Recent News Archives - Page 5 of 12 - Royal Historical Society of Victoria

PROPAGANDA OFFENSIVE UNDERMINES CULTURAL HERITAGE OF QVM

4 July 2022 - 4 July 2022 Rosemary Cameron

28 June 2022. In response to the City of Melbourne’s latest undermining of the cultural heritage of the Queen Victoria Market, Charles Sowerwine, Chair of the RHSV Heritage Committee, released the following statement.

“The CEO of the Queen Victoria Market, Stan Liacos, has been on a propaganda offensive, presenting a warm fuzzy on change at the Queen Victoria Market. As CEO, Stan has driven the process of change currently engulfing the market, change based on the proposals Robert Doyle made nine years ago,

TIME TO PUT HERITAGE ON THE AGENDA?

4 July 2022 Rosemary Cameron

A impassioned call for heritage action from Professor Charles Sowerwine, chair of the RHSV Heritage Committee in the lead up to the Victorian election.

“For nearly a decade, your RHSV Heritage Committee has been participating in the planning process to protect heritage. But heritage is losing out. It’s time to put heritage on the political agenda. As members of local historical societies, let’s demand that candidates and elected representatives address the structural issues in the planning system that cause increasing loss of heritage.”

THREAT TO ABC LIBRARIANS AND ARCHIVES, RHSV RESPONSE

4 July 2022 Rosemary Cameron

THREAT TO ABC LIBRARIANS AND ARCHIVES

Richard Broome’s response, 16 June 2022

An article in the Conversation recently outlined that the ABC is planning to axe librarians. President of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, Richard Broome has written a response to the Chair of the ABC Ita Buttrose, outlining his concern for the redundancies and realignments of staff connected with the ABC’s archive/library and on-going record keeping.

As the article in The Conversation states: “When information professionals do their jobs well,

THE THREE Rs & THE SPIRIT OF PROGRESS

1 July 2022 - 4 July 2022 rhsvadmin

Every month Cheryl Griffin and Ashley Smith write fabulous history articles for CBD News and Docklands News respectively. The articles are based on photographs from the RHSV collection.

This month Cheryl is inspired by a photograph from about 1865 of students in front of the Model School, Spring Street. You can read the full story here: The three “Rs”: school’s in at the Old Model School, Spring St

Ashley’s article is inspired by a photo of the presentation at the ‘launch of a new train that would become a feature of the railways for the next half-century,

VALE PAUL MULLALY

16 June 2022 rhsvadmin

The Royal Historical Society of Victoria is much saddened at the death of long-serving member, His Honour Paul Mullaly QC. Paul contributed substantially to the RHSV over many years and in many ways however his greatest contribution has been his transcription and annotation of Judge Willis’ Port Phillip Casebooks, for which legal scholars will always be in his debt.

Paul’s work can be found on a mini-website within the RHSV website here: The Judge Willis Casebooks

The RHSV extends sympathy to Paul’s family.

THE DUELS OF BATMAN’S HILL

5 May 2022 - 5 May 2022 Rosemary Cameron

Inspired by a sketch of Batman’s Hill which was the western boundary of Melbourne during the 1830s, Ashley Smith has done a deep dive into the dubious history of duels fought on the hill. The hill was eventually levelled in the 1860s to make way for extensions to the Spencer Street Railway Station but its infamy lives on in the stories of duels when gentlemen put their lives on the line to defend their honour or the honour of a woman.

The Howitt family’s life in the inner city in pre-goldrush times

3 May 2022 Rosemary Cameron

Cheryl Griffin’s latest article in CBD News has just been published – all about of a little ramshackle house that could have been found in Spring Street for over 50 after it was built in 1840.

When Godfrey Howitt, his brother Richard and other members of their family, decided to settle in Port Phillip in April 1840, Godfrey and Richard brought a home and that is what you see here.

His prefabricated wooden cottage fronted Spring St in the south-east corner of the CBD and his land,

The grandeur of Spring St, early autumn 1899

31 March 2022 Rosemary Cameron

The wealth and extravagance of the 1880s, the era of Marvellous Melbourne, was long gone when this photograph was taken, but it is still evident in the two main buildings you see here – the Grand Hotel on the left and the Princess Theatre on the right.

The ornate Princess Theatre that dominates this streetscape gives no sense of the terrible fate that overtook Victorian society in the 1890s. The collapse of the banks and the suffering that followed overwhelmed almost every aspect of life.

It’s the 1920s and you’ve arrived at Spencer Street …

31 March 2022 - 31 March 2022 Rosemary Cameron

Imagine you’re an eager tourist arriving at Spencer Street Station in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

With your back to the acrid coal smoke and much-needed sea breeze of the docks, you take one of the numerous passageways to the front entrance of the station and there, across the street at the corner of Spencer and Little Collins, you find the Hotel Alexander, the swankiest hotel in an otherwise no-frills end of the city

Read more of Ashley Smith’s story here in Docklands News (scroll down to P18)

CURTIN HOTEL UNDER THREAT

25 March 2022 - 25 March 2022 Rosemary Cameron

Statement on the John Curtin Hotel

Thursday, 24 March 2022

The Royal Historical Society of Victoria strongly supports the nomination of the John Curtin Hotel to the Victorian Heritage Register. Indeed, the RHSV has been providing historical information to assist the National Trust and Trades Hall with the nomination. On the basis of its historical associations alone, the hotel is clearly of state significance. We note, however, that it is also of some architectural significance.

The birth of Victoria Dock

4 March 2022 - 4 March 2022 Rosemary Cameron

In the early 1930s Victoria Dock was one of the biggest sites for trade and export in Melbourne. A constant queue of ships sailed in, unloaded their cargo, recharged and reloaded, then left for the
next port. The RHSV’s researcher, Ashley Smith, has just written a great article about the birth of Victoria Dock for Docklands News (March edition)

Read the article here: https://www.docklandsnews.com.au/themes/user/site/dn/pdf/DN183.pdf (scroll down to P18)

A stroll along Collins Street, 1900

28 February 2022 Rosemary Cameron

CBD News has just published Cheryl Griffin’s latest article, A stroll along Collins Street, 1900. A fabulous riff on a photo of everyday life snapped in December 1900 just weeks before the Colony of Victoria became one of 6 states in the new Commonwealth of Australia.

https://www.cbdnews.com.au/a-stroll-along-collins-st-1900

Remembering Stuart Macintyre: Historian, Mentor, Colleague. A two-day symposium

10 February 2022 - 10 February 2022 Rosemary Cameron

24th-25th February 2022
Arts West North Tower Room 253 The University of Melbourne

Professor Stuart Macintyre (1947-2021) was one of Australia’s most outstanding historians and public intellectuals. An extraordinarily prodigious scholar, his scholarship covered many fields including the history of social movements, Australian public policy, intellectual history and labour history. Stuart was an inspiring teacher and PhD supervisor and mentor; his generous support of the careers of others was a gift from which many have benefited over several decades.

All aboard for Spencer Street

4 February 2022 Rosemary Cameron

Ashley Smith’s latest article for Docklands News (Feb 2022) has just been published.

“Whilst hauling goods and passengers to and from the nearby wharves and the city, a single steam engine stops at Spencer Street Station (now Southern Cross Station) to smile for the camera.

This photo was taken by photographer Charles Nettleton, who extensively recorded Melbourne and its people (including Ned Kelly) for over 30 years but the exact date of this image is unknown.

RHSV, on behalf of 340 historical societies in Victoria, makes submission on heritage protection

31 January 2022 Rosemary Cameron

Monday 31 January 2022
The RHSV’s Heritage Committee, chaired by Emeritus Professor Charles Sowerwine has just made its submission to the Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee Inquiry to examine Planning and Environment Act

The Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV) is the peak body representing approximately 340 community historical societies throughout Victoria. Our members are concerned at the increasing loss of precious heritage and so we welcome this Inquiry. We believe there has been a calamitous decline in the protection afforded local heritage by the Heritage Overlay (HO) as well as a decline in support for Councils to ensure that sites are covered by the HO.