Matthew Churchward, Senior Curator, Engineering and Transport at Museums Victoria will be delivering this lecture which is our first in partnership with Engineering Heritage Victoria in 2025.

Matthew says on the Museums Victoria website, “After training in mechanical engineering, I have spent most of the past 30 years working in the museum and heritage sector. I began my first research position with the then Museum of Victoria, in 1989, and have held a curatorial role since 1994. As a senior curator, the scope of my work has involved original research, collection development and documentation, delivering public programs, exhibition development and the creation of website content.

During this period I have been involved in the development of over a dozen exhibitions across all of Museum Victoria’s venues – the Immigration Museum, Melbourne Museum and Scienceworks. I enjoy engaging with community groups and individuals, passionate collectors and researchers with common interests in the preservation and interpretation of the state’s industrial heritage.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my curatorial work has been the opportunity oversee a variety of restoration and conservation projects on large objects in the museum’s technology collections – ranging from traction engines, steam rollers, diesel rollers, tractors and oil engines to farm machinery, motor vehicles, bicycles and even horsedrawn vehicles. Since 2011, I have been lead curator on the restoration of the Great Melbourne Telescope, a 12½-tonne instrument of international significance built in the 1860s, which for two decades held the title of the world’s largest equatorially-mounted telescope. The project has involved museum staff, engineering students and a bunch of very dedicated volunteers from the Astronomical Society of Victoria.

One of my key collection development activities over the past 25 years has involved the management of the Trade Literature Collection, which has grown to encompass over 65,000 publications, making it the largest public collection of its type in Australia. The collection documents hundreds of types of technological products manufactured, marketed and used in Australia, providing a major research resource for historians, collectors and machinery restorers.

My master’s thesis examined Victoria’s 19th century mining machinery manufacturers and Victorian mining history remains one of my principal areas of research interest. Other recent research topics have included the history of Victorian foundries and engineering works, agricultural implement makers and aspects of the development in Victoria’s engineering and transport infrastructure – including roads, railways, bridges, ports, sewerage & water supply schemes and electricity supply.