GS-BCS-13; Panoramic view looking south from Town Hall, Fitzroy, August 1880; The photograph shows an elevated view of rooftops and buildings stretching to the horizon, with one clearly visible street on the left. The inscription on the border of the image tells us it is taken from the City of Fitzroy Town Hall's tower looking south. The date, August 1880, economic details, and the names of the mayor and councillors at that time are also printed on the border.
The street is Napier Street, and on the left side of this street, the largest building is the Presbyterian Church. In the right foreground is a sign which reads "Wickhams Dining Rooms", which was located at 14 Condell Street, Fitzroy. On the horizon, Government House can just be seen at the end of Napier Street, and St Patrick's Cathedral in the middle horizon.
The Sands & McDougall Directory of 1880 lists many private residences and small businesses, such as bakers, grocers, and hotels, in the area shown in the photograph. However, from the 1930s to the 1960s, this neighbourhood was included in various government slum reclamation programs. Most of the buildings in the photograph were razed before the construction of the Atherton Gardens high-rise housing commission estate during the 1960s.
One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.
Isaac Selby gave an illustrated lecture on "Old Melbourne and Fitzroy, its First Suburb", at Town Hall, Fitzroy, on 16th August, 1928.
For more information about this image contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria; 1880; Photograph; Images collection![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
GS-IT-76; Harry Hawker, pioneer Australian aviator; Gunn's Slides (Firm); Harry Hawker examining the engine from his wrecked Sopwith Atlantic aircraft.
Harry George Hawker, a pioneer Australian airman, was born in Brighton, Melbourne in 1889. He became a skilled motor mechanic and set up his own business. He went to England in 1911, hoping to become an aviator. He got a job with the Sopwith Aviation Co., took flying lessons and gained his pilot's licence in 1912. He became a test pilot and designer for Sopwith and made several record breaking flights. He brought a Sopwith Tabloid aircraft to Australia and gave demonstration flights.
Hawker returned to England and worked with Sopwith throughout World War I. One of his greatest contributions to aviation was his development of a technique for regaining control of a spinning aircraft.
In May 1919 Hawker and Lieutenant-Commander McKenzie-Grieve attempted to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in a Sopwith Atlantic aircraft. Engine trouble forced them down in the sea well away from shipping lanes. However, they had come across a Danish steamer, the SS "Mary", and were able to ditch near her. They were picked up and the aircraft was abandoned. The "Mary" had no radio so the world did not know what had happened to the aviators until several days later when they were landed in England.
The wreckage of the Sopwith Atlantic was salvaged by the SS "Lake Charlottesville" and landed in Falmouth, England and subsequently displayed in Selfridge's store in London. This photograph shows Harry Hawker examining the engine of the wrecked aircraft.
On July 12th 1921 Hawker was killed in the crash of a Nieuport Goshawk while he was practising for the Aerial Derby air race.
One of the many slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.
This image is provided for research purposes and must not be reproduced without prior permission.For a high resolution copy of this image, contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria; 1919; Glass slide; Images collection![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
GS-PM-35; Flight Lieutenant R.W.Bungey, RAF; Robert Bungey was born in 1914 in South Australia. He learned to fly with the RAAF at Point Cook and then went to England as a member of a group of twenty-five RAAF officers who took up short service commissions in the Royal Air Force in July 1937.
When war broke out Bungey was with 226 Squadron flying obsolete Fairey Battle bombers in the Battle of France. These aircraft were totally outclassed by the Luftwaffe and Bungey was lucky to survive.
Back in England, Bungey transferred to Fighter Command, initially flying Hurricane fighters. In March 1941 he was posted to 452 Squadron, RAAF, flying Spitfires. In October he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Also in October Bungey married an English girl, Sybil Johnson. In February 1942 Sybil arrived in Adelaide to await the birth of their first child. She stayed with Bungey’s parents and a baby boy was born in March 1942.
On 4 May 1943 Bungey, who had been posted back to Australia, arrived in Adelaide to join Sybil and their baby son Richard. Unfortunately, on 27 May Sybil died of meningitis. Distressed by his wife’s death, on 10 June Robert Bungey went to Brighton Beach in Adelaide with Richard and shot Richard, then himself. Robert died but the baby, although seriously wounded, survived and was adopted by Robert’s brother.
A Spitfire fighter flown by Bungey while he was with 452 Squadron is on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
The original of this drawing is contained in the book "Men of the RAF" by Sir William Rothenstein and Lord David Cecil (1942).
One of the many slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.
This image is provided for research purposes and must not be reproduced without prior permission.For a high resolution copy of this image, contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria; 1941 (original image); Glass slide; Images collection![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
GS-TM-02; Burke and Wills Memorial : Melbourne General Cemetery, c. 1920s; Miller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.; Photograph of the front of the monolithic Burke and Wills memorial located at the southern end of Melbourne General Cemetery.
The bodies of the dead explorers were exhumed from the place where they died, Cooper's Creek, Queensland, and were interred in the cemetery in January 1863. The monument was erected over the grave site in May 1866, and the inscriptions on the base added in 1873.
The inscription reads:
In Memory of Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills
The large, Harcourt granite, roughly hewn block was the largest block ever quarried in Victoria, with the Victorian Parliament providing the funds. The monument was designed by Huxley and Parker, who placed the granite on another square block to which the inscriptions were added. Both blocks are elevated on two steps.
The top part of a smaller monument can be seen at the bottom of the photograph. It was erected in 1910, by the Council of the Old Colonists Association, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the departure the explorers from Melbourne.
At least two other graves can be seen to the left of the monument, and others to the right.
This image is attributed to Everard Studley Miller who photographed many graves and tombstones in the Old Melbourne Cemetery (established in 1837) in the 1920s as part of a project led by Isaac Selby to record and commemorate all aspects of Melbourne's second cemetery (the first being at Flagstaff Hill). The RHSV holds original glass negatives and albums of the photographs from this project.
One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.
For more information about this image contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria.; Photograph; Images collection![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
GS-TM-04; Adam Lindsay Gordon: Brighton General Cemetery, Melbourne, c.1930; T.W. Cameron (Firm); Photograph of memorial built over the remains of Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet and gentleman steeplechase rider, located at Brighton Cemetery, Caulfield South.
The memorial takes the form of a bluestone stepped square pedestal topped with a bluestone broken Doric column. A white stone wreath decorates the top of the column. White stone inserts on the faces of the pedestal are etched with details of his death, and the names of his poems.
THE POET GORDON (on face on right)
Died June 24 1870
Aged 37 Years.
SEA SPRAY and SMOKE DRIFT (on face on left)
The poet's grave became a popular pilgrimage site, thousands would gather annually, and a number of societies were formed devoted to his memory. Two free-standing commemoration plaques are at the base of the monument, possibly placed there at either the 50th or 60th anniversary of Gordon's death. The dark circular one, on the left, has been placed by members of the Australian Natives Association. The ANA was instrumental in organising the gatherings. The framed plaque on the right shows a picture of Gordon surrounded by a green wreath. This could be an image of the wreath brought from England and donated by his "first love".
Bushes and plants surround the monument, and other graves can be seen in the background. Wattle was known to be Gordon's favourite flower and wattle trees were planted around his grave by his followers according to newspaper reports. A trefoil shaped grave marker with the number 20 can be seen in the foreground.
Gordon was living in Brighton when he committed suicide by shooting himself at the nearby beach.
One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund. He numbered this slide 26.
For more information about this image contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria.; Photograph; Images collection![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
GS-TM-17; Conway family : Old Melbourne Cemetery, c. 1920; Miller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.; Photograph of tombstone placed over the remains of Henry Conway and his three sons, John, Henry and James. Selby tells us in his "Memorial History of Melbourne" (p.385, ref.205), that this is "One of the better kept graves, railed, with a good stone." More tombstones can be seen in the background.
The slight curve of the gravestone top is decorated with spiral pattern. The inscription starts at the top of the stone allowing for additions over the years.
The inscription reads:
ERECTED
BY
HENRY CONWAY IN MEMORY
OF HIS SON JAMES WHO
DEPARTED THIS LIFE
THE 3rd APRIL 1849
AGED 2 YEARS
This infant bud so fresh and fair
Cut off by early doom,
Came but to show how young a flower
In Paradise can bloom.
HERE ALSO IS INTERRED
the body of the above-named
HENRY CONWAY
WHO departed THIS life
the 3rd July 1853
AGED 34 years.
HENRY CONWAY
son of the above, died 23rd December
1891, aged 47 years.
JOHN CONWAY
DIED 22nd AUGUST, 1909, AGED 66 YEARS
John "Jack" Conway was a well known sportsman who played first-class cricket and captained the Carlton Football Club. He organised the first Australian cricket tour to England in 1878, and wrote for The Age, Argus and the Sydney Morning Herald.
This image is attributed to Everard Studley Miller who photographed many graves and tombstones in the Old Melbourne Cemetery (established in 1837) in the 1920s as part of a project led by Isaac Selby to record and commemorate all aspects of Melbourne's second cemetery (the first being at Flagstaff Hill). The RHSV holds original glass negatives and albums of the photographs from this project.
One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.
For more information about this image contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria.; Photograph; Images collection![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
GS-TM-45; John Pascoe Fawkner, wife and parents : inscription only, Melbourne General Cemetery, c. 1930; Miller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.; Photograph of the white stone inscription tablet fixed to the back wall of the memorial built over the remains of John Pascoe Fawkner, founder of Melbourne, his wife, Eliza, and his parents, John and Eliza.
The memorial takes the form of a small steeply-roofed stone mausoleum, with an arched doorway and a stone balustrade projecting from the front. (GS-TM-03)
An image of John Pascoe Fawkner's head and neck, side-on, is carved into the pointed top of the text panel within a circle, with the text picked out in black underneath.
The inscription reads:
Here Lies (Gothic script)
The Mortal Remains Of
JOHN PASCOE FAWKNER
Who Founded the City of Melbourne
August 29th 1835
Born October 20th 1792, at London
Died September 4th 1869, at Smith St. Collingwood
Aged 77 Years
also of
JOHN FAWKNER Senior,
Who Died September 24th 1854
Aged 84 Years.
And of his Widow
ELIZA [John Senior's much younger second wife]
Who Died May 18th 1858
Aged 66 Years
(The details of John Pascoe Fawkner's wife, also Eliza, have been cut off the bottom of the slide. She died July 8th, 1879)
This image is attributed to Everard Studley Miller who photographed many graves and tombstones in the Old Melbourne Cemetery (established in 1837) in the 1920s as part of a project led by Isaac Selby to record and commemorate all aspects of Melbourne's second cemetery (the first being at Flagstaff Hill). The RHSV holds original glass negatives and albums of the photographs from this project.
Selby strongly argued that Batman, and not Fawkner, was the founder of Melbourne, and organised annual visits to Batman's grave on Foundation Day. Ironically, Batman's grave was relocated to Fawkner cemetery in 1923.
One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.
For more information about this image contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria.; Photograph; Images collection![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
GS-TM-54; Edward Curr, his widow and two sons: Old Melbourne Cemetery, c. 1920; Miller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.; Photograph of a light-coloured stone with a round top and curved shoulders, marking the burial of Edward Curr, two of his sons, and his widow. The grave, in the Roman Catholic section, is bordered by a low iron railing. Long grass and trees fill the blurred background.
The inscription reads: (398, in Selby's grave index, p. 397, OPMHoM)
(Small cross with I. H. S.)
In Your Charity
Pray for the Soul of
EDWARD CURR
of St Heliers
Who Departed This Life Nov 16, 1850
Aged 52 Years
Also for
WILLIAM TALBOT
Second Son of the above
Who Died May 12, 1847 [actually died 1846]
Aged 24 Years
Also for
ARTHUR
Sixth Son of the above
Who Died Dec 2, 1854
Aged 24 Years
Also for
ELIZABETH Widow of EDWARD CURR
Who Departed This Life Oct 18, 1866
In Her 69th Year
Requiescant In Pace (carved towards the bottom of the stone)
Selby tells us (p. 107) that Curr "was an English Roman Catholic with an Irish spirit", advocating for separation from the government of NSW. He was a "successful squatter" introducing special breeds of cattle and sheep, and becoming known as "the potentate of the north." Unfortunately he died the year before Victoria was declared an independent colony.
This image is attributed to Everard Studley Miller who photographed many graves and tombstones in the Old Melbourne Cemetery (established in 1837) around 1920 as part of a project led by Isaac Selby to record and commemorate all aspects of Melbourne's second cemetery (the first being at Flagstaff Hill). The RHSV holds original glass negatives and albums of the photographs from this project.
One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund. The date 1918 is written on the border of the slide.
For more information about this image contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria.; Photograph; Images collection![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)
![Photography Photography](/wp-content/plugins/ehive-search/images/catalogue_photography.png)