The family that grew up with the Melbourne Zoo
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
Learn how one family’s singular obsession with the natural world contributed to the Melbourne Zoo we know today.
Articles by: Kylie Best
Celebrating 150 years of public education
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
This year marks the 150th anniversary of public education in Victoria, and a chance to reflect on our long-held belief that every child deserves a high-quality education, regardless of their background.
Humans of Melbourne, 1930s style
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories, Victorian history:
The Library holds a set of images with a particularly intriguing name – Street characters: a series of photographs taken of Melbourne street personalities, about 1930. They are compelling snapshots of the social fabric of Melbourne at that time, images of characters long gone, likely long forgotten, their stories spent.
Riverside delights on the Yarra
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” Ratty, Wind in the Willows. A relic of a time when much of early Melbourne’s leisure and recreational activity revolved around the Birrarung | Yarra river, the Studley Park boathouse is the oldest continually operating boathouse on the Yarra, possibly the oldest in Victoria.
Lion at large on Little Collins
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
A lion wandering down Little Collins Street? Not something you see every day, but this is exactly the scene that Melburnians witnessed on the 11th of February 1911 after a magic trick did not go quite as planned.
‘Put out that light!’ Brownout Melbourne during World War II
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.
Carols by Candlelight
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
This cherished Aussie Christmas institution is now in its 82nd year, and still bringing people together across the nation.
The secrets of Black Rock house
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
Learn about the mysteries that have surrounded Black Rock house since its construction over 160 years ago
Melbourne celebrates Victory in the Pacific Day
Social life & customs, Such was life, War:
Melbourne has likely never seen such an outbreak of spontaneous rejoicing and mass celebration, as it did on Victory in the Pacific Day, August 15 1945.
The grandstand in Beech Forest
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Reference desk, Victorian history:
A grandstand made out of a tree stump? A racecourse in a forest? Join us as we ponder our question of the week.
