Launch of exhibition: Tales from the MacRobertson International Air Races

RHSV, Gallery Downstairs 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

In October 1934 a great air-race was planned from London to Flemington, Melbourne. From a field of 20 planes just 12 arrived. The winner took a whisker under 3 days; the last entrant arrived in February 1935. The best known tale is of the Dutch plane, Uiver, which made an emergency landing in Albury during a wild storm; the locals used the town’s lights to flash morse code to the plane and then lit the race-track, a make-shift aerodrome, with their car-headlights. Flight was one of the last frontiers and all the tales are unashamedly romantic and full of derring-do.

Free

BRAZEN HUSSIES: Film Screening and Q&A

Williamstown Library 104 Ferguson St, Williamstown, VIC, Australia

BRAZEN HUSSIES reveals a revolutionary chapter in Australian history, the Women's Liberation Movement (1965 -1975). Interweaving freshly uncovered archival footage, personal photographs, memorabilia and lively personal accounts from activists, BRAZEN
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Free

Tales from the MacRobertson International Air Races

RHSV, Gallery Downstairs 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

To celebrate Victoria’s centenary in 1934, Macpherson Robertson sponsored a great air race from England to Melbourne. There were originally 20 entrants of which only 12 arrived in Melbourne. The British winning entrants took a whisker under 3 days, the last plane to arrive took some 4 months.  The RHSV is mounting an exhibition which takes a close look at the entrants in the races (there were two races run concurrently – a speed race and a handicap race) including the most well-known entrant, the Dutch Uiver.     

Vera Deakin in War and Peace

RHSV, Gallery Downstairs 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

The daughter of Prime Minister Alfred Deakin, Vera Deakin studied music in the Habsburg Empire on the eve of the Great War. Driven by British imperial fervour on her return to Australia, she bypassed the government’s restrictions on women’s participation in the war effort by serving with the fledgling Australian Red Cross. Aged only 23 in 1915, she became the founding secretary of the Australian Red Cross Wounded & Missing Enquiry Bureau in Cairo and later London. Narrowly avoiding replacement by a man, she showed outstanding leadership and was appointed OBE.

$10 – $20

LAUNCH OF RHSV WOMEN’S DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY

RHSV, Gallery Downstairs 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

There is a perception that from its beginnings in 1909, the Royal Historical Society has been the domain of men. Yet from the outset women have played an active role in the Society in many capacities – as members, councillors, fellows, employees, volunteers, patrons, benefactors. The RHSV Women’s Biographical Dictionary has been established to honour the contributions made by women to the Society.

Free

Launch of the Jessie Webb Society

RHSV, Gallery Downstairs 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

In 1909 Jessie Stobo Watson Webb was not only an original Historical Society of Victoria member (membership No. 30) and the first woman but she also provided rooms in Block Arcade in which our first meeting was held. She was a passionate historian and a true individual who lived by her own rules. She and her friends exemplified the ‘new woman’: intelligent, emancipated women who led rich intellectual lives.
We want to honour Jessie’s legacy, and her impact on the RHSV which is still felt over 100 years later, by naming our bequest society after her. The Jessie Webb Society, like its namesake, is there to make a difference and its members understand the power of a legacy.

Free

CORAGULAC HOUSE: book launch

RHSV, Gallery Downstairs 239 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Author and historian, Jennifer F. O'Donnell, invites RHSV members and friends to celebrate the launch of her latest history, Coragulac House.  Drinks and light refreshments will be served in the
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Free

Aviation Cultures Mk.V

This inclusive, online conference will bring together researchers, academics, curators and practitioners to share their knowledge and ideas of flight, and its place in history and society. The conference will
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Cataloguing Clinic via Zoom with Jillian Hiscock

ZOOM Join from anywhere in the world

Jillian Hiscock, the RHSV Collections Manager, started these cataloguing clinics during the early days of COVID and they suit Zoom very well. The clinics run for an hour from 11am
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Free

Walking tour: Colonial Mayors of Prahran

St Kilda Cemetery Dandenong Road & Hotham Street, St Kilda East, Vic, Australia

Come and listen to the fascinating stories of the lives of those Colonial Prahran Mayors on a walking tour of St Kilda Cemetery led by Claire Barton. St Kilda Cemetery,
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