Archive for March, 2021

Canvas Town: ‘a floating city, devoured by the sun’

Canvas Town: ‘a floating city, devoured by the sun’

March 31, 2021

Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:

It was November, 1852, when almost overnight, a strange sight sprang up, near Princes Bridge, in Melbourne. Canvas Town, as it came to be known, was a large tent city, set up to accommodate people on their way to the goldfields…

An ‘ordinary great woman’: Anna Vroland

An ‘ordinary great woman’: Anna Vroland

March 31, 2021

Family matters:

Upon her death in 1978, Victorian woman Anna Fellowes Vroland (1902-1978) was described by a colleague as being ‘one of the ordinary great women of our time’. Anna was a school teacher, writer, radio commentator, and political activist in the areas of Aboriginal rights, women’s rights and the peace movement. She held many views that seem entirely contemporary, but were not at all commonplace at the time she aired them. 

An appreciation : the Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour, Ballarat

The Lucas Girls: A match to remember Q&A

March 10, 2021

News:

We spoke to Belinda Ensor and Joel Checkley, the creators of The Lucas Girls: A match to remember, about the story behind their short film.

‘Put out that light!’ Brownout Melbourne during World War II

‘Put out that light!’ Brownout Melbourne during World War II

March 1, 2021

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:

In 1942, amidst fears of aerial enemy attack, Melbourne’s homefront was in the grip of brownout. These were tumultuous times, and the city hummed with wartime preparations, and thousands of American service personnel. At the same time, a killer stalked in the shadows.