Royal Historical Society of Victoria

The Plight of St Kilda’s 19th Century Servants
2022-03-06 16:00 - 18:00 (Australia/Melbourne) | St Kilda Army & Navy Club, 88 Acland Street, St Kilda, Victoria, 3182, Australia
In this fascinating and insightful presentation – St Kilda Historical Society’s first public event of 2022 – Carmel McKenzie will examine the living conditions and power dynamics of servants in nineteenth century St Kilda, drawing on numerous case studies gleaned from primary sources. The research forms part of her soon to be published book: St Kilda 1841-1900: Movers and Shakers and Money-makers.
Reflecting its wealth, St Kilda boasted the highest number of resident servants of any Melbourne suburb for much of the nineteenth century. Most were indentured under contracts that bound them to their employer for several years and those who left before completing their term committed a crime and risked forfeiting their wages. Female servants were expected to remain childless, a stricture that led to the highest rate of infanticide in St Kilda outside of central Melbourne.
Kindly note: We will be maintaining the mask requirement for this event.
Cost $10 – Booking Essential. Limited places.
Bookings: Plights of St Kilda’s 19th Century servants – public Tickets, St Kilda Army and Navy Club, St Kilda | TryBooking Australia

ADRIFT IN AN ARMCHAIR WITH ROBYN ANNEAR
2022-03-09 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Melbourne’s streets have always been marvellous—but the proud facades of the nineteenth-century boom aren’t the half of it.
What about the stories behind them?
The great corset scandal of Melbourne’s belle epoque;
The heritage-listed toilets out the back of the Rialto;
The exploits of the women who ran the brothels in Little Lonsdale Street;
The reason George Mallaby starred in Homicide wearing a hat two sizes too small.
Robyn Annear has devised 7 historic walks around Melbourne and, in this event, she will be taking us on one of those 7 walks, albeit whilst we are seated comfortably at the RHSV with a glass of wine in hand. The walks showcase the hidden histories we might scurry past every day, the buildings now gone and the extraordinary characters who inhabited them. Robyn, as always, will be charming, erudite and frankly gossipy.

All seven walks appear in Robyn’s latest book, Adrift in Melbourne, her highly entertaining guide to Melbourne past and present. Whether you enjoy it on the hoof or from an armchair, Adrift in Melbourne will inspire you to unleash your inner flâneur to uncover the historical surprises of this great city.

If you want to buy Adrift in Melbourne (great present for any Melburnian) click here.
As with all RHSV events held on-site, we will serve drinks from 5:30pm until 6pm when Robyn’s talk will begin.
In 2022 we will be attempting to offer both on-site events and Zoom access too. The talk will be available as a download after the event for the same $10 cost as a ticket.
This is an RHSV Women’s History Month event

Kew Historical Society annual McIntyre Lecture
2022-03-09 19:30 - 22:00 | Just Theatre, Kew Court House, 188 High Street, Kew, VIC, 3101, Australia
The Society’s annual McIntyre Lecture is planned for the 9th March and will be held in the Just Theatre at the Kew Courthouse, 188 High Street, Kew. We will be serving refreshments from 7.30pm with the Lecture commencing at 8pm. The Lecture will also be available via Zoom meetings.
Katherine Sheedy from Way Back When Consulting Historians will be speaking about the 70 year history of the Kew Elder Citizens Association.
Please see the below for booking details for both the in-person Lecture and on Zoom.
Both links are safe to click on, the ‘tinyurl’ link will take you directly to the Boroondara Arts ticket booking page.
It is advisable to book tickets in advance, but there may be some available at the box office on the night. If booking a Zoom link, payment must be received into the Society’s Bendigo Bank account 633-000 171300288 by 8th March. Following receipt of payment, the Zoom link will be forwarded.
We look forward to welcoming you to this Lecture which will focus on the history of the community organization set up to support Kew’s senior citizens and its subsequent activities.
TICKETS
In person lecture, with refreshments $20
Boroondara Arts – 9278 4770 or
tinyurl.com/2p964dub
Virtual lecture via Zoom Meetings $10
Contact KHS Secretary –
secretary@kewhistoricalsociety.org.au

Unprotected: Aboriginal, Convict and Poor women in Colonial Victoria: or how everything bad was made worse by being female
2022-03-10 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
Protection of body and soul in colonial Victoria came in many forms. At the most fundamental level it meant an entitlement, usually by birth or marriage, to an income that sustained you and your children; to a moral status as a woman of virtue that made sexual assault or abuse an egregious version of a crime; to the presence in your household of a capable male to embody that protection. The law provided some protection, but in fact remarkably little against assault, battery and rape if those offences were perpetrated by your husband and did not protect your rights of access to your children after divorce or access to your own wealth after marriage. A woman without a reliable, effective and respectable male protector as breadwinner—a father, a husband or a blood relative—would die younger; lose more of her children; have smaller babies at birth; suffer more infertility; risk or suffer destitution; be afflicted by addiction; commit suicide or be murdered than women who enjoyed respectable male protection. There was a hierarchy of entitlement to safety, with convicted women on the second bottom rung along with non-British women such as Chinese, while at the bottom, utterly vulnerable were Aboriginal women and girls. These were the penalties of gender rather than the wages of sin.
We are honoured that Professor Janet McCalman has accepted our invitation to deliver the third RHSV Women’s History Month Lecture in 2022.

Emeritus Redmond Barry Professor Janet McCalman AC has made a significant contribution to Australian history, especially medical history, historical population health, social health and demography.
She commenced teaching at the University of Melbourne in 1998, in the cross-faculty Centre for the Study of Health & Society. She has taught in both the Arts Faculty and the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, specialising since 2008 in the teaching of interdisciplinary breadth subjects.
Since that time she has also pioneered the building of historical life course datasets for demographic and health analysis. She is the author of three multi-award winning books: Struggletown (1984, 1998 and 2021), Journeying (1993), Sex and Suffering (1998). In 2020 she co-edited with Emma Dawson What Happens Next? Reconstructing Australia after COVID 19 and in 2021 Vandemonians: the repressed history of colonial Victoria. All her books have been published by Melbourne University Press. She retired at the end of 2020.
In 1993 McCalman was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 2005. She is a former member of the Australian Historical Association Advisory Committee to the National Archives of Australia and the Editorial Board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

As at most RHSV events, drinks will be served from 5:30pm and the lecture will run from 6pm to 7pm including Q&A. The Zoom lecture will commence at 6pm.
The RHSV offers ticket buyers to this event a $10 discount on buying Janet McCalman’s Vandemonians or Struggletown both of which can be found in our bookshop. A voucher code will be sent to you on booking and you apply this voucher code when checking out of the bookshop on line.
Dr Judith Smart will chair this lecture.
This is a Women’s History Month Lecture

MILESTONES IN ABORIGINAL WOMEN’S ACTIVISM, MELBOURNE 1930-1970
2022-03-16 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
This, our inaugural Indigenous History lecture, is a stellar addition to our annual program of Distinguished Lecturers. The lecture has been generously sponsored so we can make it free-of-charge and as accessible as possible. Welcome to Country will be performed by respected Elder, Aunty Zeta Thomson. Our President, Richard Broome, will chair this event.
We are thrilled that Dr Julie Andrews has agreed to be deliver the inaugural Indigenous History lecture. Julie is descended from the Woiwurrung people of Melbourne and the Yorta Yorta tribe near the borders of Victoria and NSW along the Murray River. She is a member of the Dhulanyagan family clan of the Ulupna people.
Julie is committed to empowering young Aboriginal people through education and mentoring. She is involved in community development and is an anthropologist with a long connection as a scholar in Aboriginal Studies at Latrobe University. She is Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Studies and Indigenous Strategy Committee for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University.

​For over thirty years Julie has been instrumental in developing Aboriginal higher education at La Trobe University’s Bundoora and regional campuses across Victoria. Among her many roles, Julie lectures and researches on Aboriginal community, cultural knowledge, families, identity and self- determination. She is a working party member for the Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography project and is a Melbourne Museum Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Advisory Council Member, and is involved in the Aurora Education Foundation Internship Program, and has been involved in the North Balwyn Rotary Indigenous higher education scholarships as a mentor.

Julie is also a trustee of the Opening the Doors Foundation which supports the extra costs associated with schooling for Aboriginal students around Victoria. These costs not otherwise funded from government or other educational funding sources, such as school uniforms, books, school camps and other school associated costs. The Foundation is Aboriginal led and listens to the diverse needs of Victorian Aboriginal families. To learn more or donate click here.

You can choose to attend this lecture in person or via Zoom. If you join us at the RHSV, drinks are served from 5:30pm and the lecture will commence at 6pm. For those joining us via Zoom, the event will commence at 6pm.
As soon as you book, whether to attend in person or via Zoom, you will be sent an e-ticket confirming your booking. Please check your Junk Mail in-box as sometimes these emails fall foul of your ISP’s spam filters. Zoom log-in details will be sent to Zoom participants 24 hours before the event. Once again, please check your Junk Mail in-box.
This is a Women’s History Month event

The Party: Book Launch
2022-03-16 17:30 - 19:30 | Victorian Trades Hall, 54 Victoria Street, Carlton, Victoria, 3053, Australia
The long awaited launch of Stuart Macintyre’s second volume of the history of the Communist Party of Australia is happening on Wednesday 16th March in the Solidarity Hall of Victorian Trades Hall. Hosted by SEARCH Foundation and the Melbourne Labour History Society, the event will feature a formal launch and a panel discussion.
Starting time is 5:30pm for 6pm, followed by drinks and light refreshments. For catering purposes, please RSVP to: admin@search.org.au
See the attached flyer for further details, and to forward on to your networks.
About the launch
Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History at the Australian National University and a close colleague of Stuart, will launch the book. The launch will be followed by a panel discussion on Stuart Macintyre’s contributions to Australian labour history in general and the history of communism in Australia in particular, moderated by Carmel Shute, former historian and CPA member.
The panel members will be:
– Joy Damousi, Historian, Australian Catholic University
– Julie Kimber, Historian and federal secretary of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History (ASSLH)
– Julius Roe, Former national president of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and former CPA member
Get your copy of The Party today!

Putting Them Up and Pulling ‘em Down
2022-03-17 14:00 - 15:00 | Port Melbourne Library, 333 Bay Street, Port Melbourne, Victoria, 3207, Australia
Putting Them Up and Pulling ‘em Down is the title of the 2021 RHSV Weston Bate Oration by Jim Davidson, published in the Victorian Historical Journal, Volume 92, Number 2, page 233.
Statues have become controversial. The Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society invite you to register for a discussion group based on this lecture on Thursday March 17th at 2:00pm in the Port Melbourne Library.
It is assumed you will have read the lecture.
If you would like to take part in this discussion, please email Emma Ozols,
secretary@pmhps.org.au, and she will forward you a digital file of the Journal that contains the article.
Please let me know if you are attending to make sure we have enough room in the Library.
Margaret Bride
glmbride@netspace.net.au, 0439 361 883

‘Wings of Peace’ Centenary of Australia’s First Official Air Race, Serpentine Victoria
2022-03-20 | Serpentine, Victoria, Loddon Valley Highway, Serpentine, Victoria, 3517, Australia
After the Great European War of 1914 to 1918 and amount of £25,000,000 (pounds) was being sought by the Australian Commonwealth Government through a bond subscription from the people of Australia – ‘The Second Peace Loan’. The Acting Treasurer, Sir Joseph Cook announced this on 7th July 1920 with the funds to be expended on the repatriation of the uniformed soldier to industrial and civilian pursuits in the community. Each State was given a target. Victoria was expected to contribute £8,200,000 (pounds). The introduction of Australian Flying Corp aeroplanes utilising World War I aviators was a novel way to generate interest in the Peace Loan and help the one-month intense promotion of the bonds. To promote the 1920 event pilots travelled by train on the Tandarra, Dingee, Prairie, Mitiamo rail line and addressed local residents on the importance of supporting the Second Peace Loan. Bank officials and ex-servicemen accompanied these trains or followed in a car to promote the Peace Loan and sign new subscribers. East Loddon Shire residents and businesses had a target of £19,000 (pounds) to raise which they achieved in August 1920.
After winning the race on 27th August 1920, pilot, Lieut. William Harold Treloar, flew back to Serpentine on the 2nd October 1920 to be presented with a silver trophy by Cr. Nicholas Tonkin, President of the East Loddon Shire. The Serpentine district community residents subscribed £40 (pounds) to purchase the trophy. The historic trophy has been housed at Point Cook Air Museum and is being especially flown in for the day by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), No. 100 Squadron newly re-formed as the Air Force Heritage Squadron and reestablished at the Centenary of the RAAF, which was formed on March 31, 1921. The day will be jam packed full of aviation history with tiger moths, iconic Australian Warbirds, CAC WIRRAWAY, the Grumman Avenger the heaviest single engine aircraft of WWII, the T-28 Trojan a piston-engined military trainer used by United States Air Force and Navy, beginning in the 1950s.
This will be a 70-mile air race launching from (temporary) ‘Serpentine Airfield’ Loddon Valley Highway. Tiger Moth pilots/owners from around the country will converge on Serpentine Airfield and as part of the celebrations, the skies over the Serpentine will roar into life with heart-stopping Aerobatic & historical warbirds presented by Paul Bennet Airshows and the Royal Australian Air Force’s aerobatic display team, the ROULETTES who are famous worldwide for their high-octane displays of formation flying, aerobatics, and low-level flying that show just what incredible feats Air Force fighter pilots are capable of. The Roulettes now perform their display in the state-of-the-art Pilatus PC-21, one of the most advanced training aircraft in the world. Flying as low as 80m and at speeds of up to 685km/h and with forces up to 6G’s, the Roulettes can perform as close as 3m to each other.
Serpentine Airfield is located 6kms south of Serpentine, Loddon Valley Highway between Bendigo and Kerang. You won’t find it on any maps as it’s not a full-time airfield. It’s a beautiful grass field perfectly suited to host a historical air race. Feature attractions – Vintage Bi-Plane Air Race, Paul Bennet Air Shows Vintage Aircraft and Vintage Displays. A shuttle bus from Bendigo and Swan Hill (bookings essential *Option to purchase bus ticket will pop up after you add your ticket to your cart).
Adult $35
Child $15 (6 to 16yrs)
Family $80 (2 adults, 2 children)
Concession $35
Children 5 years old and younger do not require a ticket.
Buy online and SAVE!
Tickets will be $40 at the gate on the day.

FROM RESTRICTED TO ASSISTED: MALTESE MIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA
2022-03-21 10:30 - 12:00 | ZOOM, Join from anywhere in the world
Explore the history of Maltese migration to Australia during the twentieth century.
Did you know that migration from Malta was once heavily restricted because the Maltese were seen as a threat to ‘white Australia’? Yet, after WWII, Malta was one of the first countries with which Australia signed an assisted migration agreement. This webinar will explore the intriguing history of Maltese migration to Australia during the twentieth century, using case studies from the National Archives’ collection to highlight how perceptions and policies changed over time.
Presented by Patrick Ferry (National Archives of Australia) and Luis Calleja (Monash University), in collaboration with the RHSV and the Genealogical Society of Victoria.
This event is one in a series of free Zoom seminars presented by the National Archives of Australia to members of both the RHSV and the GSV.
This event, held on Harmony Day, is a celebration of Australia’s Multiculturalism.

Photo captions for two images above from the National Archives of Australia’s collection
Carmela Abela and her children, who migrated from Malta in 1954. NAA MP210/3, 1954/38/423/ABELA A/C/J/C/C/A/A/L
Annetta Pirotta and her children who migrated from Malta. NAA MP210/3 1954/38/1472/PIROTTA S/A/C/G/A/A/E/P

The Women of Little Lon
2022-03-22 18:30 - 19:30 | Online
Sex workers in nineteenth-century Melbourne were judged morally corrupt by the respectable world around them. But theirs was a thriving trade, with links to the police and political leaders of the day, and the leading brothels were usually managed by women.
Who were they? What did their daily lives look like? What became of them? Drawing on the findings of recent archaeological excavations, rare archival material and family records, historian Barbara Minchinton brings the fascinating world of Little Lon to life.
Barbara Minchinton is a historian and independent researcher. For several years she collaborated with a team of archaeologists on the interpretation of artefacts from Melbourne’s Little Lon district.

VINTAGE HOTELWARE with DI SANDILANDS
2022-03-23 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
When table manners were fashionable, eating houses proudly served meals on crockery emblazoned with their establishment name – each mouthful reminding customers of exactly where they were.
Di Sandilands is a curious girl, and has been fossicking for these cups, plates, jugs and alike for years. Some even have their own “pubcrock” Instagram and Facebook page.
Along the way she’s discovered the research value of a box of matches, learnt a bit of Italian and become pretty good at deciphering initials – although there’s an 1895 teapot with “S.Y.P.S.S.” idling in her mystery box.
She’s also developed an abiding affection for Coles Cafeteria, which introduced dining out to the people of Melbourne in 1930, and was at the beginning of our cherished ‘Cafe Culture’.
Join Di for a fun night when she’ll be displaying many Victorian pieces from her vintage hotelware collection, telling their stories and hers. She’ll also be selling her pure linen Coles Cafeteria art tea towels which are printed with each cafeteria location throughout Australia.
Drinks are served from 5:30pm and the Di’s talk will start at 6pm, finishing at 7pm.

This is a Women’s History Month event

Dorothy Baker, singing star of the 1960s
2022-03-23 19:30 - 21:00 | Caulfield Cup Room, Glen Eira Town Hall, Cnr Glen Eira and Hawthorn Roads, Caulfield, VIC, 3162, Australia
Glen Eira Historical Society invites you to a talk on Dorothy Baker by Golden Days Radio Presenter, Barry Gomm.
Within 18 months of the introduction of television in Melbourne a new singing star appeared in ‘live to air’ programs. Winning several radio talent quests led Dorothy Baker to become a favourite singer at Melbourne dance venues and on TV, within a short time becoming a household name.
Her legacy continues with this talk on her music and career with rare clips of her TV performance.
Bookings – https://www.trybooking.com/BYAON

Cataloguing Clinics 2022
2022-03-24 11:00 - 12:00 | ZOOM, Join from anywhere in the world
Jillian Hiscock, the RHSV Collections Manager, started these free cataloguing clinics during the early days of COVID and they suit Zoom very well. The clinics run for an hour from 11am – 12noon on the 4th Thursday of each month. It is a relaxed gathering of people who are finding their way through the intricacies of cataloguing material in historical collections which, as we all know, fall between a library and a museum with sometimes a bit of art gallery thrown in. With our membership scattered across Australia please remember that this is Melbourne time – AEDT in summer and AEST in winter.
Jillian always prepares some material on some specific queries but questions are encouraged and, remember, a problem shared is a problem halved. The clinics are conversational in format rather than a seminar. If you are new to cataloguing, or an old hand, you will find plenty to interest you in these sessions. Jillian often has material which is emailed out to attendees after the clinic.
The clinics in 2022 will be held (via Zoom) on:

Mar 24, 2022 11:00 AM For this seminar Jillian has been asked to speak about “how to
say no to donations”! So she’ll be talking about how you can
develop a Collections Policy or a Collection Development
Strategy and other tools for defining what you collect and what
you don’t collect.
Apr 28, 2022 11:00 AM
May 26, 2022 11:00 AM
Jun 23, 2022 11:00 AM
Jul 28, 2022 11:00 AM
Aug 25, 2022 11:00 AM
Sep 22, 2022 11:00 AM
Oct 27, 2022 11:00 AM
Nov 24, 2022 11:00 AM

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85662066892?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 856 6206 6892
Passcode: [REDACTED]
Although, we provide the Zoom details above, please do remember to register otherwise we cannot email you material after the event.

CRANK UP 2022
2022-03-26 - 2022-03-27 | Old Yarra Junction Railway Station, Warburton Highway, Yarra Junction, VIC, 3797, Australia

61st Annual Pioneer Women’s Ceremony
2022-03-26 10:00 - 12:00 | Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, Kings Domain, Melbourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia
As 2022 is the 120th Anniversary of National Council of Women Victoria (NCWV), we will focus on pioneering women who established Victorian women organisations and those who have continued these organisations up until today.
Dr Judith Smart AM, co-author of the history of the NCW Australia, Stirrers with Style will give an overview of the history of women’s organisations, then a panel of speakers from some of the founding groups of NCWV will talk about their beginnings and where they are today.
The Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden is a garden of remembrance created in Kings Domain as part of the 1934 celebration of the Centenary of Melbourne. A variety of fundraising ventures occurred, including producing and selling a commemorative book, and receiving public subscriptions to have a particular woman’s name inscribed on a “sheet of remembrance”, buried beneath the sundial in the garden. The garden was designed by Hugh Linaker and is a formal, symmetrical garden traversed by a watercourse. This flows into a grotto which contains a bronze statue of a woman by the sculptor Charles Web Gilbert.
This is a COVID safe event, with distancing and sanitising. Please notify NCWV of your attendance on info@ncwvic.org.au
This is a Women’s History Month event

Where the River Runs – walk in Richmond
2022-03-27 13:00 - 15:00 | Studio 1, Former Channel 9 Building, 15 Barnett Way, Richmond, Victoria, 3121, Australia
The Richmond & Burnley Historical Society is holding a walk (flat and gentle!) which starts at Studio One, Kennedy Place, Richmond (the old GTV9 site). The walk meanders along the Yarra River, Burnley Park, the Horticultural Gardens and returns for afternoon tea.
Bookings essential: 9427 1800 or richmondhs@optusnet.com.au

Burnley Gardens: and the people who loved them
2022-03-28 18:00 - 20:00 | ZOOM, Join from anywhere in the world
To replace the cancelled Symposium “Women in Horticulture” which was to be held in conjunction with Friends of Burnley Gardens and the Herb Society of Victoria, Australian Garden History Society (AGHS) is offering the two planned lectures online instead. FOBG will be organising a launch of the book “Burnley Gardens: their design and the people who loved them” by Michèle Adler, at a later date.
Monday 28 March – The first lecture, “Burnley Gardens and the people who loved them” by former Burnley lecturer Michèle Adler, will be about Hilda Kirkhope, who was a staff member at Burnley in the 1930s and one of the few women who designed a section of the Burnley Gardens.
Thursday 19 May – The second lecture, “Ina Higgins and her contribution to women’s horticultural education” from well-known horticulturist, Sandi Pullman, is about Ina Higgins, a significant Burnley trailblazer in the early 1900s who promoted women in horticulture and was an important landscape gardener.

Dates: Monday 28 March, Thursday 19 May
Time: 6pm, connect from 5.45pm
Location: Online via ZOOM
A Zoom link will be provided by email 24 hr before each session.
Cost per session: $10 members, $15 non-members

Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/BXAVC

Launch of Kaleidoscope exhibition
2022-03-30 17:00 - 19:00 | RHSV, Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia
EMERITUS PROFESSOR RICHARD BROOME AM FRHSV
President of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria
and the RHSV Council
invite you to attend the launch of
KALEIDOSCOPE
the RHSV’s major exhibition in 2022 which celebrates the women
who were crucial in building the RHSV from its 1909 beginning
To be launched by
JUDY MADDIGAN

This exhibition is biography imagined through the lens of a Kaleidoscope. The viewer is offered fragments of the lives represented here. There is no linear narrative. Each time the kaleidoscope turns, a different story emerges. There are repeating patterns but different emphases and new ways of seeing, new reflections, new refractions. No one story dominates and one story does not fit all.
in 2021, during Women’s History Month we launched the RHSV Women’s Biographical Dictionary, an online resource which builds profiles of women who have been involved in the RHSV over its 113 year history. This project is masterminded by Dr Cheryl Griffin and from the online resource, Cheryl has curated this exhibition, to launch in 2022, which looks at the lives of 50 of those women.
Curator: Dr Cheryl Griffin
Exhibition Designer: Katrin Strohl
Exhibition Production: Dr David Thompson & Helen Stitt
As at most RHSV events, refreshments will be served during the launch.
Please note – this launch was originally planned for 31 March and it has been brought forward by a day to the 30 March
This is an RHSV Women’s History Month event

KALEIDOSCOPE
2022-03-31 - 2022-12-23 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
This exhibition is biography imagined through the lens of a Kaleidoscope. The viewer is offered fragments of the lives represented here. There is no linear narrative. Each time the kaleidoscope turns, a different story emerges. There are repeating patterns but different emphases and new ways of seeing, new reflections, new refractions. No one story dominates and one story does not fit all.
in 2021, during Women’s History Month we launched the RHSV Women’s Biographical Dictionary, an online resource which builds profiles of women who have been involved in the RHSV over its 113 year history. This project is the work of Dr Cheryl Griffin and from this online resource, Cheryl has curated Kaleidoscope, launched in March 2022 by Judi Maddigan, which looks at the lives of 50 of those important women.
CURATOR: DR CHERYL GRIFFIN
EXHIBITION DESIGNER: KATRIN STROHL
EXHIBITION PRODUCTION: DR DAVID THOMPSON & HELEN STITT
The exhibition is opened Monday – Friday (excluding public holidays) from 9am-5pm and entry is free-of-charge.

CONNECTING HISTORICAL SOCIETIES AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS
2022-04-04 12:00 - 13:00 | ZOOM, Join from anywhere in the world
In 2022 the RHSV, along with many other organisations, will be pulling out all stops to celebrate the sesquicentenary of the Education Act 1872. This ground-breaking legislation mandated that primary education in Victoria would be free, secular and compulsory.
The Dept of Education is encouraging primary schools to partner with their local historical societies – so we are encouraging historical societies to contact their local primary school and plan some activities. Which is easy to say but what activities are age appropriate? How do we make them fit the curriculum? Who do we contact? What is an appropriate length of time for an event? Do we go to the primary school or do they come to us? Do we let small children handle objects from our collection? How do we make an event interesting?
In this forum we will be talking about all aspects of creating and holding events that engage primary school aged children. We intend to have several case studies from historical societies who are already successfully working with their local students.
This will be a structured discussion and we want everyone to come away with good ideas that their historical society can use to connect with their local primary school. Whilst this is aimed at 2022 and the celebration of education across Victoria the ideas should be adaptable for every year and every situation.
If you’d like to present a case-study or you have ideas you’d like to share please contact Rosemary Cameron

A G L SHAW LECTURE: The Barristers of the Port Phillip District, 1839-1851
2022-04-05 18:30 - 20:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
The first barristers arrived in Melbourne in 1839, the same year as Charles La Trobe, but only 14 were admitted to practice before 1851. Separation from NSW and the discovery of gold totally transformed the Bar, with fifty new barristers being admitted by 1854. All came from the United Kingdom and brought with them the traditions, ethics and etiquette of the English, Irish and Scottish bars, though these transplanted somewhat uneasily to the rough and ready makeshift courts of the goldfields.
Speaker Peter Yule, one of Australia’s leading historians, is a member of the RHSV Council, and of the La Trobe Society. He is an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne. His most recent publication, Vic Bar, a commissioned major history of the Victorian Bar from its earliest days in the late 1830s to the present, has just been published by Australian Scholarly Publishing. His lecture in honour of Professor AGL Shaw will give insights into the legal system in Port Phillip from the 1830s to Separation in 1851.
The AGL Shaw Lecture is presented each year by the RHSV and the La Trobe Society and forms part of the RHSV’s annual Distinguished Lecturer Series. A list of previous lecturers can be viewed here.

Peter Yule studied and taught history at the University of Melbourne before moving to Warrnambool where he worked in a family business while also writing histories of Warrnambool, Koroit and the Shire of Minhamite. Since 1996 he has worked as a freelance historian, publishing over twenty books including acclaimed histories of Australian National Airways, the Collins class submarine project, and Vietnam veterans since the war, and biographies of W L Baillieu and Sir Ian Potter. His histories of the Royal Children’s Hospital and Carlton won best print/publication and best collaborative work categories respectively in the Victorian Community History Awards. He is a Fellow of the RHSV, an honorary history fellow at the University of Melbourne and a member of the Warrnambool, Koroit, Port Fairy and Mortlake Historical Societies.

We are delighted to welcome all those interested in Melbourne’s legal history and encourage them to attend our public lectures.
The RHSV is on the edge of Melbourne’s legal district on the corner of William Street and A’Beckett Street. As with all RHSV events, Refreshments are served before the lecture from 6:30pm and the lecture will start at 7pm.

RHSV members please note that this lecture has a later start time than most RHSV events. Refreshments are served from 6:30pm and the lecture will start at 7pm. Also please note that this lecture will not be offered via Zoom.

Peter’s book, VIC BAR, a history of the Victorian Bar will be available for purchase on the night.

Launch of Analysing Australian History
2022-04-07 17:30 - 19:00 | RHSV Gallery Downstairs, 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
You are invited to the Analysing Australian History book launch

Published in late 2021, Analysing Australian History is the first series of resources to cover all the requirements of the new VCE Australian History Study Design.

Led by Emeritus Professor Richard Broome, an expert author team of highly experienced teachers and historians draw on a wide range of compelling historical sources and activities to explore key themes in our past and captivate students with the various continuities and changes in Australian history.

Speakers:
Emeritus Professor Richard Broome AM FAHA FRHSV
President of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, Emeritus Professor of History at La Trobe University, speaker to VCE students since 1974, co-editor, with Ashley Pratt, of Analysing Australian History, vols 1-4, Cambridge University Press, 2021
Dr Rosalie Triolo (launching the series) FRHSV, Senior Lecturer of History Education at Monash University, Councillor and Past President of the History Teachers Association of Victoria.
Gerry Martin Former Councillor of the History Teachers Association of Victoria and current Curriculum Manager, History and Civics Curriculum, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
Mark O’Neil Executive Director, Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Special performance by The Good Girl Song Project
Songwriter and musician, Helen Begley and actor and singer, Penny Larkins established The Good Girl Song Project to produce original song cycles with theatrical elements and accompanying workshops that explore Australian women’s history.
Parking:
Some street parking may be available, otherwise parking is available at:
The Queen Victoria Market undercover carpark (entry from Queen Street – $10 evening rate. Open 24/7)
Wilson carpark (191 A’Beckett Street) ($10 evening rate – only open until 10pm)
Wilson carpark (380 LaTrobe Street) ($10 evening rate – only open until 10pm)

This event will be held at the RHSV premises but the speeches will also be available via Zoom. Zoom log-in details will be sent 24 hours prior to the launch to those who register as a Zoom attendee.

Lighter Than Air - book launch with Helene Rogers
2022-04-10 14:15 - 15:30 | Studio 1, Former Channel 9 Building, 15 Barnett Way, Richmond, Victoria, 3121, Australia
The Richmond & Burnley Historical Society is launching Helene Rogers’ book, Lighter Than Air.
Fledgling balloonists in nineteenth century Australia realised that their aerial endeavours added little to their pockets, or to science. Re-inventing themselves as showmen and women, they performed daring acrobatics from trapezes and parachutes, touring towns and cities all over the country. George Coppin introduced the earliest balloon flight in Richmond’s Cremorne Gardens.
A magnificent book that captures the amazing history of early flight in Australia.
Bookings essential 9427 1800 or email richmondhs@optusnet.com.au

MARKETING 101
2022-04-11 12:00 - 13:00 | ZOOM, Join from anywhere in the world
Christina Browning, our new RHSV Marketing Manager, brings a wealth of experience to the RHSV – and not just in social media. Christina started her working life as a journalist before seguing into marketing.
In this free Zoom forum, Christina will take you through building a social media campaign around a special day. So you might want to celebrate Anzac Day or International Firefighters Day or NAIDOC week and use those special days to springboard some stories about your collection. Or your volunteers. The possibilities are endless and special days are great triggers for social media.
The forums are low-key and they not recorded. You can bring your questions and problems and you can also ask Christina to tackle some specific issue in a future forum.
They will be held on the 2nd Monday of each month from 12pm – 1pm.
Zoom log-in details for 2022 (these times are for Melbourne so AEST until October when we start daylight saving – AEDT)
12noon 11 Apr, 2022 Unfortunately this forum has been cancelled. The next one will be on May 9th.
12noon 9 May, 2022 (Christina will be talking about building a social media campaign around a special day)
12noon 13 Jun, 2022
12noon 11 Jul, 2022
12noon 8 Aug, 2022
12noon 12 Sep, 2022
12noon 10 Oct, 2022
12noon 14 Nov, 2022
Please download and import the following iCalendar (.ics) files to your calendar system.
Monthly: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/tZYofuuoqz4vEtaa-Jfaalgwk-827DZXRjMk/ics?icsToken=[REDACTED]
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82592055582?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 825 9205 5582
Passcode: [REDACTED]

A World of Architectural History
2022-04-11 18:00 - 19:15 | Malaysian Theatre, Glyn Davis Building, Masson Road The University of Melbourne Parkville, VIC 3010, Parkville, VIC, 3000, Australia
This lecture will discuss the preparations and outcomes of the 21st Edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture.

This lecture will discuss the preparations and outcomes of the 21st Edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture, in what are two entirely re-written volumes, also available online. It constitutes the most ambitious attempt to provide an overall account of architectural history in all parts of the world across the past 5,500 years. Three scholars from the University of Melbourne (Dr Amanda Achmadi, Prof Philip Goad, Prof Paul Walker) wrote chapters on Australian/Southeast Asian architectural history, and hence in part this public lecture will also be a celebration of their roles within the task.
Murray Fraser is joining ACAHUCH for April of 2022, supported by the Macgeorge Bequest at the University of Melbourne.
Murray Fraser is Professor of Architecture and Global Culture at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture, and Chair of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. In 2008 his book Architecture and the ‘Special Relationship’ won the RIBA Research Award and CICA Bruno Zevi Book Prize. He is General Editor for the 21st Edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture (2020), awarded the SAHGB’s Colvin Prize. He received the 2018 RIBA Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Education.
Hosted by Australian Centre of Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage, University of Melbourne

BOOK HERE.

The Life and Art of Penleigh Boyd by Colin Smith
2022-04-25 08:00 - 17:00 | Camden Hotel, 414 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield South, VIC, 3162, Australia
Colin Smith will be the guest speaker at the Brighton Cemetorian’s 2022 AGM. He will speak on The Life and Art of Penleigh Boyd
Theodore Penleigh Boyd (15 August 1890 – 27 November 1923) was a British born Australian artist.
Penleigh Boyd was a member of the Boyd artistic dynasty: his parents Arthur Merric Boyd (1862–1940) and Emma Minnie Boyd (née à Beckett) were well-known artists of the day, and his brothers included the ceramicist Merric Boyd (1888–1959) and the novelist Martin Boyd (1893–1972). His son Robin Boyd (1919–1971) became a famous and influential architect, educator and social commentator, and his nephews Arthur Boyd, Guy Boyd and David Boyd became prominent artists.
Penleigh Boyd is best known as a landscapist with an accomplished handling of evanescent effects of light. A notable influence was artist E. Phillips Fox, who introduced him to plein air techniques when they were neighbours in Paris in 1912–3. At his death his obituarists compared him to Arthur Streeton and rated him as one of the most promising painters of his generation.
Event to be held at the Camden Hotel in the Upstairs Function Room – 414 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield South at 1pm. Refreshments will be served – please advise if any dietary requirements.
Ring 9558 4248 [Bookings essential]

Prisoners of the Japanese: Personal stories from WW2 service records
2022-04-26 10:30 - 12:00 | ZOOM, Join from anywhere in the world
Anzac Day 1942: As Australia stopped to remember the sacrifices of war, over 22,000 Australian service personnel were prisoners of the Japanese, having been recently captured in Malaya, Singapore, Timor and New Guinea. Their families back home waited anxiously for news, which often never came. In this webinar, Patrick Ferry from the National Archives of Australia draws on original defence service records and treasured family archives to tell the personal stories of several POWs from one small rural Victorian community.
To honour Anzac Day the National Archives of Australia will present this fascinating seminar in partnership with the RHSV and the Genealogical Society of Victoria.
Image caption: Extract from original Japanese list of Australian POWs and Internees who perished when the Montevideo Maru was sunk in 1942. NAA 14143, 1 (Item ID: 31720999).

LGBTIQ+ Inclusion in the history of the Australian Defence Force
2022-04-26 18:30 - 19:30 | Online
Australian Defence Force policies banned lesbian, gay and bisexual people from serving until November 1992 and transgender people until September 2010. Yet, there is a long history of their service, as the Australian military evolved from an institution that actively persecuted LGBTIQ+ members to one that actively welcomes and values their contributions.
Join historian Noah Riseman – co-author of Pride in Defence (2020) and Serving in Silence? (2018) – as he provides an overview of Australian LGBTIQ+ military service, past and present.

Public Symposium: Australasia & the Global Turn in Architectural History Symposium
2022-04-27 09:00 - 12:30 | Melbourne School of Design, Masson Rd, University of Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia
A symposium exploring the expansion of the new edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture that encompass Australasia
Convened by Macarena de la Vega de León and Paul Walker, this event will be held in person at the Melbourne School of Design, and on Zoom. Note, not all panellists will be in person at the Symposium
Link will be made available after registration.
The writing of architectural history shifted with the turn of the twenty-first century. Theoretical and methodological reassessments, as well as the study of postcolonial theories in architecture, challenged the previously accepted disciplinary canon and made the development of a global history of architecture urgent. More than twenty years later, there has been resulting literature, disciplinary reassessments, and continuous debate around the meaning of global in the history of architecture. One of the latest additions to the field, the new edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s rebranded as Global History of Architecture (2019), is proof of the continuous scholarly interest in reframing the global.
Although historians of architecture in the region have contributed their expertise in the Global South to some of the resulting publications, there is still a limited presence of an Australasian perspective. In general, the field continues to present challenges in combining these geographies and cultures, in defining the notion of region, in the periodization of narratives and in capturing transnational connections. The aim of this event is twofold: on the one hand, to celebrate the publication of Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture highlighting the Australasian contributions to the volume; on the other, to open a wider discussion on the global issues of gender, race and migration in architecture that continue to have a limited presence in global narratives. To critically review the most recent literature on the global is necessary to inform next steps.

Session 1_ Wednesday 27 April, 9am-10.45am
Murray Fraser, “A Provisional, Collectivised Global History.”
Vimalin Rujivacharakul, “Buildings of the Oceans: Ephemerality and Monumentality in Architectural History.”
Deidre Brown, “Decolonising and Indigenising Architectural History.”
Amanda Achmadi and Paul Walker, “Writing architecture across colonial borders: ‘Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific, 1780-1914.’”
Philip Goad, “Time for Global Reassessment: Architectural Histories of Southeast Asia, Australasia and Oceania.”
Session 2_ Wednesday 27 April, 11am.-12.30pm
Mark Jarzombek, “Beyond History?”
Vikram Prakash, “Eventualities: The Agency of Architectural Historiography in Decolonization.”
Joanna Merwood-Salisbury, “Race and the Historiography of American Architecture.”
Mirjana Lozanovska, “Theory + History = Historiography.”
Karen Burns and Lori Brown, “Women, Global History, and the Nation State.”
BOOK HERE

Murray Fraser (pictured) is Professor of Architecture and Global Culture at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture, and Chair of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. In 2008 his book Architecture and the ‘Special Relationship’ won the RIBA Research Award and CICA Bruno Zevi Book Prize. He is General Editor for the 21st Edition of Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture (2020), awarded the SAHGB’s Colvin Prize. He received the 2018 RIBA Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Education.

Preserving Family History Collections
2022-04-27 17:30 - 18:30 | Stonnington History Centre, 1257 High Street, Malvern, VIC, 3145, Australia
Do you have a collection of photographs, papers, artwork, objects from your family history that you wish to preserve?
Then come along and hear Local History Technician, Dr Ainslee Meredith from the Stonnington History Centre talk us through Preserving Family History Collections on Wednesday 27 April, 5.30pm-6.30pm.
Drawing on her experience in archival conservation, Ainslee will discuss different approaches you can take to preserve your family history collection at home, from safe storage to disaster recovery.
The talk will include caring for paper and photographic materials, artwork, objects and digital collections.
Ainslee holds a PhD in cultural materials conservation from the University of Melbourne and has worked with national, state and community archives.
Preserving Family History Collections
Wednesday 27 April, 5.30pm-6.30pm
Stonnington History Centre
Northbrook, 1257 High Street,
Malvern (behind Malvern Library)
Email: history@stonnington.vic.gov.au
Bookings required phone: 8290 1360
www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/Library/Whats-On/History-Matters-Introduction-to-preserving-family-history-collections
All welcome !
