Arts & literature, Such was life:
Melbourne artist Sybil Craig became one of the first women war artists in Australia. The Library holds Sybil’s archive which contains over 1700 photographs and more than 280 works on paper, many of which are now online.
The Library has received a large donation of material documenting Victoria’s public transport, featuring some wonderful photographs of decorated trams.
Buildings & streets, Such was life:
‘The Elizabeth Street blot’, ‘unsightly’, ‘deplorable’, ‘an ancient eyesore’. Few buildings in our city’s history excited as much controversy as ‘the old tin shed’.
People & professions, Such was life:
In the 1850’s, cartoonist and illustrator Andrew Macredie created two volumes of beautiful silhouettes depicting his Banyenong neighbours, local pastoralists and their wives.
What do the following things have in common: candlesticks, beehives, cock fights, drinking glasses, swans, flowerpots, crucifixes, stags, comets, and roses? Give up? They’re all convict tattoos.
Kate Baker’s autograph book bears witness to her passionate advocacy for Australian literature. Manuscripts librarian Sandra Burt tells us more.
Arts & literature, Such was life:
Ruth Hollick is noted for her portraits of children and of Melbourne society’s elite as well as creating some of the earliest known fashion photographs in Australia.
Arts & literature, Such was life:
After ten years, the Library’s Works on Paper project has resulted in the digitisation of more than 11,000 original drawings, prints and watercolours, creating an extraordinary archive of unique Victorian artworks.
People & professions, Such was life:
Melbourne in the 1850s had a small but ambitious scientific community. One particularly idiosyncratic member of that community was William Blandowski, a man often at odds with the scientific establishment. He found himself embroiled in controversy with his choice of names for newly described Murray River fish.
On 27 May 1967, Australians voted in record numbers to alter two sections of the Constitution so it no longer discriminated against Aboriginal people. The landslide ‘yes’ vote was seen as a watershed moment in Australian political history.
