Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
It was November, 1852, when almost overnight, a strange sight sprang up, near Princes Bridge, in Melbourne. Canvas Town, as it came to be known, was a large tent city, set up to accommodate people on their way to the goldfields…
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
On New Year’s Day, 1838, pioneer John Pascoe Fawkner published Melbourne’s first newspaper. Printing presses were scarce in the colony, so Fawkner handwrote the newspaper himself…
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.
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?
Buildings & streets, People & professions, Research guides, Research tips & tricks, Social life & customs, Such was life, War:
The second and final part of a blog about flâneurs and research in the time of covid-19 As you can read in part one, this blog was inspired by daily… Read More ›
Buildings & streets, People & professions, Such was life:
Bell hangers and nightmen, leech merchants and lightermen; these are just some of the nineteenth century characters you may find lurking within the pages of a Sands & McDougall directory.
Buildings & streets, People & professions, Research guides, Research tips & tricks, Social life & customs, Such was life, War:
This is the first of a two-part blog about flâneurs and research in the time of covid-19 A daily walk has become an essential part of many people’s routines in… Read More ›
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.
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…
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.
