Albert Purchas: architect, soldier, inventor
People & professions, Such was life:
A common question we get asked at the Library is where can I find information about a particular person?
Such was life
Skiing Marnong
Thousands of years before alpine resorts, chalets and four-wheel drives, Victoria’s Mt Buller was inhabited by Aboriginal tribes, in particular the Taungurong people (also spelt Taungurung). A Taungurong woman is quoted… Read More ›
Telling time in early Melbourne
Social life & customs, Such was life:
In 1853 Melbourne was developing rapidly and the need for consistent, accurate time across the burgeoning colony saw the first observatory built in Williamstown. Time was communicated… ‘by dropping a… Read More ›
Origins of Australian football: Victoria’s early history
Good footballers are often described as ‘dangerous players’, but none more so than Alex Bruce who had a prosthetic hook on one arm, which made him very dangerous indeed! Less… Read More ›
Bendigo or Sandhurst? History through newspapers
Cities & towns, Such was life:
Did you know that Bendigo used to be called Sandhurst? And then changed its name back to Bendigo?
Melbourne’s feral dogs
Social life & customs, Such was life:
In the 1840s and 50s, Melbourne had an unregistered dog problem. Initially the stray dogs were only a nuisance, but they soon became aggressive and threatened the safety of Melburnians.
Samuel Figgis, librarian and soldier
In August 1914, a young Samuel Figgis joined the Victorian Public Library as a library assistant, just after the outbreak of the Great War. Less than a year later he died on the beaches of the Dardanelles on his 20th birthday.
Greetings from the trenches: World War I postcards
Collection spotlights, Such was life, War:
In 1916, Corporal Thomas O’Halloran sent dozens of embroidered souvenir postcards from the front lines in France to his father, wife and three children back home in Castlemaine.
Australian Performing Group
Arts & literature, Such was life:
The 1960s, a time of social and political change, saw the birth of the Australian Performing Group (APG).
The Major Moon Collection
Major Arthur Moon was an Australian surgeon and POW in the Tamuang and Chungkai camps during World War II. He worked alongside Sir Edward (Weary) Dunlop and performed up to… Read More ›
