Royal Historical Society of Victoria

Food, Fun and Flag Wavers: Memories of the Lygon Street Festa Exhibition
2019-10-08 - 2019-11-07 | Museo Italiano, 199 Faraday Street, Carlton, Victoria, 3053, Australia
Join CO.AS.IT. in celebrating History Week 2019 with a joyful walk down memory lane, exploring the fun times that were had by young and old at the Lygon Street Festa over the last 40 years. This colourful exhibition brings together for the first time images, objects and stories from the CO.AS.IT. Italian Historical Society Collection which celebrate the unique history of the Lygon Street Festa, Australia’s first major Italian street festival.

Celebration of the 90th birthday of Professor John Riddoch Poynter AO
2019-11-08 10:30 - 12:30 (Australia/Melbourne) | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
The Royal Historical Society of Victoria is hosting a
A SPARKLING MORNING TEA TO CELEBRATE THE 90th BIRTHDAY OF
Professor John Riddoch Poynter AO
On Friday 8 November 2019 at 10:30am for 11am
at the rooms of the RHSV, Ground Floor, 239 A’Beckett Street, Melbourne
We invite the family, friends, colleagues and students of Professor Poynter and the members of the RHSV to join us in this celebration.
John Poynter in a long, illustrious career has made a major contribution to historical studies in Australia, and particularly to the history of Melbourne and Victoria through his outstanding biographical writing.
Amongst his many career achievements are:

University of Melbourne BA, PhD
Victorian Rhodes Scholar 1951
Oxford University MA
Chevalier des Palmes Academiques 1980
Dean of Trinity College, University of Melbourne 1953-64
Ernest Scott Professor of History, University of Melbourne 1966-75
Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne 1971-73
Dean of the Faculty of Music, Visual and Performing Arts 1991-93
Pro Vice Chancellor 1972-75, Deputy Vice-Chancellor 1975-90, Assistant Vice-Chancellor 1991-94
Section Editor, Australian Dictionary of Biography 1978-90
President, Citizens Welfare Service 1972-91

His books include the biographies of Russell Grimwade, Alfred Felton, Alexander Leeper and Dr L.L.Smith. With Carolyn Rasmussen he co-authored a history of the University of Melbourne 1935-75. In 2009 he published a collection of verses and memoirs entitled The Tarnished Swan.

Congress for International Cooperation and Disarmament (CICD) celebrates 60 years
2019-11-10 14:00 - 17:00 | Unitarian Peace Memorial Church, 110 Grey St, Melbourne, VIC, 3002, Australia
On 10 November 2019 CICD will celebrate 60 years of active campaigning on peace and nuclear disarmament, social justice and much more…
We’d like to invite you to celebrate this with us at our anniversary function.
So, please join us as we continue to fight for peace and to Ban the Bomb!
Speakers include:
Joan Coxsedge: anti war activist jailed for her anti conscription activities, Artist and writer. Member of the Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church, Member of CICD and one of the first two women to be elected to the Legislative Council and first Labor woman MLC.
Professor Joseph Camileri: From Pax Christi, is managing director of Alexandria Agenda, Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University in Melbourne, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.
Bruce McPhie: is a multi-talented activist and was a hardworking and valuable asset to CICD when he was working there. His political understanding of the world was and is outstanding and advanced the anti-imperialist peace aims of CICD.
Bruce continues to be an asset to CICD via his creative blog writing on the state of the world
John Lloyd: Ex Secretary of the CICD during the moratorium period. John is involved with the Vietnam Moratorium 50thAnniversary Committee preparing for its commemoration on 8 May 2020.
Marion Harper: Ex-Hon. Secretary of the Unitarian Peace Memorial Church, campaigner and activist for peace and social justice.
There will be more speakers plenty of food and drinks and music
Afternoon tea will be offered at the event
Please RSVP to Romina Beitseen: peacecentre@cicd.org.au or phone Romina on 0414 352 542.

Lecture. Farming the Mallee: Visions and Realities 1890-present
2019-11-12 17:15 - 19:00 | RHSV ZOOM by Invitation, Australia
We are honoured that our last major lecture for 2019 will be delivered by Professor Katie Holmes, Director, Centre for the Study of the Inland and co-author of the soon-to-be-published Mallee Country: Land, People, History together with Richard Broome, Charles Fahey and Andrea Gaynor.
In the early 1890s the Victorian Mallee was seen as a ‘howling wilderness’ covered in ‘dismal scrub’. As surveyors began to subdivide the large pastoral stations into 320 acre blocks, the Mallee boosters envisaged an area as a vast granary of golden fields and 5000 acres wheat farms. The subsequent 130 years would see the vision of extensive wheat farms become a reality but the process of transformation came at significant personal and environmental cost.
This talk will explore the cycles of drought and abundance, hope and despair that have characterised Mallee farming; the impacts of social, economic, technological and environmental change on farming practice; and some of the challenges ahead for Mallee communities.

Celebration of Fifty Years Membership
2019-11-13 10:30 - 12:00 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Congratulations! You have been a member
of the RHSV for more than 50 years!
And we think that is worth celebrating.
The President, Richard Broome, & Councillors
of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria
invite you, and your guest, to join us
in celebrating your half century of membership
on Wednesday 13 November from 10:30am
at a champagne morning tea.

Those Creative Liardets
2019-11-14 - 2019-12-01 | Port Melbourne Town Hall, 333 Bay Street, Port Melbourne, VIC, 3207, Australia
We welcome and encourage you to come and celebrate the 180th anniversary of Wilbraham and Caroline Liardet’s arrival to the shores of ‘The Beach’ – later Sandridge (Port Melbourne).
Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society is proud to present a collection of beautiful artworks and creative pieces from some of their descendants.
This exhibition celebrates the creative streak that runs true and strong in the Liardet family – passed on though the generations. These descendants continue Wilbraham’s natural artistic ability and his passion for visually recording the world around him.
The exhibition runs from 14th November to 1st December 2019
Monday to Friday 8.30am – 6.00pm and Saturday 10.00 am – 2.00 pm

BOOK LAUNCH INVITATION to Mallee Country: Land, People, History
2019-11-16 16:00 - 18:00 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
The Royal Historical Society of Victoria and Monash University Publishing are delighted to invite you the launch of
Mallee Country: Land, People, History
By Richard Broome, Charles Fahey, Andrea Gaynor and Katie Holmes
Mallee Country will be launched by Tom Griffiths, Emeritus Professor of History, ANU.
With a special performance by the celebrated gum leaf player Herb Patten, a Gunai-Kurnai, Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri man based in Melbourne
4.00 for 4.30pm to 6.00pm
RSVP (appreciated) by Wednesday 13 November 2019
Queries: office@historyvictoria.org.au or (03) 9326 9288

The launch of Melbourne's Twenty Decades
2019-11-19 17:00 - 19:00 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
The Royal Historical Society of Victoria invites our members and friends to attend
the launch of our latest book,
Melbourne’s Twenty Decades,
to be launched by Emeritus Laureate Professor Stuart Macintyre AO FAHA FASSA
on Tuesday 19 November, 2019 at 5:00pm for 5:30pm to 7:00pm
at the RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A’Beckett Street, Melbourne.
Editors: Richard Broome, Richard Barnden, Elisabeth Jackson, Judith Smart
Contributing Authors: Jill Barnard, Richard Broome, Michael Cannon, Graeme Davison, Don Garden, John Lack, Andrew Lemon, Andrew May, Seamus O’Hanlon, Charles Sowerwine and Judith Smart.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW. MODULE 5: LOOKING AFTER DIGITAL FILES
2019-11-22 13:00 - 16:00 | VIC
The RHSV is offering a series of 6 linked workshops which cover cataloguing and digitisation. This series of workshops starts with basic concepts and builds in complexity.
We have spaced the workshops so that participants have time in which to put into practice their new skills before the next workshop.
Some participants will want to book for the full series of 6 workshops and others will want to choose those individual workshops that are most suitable for them. So, although the series is designed as a cohesive whole, the individual workshops also work as stand-alone training sessions.
All workshops are limited to 20 participants and will be lead by Sophie Shilling, our digital expert. They are all to be held at the RHSV: Officers’ Mess Upstairs, RHSV 239 A’Beckett St, Melbourne. This room, unfortunately, is only accessible by a staircase – there is no disabled access.
MODULE 5: LOOKING AFTER DIGITAL FILES
FRIDAY 22 NOVEMBER 1PM – 4PM
This is a basic digital preservation workshop. The workshop will begin with brief project management skills including templates for policies and procedures. We will discuss digital storage, how to create backups, and how to check if files are damaged. Participants will learn how to describe an object using Dublin Core so that digital files can be discoverable.
MODULE 6: MAKING COLLECTIONS ACCESSIBLE
FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER 1PM – 4PM
INDIVIDUAL WORKSHOPS: RHSV MEMBERS: $25 NON-RHSV MEMBERS: $35
QUERIES: +61 3 9326 9288 / OFFICE@HISTORYVICTORIA.ORG.AU

And, finally, a date-claimer for our first workshop in 2020:
BORN DIGITAL
FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020 1PM – 4PM, OFFICERS’ MESS UPSTAIRS, RHSV 239 A’BECKETT ST, MELBOURNE
This workshop is a stand-alone workshop which will be presented in partnership with AMaGA. It covers Born Digital documents – those documents that only exist in digital format. Although it is not part of our 6 module series it is naturally a good fit as a coda. So, this is a date-claimer as bookings for this stand-alone workshop will not open for several months yet.
Previous modules in the series:
MODULE 1: COMPUTER CATALOGUING FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
MODULE 2: USING CATALOGUING SOFTWARE
MODULE 3: SCANNING FOR BEGINNERS
MODULE 4: DIGITISING BOOKS AND PHOTOGRAPHING OBJECTS

Explorations Series - Living with the Hume Dam, 1919-2019
2019-11-28 16:30 - 18:30 | Commerical Club, 618 Dean Street, Albury, NSW, 2640, Australia
In 1919 work began on Hume Dam with celebration and acclaim. When it was completed in 1936 it was hailed as an engineering and political achievement, indeed, a nation-building project.
How do we understand its history and legacy now in 2019?
Join river system and dam managers, environmentalists, historians, photographers and musicians as they share stories and reflect on the centenary of Hume Dam. We have challenged them to excite us and even try to persuade us to their view in a series of quick-fire ‘show and tell’ presentations.

What have been the opportunities and the challenges that came with Hume Dam?
What have been the social, economic and environmental impacts of Hume Dam?
What stories does Hume Dam reveal or obscure?
How might the people of Albury-Wodonga and the people of Australia, reflect on their connections with Hume Dam, the lake, and the regulated river?
What do representations of Hume Dam and its surrounds reveal about past and present day mind-sets

This event is organised by Charles Sturt University working in conjunction with La Trobe University and Albury & District Historical Society. This is a Two Cities One Community initiative held with the support of the Murray Darling Basin Authority.
Light refreshments will be provided concluding the event.
FREE EVENT
Bookings: https://about.csu.edu.au/community/events/upcoming/albury-wodonga/explorations-series-living-with-the-hume-dam-1919-2019

Walk into history
2019-12-01 10:00 - 12:00 | VIC
Bendigo Historical Society offers different guided walking tours every month. In December it will be:
Beehive / Allan’s Walk / Stock Exchange
Meet at Pall Mall entrance of the Beehive building, Pall Mall, Bendigo

The La Trobes' Music
2019-12-01 14:00 - 16:00 | La Trobe’s Cottage, cnr Birdwood Avenue and Dallas Brooks Drive, Melbourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia
The La Trobes’ Music: celebrate the role music played in the life of the La Trobe family while they lived at ‘Jolimont’.
Musicians will perform the music that would have echoed around ‘Jolimont’ in the time of the La Trobe family.
• the piano sonatas composed by La Trobe’s father Christian Ignatius
• a song transcribed by Georgiana McCrae at ‘Jolimont’
• violinists play folk songs which the family would have sung around the Broadwood piano they brought with them to Melbourne in 1839.
Guided tours of the Cottage will be available throughout the afternoon.

Specialist history tour: Melbourne Observatory
2019-12-01 20:30 - 22:00 | Melbourne Observatory, Birdwood Avenue, Royal Botanic Gardens, VIC, 3004, Australia
This event booked out in less than 24 hours! We hope to organise more tours in the New Year so keep an eye out for further announcements.
The RHSV is organising a special historical tour of The Melbourne Observatory for our members.
The Melbourne Observatory was constructed in 1861–63, and expanded until 1902 to eventually comprise 22 rooms. Far from only stargazing, the Observatory staff provided critical scientific data essential for the smooth running of industries ranging from shipping to farming and city business to politics.
It commenced operations in 1863 and achieved a great deal of practical value for Victoria before it was decommissioned from official Government work in 1945. However it has since remained in use as an astronomical observatory.
The Observatory was the home for weather forecasting, time setting, setting weights and measures standards and for the surveying of Victoria. The distinctive shapes of the buildings, built and added to between 1861 and 1902, topped by sliding domes and opening roof structures evoke immediate recognition of their functions as devices for tracking and charting stars, watching the weather and keeping time.
In the rapidly growing nineteenth century city of Melbourne, telling the time accurately was a major challenge. The Melbourne Observatory provided the time for a clock in Bourke Street as well as the clocks at Flinders and Spencer Street railway stations.
Much of the historic equipment used when the Observatory was fully operational is preserved and still used for observing the southern night sky.
Melbourne Observatory is now on the National Heritage List (early 2018). It has since been found to be of even greater national and world significance. Following successful precedents set by Sydney Observatory and many others around the world – including another highly significant 19th century observatory at Birr Castle in Ireland, Melbourne Observatory should become a working heritage astronomical observatory museum. The reinstallation of the reconstructed Great Melbourne Telescope of 1869 in its original building at the Melbourne Observatory is underway and authentic, sensitive restoration of the entire Melbourne Observatory site should follow.
Important information about the tour:

Each tour consists of a max of 12 people. If there is sufficient interest we will book two tours which will occur simultaneously.
The tour is conducted at night and are not suitable for wheelchairs due to narrow entrances and staircases. This tour includes entry into confined spaces and climbing stairs, therefore requires a moderate level of physical fitness and mobility
The tour will not be cancelled due to overcast or inclement weather conditions. Our guide will conduct an informative tour although the use of telescopes for observation in these conditions will not occur
This program is not suitable for children under the age of 8 years. Children 8 years and above must be accompanied by an adult.

This is both an indoor and outdoor activity. Please wear appropriate clothing for weather conditions and appropriate footwear.

Jack Wetherly under the microscope
2019-12-04 12:30 - 13:30 | RHSV ZOOM by Invitation, Australia
We are delighted to present a talk by Catherine Gill who has been volunteering at the RHSV. Catherine writes,
“As part of my recently completed Masters in Cultural Materials Conservation, I was given opportunity to study the portrait of Jack Wetherly. The original artwork was painted in 1840 by Thomas Napier. Records at the RHSV state that the painting in its collection is a copy of the original artwork and was possibly painted by Thomas Clark.
“With consent from the RHSV I was able to undertake a research study on the painting of Jack Wetherly for my thesis. The focus was to conduct scientific analysis of the materials used by the artist in order to assist with the creation of a conservation plan to treat the painting. Another purpose of the study was to gather knowledge that this portrait holds about Jack Wetherly and the history surrounding him to accompany the portrait. The talk will focus on the two areas of the research findings as well as the process undertaken to conserve the portrait.
About the painting
Thomas Napier migrated to Hobart with his companion from England the builder John Brown (later of Como, Victoria). During his time in Hobart ‘he saw the surviving members of the Big River Tribe being brought into Hobart Town by George Augustus Robinson en route to Flinders Island’ (Trove, 2019). The Barber Chronicles (1979, p. 60) state that ‘By permission of the authorities he was enabled to paint on canvas several portraits of the Natives, including one of the chiefs called Manalangana which is now housed at the Melbourne Savage Club.’ The portrait Alphonse, the Tasmanian retitled A Tasmanian Aboriginal is housed at Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. Another painting of Woureddy and Trukanini is held in a private collection.
“Napier migrated to Melbourne soon after these portraits were done and was amongst the first people to purchase land at the first land sale. After about 18 months, he established a cattle station near Dandenong and it is likely he met the Boonwurrung man Jack Wetherly. After a year he returned to Melbourne and this is probably when the portrait was painted.
“Information about Jack Wetherly was found in the journals of William Thomas who was appointed as one of four assistant protectors under the Port Phillip Protectorate (1839-1849). Thomas was responsible for the western Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung clans. Part of the role of the protectors was to record interactions with the Aboriginal people under their assigned care. As a result of this, Thomas created journals that documented names and activities and the places to which the Aboriginal people travelled. We learn from these records some information about Wetherly’s journeys from the protectorate on the Mornington Peninsula to Melbourne and Dandenong and some of the events that happened in his life during the period he was under the watch of William Thomas.
“Before commencing my masters, I worked as a Visual Art teacher for many years. I currently work part-time at the University of Melbourne coordinating the Arts West Gallery Space and continue to volunteer at RHSV.”
Attendees are more than welcome to eat their lunch whilst listening to Catherine and we’ll have tea / coffee available from 12noon onwards.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned that the event will exhibit images of deceased persons.
Image credit:
Thomas Napier (copy) Jack Wetherly a Victorian Native, 1840, oil on canvas, 79.7 x 66.9 cm (unframed), Melbourne, Royal Historical Society of Victoria

Looking Back, Looking Forward. Summer Fun in Yarra Plenty
2019-12-05 - 2020-01-06 | Eltham Library Community Gallery, 1 Panther Place, Eltham, Victoria, 3095, Australia
5 December 2019 – 6 January 2020
Historical photographs and original artworks are exhibited side by side in this celebration of all things
summer – picnics, swimming, boating, horsing around, and enjoying nature with family and friends during long sunny days.
The exhibition is presented in collaboration with members of the Yarra Plenty Heritage Group including Andrew Ross Museum, Eltham District Historical Society, Greensborough Historical Society, Heidelberg Historical Society, St Andrews/Queenstown Historical Society, Nillumbik Historical Society, Nillumbik Reconciliation Group, 2nd Eltham Sea Scouts and Nillumbik U3A Painting and Drawing Group.
Opening
Thursday 5 December.
To be opened by Nillumbik Mayor, Cr Karen Egan
Time 2.30pm to 4.30pm
GALLERY Opening Hours
Monday – Thursday 10 am – 8.30 pm
Friday – Saturday 10am – 5pm
Sunday 1pm – 5pm
Public Holidays Closed
Image caption: Enjoying the Heidelberg State School Pool c1930s P2260, Heidelberg Historical Society collection

Launch of A Guide to Historic St Kilda
2019-12-10 18:00 - 19:30 | Readings St Kilda, 112 Acland St, St Kilda, VICTORIA, 3182, Australia
Where was the alpaca paddock?
Who has the Palais chandelier?
Was there a Banksy painting in a laneway?
Join author, David Willis for the launch of his latest book, A Guide to Historic St Kilda on Tuesday 10 December at 6pm at Readings, 112 Acland St.
RSVP: stkildapress@outlook.com

RHSV Christmas lunch for volunteers
2019-12-11 12:30 - 14:30 | Radisson on Flagstaff Gardens, 380 William St, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
For our volunteers and staff to celebrate a wonderful year working together at the RHSV.

Launch: Locating Australian Literary Memory
2019-12-12 17:30 - 19:30 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
The RHSV is delighted to host the launch of Brigid Magner’s Locating Australian Literary Memory which explores the cultural meanings suffusing local literary commemorations.
John Arnold, book historian and former editor of the La Trobe Journal, will launch the book and also there will be readings from the Henry Lawson, Adam Lindsay Gordon and Henry Handel Richardson societies (and maybe a Banjo Paterson song)!
It is orientated around eleven authors – Adam Lindsay Gordon, Joseph Furphy, Henry Handel Richardson, Henry Lawson, A. B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson, Nan Chauncy, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Eleanor Dark, P. L. Travers, Kylie Tennant and David Unaipon – who have all been celebrated through a range of forms including statues, huts, trees, writers’ houses and assorted objects.
Brigid Magner illuminates the social memory residing in these monuments
and artefacts, which were largely created as bulwarks against forgetting. Acknowledging the
value of literary memorials and the voluntary labour that enables them, she traverses the many
contradictions, ironies and eccentricities of authorial commemoration in Australia, arguing for an
expanded repertoire of practices to recognise those who have been hitherto excluded.
Brigid Magner’s fascinating study sets out the ways in which a nation can build an identity
by actively constructing a literary memory, and then using those memories to paper over the
deep history of our First Nations and their stories. In doing so she helps us understand both
how fragile Australian culture is and also the ways in which literature is a powerful force.’
—Sophie Cunningham
Brigid Magner is senior lecturer in literary studies and founding member of the non/fiction lab
research group at RMIT University, Australia. She has contributed to a range of publications on
topics relating to Australian and New Zealand literary culture with a particular focus on publishing,
authorship, cultural heritage and tourism.
Drinks from 5:30pm for a 6pm launch.

John Arnold recently retired from Monash University after twenty-three years with the National Centre for Australian Studies. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash. He was the co-editor (with John Hay) of the four-volume Bibliography of Australian Literature (2001–08) and author of The Fanfrolico Press: Satyrs, Fauns and Fine Books (2008). He is a former editor of the La Trobe Journal. He is published widely on the history of the book in Australia.

John worked at the State Library from 1975–1980 and from 1983–1989. He has held continuous office-bearer/board member positions in the Friends of the La Trobe Library/State Library of Victoria and the Library Foundation since 1983. John is a former President of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand and a long-standing member of the Committee of the Victorian Branch of the Bookcollector’s Society of Australia.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW. MODULE 6: MAKING COLLECTIONS ACCESSIBLE
2019-12-13 13:00 - 16:00 | RHSV ZOOM by Invitation, Australia
The RHSV is offering a series of 6 linked workshops which cover cataloguing and digitisation. This series of workshops starts with basic concepts and builds in complexity.
We have spaced the workshops so that participants have time in which to put into practice their new skills before the next workshop.
Some participants will want to book for the full series of 6 workshops and others will want to choose those individual workshops that are most suitable for them. So, although the series is designed as a cohesive whole, the individual workshops also work as stand-alone training sessions.
All workshops are limited to 20 participants and will be lead by Sophie Shilling, our digital expert. They are all to be held at the RHSV: Officers’ Mess Upstairs, RHSV 239 A’Beckett St, Melbourne. This room, unfortunately, is only accessible by a staircase – there is no disabled access.
THE LAST IN THE SERIES …
MODULE 6: MAKING COLLECTIONS ACCESSIBLE
FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER 1PM – 4PM
Objects need to be accessible, whether that is to people managing a collection, to visitors, or to the public. This workshop will introduce themes of copyright and privacy that relate to historical collections. Participants will learn how to optimise catalogue records for discovery, how to write for social media, and create digital exhibitions.
INDIVIDUAL WORKSHOPS: RHSV MEMBERS: $25 NON-RHSV MEMBERS: $35
QUERIES: +61 3 9326 9288 / OFFICE@HISTORYVICTORIA.ORG.AU

And, finally, a date-claimer for our first workshop in 2020:
BORN DIGITAL
FRIDAY 24 JANUARY 2020 1PM – 4PM, OFFICERS’ MESS UPSTAIRS, RHSV 239 A’BECKETT ST, MELBOURNE
This workshop is a stand-alone workshop which will be presented in partnership with AMaGA. It covers Born Digital documents – those documents that only exist in digital format. Although it is not part of our 6 module series it is naturally a good fit as a coda. So, this is a date-claimer as bookings for this stand-alone workshop will not open for several months yet.
Previous modules in the series:
MODULE 1: COMPUTER CATALOGUING FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
MODULE 2: USING CATALOGUING SOFTWARE
MODULE 3: SCANNING FOR BEGINNERS
MODULE 4: DIGITISING BOOKS AND PHOTOGRAPHING OBJECTS
MODULE 5: LOOKING AFTER DIGITAL FILES

Exhibition launch: The Swamp Vanishes
2020-01-23 17:00 - 19:00 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Emeritus Professor Richard Broome, President of the Royal Historical Society,
with RHSV Councillors,
invites you to the launch of our next exhibition
The Swamp Vanishes
to be launched by Dr Gary Presland
with a musical performance by The Orbweavers.
Curated by Lenore Frost.
Curatorial support: Richard Barnden and David Thompson.

A casualty of ‘exigeant and remorseless modern civilization’.
Before European settlers arrived in the Port Phillip district, a large wetland that lay between the Yarra River and the Moonee Ponds Creek sustained the indigenous people and the cultural traditions of the Kulin nation.
It was known by the new settlers as Batman’s Swamp, later West Melbourne Swamp. In less than 20 years that important wetland had been despoiled by European settlers, who turned into a receptacle for sewage and rubbish, and shot large numbers of birds.
While the wetland had initially been described in terms of beauty, within a few short years the swamp was noisome and reviled, and talk began of draining and reclamation. By the end of the century significant engineering works had changed the very shape of the land.
A feature of the land which had sustained aboriginal people for millennia prior to European settlement in 1835 became a refuge for the down and out during the 1930s depression. ‘Reclamation’ works continued, until the wetland is now represented by the Dynon Road Tidal Canal, parallel to Dynon Road, and a small Wildlife Reserve.
This exhibition traces the how a significant wetland vanished from sight.
During a Creative Fellowship at State Library of Victoria, The Orbweavers wrote a series of songs related to the West Melbourne Swamp. These include a song about the lost Blue Lake, songs about Moonee Ponds Creek and industry along the Birrarung and Maribyrnong Rivers in the 19th-20th centuries. To find out more about The Orbweavers click here.
Important notice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors who are warned that this exhibition contains images of deceased persons.
The RHSV also warns that there might be words and descriptions quoted that could be culturally sensitive and which might not normally be used in public or community contexts. Words and descriptions that reflect the authors and the historical period in which the item was written, may be considered inappropriate today.

Workshop: Born Digital Documents
2020-01-24 10:00 - 15:00 | RHSV ZOOM by Invitation, Australia
Presented by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and Victorian Collections, this hands-on workshop provides an introduction to the principles of acquiring, storing, cataloguing and caring for born-digital material. This workshop is suitable for beginners who may have, or plan to acquire, digital images, media files or documents in their collection.
Participants are asked to bring along their own laptop or contact the organisers to arrange a device upon booking. Morning tea and afternoon tea will be provided and we will break for a self-catered lunch.
Time: 10:00am – 3:00pm (2 x 10 minute breaks for morning/afternoon tea and a 45 minute self-catered lunch)

Seminar: EARLY MELBOURNE SUBURBS 1835-1880
2020-02-01 10:00 - 16:00 | RHSV ZOOM by Invitation, Australia
The RHSV and the Genealogical Society of Victoria are delighted to co-present this full-day seminar which will give participants a deep understanding of the forces and influences which have shaped Melbourne’s early growth.
The seminar will be opened with a overview by Gary Presland on how Melbourne’s Geography shaped its development.
Then the following historians will explain the development of their locale

Footscray by Carmel Taig
Prahran by Steven Haby & Judith Buckrich
Heidelberg by Graham Thorley
“Up Sydney Road” – Brunswick & Coburg by Cheryl Griffin

This seminar is designed for those who are researching their family or community history and want to understand the why, who, when, what and how of Melbourne’s growth. Were the influencing factors economic? geographic? climatic? demographic? religious? commercial? opportunistic? geological? corrupt? dictated by government? What drew our ancestors to settle where they did?
It will also be of interest to those who merely want to deepen their understanding of Melbourne’s development without having a history project to hand.
Refreshments: Light lunch & refreshments provided throughout the day.

PEOPLE AND CHANGES TO TAY CREGGAN
2020-02-09 14:00 - 16:00 | Tay Creggan Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar, 30 Yarra Street, Hawthorn, VIC, 3122, Australia
An opportunity to see inside the magnificient Tay Creggan, in Yarra Street, Hawthorn. This heritage
home is now Strathcona year 9 campus. Diana Little will be talking about PEOPLE AND CHANGES TO TAY CREGGAN.
A book on Yarra Street by Elizabeth Love and Jennifer Bowen, will also be launched on this day.
Diana Little has been a staff member at Strathcona for 40 years! She was teacher-in-charge from 1983 to 1991. She currently looks after the alumni.
Since June 2009, Tay Creggan has been listed in the Victorian Heritage Register recognising its
‘architectural significance as one of the finest examples in Victoria of the Victorian Queen Anne Revival style and as one of the most picturesque houses built in Victoria in the late nineteenth century.’
For more information please contact the Hawthorn Historical Society: hawthornhistoricalsociety@gmail.com

Gippsland: Cataloguing and Digitisation series of six workshops
2020-02-15 | Federation University Gippsland Campus Library, Northways Road, Churchill, VIC, 3842, Australia
The RHSV is offering a series of 6 linked workshops (three Saturdays over three months) which cover cataloguing and digitisation. This series of workshops is progressive, starting with basic concepts and building in complexity.
We have spaced the workshops so that participants have time in which to put into practice their new skills before the next workshop. Participants need to bring their own lap-top.
Some participants will want to book for the full series of 6 workshops and others will want to choose those individual workshops that are most suitable for them. So, although the series is designed as a cohesive whole, the individual workshops also work as stand-alone training sessions. This booking page is for those who want to book for the entire series. If you want to book for individual workshops please click on those workshops below or return to the What’s On menu.
All workshops are limited to 20 participants and will be led by Sophie Shilling, our digital expert. They are all to be held at the library at Federation University’s Gippsland Campus in Churchill.
Tea and coffee are available throughout the day however participants will need to bring their lunch.
SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY 9:30 AM– 12:30 PM
Workshop 1: Computer cataloguing for absolute beginners
This is a workshop for those who are new to computers, and small organisations who do not have the resources to use cataloguing software. Using only Excel, we will demonstrate how to create a simple catalogue that still complies with international standards. It will cover some cataloguing terminology, simple keyboard shortcuts for efficiency, and how to back-up your Excel files. We will also learn how to use and create a thesaurus/controlled vocabulary. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to create a catalogue in Excel that can be exported to a cataloguing software program in the future.
SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Workshop 2: Using cataloguing software
This workshop is for small organisations that are going to start use cataloguing software. Participants will have the opportunity to create catalogue records using cataloguing software, and will learn how to move import an existing catalogue from Excel. This workshop is suitable for those who have created catalogue records using Excel and are looking to try some good cataloguing options before committing to one software application.
SATURDAY 21 MARCH 9:30 AM– 12:30 PM
Workshop 3: Scanning for beginners
This workshop is aimed at those who are new to scanning. It will cover some terminology relating to digital images, and how to prepare documents for scanning before participants scan some documents using flatbed scanners. Participants will compare the document to the digital image and learn basic image manipulation to have the best possible digitised version. Then, file naming and storage standards will be applied to the digitised documents. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to scan documents confidently.
SATURDAY 21 MARCH 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Workshop 4: Digitising books and photographing objects
In this intermediate digitisation workshop, we will introduce participants to best-practice digitisation techniques and procedures. Participants will have the opportunity to digitise books using a book scanner, and to set up a site for object photography. Then, we will introduce some image manipulation techniques including making thumbnails and watermarks. This workshop is aimed at those who are comfortable using a flatbed scanner and would like to expand their digitisation and digital image manipulation skills.
SATURDAY 18 APRIL 9:30 AM– 12:30 PM
Workshop 5: Looking after digital files
This is a basic digital preservation workshop. The workshop will begin with brief project management skills including templates for policies and procedures. We will discuss digital storage, how to create backups, and how to check if files are damaged. Participants will learn how to describe an object using Dublin Core so that digital files can be discoverable.
SATURDAY 18 APRIL 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Workshop 6: Making collections accessible
Objects need to be accessible, whether that is to people managing a collection, to visitors, or to the public. This workshop will introduce themes of copyright and privacy that relate to historical collections. Participants will learn how to optimise catalogue records for discovery, how to write for social media, and create digital exhibitions.
ALL 6 WORKSHOPS (OVER 3 DAYS):
RHSV members and members of RHSV affiliated societies: $150
Non-RHSV members: $225
INDIVIDUAL WORKSHOPS (HALF-DAY):
RHSV members and members of RHSV affiliated societies: $30
Non-RHSV members: $45
Queries: +61 3 9326 9288 / office@historyvictoria.org.au

Gippsland Workshop 1: COMPUTER CATALOGUING FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
2020-02-15 09:30 - 12:30 | Federation University Gippsland Campus Library, Northways Road, Churchill, VIC, 3842, Australia
This workshop is the first in a series of six workshops on digitisation and cataloguing to be held at Federation University’s Gippsland Campus in Churchill. If you wish to purchase a discounted ticket to all six workshops click here.
This is a workshop for those who are new to computers, and small organisations who do not have the resources to use cataloguing software. Using only Excel, we will demonstrate how to create a simple catalogue that still complies with international standards. It will cover some cataloguing terminology, simple keyboard shortcuts for efficiency, and how to back-up your Excel files. We will also learn how to use and create a thesaurus/controlled vocabulary. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to create a catalogue in Excel that can be exported to a cataloguing software program in the future.
The series of 6 linked workshops (three Saturday morning & afternoons over three months) cover aspects of cataloguing and digitisation. This series of workshops is progressive, starting with basic concepts and building in complexity.
Participants need to bring their own lap-top.
All workshops are limited to 20 participants and will be led by Sophie Shilling, our digital expert. They are all to be held at the library at Federation University’s Gippsland Campus in Churchill.
Tea and coffee are available throughout the workshop however participants staying for both workshops will need to bring their lunch.
INDIVIDUAL WORKSHOPS (HALF-DAY):
RHSV MEMBERS AND MEMBERS OF RHSV AFFILIATED SOCIETIES: $30
NON-RHSV MEMBERS: $45
(ALL 6 WORKSHOPS (OVER 3 DAYS):
RHSV MEMBERS AND MEMBERS OF RHSV AFFILIATED SOCIETIES: $150
NON-RHSV MEMBERS: $225)
QUERIES: +61 3 9326 9288 / OFFICE@HISTORYVICTORIA.ORG.AU
Check out the other workshops:
Workshop 1: Computer cataloguing for absolute beginners
Workshop 2: Using cataloguing software
Workshop 3: Scanning for beginners
Workshop 4: Digitising books and photographing objects
Workshop 5: Looking after digital files
Workshop 6: Making collections accessible

Gippsland Workshop 2: USING CATALOGUING SOFTWARE
2020-02-15 13:30 - 16:30 | Federation University Gippsland Campus Library, Northways Road, Churchill, VIC, 3842, Australia
This workshop is the second in a series of six workshops on digitisation and cataloguing to be held at Federation University’s Gippsland Campus in Churchill. If you wish to purchase a discounted ticket to all six workshops click here.
This workshop is for small organisations that are going to start use cataloguing software. Participants will have the opportunity to create catalogue records using cataloguing software, and will learn how to move import an existing catalogue from Excel. This workshop is suitable for those who have created catalogue records using Excel and are looking to try some good cataloguing options before committing to one software application.
The series of 6 linked workshops (three Saturday morning & afternoons over three months) cover aspects of cataloguing and digitisation. This series of workshops is progressive, starting with basic concepts and building in complexity.
Participants need to bring their own lap-top.
All workshops are limited to 20 participants and will be led by Sophie Shilling, our digital expert. They are all to be held at the library at Federation University’s Gippsland Campus in Churchill.
Tea and coffee are available throughout the workshop however participants staying for both workshops will need to bring their lunch.
INDIVIDUAL WORKSHOPS (HALF-DAY):
RHSV MEMBERS AND MEMBERS OF RHSV AFFILIATED SOCIETIES: $30
NON-RHSV MEMBERS: $45
(ALL 6 WORKSHOPS (OVER 3 DAYS):
RHSV MEMBERS AND MEMBERS OF RHSV AFFILIATED SOCIETIES: $150
NON-RHSV MEMBERS: $225)
QUERIES: +61 3 9326 9288 / OFFICE@HISTORYVICTORIA.ORG.AU
Check out the other workshops:
Workshop 1: Computer cataloguing for absolute beginners
Workshop 2: Using cataloguing software
Workshop 3: Scanning for beginners
Workshop 4: Digitising books and photographing objects
Workshop 5: Looking after digital files
Workshop 6: Making collections accessible

Translating European Culture to Colonial Melbourne: James Goold and his Legacies
2020-02-17 14:00 - 2020-02-18 19:00 | Newman College, 887 Swanston St, Parkville, VIC, 3052, Australia
This international conference celebrates the conclusion of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project on Archbishop Goold and his patronage. Hosted by the project’s research team, it brings a comparative dimension to our research with keynote contributions on the cultural visions of the Church in seventeenth-century Spain, in nineteenth-century Canada, and with Anglicanism in nineteenth-century Melbourne. It will present very recent research on religious orders in Australia, Goold’s patronage of contemporary artists, and the nineteenth architects who have contributed significant heritage buildings to the built environment of Melbourne and country Victoria.

FREE CONFERENCE
REGISTRATION

John Marshall and Bounty Migration to Port Phillip
2020-02-18 17:15 - 19:15 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Emeritus Professor Graeme Davison AO, Chair of the History Council of Victoria, will launch Dr Liz Rushen’s book, John Marshall: Shipowner, Lloyd’s reformer and emigration agent.
After the launch, Dr Rushen will deliver a paper which explores the significant role John Marshall played in the white settlement of the Port Phillip District. When Port Phillip was first opened up for settlement, Marshall was Britain’s most active emigration agent: in the three years 1839-1841, he sent 21 ships containing nearly 5000 bounty migrants to the new settlement. A major shipowner of London, Marshall instigated reform of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping and established Britain’s first emigration depot at Plymouth, but today his contributions to the shipowning and merchant worlds of the nineteenth century have been largely forgotten.
Dr Liz Rushen, well-known to RHSV members, is a Melbourne-based historian who has written extensively on nineteenth-century migration to Australia.
Drinks are served in the Gallery Downstairs from 5:15pm, with the launch / lecture starting at 5:30pm. Books will be available for purchase and signing by the author.
Penny Larkins from The Good Girl Song Project will also be performing at the launch.
Immigration was as controversial in the nineteenth century as it is today. Australia has a long history of migration and is considered one of the world’s great immigration success stories, but this process has not been without cost.
This book tells the story of the most active emigration agent of the nineteenth-century: John Marshall. His influence can be read in the naming of the town Marshall, outside Geelong, Victoria, and in the lives of the descendants of the thousands of people he assisted to migrate to the British colonies of New Zealand, Canada and North America, Cape Town and most importantly, Australia. Marshall’s work also impacts the world today through Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.
A brilliant strategist, Marshall instigated a review of the classification of ships and the merger of the red and green registers used by Lloyd’s shipowners and underwriters, and later established Britain’s first emigration depot at Plymouth. Enterprise was much-admired in the early to mid-nineteenth century and Marshall was one of the most active entrepreneurs of the period. He was a merchant-adventurer and superb logistician who read the marketplace and was prepared to move to a new start-up each time his finances dictated a fresh start: brokerage, trade, shipping, emigration, coal.
Marshall had both the vision and analytical skills to achieve great things, but he lacked business acumen or the personality to successfully carry through any of his undertakings. This book links the various facets of Marshall’s life from his humble beginnings to his impoverished end. It explains how an unknown insurance broker from the provinces could rise to be a key player in London’s ship owning and merchant world of the early nineteenth century.

Creating a Tramway Titan
2020-02-19 19:30 - 20:30 | Malvern Town Hall, Corner High Street and Glenferrie Road Malvern, Melbourne, 3144, Australia
In 2020, Melbourne retains the title of having the largest electric street tram system in the world. This presentation will look at the tramway’s history and why Melbourne retains the title of being a Tramway Titan. The Prahran and Malvern Tramways Trust played a part in this. A Public Private Partnership built a capable tram network in 1885, and the MMBW was formed in 1919.
Our guest speaker will be Warren Doubleday, Manager of the Melbourne Tram Museum collection, and Museum Services Manager of the Ballarat Tramway Museum. Come prepared to be intrigued by the facts and related stories.
This is a free event presented by the Malvern Historical Society. Supper will be served.
Bookings essential: Lorraine 9885 9082 by 16 Feb.
All welcome!

Book launch: Gita: Melbourne’s First Yoga School – 65 years of history
2020-02-21 17:30 - 19:30 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Dr Carolyn Rasmussen will be launching Fay Woodhouse’s latest book, Gita: Melbourne’s First Yoga School – 65 years of history at the RHSV. This is the first published history of any yoga school in Australia and it provides a context to the development of yoga in Australia.
Founded in 1954 by Margrit Segesman, Gita soon became the first full-time yoga school with its permanent home in Melbourne. During the 1970s second wave of feminism, when teaching yoga offered women a viable career path, the number of Gita teachers grew.
In the 1980s new teacher training courses, a teachers’ guild and a charitable foundation were introduced. Today Gita retains its flagship teacher training course while embracing the digital world offering classes and courses across the airwaves. It has truly forged a place in Victoria’s cultural landscape.
Fay Woodhouse is a professional historian who has written widely on Australian social and political history and is the author of several entries in the Australian Dictionary of Biography and The Encyclopaedia of Melbourne. Her publications include histories of Monash and Melbourne Universities, the 150-year history of Tahbilk Wines and the 100-year history of d’Arenberg Wines. Biographies include the nineteenth century Scottish stockbreeder and pioneer pastoralist, Duncan MacGregor and the physician Leslie Latham. She has recently edited the biography of Melbourne’s first surveyor, Robert Russell and the memoirs of the businessman, Clive Smith. Fay regularly presents papers at conferences and contributes book chapters and articles to scholarly journals.

Carolyn Rasmussen is an honorary fellow at the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne. Carolyn does research in Australian political and social history and biography. Her dual biography of progressive politicians and activists Maurice and Doris Blackburn, The Blackburns: Private Lives, Public Ambition was published in March 2019 by MUP. She is chair of the Victorian Working Party of the Australian Dictionary of Biography and is currently researching a history of Computer Science and Communication and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne.
