St John Ambulance began its Search and Rescue Squads after WWII to collaborate with Victoria Police and the Country Fire Authority. It was superseded in the mid-1970s by the government funded State Emergency Service. However, in its heyday, S&R attended many disasters including the Southern Aurora derailment and the Westgate Bridge collapse. Stewart Grainger, who
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Experience Labassa’s lavish architecture and companion garden at twilight. Labassa’s garden has undergone many changes in its 160-year history. From pleasure grounds for Marvellous Melbourne’s elite through to a communal garden for resident hippies, Labassa has seen it all. Although over 700 people have lived at the mansion, its 1890s interiors remain largely intact. See
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A great-aunt’s bequest – a 200-year-old grandfather clock – sends historian Graeme Davison on a journey deep into his father’s family’s past. From their tribal homeland in the Scottish Borders, he follows them to the garrison town of Carlisle, from industrial Birmingham to Edwardian Australia, and from the Great War to his own suburban childhood.
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Building on the success of the Unplugged in St Kilda podcast series, iconic musicians Paulie Stewart (Painters and Dockers), Fiona Lee Maynard (Have a Nice Day) and Fred Negro (I Piss on Your Gravy) will share musical tales from the St Kilda scene of the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Facilitated by Sally Moore, host of the Unplugged podcasts, the panel will discuss the rich musical history of St Kilda, sharing insights into their time in the local area and how it shaped their music.

🌈 Subcultures of Friendship, Male Homosexual Lives in Mid-Century Victoria David and Wayne will guide us through Subcultures of Friendship made in a Mid-Century Melbourne. Wayne Murdoch is going to focus on Melbourne in the 1920s and 30s. His information is based on the research done for his book Kamp Melbourne in the 1920s and
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Box Hill Historical Society kicks off 2024 with a talk by prominent literary critic, journalist and author Helen Elliott. Helen spent some time working in the Box Hill Library, commencing in 1965. She will speak of her memories of Box Hill. Copies of her memoir, Eleven Letters to You, will be available for sale at
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🚇 Melbourne’s Great Metropolitan Railways – With A Nod Over The Border A little over one hundred years ago, Australia’s first electrified suburban railways commenced operations. Melbourne led the way when electric trains ran between Essendon and Sandringham on 28 May 1919. Sydney followed suit seven years later when its first electric train ran between
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Emeritus Professor Richard Broome AM, will be talking to Malvern Historical Society members and friends on Wednesday 21 February about the second edition of his double award-winning history, ABORIGINAL VICTORIANS. A HISTORY SINCE 1800. Published by Allen & Unwin. 

BOOK LAUNCH  The Goldfields Re-Imagined; militant miners, miscreants and poor Mary Anne By Marjorie Theobald  This is a lively and engaging series of chapters about women, convicts, shysters, aristocrats and politicians in the Castlemaine goldrush. There is a piece about Castlemaine's remarkable but little known Gold Commissioner (then Warden) Captain John Edward Newell Bull, and his attempts
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