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Well Built: Simmie & Co Master Builders 1924 – 1978

RHSV Gallery Downstairs 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Simmie & Co was a prominent building company in Melbourne (1924-1978) and in Canberra (1926-1969).  In Melbourne the company was highly successful and built many iconic buildings, churches, monasteries, schools, housing, factories, defence works, the Shrine forecourt (1939-45), offices and theatres including some heritage-listed constructions (one designed by Robin Boyd). The founders were three Victorian brothers, all born in the last decade of the nineteenth century and all worked at the Sunshine Harvester factory before World War One – William, Jock & George. All were World War One veterans (two were Gallipoli veterans). All were wounded and survived. Two were closely involved with the Master Builders Association in Melbourne. Discover their story of a pioneering building company of the early to mid-twentieth century, of World War One veterans, of courage and a willingness to take a risk, of the beginning of the capital city of Australia and the workers, the unsung heroes, who made it all happen.

MARKETING FORUMS

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Christina Browning, the RHSV Marketing Officer, leads these forums which each month tackle a different aspect of marketing for historical societies - they tend to concentrate on social media as
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Free

Tahbilk Winery: Explorers Way tourist drive launch

Tahbilk Winery 254 O'Neils Road, Tabilk, Vic, Australia

Tahbilk Winery has generously offered their Wetlands View Restaurant to host the launch of the Explorers Way tourist drive and brochure, a project of Nagambie Historical Society, in collaboration with the Strathbogie Shire. The Explorers Way revives the Major Mitchell Bicentennial Trail through the Shire, from Mitchellstown to Violet Town. It then travels, in reverse, the tracks of Hume and Hovell, returning through Euroa and Longwood to Avenel. The drive visits every cairn and memorial to the explorers in those areas, and the map brochure details other points of interest in each town. Roads less travelled have been used for the drive to highlight the beauty of the Shire, away from the freeways; long arching tunnels of eucalypts, golden pastures with stands of ancient trees, wooden bridges and tree-lined creeks, with the blue of the ranges always in the distance.

WRITING HISTORY GROUP

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Dr Cheryl Griffin leads this group which has been meeting since 2020. This group is for people who are tackling writing a history project or two and want a sounding
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East Melbourne: The Men who went to War

East Melbourne Library 122 George St, East Melbourne, VIC, Australia

In 2014, Major-General Mike O’Brien gave us a list of men with a connection to East Melbourne who had volunteered for the 1st World War. As a result of enthusiastic
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Thomas Bent, Francis Bradford and electric tramways in Melbourne 1904-1909

RHSV Gallery Downstairs 239 A'Beckett St, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

In 1904, electrical and mechanical engineer Francis Edwin Bradford (1869-1927), a recognised American electric tramways pioneer, was controversially contracted directly by Thomas Bent, Victorian Minister of Railways, and Premier, to report on and progressively electrify Melbourne’s suburban railway system. But Bent postponed work on the report, and instead requested Bradford design and supervise the construction of an electric tramway from St.Kilda to Brighton, as a first stage of electrifying the railways. Bent's instructions did not sit well with the Railway Commissioners.

$10 – $20

Walking tour: Princes Hill, Carlton

Historical Walks in Carlton These walks are run by the Princes Hill Community Centre in conjunction with the Carlton Community History Group. To register, contact Princes Hill Community Centre: www.princeshill.org.au
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Fashion in the Age of Elegance 1840-1900

Villa Alba 44 Walmer St, Kew, VIC, Australia

In a foreign climate and environment, how did European women adapt to living in rural Victoria and the emerging suburbs of Melbourne? Explore and delight in the opulent tastes and
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$20

Fashion in the Age of Elegance 1840-1900

Villa Alba 44 Walmer St, Kew, VIC, Australia

In a foreign climate and environment, how did European women adapt to living in rural Victoria and the emerging suburbs of Melbourne? Explore and delight in the opulent tastes and
Read More...

$20