
The homestead was built by the pioneering Brodie family in 1875. They arrived in Tasmania in 1823, from Scotland and in 1836 moved to Victoria and settled in the Bulla Bulla area as squatters with 1000 head of sheep. This area of Victoria is heavily influenced by these early Scottish settlers.
Harpsdale has been in the Simmie family since 1940. Set in a hectare of formal gardens featuring many trees from the late 19th century and the 1940s.
With information about the Brodie & Simmie families, regional aboriginal history and the architect of the homestead, J A B Koch, of National Trust, ‘Labassa’ fame. The stables are full of historical artifacts. The garden shed was the original Blacksmith workshop.
Wander the machinery yard and view a selection of mid 20th century farming implements.
860 Craigieburn Road
Yuroke 3063
Just 12 minutes past Melbourne Airport and 7 km west of Craigieburn.
Take a tour of the Simmie Family website: https://simmiefamilybusiness.com/simmie-family/
All money raised goes to the City of Hume Heritage Conservations Fund.

Book launch: Piracy in the Bay – The Great Nelson Gold Robbery
2025-10-28 17:30 - 19:00 | Melbourne
Join us for the launch of Piracy in the Bay – The Great Nelson Gold Robbery, which details the greatest single act of theft in Australian history:
In April 1852, the barque, Nelson – Captain Walter Wright commander – lay at anchor in Hobson’s Bay, preparing to sail for London with more than 8,000 ounces of gold secured in her hold. That night, a group of armed men boarded the vessel, overpowered her crew, shot her first mate, and escaped with a fortune – worth today more than $35 million dollars.
Piracy in the Bay is the first comprehensive study of this remarkable event. Drawing on trial transcripts, eyewitness testimony, contemporary newspaper accounts and unpublished family archives, Paul Wright – great grandson of the Nelson‘s captain – reconstructs the crime with precision and insight. It is a story backed up by never-before published photographs of some of the principal players in the Nelson affair.
But far beyond the drama of the robbery itself, the book situates the piracy within the wider social, political and economic upheavals of the gold rush era. It explores the implications for colonial law enforcement, the press, and public attitudes toward convict transportation, while also challenging novelist Marcus Clarke’s defamatory insinuations against Captain Walter Wright.
Meticulously researched and compellingly told, Piracy in the Bay restores the Nelson robbery to its rightful place as one of the most extraordinary episodes in Australian history.
Author Bio
Paul Wright – a fourth generation Melburnian – has had a lifelong love of history. Both world and family history. He has produced four volumes of his ancestral story in detail, going back to 1650 in Scotland. It was the kind of research methodology that this entailed, plus his own family connection to the Nelson piracy, that has enabled him to tell the story of the Nelson affair so comprehensively.
Housekeeping
As with most RHSV events, refreshments will be served from 5:30pm – 6pm when the speakers will commence.
This event is an in-person event only.
An automated confirmation email is sent to your email address when you book. If this email doesn’t turn up in your inbox please check your Spam or Junk Mail folders. Don’t worry if you cannot find it – there will be a list of names at the door so you will be able to gain entry without your ticket.
The RHSV Gallery Downstairs is an accessible venue.

CATALOGUING CLINICS 2025
2025-10-30 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-11-27 11:00 - 12:00 | ZOOM, Join from anywhere in the world
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.
The one-hour clinics are free and the Zoom log-in below is used every month in 2025, however, we do ask you to register each month as this enables Jillian to send you extra material / links etc after each session.
11am (AEDT) Thu 27 Feb 2025
11am (AEDT) Thu 27 Mar 2025
11am (AEST) Thu 24 Apr 2025
11am (AEST) Thu 29 May 2025
11am (AEST) Thu 26 Jun 2025
11am (AEST) Thu 31 Jul 2025
11am (AEST) Thu 28 Aug 2025
11am (AEST) Thu 25 Sep 2025
11am (AEDT) Thu 30 Oct 2025
11am (AEDT) Thu 27 Nov 2025
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Monthly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZ0pcOiuqjItH9JWUaZk1ZrdaP1uA9d1Yqc1/ics?icsToken=DESnOhi_USXAWOo5GQAALAAAAOsufSxu9e_o1VvEoUWUiVuOT3wUceY4gYwdUjlaNrGDW1VrT1KjyEhE0aD9QHm4eoEg_M9GmHYiFwIZujAwMDAwMQ&meetingMasterEventId=3FhVroEqTuiqU-ygov-0vg
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Party Lines and Trunk Calls – A Curated Objects Exhibition
2025-10-31 09:00 - 2025-11-02 20:30 | Old Courthouse, Main Street Natimuk, VIC 3409 Australi, Main Street, Natimuk, Vic, 3409, Australia
Created for the Nati Frinj Biennale 2025, this projected is supported by Arapiles Historical Society.
Focussing on the history of telephones, this exhibition celebrates the work of the women who were employed in the Natimuk Exchange, made trunk calls or used party lines for private communications from local or remoted properties.
Featuring what is now seen as dinosaur technology, the selected objects range from wooden wall phones, 1910 to quirky, telephone-inspired fashion accessories in 2024. A soundscape brings to life snippets of stories that capture observations about early telephones and the work involved in a telephone exchange.
A black and white image of 1950/60 women on an exchange has been reproduced with permission from RHSV, and will be hung in the exhibition. In the image, the photograph is placed temporarily on the remains of the original Natimuk telephone exchange. This magnificent object is a major feature of the exhibition and is a treasured item in the Arapiles Historical Society collection.
Visit https://natifrinj.com/ to kick off a great 3-day event.

Book launch: Black, White + Colour - A biography of Mervyn Bishop, Australia’s First Indigenous Professional Photographer
2025-11-07 18:00 - 19:30 | Avenue Bookstore Elsternwick, 351 Glen Huntly Rd,, Elsternwick, Vic, 3185, Australia
Join us for the launch of the biography of Australia’s first Aboriginal press photographer, Mervyn Bishop.

Mervyn Bishop and Tim Dobbyn discuss Black, White + Colour, in conversation with Stephanie Armstrong OAM.
Born in Brewarrina NSW in 1945, Mervyn Bishop used chance, charm and talent to join the staff of the Sydney Morning Herald at just 17. He won a top news photography award but never received the customary pay increase. Disillusioned, Bishop moved to Canberra as a government photographer and took the iconic photo of Gough Whitlam pouring earth into the hands of traditional owner Vincent Lingiari.
Learn about the man behind the lens at Avenue Bookstore, Elsternwick. This event is free. Bookings essential.

Mervyn Bishop was the first Aboriginal press photographer in Australia. Mervyn’s awards include the Nikon-Walkley Australian Press Photographer of the Year for 1971 and the Australia Council’s Red Ochre Award in 2000.
Tim Dobbyn is a former journalist who started at Australian Associated Press in 1981 before moving to the United States in 1987 to work for Reuters. After taking a break from daily journalism, he worked freelance jobs before starting work on the Mervyn Bishop biography in 2018. He and his family have known Bishop since 1962. He lives near Washington D.C. with his wife Sheila and two impossible dogs.
Stephanie Armstrong OAM s a proud Gamilaraay woman from Gamilaraay/Yuwaalaraay country (north west NSW) and a member of a large extended family. Stephanie knew from a young age she wanted to teach. Her ensuing 40 years as an educator – spanning early childhood, primary and secondary schools, universities, government and not-for-profit organisations – led to her recognition and Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to Indigenous health and education.

Book Launch: Code of Silence by Diana Thorp
2025-11-12 18:00 - 20:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Please join us to launch the publication of Code of Silence: How Australian Women Helped Win the War, featuring author Diana Thorp in conversation with Professor Clare Wright
Eighty years after the end of World War II, intriguing stories of the crucial contributions of women on the Australian home front are emerging.
As war climbed to a crescendo in the Asia-Pacific, the Australian government called in a new weapon: women. Within this female arsenal was a group so significant that the women who bravely assumed these roles were sworn to secrecy – a vow that was to outlive the war.
As war inched closer to home, they became a secret weapon, intercepting enemy messages and passing intelligence between local networks and allies across the globe, from Bletchley Park to the United States and across the Asia-Pacific. Some information was so sensitive it was burned to ensure its security.
They were among the thousands of women, many still teenagers, who stepped up to join the army, the navy and the air force during the war, taking on unprecedented roles during an international crisis. Victory attained, they demobilised and returned home. Secret work or not, their roles have remained largely untold. Until now.
This is not just an extraordinary war story, but a coming-of-age tale for the nation and its women. It is time to write these remarkable women back into our history, where they belong.
About the author
Diana Thorp has scaled a pyramid, excavated a Bronze Age palace and been threatened by a deadly war spy. She also wrote a thesis on forgotten women that almost included a sealed section, all in pursuit of a good story. A journalist, historian and teacher, Diana has worked for The Australian, including its weekend magazine, and The Times in London. She has studied Australian history, with a focus on gender, at Macquarie University, and ancient Egyptian literature at Monash University. After lecturing in journalism for many years, her passion for history inspired her to become a teacher, and she works at a Melbourne girls’ school. Her work appears widely in Australia and beyond, and her feature article on Australian World War II spy Nancy Wake, whose wartime story was then little known, inspired her interest in this covert field.
Housekeeping
Refreshments will be served from 6pm – 6.30pm when the speakers will commence.
This event can be attended in-person or online via Zoom.
An automated confirmation email is sent to your email address when you book. If this email doesn’t turn up in your inbox please check your Spam or Junk Mail folders. Don’t worry if you cannot find it – there will be a list of names at the door so you will be able to gain entry without your ticket.
The RHSV Gallery Downstairs is an accessible venue.

The Hon Niel Black and his Butter Factory inheritors
2025-11-26 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
In 1840, Niel Black ‘took up country’ in the rich lands along Mount Emu Creek at the heart of the Western District. Backed by prominent partners in Scotland, this upstart Scottish farmer survived economic hardship in the 1840s and established a fine sheep and cattle run. During the 1850s, in the partnership’s name, he started buying sections of the vast ‘squatted’ acreage.
In 1858, he won election to the Legislative Council thereby becoming ‘Honourable’, and in 1867 he entertained Prince Alfred at ‘far-famed Glenormiston’, the treasured homestead he built in 1860, but had to leave in 1869 when the partnership’s assets were divided. In 1876 he moved back to the District, into Mount Noorat House, a mansion he described as ‘the crowning folly of my life’. But Black’s astonishing social rise never earned him the title of gentleman. It was his three sons’ destiny – a destiny their father secured with iron determination – to assume fully the role of Western District gentry alongside contemporaries from other pioneer families. Their firm, Black Bros, run by AJ (Ian) and SG (Steuart), set out to re-mould their inheritance, including Glenormiston which they recovered. In 1899, the celebrated beef herd was sold as they proceeded to improve and subdivide land for dairying. Thereafter they promoted rural industrialisation in the form of co-operative Butter Factories and Creameries with conspicuous success. Among the most potent symbols of their wealth was the creation of Dalvui, a homestead of splendours and, ultimately, broken dreams.
About the presenter
Maggie Black is a researcher, writer and editor, whose career was primarily spent working for international United Nations and non-governmental organisations. Among many books and international reports she wrote or edited are histories of Oxfam and UNICEF: A Cause for Our Times: Oxfam the first 50 years, (Oxford University Press, 1992); Children First: The Story of UNICEF, (OUP 1996); and The World Report on Violence Against Children, (United Nations, 2006). Since 2009, she has turned her attention to her great-grandfather’s pioneering life in embryonic Victoria, and his own and his sons’ involvement in the emergence of a new settler society. Her primary source is Niel Black’s voluminous archive in the State Library of Victoria, which is unique in the light it sheds on the process of ‘squatting’, Aboriginal exclusion, the skulduggery required to gain proprietorship over vast acreages, and many other themes of colonial activity in Victoria between 1837-1880.
Housekeeping
This event will be offered both in person at the RHSV, 239 A’Beckett St Melbourne 3000, and online via Zoom.
At the RHSV refreshments are served from 5.30pm – 6:00pm and the Zoom session will start, as will the lecture, at 6.00pm.
An automatic confirmation of your booking will be sent to you – please check your Spam or Junk Mail folder as these automated emails are often viewed as Junk by your ISP. Don’t panic, your name will be at the door if you can’t find your ticket.

Selected Views of the Mount Alexander Goldfields: Public Lecture by Ken McKimmie
2025-11-28 19:30 - 21:30 | The Coolroom at Northern Arts Hotel, 359 Barker Street, Castlemaine, VIC, 3450, Australia
Hosted by Castlemaine Society Inc. (CASSOC)
Local historian, teacher and author Ken McKimmie will present a public lecture on early Castlemaine township history at the Northern Arts Hotel on Friday November 28, 7:00pm for a 7:30pm start. First session on Friday November 21st is SOLD OUT.
Ken McKimmie is an expert of early Mount Alexander township history, and his historical photographs of Castlemaine are regularly featured in the Castlemaine Mail’s ‘Let’s take a look back’ column. Ken is the author of ‘Chewton Then and Now’.
In this lecture a vast trove of early photographs and images are expertly interpreted to demonstrate the development of Castlemaine from the Goldrush through to today. Most photographs will be unknown to the audience. A Q&A session will follow the lecture.
This is a rare opportunity not to be missed!
This lecture was delivered at ‘The Alchemy of Gold’ May 2025 conference to great acclaim, and the Castlemaine Society Inc (CASSOC), is delighted to host a repeat for the public.
All are welcome. Please register for this free event as spaces are limited. A light supper will be provided, with drinks at bar prices. Gold coin donations welcomed.
CASSOC – ‘Conserving the Character of Castlemaine’
To find out more about CASSOC visit the website https://castlemainesociety.org.au

Guided Walking Tour of Historical Flagstaff Gardens
2025-12-08 11:00 - 12:15 | Royal Historical Society of Victoria, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Join expert tour guides from the Royal Historical Society of Victoria – the historical society for the City of Melbourne – on a guided walk through the beautiful Flagstaff Gardens – the historic heart of the City, every Monday at 11.00am.
Visitors will climb Flagstaff Hill to consider its place in Melbourne’s topography and pre-European history as well as its early role as a burial ground, flagstaff signalling station and magnetic and meteorological observatory.
An absolute “must-do” walk for understanding the history and character of the City.
Meet at reception at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. Children under 16 are free.

You can book tickets below, by calling RHSV on 9326 9288, via email at office@historyvictoria.org.au, or in person at reception.
Future Mondays are available – if you don’t see your desired date below, give us a call to book in.

Reclaim Her Name: An introduction to commemorative naming
2026-02-06 10:00 - 11:00 | Join via Zoom
Despite making up more than half of the population, there are significantly fewer places named after women than after men.
Kerry Wilson of Put Her Name On It leads this online session as she introduces us to commemorative naming and the need for greater gender equality when it comes to naming our spaces. Learn about the current gender gap in commemorative naming, why representation matters and ways you can be involved.
Housekeeping
This is a Zoom event. The Zoom details will be sent 24 hours before the event to all those who have booked – please check your Spam or Junk Mail folder if you cannot find the email in your inbox.

Reclaim Her Name: An introduction to the Reclaim Her Name toolkit and how to run a research session
2026-02-13 10:00 - 11:00 | Join via Zoom
Despite making up more than half of the population, there are significantly fewer places named after women than after men.
Aimed at historical societies and other community groups in Victoria, this session introduces the Reclaim Her Name toolkit, which helps with:

Auditing existing names to identify gaps in representation.
Accumulating a list or “name bank” of notable local women and gender-diverse individuals who deserve commemoration.
Providing guidelines and case studies for inclusive naming processes.
Offering tools and training for research and sharing diverse local women’s histories.
Facilitating community nominations through campaigns like “Remember a Local, Name a Place”

The session will cover helpful practices and resources to support you in running a workshop in your local area. Ideal for committee members, volunteers, and anyone interested in starting a naming campaign in their community.
Housekeeping
This is a Zoom event. The Zoom details will be sent 24 hours before the event to all those who have booked – please check your Spam or Junk Mail folder if you cannot find the email in your inbox.

2026 Billibellary Indigenous History Lecture presented by Laureate Professor Marcia Langton AO
2026-02-24 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
We are delighted to invite our members and friends to join us for the 5th annual Billibellary Indigenous History Lecture to be delivered by Laureate Professor Marcia Langton AO.
2026 Billibellary Indigenous History Lecture: The Yiman diaspora and frontier legacy
Reflecting on colonisation in the upper Dawson Valley in central Queensland, Marcia Langton AO developed a historiographic scepticism. Gordon Stephen Reid wrote about her people in his 1981 book, A Nest of Hornets: The Massacre of the Fraser Family at Hornet Bank Station, Central Queensland, 1857, and related events, in which he relied, necessarily, entirely on colonist records, yet acknowledged of the Fraser family survivors, ‘Their revenge against the Jiman, without prosecution, helped to set the pattern for white attitudes and colonial government policy towards the Aborigines of Queensland for 40 years.’
As David Marr demonstrated in his 2023 account Killing for Country, history has a way of both deceiving and enlightening us. In this lecture, Langton examines the issues that have troubled her about the accounts of violence in her grandfather’s country.
Laureate Professor Marcia Langton AO, FASSA, AFTSE, a Yiman and Bidjara woman, is the Associate Provost, and Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at The University of Melbourne. She is also the Director of the Indigenous Studies Unit in Onemda, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. A prominent advocate for Indigenous rights, her research spans Indigenous health, family violence, and data governance. Widely published, her recent books include co-edited volumes with colleagues and include her chapter contributions: Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne – Vol 1 Truth (coedited with Ross Jones and James Waghorne, MUP 2024), and 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art (co-edited with Judith Ryan AM, Thames & Hudson, 2024); Indigenous Knowledge. Australian Perspectives (co-edited with Aaron Corn and Sam Curkpatrick, MUP, 2023), Law. The Way of the Ancestors (co-authored with Aaron Corn, Thames & Hudson, 2022).
House-keeping
The Zoom details will be sent 24 hours before the event to all those who have booked – please check your Spam or Junk Mail folder if you cannot find the email in your in-box. The Zoom event will start at 6pm (30 mins later than the in-person event).
Refreshments will be available from 5:30pm until 6pm when the lecture will commence.

Cataloguing Clinics 2026
2026-02-26 11:00 - 12:00, 2026-03-26 11:00 - 12:00, 2026-04-30 11:00 - 12:00, 2026-05-28 11:00 - 12:00 | Join via Zoom
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.
The one-hour clinics are free and the Zoom log-in below is used every month in 2026, however, we do ask you to register each month as this enables Jillian to send you extra material / links etc. after each session.
Sessions:
11am (AEDT) Thursday 26 February 2026
11am (AEDT) Thursday 26 March 2026
11am (AEST) Thursday 30 April 2026
11am (AEST) Thursday 28 May 2026
11am (AEST) Thursday 25 June 2026
11am (AEST) Thursday 30 July 2026
11am (AEST) Thursday 27 August 2026
11am (AEST) Thursday 24 September 2026
11am (AEDT) Thursday 29 October 2026
11am (AEDT) Thursday 26 November 2026

Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Monthly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZUodu6tqDgiHd1GR_iE8TH4ES68fGZNptVS/ics?icsToken=DG-8nju0TlavGLpMYAAALAAAAHjKVvjojHkP8b0WEF3xBU3_ND_gQsgdvSNgtqHVOZ5zsuq6aJanYT-P0Z-4fXQe-__Qy-vPVgC56bc5rzAwMDAwMQ&meetingMasterEventId=zzNd4ZUyTrmUVJnN31jJmA

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Menzies Australia: 60 years on
2026-02-27 08:00 - 17:00 | Melbourne
Our guest speaker, Dr Zachary Gorman will draw on insights from the groundbreaking four volume history of the Menzies era which he edited & directed. He will talk about Sir Robert Menzies: the man, his era and enduring impact, based on five years of meticulous research. He will also explore Sir Robert’s connections to Kew. Dr Gorman is the Historian and Research Manager of the Robert Menzies Institute at the University of Melbourne.
Wednesday 11 March at 7.30 for 8pm
‘Just Theatre’, Kew Court House, 188 High Street, Kew
Tickets available at the door $20

Reclaim Her Name: how to research and write about women worth remembering
2026-03-13 10:00 - 12:30 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Aimed at those in Melbourne, this session brings together Kerry Wilson of Put Her Name On It and history researchers from the RHSV to focus on hands-on research into one or more historical women of your choosing. We’ll cover research tools including archives, digitized newspapers, Trove, and other essential resources.
Bring your laptop and your thinking cap as we learn how to research and write the information needed to make your historical woman a candidate to have a place named after her. No prior research experience necessary.
Includes morning tea.

Duneira Estate 150th Celebration Victorian Ball
2026-03-14 19:00 - 23:30 | Duneira Estate, 1 Officer Lane, Mount Macedon, VIC, 3440, Australia
Come along to a Victorian ball with a Scottish twist to celebrate Duneira Estate’s 150th anniversary. It’s going to be a night to remember!
Step back into the 1870s with a horse and carriage taking you around the beautiful garden, a scrumptious supper, drinks flowing, and entertainment that will have you dancing the night away.
Book your tickets now at https://events.humanitix.com/duneira-estate-150th-celebration-grand-ball
We do hope you’ll join us for this unforgettable celebration.

Women’s History Month: Who? Hester Hornbrook and her ladies: Melbourne's first social carers in the 1850s and 1860s
2026-03-17 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Each year, to celebrate Women’s History Month, the RHSV offers our Women’s History lecture, part of our Distinguished Lecture series.
For 2026, we are delighted to have Roslyn Otzen presenting on Hester Hornbrook, whose work in creating 1850s Melbourne’s first social supports saved thousands of people from lives and deaths in misery, and formed the basis of future social support systems in Victoria.
Who? Hester Hornbrook and her ladies: Melbourne’s first social carers in the 1850s and 1860s
Roslyn Otzen completed her PhD on the 1854 origins of the Melbourne City Mission, and its founders, who included a woman named Hester Hornbrook. While researching Hester, and the many other women who worked with her, Roslyn uncovered a trove of unknown information, not only about the women, but the essential work they did in caring for gold-rushing newcomers to Melbourne who were entirely unsupported when they fell on hard times. Together, the women created Melbourne’s first social services. No one has heard of any of them. History has ignored them. Roslyn had to find out why — and introduce them firmly into the story of Melbourne.
About Roslyn Otzen
Roslyn Otzen, an educator and former Principal of Korowa AGS, completed her PhD thesis on the early Melbourne City Mission, and served a term on the MCM Board. She became the inaugural Chair of the Hester Hornbrook Academy Board, and continues as a Director. She still studies the MCM’s early days, and especially the work of its women, whose own lives have been a closed book, until on-line access to records of the past have enabled their recovery. She has published several histories, including a biography of Dr John Singleton, another founder of the MCM. Other publications include Grace and Strength: Calisthenics in Australia (2011) and To Begin The World Anew: How Particular Nobodies Made Australia (2022).
House-keeping
The Zoom log-in details will be sent, 24 hours before the event, to all those who have booked – please check your Spam or Junk Mail folder if you cannot find the email in your in-box. The Zoom event will start at 6pm (30 mins later than the in-person event).
Refreshments (non-alcoholic) will be available from 5:30pm until 6pm when the lecture will commence.

Regional Seminar Event: Country, Gold, and Consequence
2026-03-28 - 2026-03-29 | Melbourne
The RHSV thanks the East Gippsland Historical Society which is hosting our first Historical Societies Support Committee (HSSC) regional seminar for 2026. Drawing on the expertise of both local and visiting speakers, the seminar will examine how stories of exploration, settlement and the discovery of gold shaped the development and changing face of the region.
Gippsland’s history stretches from First Nations communities through European exploration, settlement and the discovery of gold. The district’s early story is both complex and compelling. Speakers will explore the impact of European arrival, including how the gold discoveries sparked a significant influx of people into the region and accelerated its growth and change.
The destination
The program will be held in Bairnsdale, approximately three and a half hours from Melbourne. We always value the opportunity to gather beyond Melbourne and encourage members of historical societies to take a short break and enjoy engaging history in a beautiful setting near the Gippsland Lakes.
East Gippsland Historical Society
Located at 40 Macarthur Street, Bairnsdale, in the former St Andrew’s College, East Gippsland Historical Society, founded in 1964, has been operating its museum premises since 1972. The Society aims to display and preserve local artefacts pertinent to Bairnsdale and surrounding districts, and endeavours to provide a community resource for local history.
The Seminar
The seminar will be held at East Gippsland Historical Society’s Delvine Hall at 40 Macarthur Street, Bairnsdale on Sunday 29 March 2026.

Weekend Agenda
Saturday 28 March 2026Day 1 Program:
12.00pm – East Gippsland Historical Society Museum.For those arriving on Saturday, we will meet at the Society’s museum, located at 40 Macarthur Street, Bairnsdale. The building, originally designed by A J Kramer and built by the McKnockiter Bros. in 1891-92 for the Presbyterian Church, was used as a college until it closed in 1909. The society took over the building in 1972 and houses an extensive collection of artefacts and memorabilia both within the building and in the grounds.
2.00pm – “The Keeping Place”The Krowathunkooloong “Keeping Place”, Dalmahoy Street, Bairnsdale. This museum is the custodian of the Gunaikurnai First Nations people history and is a place to understand and appreciate the living, vibrant and continuing culture of the Gunaikurnai people of East Gippsland. Admission to Keeping Place $10.00, if attending.
3.30pm – St Mary’s Church.St Mary’s Church in Bairnsdale, Victoria, located on Main Street, Bairnsdale. The church is a prominent Romanesque-style Catholic church, renowned for its extensive, detailed murals painted by Italian migrant labourer and artist Francesco Floreani during the Great Depression (1931–1938).
6.00pm – Dinner – Grand Terminus HotelIn the evening, an optional dinner at own cost will be held in the private dining room of the Grand Terminus Hotel, Bairnsdale.Local historians will present stories on local identities who contributed to the development of the township of Bairnsdale.

Sunday 29 March 2026Day 2 Program
9.30am-9.50am: RegistrationMorning tea and lunch provided in registration fee.
9.50am: Welcome and introductionJacque Hocking, East Gippsland Historical Society
10.00am: Dr Steven Cooke, FRHistS, Executive Director, Royal Historical Society of Victoria.
10.15am: Rob ChristieA Convenient Scapegoat. Angus McMillan and the Gippsland Massacres.Well-known local author and historian Rob Christie has meticulously researched and verified evidence that doesn’t exonerate McMillan entirely, but proves that while involved, he was not the leader and instigator of the atrocities suffered by the Indigenous populations of Gippsland.
11.15am: Morning tea
11.30am: Bill JacksonScotland to Glenaladale 1842. The story of Simon Gillies co-founder of Glenaladale Station.Bill’s presentation follows the life of Simon Gillies who, along with Charles and Angus McLean, took up the Glenaladale Run license in 1845. From the “Hyland Clearances” to the production of wool, beef and crops on the rich Mitchell River flats, Gillies was one of the many who helped develop the area into the food bowl it is today.
12.30: Lunch
1.15: Sherryn VardyCommunity driven heritage: The 1897 Bullumwaal stage curtain.Sherryn’s presentation, Community driven heritage: the 1897 Bullumwaal stage curtain, explores how community collections in regional areas are sometimes difficult to categorise and to manage. Since these objects are not located within an institution, such as a museum or historical collection, their care is often managed by the community, with little or no access to funding and support. The case study of the Bullumwaal stage curtain, painted in 1897 during the Gold Rush for the town’s Mechanics Hall, illustrates how a very small community, passionate about its past, knowledge-rich and wishing to keep their stage curtain in situ, managed to conserve this unique object.
2.15: Dr Jayne Rantall & Erin Fahy-HamptonStories from the archives: Aboriginal children and welfare in Gippsland and East Gippsland in the late twentieth century.Jayne and Erin are Senior Research & Assessment Officers with the Stolen Generations Reparations Unit for the Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS). They will present an overview of the research they have been doing into the provision of welfare for Aboriginal children in the 1960s and 1970s in Gippsland and East Gippsland. They will discuss their experiences of traditional archives and how this sits alongside local knowledge and community archives.
3.15: Q & A Session.
3.30pm Thank you and Close

AGL Shaw Lecture: The Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate – Compassionate Protection or Temporising Quackery?
2026-04-21 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
The Royal Historical Society of Victoria and the CJ La Trobe Society are proud to present the annual AGL Shaw Lecture.
The Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate – Compassionate Protection or Temporising Quackery?
Speaker: Dr Frances Thiele
About Dr Thiele
Frances Thiele is a professional historian and senior heritage advisor working in Aboriginal and historic cultural heritage management. In 1997, she was awarded the E.W. Benham Prize for a PhD in British History at the University of Adelaide.
Frances worked as Field Historian at State Library Victoria for seven years, and in 2007, was awarded the La Trobe Society’s inaugural Fellowship. Her research interests include Australian colonial history, especially in the Port Phillip District.
About the AGL Shaw lectures
Alan George Lewers Shaw AO, FAHA, FASSA, FRAHS, FRHSV (1916 – 2012) was an RHSV Councillor from 1965 to 1971 and President from 1987 to 1991. He is also a Benefactor of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. He was President of the C J La Trobe Society as well and the two organisations, the C J La Trobe Society and the RHSV, have jointly presented the annual AGL Shaw lecture since 2002 as a tribute to a great historian. A list of previous lecturers can be viewed here.
House-keeping
You will be sent an automatic email confirmation once you book – if this email doesn’t appear in your in-box, please check your Spam or Junk Mail folder as these automatically generated emails can go astray.
As at most RHSV events, we will be serving refreshments from 5:30pm to 6pm when the lecture starts. For the AGL Shaw lecture, we also serve refreshments after the event, and we encourage our members and the members of the C J La Trobe Society to stay a little longer and share our hospitality.

RHSV AGM + 2026 Weston Bate Oration: Professor Richard Broome AM
2026-05-26 17:00 - 19:30 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
AGM: 5pm – 6.10pm
Break: 6.10pm – 6.30pm
Weston Bate Oration: 6.30pm – 7.30pm
The Weston Bate Oration follows the RHSV’s Annual General Meeting. The AGM runs from 5pm until about 6:10pm when we have a short break before resuming for the Oration at 6:30pm. Refreshments will be served in that break.
If you wish to attend the Oration only then there is no need to arrive at the Drill Hall until, say, 6:15pm for 6:30pm.
Both the AGM and the Oration are hybrid and will be available on ZOOM for those who cannot attend in person at the Drill Hall. The same ZOOM log-in will apply to both the AGM and the Oration and those log-in details will be sent to those who RSVP 24 hours before the event. You just need to log-in when you are able to join the meeting/oration.
There is the opportunity below to record your apologies if you cannot attend the AGM in person or via ZOOM.
Members will be sent the papers for the AGM 14 days prior to the AGM.
Non-members are more than welcome to attend the AGM – we just ask members to identify themselves when RSVPing as it makes it easier for us to count votes, etc.
Weston Bate Oration:
Presented by Professor Richard Broome AM, FAHA, FRHSV, FFAHS
In this lecture Richard will explain how he found Aboriginal history in the 1970s and how his practice and methodological approach to this field has changed over five decades. He will reveal how and when he shifted from a position of youthful ignorance; to being interested in and talking about Aboriginal people; to listening to and talking with them; and finally, to deep collaboration with them.
About the presenter:
Emeritus Professor Richard Broome AM taught Australian and Indigenous History at La Trobe University for over three decades. He is a former President of the RHSV and currently co-editor of the Victorian Historical Journal. He is the author of twenty books, including Aboriginal Australians. A history since 1788 (Allen & Unwin 5th ed., 2019) and the multi-prize-winner Aboriginal Victorians. A History since 1800 (Allen & Unwin, 2nd ed., 2024). He co-edited with Ashley Pratt, Analyzing Australian History, a 4 volume VCE text (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Richard has co-authored three books for the RHSV, the latest being The Story of Melbourne’s Lanes (2024).
The Weston Bate Oration is one of the RHSV’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

Cataloguing Clinics 2026
2026-06-25 11:00 - 22:00, 2026-07-30 11:00 - 12:00 | ZOOM, Join from anywhere in the world

Lives lived and clothes worn: reading Gwen Jones' gowns
2026-07-21 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
This lecture honours the life of Gwen Jones, a keen member and generous supporter of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria over many years until her death in 2021, aged 98. The lecture series will promote the vital role of The Jones Collection of the RHSV in documenting and supporting research on these themes.
The Jones Collection was donated to the RHSV by Gwen shortly before she died. Gwen’s creation, stewardship, and generosity surrounding the collection has ensured that future historians have an incredibly rich archive on which to draw.
Lives lived and clothes worn: reading Gwen Jones’ gowns
Clothing is a personal document that records experiences, reflects moments in time and captures aspects of its wearer. In this presentation, Lorinda Cramer delves into three gowns related to Gwen Jones in the collection of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria). As she reads these garments for the lives lived in and through them, she teases apart the social, cultural and fashion history in which these dresses were worn.
About Dr Lorinda Cramer
Dr Lorinda Cramer is a Lecturer in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Deakin University. Her work as a dress historian sits at the intersections of social history, cultural history and material culture studies. She employs an innovative methodology that draws on the materiality of museum objects to deepen insights into clothing’s connections with gender, race and class, to explore consumer preference, and to interrogate fashion as a worn experience.
Housekeeping
This event will be hybrid so presented in person in our rooms and also via ZOOM. Those purchasing ZOOM tickets will be sent the log-in details 24hrs before the event.
An automatically generated confirmation of booking email is sent on booking – please check your Trash or Spam folders if this email does not turn up in your in-box.
As with most of our events, refreshments will be served from 5:30pm – 6pm when the lecture starts (the Zoom session also starts at 6pm). There will be Q&A at the end of the lecture.
