HISTORY NEWS ISSUE.338 SEPTEMBER 2018

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

President’s Report RHSV Foundation Donors Don Gibb RHSV Prize in Australian History The Costume Collection September Conference History Week Toongabbie Hall Volunteer brings a range of skills A Taste for Leadership and Service Threats to Heritage Book launch Vale Noel Turner Murders in Melbourne Around the Societies Book received

Costume Museum Donors to the RHSV Foundation President’s Report 2008 to 31 December 2017 The RHSV is deeply grateful to the following donors to its Foundation Fund over the last Looking to the future decade. RHSV NEWS RHSV The Fund commenced with a generous gift by former Councillor Gordon Moff at, which The RHSV Council is preparing for a Committee has undertaken to provide was followed by a donation of $100,000 by Planning Day in late October to consider recommendations by October. the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. Gordon future directions and opportunities for our While the Planning Day will be by invitation Moff at has continued to support the fund organisation. A small number of committee to keep participants at a manageable ever since becoming, over time, its biggest members and volunteers will be invited number, I welcome written contributions donor. Its assets at the end of 2017 were to join the Council’s deliberations. The from any RHSV members who wish to $537,000, $135,000 of which was interest time is now opportune to discuss what off er ideas for the discussion. Please send earned over the life of the Foundation. openings remain for strengthening them to me before mid-October. As part The donors in alphabetical order are set out the RHSV after a significant period of of a member organisation, you are vital to below. If our records are inaccurate, and a name change, including staff renewal, our new our wellbeing. has been inadvertently omitted, the Society website, better customer relations and The RHSV Council was shocked and would appreciate advice to the contrary. operational software, etc. These changes saddened to hear of the death of fellow- exist alongside the current challenges that Adams, John, Mullaly, Paul councillor, Dr Noel Turner. There is a most member organisations face these Anderson, Hugh Murdoch, Dame tribute to him elsewhere in this issue. His days, including changing demographics Elisabeth contribution to the Publications Committee, Broome, Richard and the infl uence of social media and other Murdoch, Elisabeth in particular, will be deeply missed. Clarke, Ian & Heather new ways of communication and research. Cole, Harry & Valda Trust Don Garden What will or should the RHSV look like in ten Connor, Margaret Murphy, Joan President years’ time? Should we continue to off er the Crone, E. J. D. Naylor, B. G. traditional mix of lectures, exhibitions and Ford, Olwen A. & Frank Perry, Edward Warren a research collection, tempered by online Owen Estate Frost, Lenore off erings, or should we prepare for a more Powell, Pauline Garlick, Nicholas revolutionary future? Estate Presland, Gary Will we be in the Drill Hall? So far, there Gibb, Ann & Don Read, M. has been no solution found for our Griffi ths, Nelva Ross, Catherine & long-term tenancy, and as the state Stuart Harris, Helen election approaches, we need to propose Russell, E. W. Johns, Murray & M. W. solutions and solicit promises from both Associates Government and Opposition. Killip, Norah Sciascio, Peter Di Langdon, David The Planning Day will also consider Smith, Simon Lemon, Andrew recommendations to modify the Stevenson, Virginia Constitution from a small sub-committee Lush, Mary Straten, Frank Van that has been set up to look for desirable Menadue, H. W. Sutcliff e, Sandy & changes. There are no pressing issues, McCarthy, David Richard but a few aspects do not refl ect modern Don Gibb RHSV Prize in Australian McGeorge, Michael History at La Trobe University. Tonta, Michael practice or need clarifi cation. Professor Richard Larkins, La McLaurin, Elizabeth Wall, J. H. One of these, also for the Planning Day, is Trobe University’s Chancellor (left), Moff at, Gordon White, Ethel our membership structure and fees. Once presents the prize to the inaugural Mohoric, Erika Woods, Carole more, no major changes are currently winner Eaomonn Orr with the help of Moore, Vera Professor Nick Bisley (right). Ann Gibb, Yule, Anne proposed, but we wish to examine how Foundation Don’s widow, and his daughters, Sally we should be best structured into the and Susie, attended the ceremony future. The Membership Development History News History News is the bi-monthly newsletter of the RHSV

ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY COVER: OF VICTORIA INC. OF VICTORIA INC. Costume Museum, early 19th century display: 239 A’BECKETT STREET MELBOURNE 3000 PRESIDENT Don Garden dress 1820, piano 1826. Offi ce Hours: Monday to Friday EXECUTIVE OFFICER Rosemary Cameron Photograph courtesy of Garry Roberts. 9am to 5pm ADMINISTRATION OFFICER Amy Clay Library Hours: Monday to Friday COLLECTIONS MANAGER & VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR Jillian Hiscock 10am to 4pm EDITORS Sharon Betridge [email protected] Phone: 9326 9288 Richard Broome [email protected] Fax: 9326 9477 DESIGN & ARTWORK Centreforce Pty Ltd 5975 8600 Website: www.historyvictoria.org.au PRINTED BY First Class Mailing 9555 9997 History News deadline for fi nal edition for Email: offi [email protected] Items for publication should be sent to the Editor 2018: 1 November 2018, unless in consultation ABN 36 520 675 471 email: [email protected] with an editor. Registration No. A2529 Copy closes 10th of the month PRINT POST APPROVED PP336663/00011 ISSN 1326-269

2 RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 The Costume RHSV NEWS Collection

For students of social history, Bryan and Loel Thomson’s private museum, The Costume Collection, is one of Melbourne’s best kept historical secrets. Housed in a specially designed building in Bulleen, the museum showcases the social history of Australian clothing from the time of European arrival. The emphasis is on clothing worn in Australia over the last 200 years. Loel Thomson, who curates the collection, is interested in what people wore in their daily lives and what caused clothing design to change, so it does not include theatrical costumes, national dress or uniforms. The Costume Collection houses 10,000 items of clothing, dating from 1790, as well as a large reference collection. The latest items are those made by current Australian designers. With so many items in the collection, Loel has both permanent and temporary displays. Describing the exhibition, she commented that it was a ‘series of diff erent themes … because you’re always trying to bring new things up from the store, and you get the same people coming over and over again. So, you’ve got to have something diff erent out for them.’ Though The Costume Collection may not be as well-known as it should be in Melbourne, those who know of it appreciate it. A typical tour begins in Loel’s library- work area where she explains how the collection came to be created and what it includes. The library contains portrait photographs (available from the 1850s) and bound copies of fashion magazines with hand-tinted plates dating from 1811, as well as reference works on fashions and fabrics. But the highpoint of a visit is the exhibit area with its thematic displays detailing the history of Australian clothing. The permanent displays resemble small rooms, domestic settings with the appropriate period furniture, paintings and decoration, where costumed mannequins are posed undertaking everyday activities: doing the laundry, dressing for a ball or playing the piano. In the drawing room scene, the piano is from 1820, the woman’s dress from 1830 and, when the museum has visitors, Loel plays ‘Jane Austen music’ to set the scene. As Loel 1850s dress. All photographs in this article courtesy of Garry Roberts.

RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 3 RHSV NEWS RHSV

French fashion magazine La Mode Illustrée Doing the laundry—late 19th or early 20th century

Button boots and hook: 1905–1914

explained: ‘If you just present somebody very expensive, very ornate’ and the not just the everyday homemade, such with a garment on its own, unless they changes in costume that occurred as as a blouse fashioned from parachute know it, they can’t relate to where it fi ts women moved out of the home and into silk, but elegant items such as a wedding into the time frame, so if you can put the workforce, particularly during World gown fashioned out of curtain material that something with it that belongs to the War I and afterwards. Commenting on is a tribute to its maker’s skill. You did not period, it helps people identify with that the laundry display, she said: ‘That’s need ration coupons for curtains, because period.’ The focus of the displays is mainly what everybody asks me—“How did you the material was not needed for service women’s clothing, though men’s and wash those dresses?” You couldn’t wash uniforms. Ration books and wartime children’s garments are also featured. One those ornate dresses, but people wore publications instructing housewives how display details how women’s silhouettes enormous amounts of underwear in to make do when making clothes place changed in the nineteenth century from Victorian times and they certainly washed the clothing in its historical setting. A rabbit the simpler ‘Jane Austen’ costume where their underwear.’ skin coat is a whole history of wartime dresses fell in straight columns from under On the day that I visited, Loel had curated rationing, farming life and the fur trade: the the bust to the elaborate crinolines and a temporary display of clothing from the farmer shot the rabbits himself and sent dresses with bustles. Loel related how Second World War that highlighted how the skins to the furrier to be made into this en’s position in society, describing people ‘made do’ when clothing and a coat. The exhibit contains the furrier’s the fashions of the 1870s and 1880s as dress materials were rationed. The display letter with a request for 10 ration coupons ‘ridiculous fashions, very extravagant, includes examples of wartime clothing: for the lining.

4 RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 RHSV NEWS

The collection is not open daily, since Loel Loel’s interest in costume collecting currently looking for an organisation that is the only person working there, and most began over 35 years ago when she and will accept the complete collection, not of her work is research. But private tours Bryan were restoring Noorilim, a historic just the costumes, but also the display can be organised by appointment. Loel homestead, near Murchison. She later settings, the reference collection and the Thomson hosts four or fi ve groups a week created exhibitions to raise money for the catalogue. ‘I owe that to all the people and is happy to share her knowledge local historical society, giving visitors the who’ve donated things and it’s a resource and expertise with genuinely interested opportunity to tour the homestead and … for schools and universities.’ visitors, students and researchers. Recent view the rooms where mannequins were To organise a visit, before the collection researchers have included high school posed in costumes refl ecting the period closes or moves from Bulleen, ring The students studying 1950s social history, of the rooms. Costume Collection on 9852 1794. Cost someone from the ABC investigating On obtaining costumes, she declared: of entry: a $5 donation for the Murchison fabrics for a series set in the 1860s and a ‘You never go past a second-hand shop Nursing Home, though, if a group is fi lm researcher looking for information on or a junk shop or a market, or an antique fundraising, Loel is happy for the money clothing from 1915 to 1930. The costumes shop when you’re travelling.’ Though to go to their cause. are not for loan, and, as Loel remarked, Loel used to accept donations, this is Marilyn Bowler modern women would not be able to fi t no longer possible. Sadly, The Costume into the dresses without the corsets worn Collection will soon be unavailable at its in the past, but the reference library and present location. Buildings in the area are the clothing give designers ideas about being acquired for freeway extensions how to create an authentic period feel in and Bryan and Loel Thomson will lose their productions. their home and their museum. Loel is

Domestic setting 1940s 1950s underwear, including 1960s Carnaby Street fashions rope petticoat

RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 5 What’s On RHSV NEWS RHSV

WAR, PEACE, PROTEST: THREE EVENTS WAR, PEACE, PROTEST: OVER TWO DAYS FIFTY YEAR REFLECTIONS The biennial RHSV conference occurs over ON 1968 7 to 14 October 2018 two days in mid-September. There are three DATE: SUN 16 SEP HISTORY WEEK linked events in the conference program and TIME: 9:30AM - 4:00PM we invite you to book for all three, or for each Get involved! COST: $60 for RHSV members; non- event separately. members $80 and F/T students $40 Is your organisation holding a history event Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/book/ Includes lunch and morning tea, the Wolskel during History Week 2018? If so, let us know sessions?eid=404785 Lecture & Putting It Out There launch so that we can include you in the 2018 History Week calendar. Send us an email at VENUE: Offi cers’ Mess Upstairs, RHSV, [email protected]. 239 A’Beckett St  The celebrations will include: The Royal Historical Society of Victoria will   refl ect on fi fty years since the dramatic year BEYOND BLUESTONE 

when key international events had their impact Location: Victorian Archives Centre, 99 Shiel

 on life in our community – the escalation in the St, North Melbourne VIC 3051   Vietnam War and Australia’s role in that confl ict, BLACK POWDER MILL: FREE OPEN DAY    the student riots in Paris in May 1968, the  Location: Corner Parklea Ave & Grassy Point    anti-war protest movement particularly within  American universities, and the symbolic Black Rd, Cairnlea VIC 3023 (Melway Map 25 F6)    Power protest at the 1968 Mexico Olympics BOOK LAUNCH: SAM’S METEORITE, A which also involved Melbourne athlete Peter CHILDREN’S PICTURE STORY BOOK  Norman. A distinguished panel of historians  
 Location: Heritage Centre 4 Stevenson Street and fi rst-hand observers will revisit that time Murchison VIC 3610 and ask the question: what signifi cance do we MANNING CLARK – AN EYE FOR ETERNITY draw from those events, fi fty years on? How NOW WE KNOW: curious that 2018 also marks the centenary Location: St Peter’s Hall, 15 Gisborne Street, A HALF-CENTURY PERSPECTIVE ON of the Armistice at the end of the First World East Melbourne MURCHISON HERITAGE AUSTRALIA’S VIETNAM WAR War – the war that was hoped to be the one MURCHISON HERITAGE CENTRE OPENS DATE: FRI 14 SEP to end all wars. EVERY DAY FOR HISTORY WEEK TIME: 6:30PM Seamus O’Hanlon will deliver the Keynote Location: Heritage Centre 4 Stevenson Street COST: FREE for RHSV members & those Address: 1968 – From the Vietnam War to Murchison VIC 3610 attending conference, all others: $10 Vietnamese Immigration: Melbourne’s Long QUEEN ELIZABETH OVAL AND “Sixties” VENUE: Offi cers’ Mess Upstairs, RHSV, SURROUNDS (BENDIGO) 239 A’Beckett St The signifi cance and meanings of notable dates, Location: QUEEN ELIZABETH OVAL VIEW eras and events are both highly historically- Peter Edwards will deliver the RHSV Augustus STREET BENDIGO contested and geographically-specifi c. They Wolskel 2018 lecture. “RAYMOND STREET: THE MAIN STREET OF are also often intensely personal. While the SALE”, CURATOR’S TOUR OF EXHIBITION As 2018 marks the half-centenary of the most focus of most of the papers in this symposium tumultuous year of the Vietnam War, when is political - the ‘events’ of 1968 and the legacies Location: 130 Foster Street, Sale 3850 much of the world seemed on the verge of of the protest movements of the 1960s in SALE POWDER MAGAZINE TOUR revolution, it is an appropriate time to revisit Australia and elsewhere - Seamus’ paper Location: 18 Stephenson Street, Sale some of the major themes of the debates takes a more social and cultural approach to that divided Australian politics and society. As exploring the various meanings and legacies THE WESTON BATE MEMORIAL LECTURE Melbourne was the epicentre of Australia’s of ‘the Sixties’. It does so by documenting a Location: The Victoria Theatre, Sovereign Hill, political earthquake, this is the appropriate range of issues and events from the ‘long- Ballarat, Victoria 3350 place as well as time for such a retrospective. 1960s’ in Melbourne and speculates on their What do we now know that we did not know FOR MORE INFORMATION on-going eff ects on the city and Australian http://historyweek.org.au/ fi fty years ago? How do some of the major society more generally in the decades since. arguments presented by participants in the debates of 1968, on all sides, look with the For the full benefi t of fi fty years’ hindsight? Which long- program and TEMPORARY ENTRANCE held beliefs now appear to be myths or half- speakers’ truths? Don’t forget that, for the next 7 weeks, entrance biographies to the RHSV will not be through our usual foyer Peter Edwards, currently an honorary professor please refer to but through the William Street door, unless at both Deakin University and the Australian the attached otherwise indicated. National University, was the Offi cial Historian program. of Australia’s involvement in Southeast Asian Seamus Confl icts 1948-75. O’Hanlon Join us for drinks at the Putting it Out There launch before this lecture.

6 RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 Halls of Fame: RHSV NEWS Toongabbie Mechanics’ Institute

Toongabbie Hall 1906 Toongabbie Hall today

In the early 1980s, it would be hard to imagine The building also had a large lodge room, indoor stadium had been built on the town’s a Gippsland building in a more perilous state a supper room and offi ces for the Bank former racecourse reserve. In its sorry than the Toongabbie Mechanics’ Institute. of Australasia and the clerk of courts. The state, the Mechanics’ Institute appeared It swayed dangerously in the wind, with doctor consulted there on weekly visits. in ‘Strikebound’, the 1984 fi lm about the windows broken and walls falling apart. For The Mechanics’ Institute was the centre of Wonthaggi coal miners’ strike of the 1930s. some Toongabbie residents, there seemed community events. It was often festooned Eventually grants for the Mechanics’ to be no alternative but to abandon the with ferns and wattle for balls, while Institute’s restoration were secured from building that had been at the centre of the concerts featuring locals and visiting three levels of government and work began town’s community for a hundred years. Its professionals were frequent. The hall was in earnest. The building was brought back timber and chimney bricks were put up for noted for its good acoustics. At horticultural from the brink due to wonderful work sale. But as Alan Harding and Roger Ries society shows, the long trestle tables were by builders, participants in employment argue in their history of Toongabbie, the described as groaning under the weight schemes and the tireless work of dedicated Mechanics’ Institute wouldn’t go without of district produce and dazzling arrays residents. There was a grand re-opening a fi ght. of fl owers. Cricket and football matches in 1996. On Australia Day in 1998, the Toongabbie’s history was linked to the were played on the village green outside. Toongabbie Mechanics’ Institute was the famed gold town of Walhalla, located deep Particularly memorable was the ‘spectacular venue for the inaugural Community History in the Great Dividing Range to the east of banquet’ held there for returned soldiers Awards, with which the RHSV has long been Melbourne. After gold was discovered in in 1920. associated. 1863, hopeful miners travelled by boat to Toongabbie’s transport links with Walhalla Now looking splendid and treasured by its Sale, set out across the red gum plains to were severed when a train line was built community, the Mechanics’ Institute is a link where Toongabbie is now located, and from Moe to Walhalla in 1912. Now, the with Toongabbie’s early days and refl ects then faced the arduous climb through town was only linked to its quiet farming the vital role it played in transportation and the mountains to Walhalla. Toongabbie community, and struggled to survive. The the development of goldmining at Walhalla. developed as an important staging post for hall’s physical decline started in the 1950s, It is architecturally signifi cant for its large size Walhalla. Packhorses, bullock teams and also the decade its library closed. as a timber building. Two storey timber halls later coach services left from Toongabbie for Toongabbie had an increase in population in are very rare. It is also remarkably intact. Walhalla, transporting people, supplies and the 1970s when work started on construction As Jane Lennon of Historic Places Section mining machinery to the gold town. of the Loy Yang Power Station south of explained, it has not been damaged by Soon, Toongabbie had hotels, a school, Traralgon. According to Harding and Ries, unsympathetic latter day alterations. houses and stores. In 1883, the Mechanics’ it was the newcomers who wanted to So, if you are visiting friends in the region, Institute was built on a corner of the cricket restore the increasingly derelict Mechanics’ driving to the mountains or cycling the rail and football recreation reserve, later Institute. They sought support from the trail that passes through Toongabbie, stop known as the village green. The building National Trust and Historic Buildings Council off and inspect the Mechanics’ Institute. It’s had a timber frame, corrugated iron roof for recognition of its heritage value. Historic well worth a visit. and weatherboard walls. The wood came Places Section of the then Department Meredith Fletcher from local ironbark and red gum. A two of Conservation, Forests and Lands was References storey extension was built nine years later. determined to save it, and endorsed the This refl ected Toongabbie’s prosperous building’s architectural and historical value. Harding, Alan, Ries, Roger, (2003) connection with Walhalla. The building was added to the Historic Toongabbie: a Gateway to the Walhalla In 1902, the Mechanics’ Institute was Buildings Register in 1983. But, saving the Goldfi elds. Toongabbie, Victoria: Roger Ries described as one of the most substantial building became a controversial issue in Lennon, Jane, ‘The Work of the Historic buildings in Gippsland, with one of the best the small community. At fi rst, the local shire Places Section, the Department of libraries and a comfortable reading room. considered it a ‘wicked’ waste of money, Conservation, Forests and Lands’, (1988) The hall was considered ‘commodious’. especially as new facilities equipped with an Gippsland Heritage Journal, no 4, pp 32-37

RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 7 A Taste for Leadership RHSV NEWS RHSV and Service

RHSV Councillor and Vice President, the library’s collection, but budgeting, while on Council were seeing through Elisabeth Jackson, was born in Adelaide human resources management and the building of a new public library for and moved to Melbourne as a child. She producing the library’s publications. Brunswick and the commissioning of a was educated at Greythorn High School. Elisabeth became Regional Library community history of the suburb. Elisabeth completed a BA, majoring in Manager, then Executive Officer of Elisabeth was secretary of Viclink from History and Politics followed by a MA the Hume-Moonee Valley Regional 2002-05 (later the Public Libraries Prelim at the University of Melbourne. She Library Corporation, before becoming Victoria Network Inc), a body which then completed a Diploma of Librarianship Chief Executive for the Yarra Melbourne shares information between libraries in at RMIT and began her life’s work as a Regional Library Corporation for a year. the state. Also, she was a member of librarian. She retired from fulltime employment in several statewide project working groups Her first position was just across the 2008 and worked part time for four years (2004-07), one for ‘libraries building road from RMIT at the State Library of as Executive Offi cer for Public Libraries communities’ and another on ‘workforce Victoria where she worked among the Victoria Network. In retirement Elisabeth sustainability’. continues to work as a casual librarian in crown jewels for Australian historians, the Elisabeth is currently a volunteer at the Moreland City Libraries. La Trobe Collection and the Australian Animals Australia as well as RHSV. She Manuscripts Collections. She left after Elisabeth has always had a strong ethic started at the RHSV in 2013 when she four years and spent a year traveling. of service. Early in her career, Elisabeth was elected to Council and is now vice Returning to Melbourne, she became assumed the signifi cant burdens of being president. Elisabeth heads the Collections librarian at the Ministry for Conservation a local councillor. She was elected to the Committee and now also serves on the for the next four years. Following the Brunswick Council in 1979 and served Heritage Committee. She was a key births of her two children she entered until stepping down in 1985 due to family member of the editorial group which part-time employment back at the State responsibilities. However, Elisabeth was produced Remembering Melbourne. Library and then in the Moonee Valley soon back in harness from 1988 to 1994, Elisabeth, ever-willing, is an organisation’s Regional Library. After several years serving as Mayor of Brunswick in 1990- dream volunteer, turning her hand to most she began working full time again as 91. Elisabeth took leave without pay from things at the RHSV, including relieving Collections Manager at the Moonee Valley the Moonee Valley Regional Library to staff at front of house. Regional Library. In this position Elisabeth undertake this time-consuming mayoral Richard Broome was responsible not only for developing position. Her greatest achievements

Chris Manchee has been a member of and then led an initial walk for professional Volunteer the Society for twenty years and has been tour guides. It was decided that the walks volunteering with the RHSV for fi ve and a would be marketed as part of the RHSV brings a half years. off erings. Chris had experience gained He joined the Society because of his in conducting tours of the Melbourne range of love of history, initially infl uenced by his Town Hall which he did as an employee mother, a great uncle and a Reverend of the MCC, as well as a volunteer. For skills Bourke. Reverend Bourke had written a the Flagstaff garden walk, he began by book on Catholic Church in Victoria and using the information gathered by Andrew this sparked Chris’s interest to explore the Lemon, and since then has done more topic further. research and has been able to expand on what he covers in the walk. He also In his time as a volunteer he has performed looks for ways to continually improve various duties in the society such as the activity. On a recent trip to the UK administration, working at reception, he became aware of how useful it was helping with exhibitions, helping with to show participants historical images general research and site searching. In the to remind them of the original views. His last three years he has been conducting groups can be in numbers as small as one the Monday tours of the Flagstaff Gardens. other person up to groups of twenty, but The genesis of that walk began with a they all come away with an appreciation lecture at the RHSV where the presenter of the gardens and a site that contains lamented on the lack of information about such rich history. the gardens. Andrew Lemon took up the challenge and researched the location

8 RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 RHSV NEWS Vale Noel Turner

Dr Noel Turner was elected to Council at the May 2017 AGM. Noel was a Book Gippslander, being born at Warragul in 1948 and raised in Drouin, where he attended primary and high school. He left Launch school in Year Eleven to take a position with the English, Scottish and Australasia Bank, now the ANZ Bank. He completed Year Twelve while working for the ANZ. In 1976 he began a four-year Bachelor of Education degree and then became a teacher for nine years. He taught Australian History, English and English as a Second Language. Despite his busy life as a high school teacher he completed a Master of Educational Studies part time at Monash University. Noel left teaching in 1993 for the freedom of self-employment, entering retail, then running a child care centre and fi nally he Victoria from the 1830s to the present became a book importer and distributor. continues. He is now focussing on the Noel was Treasurer of the Lottery Agents’ exact locations around Victoria where Association of Victoria for four years. His murders occurred. interest in books enticed him to further 19 July 2018 Deborah Towns, John Noel was employed part-time with the study and he completed a Master of Arts Melbourne Cricket Club, where he had Andrews and Geoff rey Blainey launched in Publishing at Monash University. been a match-day supervisor at the MCG A Secondary Education for All. A History Noel then began a PhD at Monash for fi fty years. Noel’s other interest was of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria University. His thesis was completed this aviation. He was one of the relatively few to a packed gallery at the RHSV. year after years of painstaking academic people, who are not commercial pilots, A secondary education for all? : a history research. Noel’s research examined who have landed a plane at Melbourne murders within Victoria and how they Airport at Tullamarine. of state secondary schooling in Victoria could be used as lenses into diff erent by Deborah Towns and John Andrews is Noel had a long interest in Australian historical periods in order that social History. The RHSV was fortunate to have available from the RHSV bookshop. change and the evolution of the Australian Noel’s involvement on Council. Dream could be investigated. His thesis led to an involvement with the Australian Richard Broome & New Zealand Society of Criminology, for which he acted as Treasurer for four years. His research on murders throughout

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RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 9 RHSV NEWS RHSV Murders in Melbourne

NORTHCOTE

The Angiletta crime scene in Staff ord Street Northcote. Photograph contained in Inquest Record VPRS24/P/0002 Unit 000181, courtesyPublic Records Offi ce, Melbourne.

Located seven kilometres from Malcolm Clarke (no relation to Bonnie) has gained an appalling criminal history, Melbourne, Northcote is a suburb with had previously boarded with Bonnie’s with almost all his offences involving an eclectic mix of Greek, Italian and family in Westbourne Grove and he knew sexual motives and attacks. Australian residents blending with live that a back door to the home was often On 22 December 2009, 1 Holmes Street music venues and an array of retail left unlocked. Bonnie Clarke was found was the address of a public housing businesses. It is also home to a number in her bed and she had been sexually estate which catered for residents aged of high-profi le Melbourne murder cases. assaulted, strangled and stabbed. This over 55. One resident, Edwin John Vincenzo Angiletta, 46, was shot at was not Malcolm Clarke’s fi rst off ence Wyatt, 65, would die on this day after 1.35am on 4 April 1963 in the carport of which resulted in a death. In June 1980 being stabbed by fellow resident, Joseph his home in Staff ord Street Northcote. he had beaten and stabbed to death Ghazlan, 60. Ghazlan had entered the lift Angiletta had been a cleaner at GMH at Theresa Crowe in her tiny Prahran loft. on the fourth fl oor and travelled to the Fishermans Bend and a former produce He had been convicted of manslaughter ground fl oor. As he exited the lift, Ghazlan merchant at the Queen Victoria Market. over that death. saw Wyatt immediately in front of him. It is possible that Angiletta had become One of Melbourne’s worst serial killers, Wyatt attempted to trip Ghazlan and involved in the 1960’s battle for control Peter Dupas, struck in Northcote on Ghazlan’s response was immediate. He of the market. A suspect in this case 19 April 1999, when he murdered took a knife from his pocket and stabbed was Rosario “Ross” Gangemi. He had psychotherapist, Nicole Amanda Wyatt a number of times. The response worked with Angiletta for 20 years and Patterson, 28, in her Harper Street home. by Ghazlan was out of proportion to the Gangemi died in 2008. The case remains Nicole Patterson had been born on 28 May danger he faced. He was convicted of unsolved. 1970 in Sandringham. She was educated defensive homicide and sentenced to Rosa Rento was shot in the kitchen of her at Cato College, MacRobertson Girls’ ten years and six months in prison, with Jenkins Street home at 9.45pm on 18 July High School, Swinburne University, and a minimum term of seven years and six 1972. She was not shot from within the Rusden State College. She completed a months. Ghazlan had a long history of home however. The shot was fi red from Bachelor of Education degree and set her mental illness, with a propensity to act a moving car in the street. John Joseph sights on a career as a psychotherapist. violently if he believed he was being Power was acquitted of her murder. It Clinical clients were hard to come by persecuted. was alleged that Power was angry with and Nicole advertised in the Northcote The crimes committed by Malcolm Rento because he believed that her Leader. Peter Dupas responded and Clarke, Peter Dupas and Joseph Ghazlan son had molested his daughter. Power in the 40 days before the murder, he were brutal and unwarranted. None would later be a suspect in the unsolved telephone Nicole 15 times as he sought of these killers were threatened by 1975 murder of Julie Garciacelay in information on her status in her home. It their victims or their actions. There is Canning Street, North Melbourne. Power is believed that Dupas brutally attacked uncertainty regarding the motives for the was with Garciacelay on the night she Nicole in the front room of her home unsolved murders of Vincenzo Angiletta disappeared but he was found to be when he arrived for his 9am appointment and Rosa Rento. All victims in these medically unfi t to answer questions about on 19 April. Nicole was stabbed 27 times cases died in their own homes or in the that night’s events. and was found almost naked, lying on immediate surrounds. the fl oor of her consulting room. Dupas The murder of Bonnie Melissa Clarke, 6, As with most murders in this series would eventually be convicted of three on 21 December 1982 would baffl e police on murders in Melbourne, home had other murders: Margaret Maher in 1997, for over 20 years, before Malcolm Joseph not been the imagined place of safety, Mersina Halvargis in 1997 and Kathleen Clarke was found guilty and sentenced repose, tranquillity and sanctuary. Downes, also in 1997. He is also a suspect to life in prison in December 2004. in other unsolved murder cases. Dupas Dr Noel Turner, RHSV Councillor

10 RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 RHSV NEWS

11 , a , a cant vol. XVI 1916 oodplain rail oodplain JULY 2018 JULY oodplain railway oodplain Proceedings of the Proceedings of the Eucalyptus botryoides) RHSV NEWS NEWS RHSV ux at a time when workers were that a decision had not been made in time. we have a local heritage overlay inHere, place and a planning scheme limit of four storeys, but the developers clearly think will enable them to make signifi VCAT inroads in heritage and planning. Another unusual case is the Porter prefabricated iron store on the former It is listed on theFitzroy Gasworks site. because it is Victorian Heritage Register one of the last remaining of the many iron prefabs which were imported during the Victorian gold rushes to accommodate the huge infl leaving building sites in the hope of riches. It was manufactured in England, probably between 1853 and 1856. The government has sought a permit from Heritage Victoria to move the building to clear the local timber not previously used for bridgelocal timber not previously to be very durable.building. This proved of piles have beenEven though sections years, the massive replaced over the Mahogany beams are still in remarkably good condition. Such a structure is never likely to be built again. happened and the line stopped at Orbost.happened and the line of the Orbost viaductOne unusual feature of Southern is that it was constructed Mahogany ( The wonderful Snowy River fl bridge (viaduct) deserves a new life and new appreciation, to preserve its heritage qualities and its value to Orbost and the to be able to hope We wider community. report progress in a future edition. References (1916) ‘The Bairnsdale Maurice Kernot, to Orbost Railway’ Victorian Institute of Engineers (downloaded & 278-280 (18) pp.278-202 1-7-15 from https://digitised.collections.unimelb.edu. au/handle/11343/24599 (Victoria) (1997) of Australia National Trust Citation for Snowy River fl bridges (from the Timber Bridges Study, National Trust). cult to cult 2014) ‘Orbost rail bridge Stevage’ Stevage’ 2014) ‘Orbost rail bridge Nowa Nowa) has State c to justify the investment in its rail bridge oodplains Orbost fl Bennett ( Image: Steve https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orbost_rail_bridge_Stevage.jpeg heritage protection even more diffi can help historical societies obtain. Local ght such campaigns, but the ultimate fi solution must be a change in our planning and heritage structures that brings the state into the picture. In the RHSV another local heritage issue, objected a proposed 7-storey development Bank Chartered at the former London Chambers (dating from 1888) at 340-342 While the proposal Northcote. High Street, would retain some of the ground floor. The new development will overwhelm the robbingvery impressive Italianate façade, crucial to the the building of its grandeur, existing streetscape. Before the Council made a decision, the on the grounds developer went to VCAT continue to function as an icon for Orbostcontinue to function as the Otherwise, and the Snowy River district. neglect’. future is ‘demolition by support the SAVE If you would like to in its RAIL BRIDGE group THE SNOWY please see efforts to secure funding, Victorian Legislative the e-petition to the button the petition’ Council (hit the ‘join to sign): https://www.parliament.vic.gov. au/council/petitions/electronic-petitions/ view-e-petitions/details/12/81 Although the Bairnsdale to Orbost line originally featured many wooden trestle bridges over gullies and creeks, very few and only one of them remain to this day, Creek near (Stony Heritage listing. The Bairnsdale – Orbost line was constructed from 1912-1916. This rail project – the heaviest and most expensive in Victoria for a generation – was termed built in advance a ‘developmental railway’, of demand in expectation of generating enough traffi construction. In the days of very poor roads and unreliable sea transport, the railway provided a vital link for the communities and commerce of the districts between Bairnsdale and Orbost and beyond. Also, there was an optimistic view at the time that the railway would be extended to link with This never Bombala and thus to Sydney. ects cant at History , 14 August 2018, p. , 14 August oodplain. Many people rm Chancellor & Patrick’ rm Chancellor & Patrick’ The Age

. In Beaumaris, Council abandoned a

Save the the Save Rail Snowy Bridge 12). This story—all too common—refl a fundamental problem in our planning system: the weakness of local heritage protection, a story I’ve discussed at some length in the last two issues of News heritage study meant to deliver protection for its outstanding modernist homes after some property owners protested, fearing that heritage listing might reduce property values. Such fear campaigns make local (Alison Worrall, ‘Heritage advocates fail to (Alison Worrall, save house’, and Northcote to Fed Square to Fed and Northcote small crowd of heritage advocates ‘A protesting against the demolition of 27 [Beaumaris] gathered Mariemont Avenue at the site yesterday to watch heavy designedmachinery raze the 1962 house, by architecture fi Threats to Heritage: From Beaumaris Beaumaris From to Heritage: Threats If you’ve ever driven through East through East If you’ve ever driven but notice the help Gippsland, you couldn’t old Snowy River fl wonder why it isstop to take photos and just being let fall down. sadly neglected,Built in 1914-16, and now have banded local community groups this remarkabletogether to try and save structure and give it a new life through restoration and integrated into the East for cycling and used Trail Gippsland Rail and walking. The 1997 timber bridges study by the (Victoria) of Australia National Trust concluded that the Orbost viaduct is historically and aesthetically signifi level.State the Snowy Since the line closed in 1987, floodplain rail viaduct has stood as a distinctive artefact in the landscape, signalling arrival at or departure from Orbost. Despite deterioration of kerb and decking and subsidence or damage to some piles, two experienced bridge engineers from Puffing Billy Railways concluded in 2015 that the basic structure is still sound. the western 770 metres in length, At section is the longest timber bridge remaining in Victoria and it is this bridge which local groups are campaigning to have restored. If successful, the bridge will RHSV NEWS RHSV

land for development, but corrosion has and wrecking the whole architectural have gained heritage status. So it’s now fused the bolts and greatly weakened ensemble. or never. the panels; successful reconstruction is The National Trust has nominated Fed Ron Jones points out that part of Fed highly unlikely: another Porter building Square for listing on the Victorian Heritage Square’s public nature is its absence in Geelong was carefully dismantled with Register and the RHSV has given the of corporate imagery, neither ACMI a view to reconstruction on another site, nomination its strong support (see our nor even NGV Australia dominate it. but the result was a heap of rusting iron. statement on the RHSV web site). Tourism It is first and foremost ‘Fed Square’, The RHSV has objected to the permit Minister John Eren complained that ‘it a square for everyone in Melbourne application to prevent loss of this surviving would be unprecedented to heritage (‘Design of Apple Fed Square requires a witness to the gold rushes. list a site that is only 16 years old’. But fundamental rethink’, Architectureau, 16 Alongside these problems of local the pressures of privatisation mean that Feb 2018). And, as the eminent historian heritage, the Fed Square drama Fed Square has not had a normal life- Graeme Davison has argued, ‘Federation illustrates the privatisation policies pose cycle for such a major public asset. It is Square is already an important part to state heritage. Everyone thought it at present a perfect example of late-20th of Melbourne’s history, not just as a was a civic square, a public asset. But Century architecture and it is almost monument to the centenary of the nation, when the Kennett government gave us unique in being a remarkably coherent or for the symbols of civic and national Fed Square, they set up Fed Square public space. All designs for the Apple identity it incorporates, but as the legacy Pty Ltd to run it. That company has not store would destroy that coherence as of a long tradition (‘For what shall it yet turned a profi t and so looks to give well as altering the nature of what is now profi t a city if it loses its civic soul?’ The over part of the square to Apple for an open public space. So nomination Conversation, 19 February 2018). a large store. Apple plan to demolish now is the only way to ensure that Fed Charles Sowerwine one of the original buildings, privatising Square will survive. And there is no Chair, Heritage Committee, RHSV a signifi cant part of the public space doubt that, if left for a generation, it would

Nagambie and District HS hosted ‘Housing Our Historical Societies’

Attendees at Seminar Photographer I & A Hockley.

On 23 June the Nagambie and District Andrew Lemon. A panel of three HVSG successful day fi nished with a visit to the Historical Society hosted the History members spoke on various aspects Nagambie museum. Support Group of Victoria (RHSV) seminar of occupying buildings. Judy Richards This was the second HVSG seminar for the at the Nagambie Tennis Club Rooms. The (owning a museum building), Larina year. Both seminars had been booked out seminar was attended by representatives Struach (occupying a local council building) and attendees indicated their satisfaction from Avenel, Castlemaine, Eltham, Euroa, and Alleyne Hockley (occupying a state for the programs. HVSG are keen to hear Heathcote-McIvor, Kilmore, Kyneton, government building). Chris Manchee, a from any group who would like to host a Murchison, Maldon, Melbourne, Ballan, RHSV volunteer tour leader, then spoke on seminar in 2019 and any issues they would Malvern, Stratford and Numurkah societies. how to effi ciently conduct walking tours. like to have discussed at these seminars. Guest speakers included: Christine The attendees then took part in a Question Please contact RHSV EO, Rosemary Worthington, RHSV Collection and Answer time, covering subjects such Cameron if you can off er a venue or topics. Management, Catlin Mitropoulos, National as insurance, working with children, [email protected] Trust Australia (Vic), and histor ian Dr privacy laws and Ancestry DNA tests. The Alleyne Hockley. HVSG Convenor.

12 RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 RHSVSOCIETIES NEWS 13

JULY 2018 JULY mail to: history@ e The Shingler Lecture/ As part of a new project, the We’ve had a very busy but busy but had a very We’ve RHSV NEWS NEWS RHSV 03 5428 1450 or gisbornemountmacedon.org.au KOROIT: The highlightenjoyable couple of months. Irish Festival. The Koroit was this year’s which always helps.weather was perfect displays in the This year we had our usual and helpedBlackwood Centre as with the horse and carriage rides. One of our historic photographs, The Koroit Irish Pipe Band, featured on Irish Festival publicity and created a lot of interest itself. decided on a theme of school days We and the Irish Festival committee procured an old style school bus which they parked decorated the bus with in the street. We blown up photographs of school groups from our collection. On the Sunday a Gaelic football match was played on the oval, with a good crowd watching, we opened the museum and quite a number all agreed that this of visitors attended. We was the best Irish Festival yet. LEONGATHA: This year the event will be held Dinner. on Saturday September 15 at 6.30 pm. The guest speakers will be Dorothy Giles with the assistance of others who will tell us about the history of the Great Southern connection and the Gannon family’s Star to newspapers in South Gippsland. LILYDALE: society is looking for any photos people in the may have of the Main Street 1940s to 1970s. From the 1980s, Sandy walked up and down Main Street Ross photographing each business and we now want to fill in the gaps from earlier years. All contributions will be acknowledged in our may have a happy Project. You Main Street snap at the band rotunda, war memorial, shing the standing outside a shop or fi Olinda Creek. If you have any photos and are willing to share them, please contact Sue Thompson (0475 219 884) who will arrange a time for you to bring your images in so we can scan them and photos add them to our collection. Your be damaged and will be scannedwon’t on the spot. The Society will be NARRE WARREN: 1 walk War a World at Last’, holding ‘Peace Date: Sunday Cemetery. Lang in the Lang the 12 October at 10:00am. Entry Fee: $5. Bookings are essential. Location: 375 off the Lang, Lang McDonalds Track, OurSouth Gippsland Highway. Group

Open Open rst two rst [email protected] [email protected] We welcome Societies to submit Societies welcome We email or 50 words, of around an article/event write upand we will to us Newsletter your twice per year. words for you around around 50 2018 ISSUE DECEMBER FOR THE details toplease send offi by 1st November 2018. We will be running a will be running a We nancial members, $12 for When the research room is When the research room is nancial participants. Refreshments nancial participants. Refreshments rst two hours. Do visit on the day and tell activity. We will be joining with the will be joining with the We activity. Melbourne for Tours organisers of Crime in Terrace Royal this walk. Meet outside Nicholson Street. REGIONAL FRIENDS OF CHELTENHAM CEMETERIES: tour on Sunday 9 September, 2pm start. tour on Sunday 9 September, the walls of all Dark tales lurk behind old cemeteries - join us for our Murder, and Mayhem and Misadventure Tour discover some of the stories that lay buried at the historic Cheltenham Pioneer Sue Beazley will tell you about Cemetery. girl strangled, a school murder suicide, and one of death of a speed car racer, most famous cases of Cheltenham’s domestic violence and murder in the early 1900s, as well as other shocking stories. provided. Bookings are required: info@ 9497 1318. We or call Rosemary focrc.org so come tour come rain, hail or shine, prepared with suitable clothing and footwear. FRIENDS OF GULF STATION: Day - Saturday 13 October 2018 10am to 4pm. This is our second big Open Day Valley which is part of Yarra for the year, Seniors Festival and will appear in its printed program; it will also be listed for would appreciate any We History Week. particularly: help in the help on the day, reception area, especially for the fi hours and help in the car park during the fi This isyour family and friends to come. an outline of the program so far: Working Clydesdales, Sheep shearing and sheep dogs, exhibition of Cathy Berry paintings and bush poetry. ‘inspired by Gulf Station’ Cost: $10 for fi non-fi garden and farm buildings willThe House, there be open with guided tours. Also, will be a plant sale and refreshments (or picnic). BYO GISBORNE AND MOUNT MACEDON: collection covers the localities The Society’s Couangalt, South Gisborne, Tree, of Cabbage Gisborne, New Gisborne, Bullengarook, Macedon, Mount Macedon, Barringo, Cherokee, Hesket, Kerrie and Riddells Creek. The beautifully restored 1858 Gisborne is open Court House, home of the Society, from 10am to Wednesday to the public each 4pm, when volunteers are in attendance to assist with family and local history research enquiries. unattended, telephone messages may unattended, telephone messages may on: be left on our answering machine, ng ng nail. ng n borne by icks’ was a special icks’ : Sunday 16 September : Sunday 16 September The Benalla Costume and The Benalla Costume and Crime in old Fitzroy’ Join us

: Thursday 13 September at 8 : Thursday 13 September oor (lift available) Bayside Artsoor (lift available)

Topic: Back to the Flicks at the Balwyn Back to the Topic: Prepared by volunteer Glenda Beckley on Beckley on by volunteer Glenda Prepared Victoria Support Group. behalf of the History

Societies Around the the Around Evergreen Centre, 45 Talbot Avenue, Avenue, 45 Talbot Evergreen Centre, by the Cinema Balwyn. A presentation Society of Australiaand Theatre Historical back in time whenwill take you on a step a night out at the ‘fl the developmentoccasion. Hear about of the picture palaces of yesteryear in Balwyn and nearby suburbs. two Clydesdale horses, complete with two Clydesdale horses, complete with feathered head-dresses, and pausing favourite hairdresser outside Margaret’s which she patronised weekly for many years. The current exhibition displays gowns, day-wear, many of Margaret’s boots, handbags and other jewellery, it accessories. Opened in June this year, will be on display for about twelve months. Sunday 9 September at BRIGHTON: with guest speaker Deborah 2:00pm AGM who from Museums Victoria Tout-Smith, will take us behind the scenes, and talk about her work on early Brighton. Talk is followed by Silver Service afternoon tea. 1st fl corner Wilson andand Cultural Centre, Brighton. RSVP ph 9553Carpenter Street, 8650 or email [email protected] BUNGAREE and we will have a visit to the Lodge the lovely gardens in springtime at the Dennis, Sharon Moorabool Reservoir. out at and Colin spend most Tuesdays the Moorabool improving all the gardens. Leonie p.m. Monday 15 October at 7.30 speak on post Evenden will and Peter pottery and roofi depression Australian collection has an extensive nails. Leonie grandfather vases and Peter’s of Australia invented the Evenden spring roofi ‘ FITZROY: on Sunday 23 September beginning at for a walk in the Napier-Fitzroy- 10.00am locality that will look at Nicholson Streets buildings associated with past criminal BENALLA: mounted a special Museum has Kelly Wardrobe” exhibition “One Woman’s to celebrate the life of a well-known Margaret Richardson, Benalla identity, who died in 2015. Margaret, at one was greatly time a “Moomba Princess”, admired for her sense of style and was to be seen wearing beautiful clothes at all times. She had even been seen mowing her lawn while wearing high fashion and high heels. Her funeral, organised by featured a blue coffi herself, BALWYN pm - SOCIETIES

is working with the Lang Lang Historical hear from anyone whose ancestor was an 3820 Email: [email protected] Telephone Society to hold this walk. Our book for original Red Cliff s Soldier Settler. Contact 0438 232 105. the cemetery tour will be for sale on [email protected] WHITEHORSE: Heritage Family Day - “A the day, plus our other cemetery tour RYE: 24 September at 8:00pm - Guest Walk in the Park” Sunday 16 September books. Please contact Jane Rivett-Carnac Speaker (after the meeting) is Mr Greg 11am to 4pm at Schwerkolt Cottage [email protected], Lynne Eccleston, who will speak about the early Museum Complex Deep Creek Road, Bradley [email protected] or surveyors who did the fi eld work on the Mitcham. For more information contact phone 8787 5558. southern Peninsula and generated the 03 9873 4946 or whitehorsehistory@ NEPEAN: Family History at the Nepean maps essential for administering the hotmail.com www.facebook.com/ Historical Society Museum is a new service Colony of Victoria. At the Rye Primary whitehorsehistory Bring the family, BYO for members and visitors. Each month on School, Collingwood Street, Rye. picnic and join us for a day of fun and the Saturday following our Friday monthly SANDRINGHAM: Our annual exhibition laughter. This is a true family day with free meeting, from 1-30 - 4-30pm at the this year is ‘By the seaside’. The launch activities for the children and guided tours Museum, our Committee Member Annette of the exhibition for members and invited of the Cottage. Buckland will be available to help those guests will be held at 2pm on Sunday researching families from our area. We 30 September at our Resource Centre. invite descendants to view and correct The exhibition will then open for public or add to the large amount of information viewing at our rooms throughout October already in our archives and on line, and to including during the Seniors Festival. learn the best ways to search for further Local history enthusiasts will enjoy this information about your family. Dates to photographic exhibition of family life at remember: Saturday 7 July 1.30-4.30 pm, the seaside covering the early to mid- Saturday 4 August 1.30-4.30 pm, Saturday 20th Century. Enhance your next 6 October 1.30 - 4.30pm SUNSHINE: Saturday, 15 September 2018 Note: Charts will be available for sale to - Blackbird Maribyrnong River Cruise. book with an Index help record what you know about your Welcome aboard the Blackbird ferry again. ancestors. Last year we travelled the Maribyrnong by Terri Mackenzie PHILLIP ISLAND: Friday October 19, 10 River. This year we will be going upstream a.m. - 3 p.m. Open Day for Seniors Festival. on the Maribyrnong River where it meets Refreshments available all day. Special up with the Yarra River and cruising past display on Phillip Island’s WWI soldiers the Port of Melbourne and Docklands. and sailors. Come and try our touchscreen Maximum capacity 30 people. Cost $21 while you visit! per person. Bookings for this excursion PORT FAIRY: ‘Icons of Port Fairy’, will be are essential. Please contact Olwen Ford a major change for our museum. New on 9312 2284 if you wish to come along. displays are being prepared and they will WARRACKNABEAL: At last year’s 150th include important items borrowed from celebrations, the time capsule, which their museums. The program booklet had been buried in 1988, was raised. It with photographs and background detail was decided it would be appropriate to on the ‘Icons’ should be a valuable bury another capsule with the intention Professional Back of record of Port Fairy history. We plan of it being dug up for Warracknabeal’s Book Indexer extended museum openings through bi-centennial in 2067. So, in June, another the September school holidays from capsule was buried near the tourist centre. Member of Australian and 22 September and the exhibition will Many items were placed in the capsule New Zealand Society of continue with usual opening times until 30 including lists of all school students from Indexers January. With the court display and most the 4 local schools. Current stamps, silo of the seating stored away there will be trail information and a shire Community Honorary Victorian no room for general meetings. Between Directory were also included. Historical Journal Indexer September and January we have been WARRAGUL: Meetings held in the Old given permission to use the Port Fairy Shire Hall, Queen Street, Warragul on the [email protected] Library as our meeting place. last Monday in each month, at 7:30pm. RED CLIFFS: We are working on a Museum open Thursdays 10am to 2 pm, project which will recognize the pioneer 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month 2pm servicemen ‘blockies’ of Red Cliff s. We aim to 4pm. Closed during December and [email protected] to collect a photo of the 700 plus men, January. and one woman, granted an allocation in Address all information and queries to our WW1 Soldier Settlement. We still have the Hon Secretary, Warragul & District 355 photos to collect. We are keen to Historical Society, P.O. Box 310, Warragul,

14 RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 BOOKS

Books Received By Lee Sulkowska

Authors, publishers and Historical Societies are invited to contribute books to the RHSV for the library Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Art Captured. Hans-Wolter von Society Volume 104 Part 1. Gruenewaldt. Prisoner of War Camp 13 and for consideration for Royal Australian Historical Society, Sydney Murchison: his story and art. inclusion in Books Received. Australia, June 2018, pp 7 – 119, ISSN Compiled by Kay Ball, Murchison and 00358762. District Historical Society Inc, Victoria, Volume 104 of the Journal of the Australia, 2017, pp viii- 96, ISBN Royal Australian Historical Society has 9780992476816 something for everyone’s historical The life of Hans-Wolter von Gruenewaldt interests. For the train buff s, a journey of was an extraordinary one. A German Australia’s rail gauge unifi cation. For those civilian living in South Africa at the looking for something a bit more sinister, outbreak of World War Two, Hans-Wolter the reactions to the 1900 Sydney outbreak attempted to return home to Germany. of plague and women transported for However, his boat was sunk, and he was forged bank notes. There is an article transported on the infamous HMT Dunera about the early surveys at Port Macquarie to a British POW camp in Australia. This and another on internationalism in 1923 book showcases the artwork he created Sydney. Ten quick book reviews fi nish during his time as a prisoner, tells the off a most varied and interesting volume story of the POW camp 13 Murchison and of this journal. Hans-Wolter’s personal story in his own words. Through the saturation of World War Two literature, this book is a standout, challenging the reader to relate to a man who was technically ‘the enemy’.

Dunera Lives: A Visual History. Ken Inglis, Seumas Spark, Jay Winter & Carol Bunyan, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne Australia, 2018, pp ix- 549, ISBN 9781925495492. Dunera Lives reminds the reader that World War Two was so much more nuanced than simply a battle between Axis and the Allies, so many more shades ‘A Secondary Education for all?’ A Life on the Bend. A social history of grey than just ‘good’ and ‘bad’. In July History of State Secondary Schooling of Fishermans Bend, Melbourne. 1940, about 2000 men from Germany and in Victoria. Prepared for Fishermans Bend Taskforce, Austria were sent to Australia from Britain John Andrews & Deborah Towns, July 2017, The State of Victoria Department as detainees. These men were Jewish and Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty Ltd, of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Christian, pro and anti-Nazi, they were Melbourne Australia, 2017, pp xi – 394, 2017, pp 1 – 164, ISBN 9781769478384 writers, painters, musicians and workers. ISBN 9781925588491 They were just ordinary people, trying The history of Fishermans Bend acts as to escape the confl ict and were forced This wonderful (and hefty!) work on the a microcosm of Victorian and indeed to suff er maltreatment both on the HMT history of state schools in Victoria could Australian colonial past. This book layers Dunera and in the camps in which they only have been given its due by two periods of time over several themes; living were interred. This is a beautifully sad history teachers. Andrews and Towns on the land, Aboriginal dispossession, book, well-spaced with images and text. have collaborated to create a unique industrialisation, poverty, social reform It gives us a glimpse into a war time world text not only on the history of secondary and others. The sandy, marshy swampland that you don’t normally get to see, one that schooling, but short histories of schools at Port Melbourne has been a place for is important we don’t forget. across Victoria. A historical honour Aboriginal corroborees, a mooring point, normally reserved for private schools with a camping ground, a rubbish tip, a factory funds and resources to devote to such an site and a home to a community that has undertaking, this book pays homage to waxed, waned and revitalised again. This the state school teachers, administrators book keeps that history keenly in our and students. This book is exceptionally minds as the area undergoes a new era well researched, interestingly written and of revitalisation. skilfully executed. RHSV NEWS JULY 2018 15 REMEMBERING MELBOURNE Returns - and for $35!

RHSV NEWS RHSV On Melbourne Day, 30 August, the updated version of Remembering Melbourne 1850-1960 was launched at the RHSV and is now on sale. This stunning book, which sold out at the RHSV in just four weeks, is currently available to enhance your book shelves and delight those who receive it as a gift. The price is again a sensational $35 (pick up from the RHSV), or plus postage and handling for mail orders http://www.historyvictoria.org.au/

All proceeds from sales will boost our growing Victorian Historian Journal Future Fund, aimed to secure our century-old journal, currently the second oldest, continuously published, history journal in Australia.

Flagstaff Gardens, which are just to your right, are Melbourne’s oldest gardens. They take their name from a fl agstaff erected in GUIDED WALKS IN 1840 at the settlement’s highest point, in order to communicate between the harbour and town. This became known as “Flagstaff HISTORIC FLAGSTAFF Hill”. Before this, the area was used as a cemetery and was known as Burial Hill. (There is a memorial in the gardens that marks the GARDENS graves of the fi rst European settlers.)

GUIDED WALKS EVERY MONDAY

Time 11am Where Meet here at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, 239 A’ Beckett St Cost $10 Children under 16 free Duration 75 minutes Booking preferred At reception, or 9326 9288 email offi [email protected]

16 RHSV NEWS JULY 2018