The Library’s virtual volunteers
Some of the Library’s volunteers have been correcting the text of digitised historical Victorian newspapers, and in so doing, revealing more about our past.
Such was life
Book:Top
People & professions, Such was life:
Ah Siug Jong came to Victoria from China to find gold but after a series of incidents he was jailed and eventually committed to an asylum. He left a complex diary which was his attempt to clear his name.
Burke and Wills and Strutt.
Such was life, Victorian history:
William Strutt’s painting of the Burke and Wills expedition captures the daunting task facing the explorers.
Country tennis in Victoria
The Australian Open came via courts in paddocks in rural towns and coastal getaways, built to attract tourists, inspire social events and to hold tournaments.
The Show must go on!
Social life & customs, Such was life:
The Royal Melbourne Show has been cancelled this year so let’s look at how it came to be- and the fun times we can look forward to next year.
‘Dear Yat’: postcards from a prime minister
A small collection of correspondence provides glimpses of a life-long friendship between Yatala Ovenden and John Curtin, who met while both members of the Victorian Socialist Party.
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.
Adam Lindsay Gordon and the Adam & Eve Hotel
Collection Care, Preservation, Such was life:
A photograph of an old cottage inspires an investigation into the connections between Australian author Adam Lindsay Gordon, John Kinmont Moir and the mysterious Adam & Eve Hotel.
The Smith Trams and Trains Collection
Buildings & streets, Photography, Such was life:
The Library has recently digitised hundreds of images of Victorian trams and trains captured by a visiting enthusiast in the 1960s.
The Crossley Building: past, present and future
Buildings & streets, People & professions, Such was life:
The Crossley Building on Bourke Street holds the history of one of Melbourne’s earliest, pre gold-rush retail and residential developments. For 60 years it was home to the iconic haberdashery business, Job Warehouse, which closed in 2012. Untenanted ever since and significantly run-down, where to next for this important piece of Melbourne’s built heritage?
