Author: Rosemary Cameron

The Robur Tea Building, 28 Clarendon St, Southbank, a Victorian Heritage Registered site, was refused a development permit in May this year by Heritage Victoria.  But now the applicant for the development permit has requested a review of the determination and has requested an appeal hearing (see grounds below). The permit review hearing will be scheduled to take place in the coming months. The RHSV submitted a successful objection earlier in the year and will be following the review process too.

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The Councillors, staff, volunteers and members of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria note with great sadness the death of our friend, Gordon Moffatt, on the 27th July 2023.

Gordon had been an active member of the RHSV since 1983 and, for three years 1983-85, served on Council. He was also a most generous supporter of the Society ensuring that Victorian history was valued and preserved.

We send our condolences to Gordon’s family on their loss.

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The RHSV is very pleased to announce our second Historian-in-Residence, Dr Fiona Gatt, who has begun work on her project: The forgotten class? Shopkeepers of nineteenth-century Melbourne. Fiona explains: ‘Shopkeepers were important agents in the effective functioning of nineteenth-century Melbourne society. Yet the realities of that role in the community remain considerably under-researched. This project will illuminate the role of shopkeepers in nineteenth-century urban Melbourne, and it will prompt a question not adequately engaged with as yet: are they in fact the forgotten class of Australian history?

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The Royal Historical Society of Victoria welcomes the celebrations of NAIDOC week 2-9 July. The theme for this year is ‘For our Elders’ which celebrates the importance of Elders to the strength of families and communities across the generations. There is a continuity of Elder wisdom and knowledge in Aboriginal society that has stretched across 2000 generations.

All of us should pay heed to this respect shown by Aboriginal people to Elders. We should recognise the importance of elders in our own lives and our own families.

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The Council of the RHSV stands for the principle of diversity. It affirms the RHSV’s continuing efforts to reflect the diversity of cultures in our contemporary society through our various collections and their catalogues, our publications, our events and other aspects and endeavours of our Society.

The Council acknowledges Indigenous Australians as Traditional Custodians of Country; is enhancing our Indigenous history in our catalogues, lectures and publications; supports the aspirations in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) and the Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017) and believes Australia’s First Peoples should be recognised in the Constitution.

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We loved this review of our History Victoria bookshop from Lachlan in Google: “Great selection of books at their quaint bookstore. Staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. What’s more is they were conveniently located opposite the Flagstaff Gardens – perfect place to sit down and read your new book!”

Our bookshop focuses on Victorian history and has 800+ titles. We try to stock all Victorian history books whilst they are still in print and we are the only stockist for many titles.

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Each year the RHSV engages a project officer/s to work on History Month (October) and the Victorian Community History Awards (the key event of History Month). Both projects require similar skills and the fee is $5,000 per project. Both projects could easily be worked concurrently by one person or they could be handled by two different individuals.

The closing date for applications is 5pm Monday 24 April 2023. With a mooted start around Monday 15 May 2023 –

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Today, 8 March, is International Women’s Day. The RHSV honours the contributions of women to Australian society and to our history. Women are extraordinary volunteers across all spheres and in particular within the community history movement. At the RHSV, women form a majority on our Council, committees and amongst the volunteers. All of our paid staff are also women. This is Women’s History Month and to celebrate that we have a distinguished lecture by Iola Mathews on Flos  Greig,

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We were thrilled to see that a large number of people associated with history, community history and historical societies were the recipients of Australia Day honours.

We send our warmest congratulations to the following award recipients:

• Emeritus Professor Robert MANNE AO

For distinguished service to tertiary education, to political and social commentary, to public affairs, and to the Indigenous community.

• Dr Judith BRETT AM

For significant service to education and public debate,

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In mid-January Rosalie Triolo and I accompanied VCE Australian History teachers to some of our key national cultural institutions in Canberra hunting for resources for their students. Most institutions were managing on very tight budgets due to an ‘efficiency dividend’ placed on all cultural institutions by recent governments. Only the Australian War Memorial seem to be in good health and expanding massively in three directions on its site.

Of most relevance to the history sector is the National Library of Australia.

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An article in The Age on 14 Jan 23 was critical of Maribyrnong City Council’s implementation of an interim heritage overlay in December 2021 on about 900 properties across eight precincts in West Footscray and surrounding areas to protect interwar and postwar-period homes. Home owners were distressed about the loss of value in their properties.

“Royal Historical Society of Victoria’s heritage committee deputy chair Ian Wight said introducing interim controls without consultation was a strategy sometimes used by councils to minimise the risk of home owners rushing to redevelop.

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Before the Spencer Street Bridge was built, this was the view from the corner of Spencer and Flinders streets.

This photo was taken some time in the late 19th or early 20th century, and features Spencer Dock, also known as Little Dock. It was opened in August 1854 and was described by The Argus (August 18) as the “first public dock in Victoria”. The first ship to enter was the Flying Cloud, which unloaded 300 tonnes of cargo.

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