The marvellous and macabre Waxworks, part two: sideshow magic and human curiosities
Social life & customs, Such was life:
Part two of the story of the Melbourne Waxworks, featuring a water nymph, the Chinese giant and the ‘half lady’ illusion.
Social life & customs
On the ‘shick’ in Little Lon
Buildings & streets, Social life & customs, Such was life:
Of all the slums in inner Melbourne, ‘Little Lon’, was the most notorious. But there was more to the precinct than met the eye…
The marvellous and macabre Waxworks, part one: ‘…the more murderers, the more it thrives.’
Social life & customs, Such was life:
Before true crime podcasts and books on serial killers, where did Melburnians go for their taste of the macabre? To the waxworks of course.
‘I’m the boy that brings the news, so a Christmas box I won’t refuse.’
People & professions, Social life & customs, Such was life:
Don’t forget the postie, milkman and garbo!
Murder, mayhem and misdeeds: read all about it in the Police News
Social life & customs, Such was life:
The ‘Police News’ had nothing to do with the police- it was a scandalous Melbourne weekly publication which relished depicting all manner of crime.
Duels in Melbourne
Social life & customs, Such was life:
Early one Thursday morning in June 1839, two young men at an empty racecourse stood 16 paces from one another armed with pistols. They were preparing to engage in Melbourne’s first duel.
The chaos and order of Marion Page
Collection Care, Our stories, People & professions, Preservation, Social life & customs:
Follow the journey of a large, multi-format Manuscript collection belonging to the late Marion Page from a South Yarra storage room to our Preservation team.
The Spare Corner Club
People & professions, Social life & customs, Such was life:
It was a cool summer’s day in 1940 when around fifty members of the Spare Corner Club met in the Fitzroy Gardens for lunch…
Women changing the world, part three: Physical autonomy
Arts & literature, Our stories, Politics, Social life & customs:
In the third and final part of our exploration of works by women that have changed our world, we focus on women’s reproductive rights.
Elizabeth Batman’s doll
Social life & customs, Such was life:
Elizabeth Batman’s doll is a fascinating relic from the earliest days of Melbourne.
