RHSV History News April 2007 - Royal Historical Society of Victoria

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RHSV News 2 Jungle, Desert, Ice This is the graphic title of Sue Blackwood’s recent successfully completed Deakin PhD thesis about the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia Victorian Branch that amalgamated with the Historical Society of Victoria in 1920. The Geographical Society’s extensive records are held by the RHSV and Sue has worked on these since she first came to the RHSV to do a history internship under Richard Barnden’s direction in 2001. Some of the results of that work were published in the Victorian Historical Journal vol.73 no.1, April 2002. She also spoke as a ‘new historian’ to members at an August meeting about her later work. The Geographical Society in Victoria was founded in 1884 and enjoyed widespread and influential support for the next thirty years. It was one of the earliest scientific organisations in Australia and its actions reflected the imperial ambitions of nationalists who supported Australasian interest in the islands of the southwest Pacific, the development and defence of the Australian continent itself, and Antarctica. The thesis title derives from these interests. For the society, geography was paramount for Australia’s development and for the discovery and exploitation of new products for world commerce. Exploration was thus an essential ingredient and the society sponsored and encouraged expeditions to New Guinea, central and northern Australia, and to Antarctica especially in the late 19th century. The papers delivered to the society reflect these interests and the membership, mostly men from a spectrum ranging from scientists and engineers and others with some scientific training and experience (e.g. Ferdinand von Mueller was an early leader) to those with no professional scientific training but with strong interests in Australian development (e.g. Alexander Cameron Macdonald was the prime initiator of the society, a business man with diverse interests, and mainstay of the society as secretary, treasurer, librarian and editor until his death in 1915). Sue’s thesis highlights the significance of our Geographical Society material; it makes a major contribution to our knowledge of our antecedent scientific organization; it sheds much light on the connections between the aims and activities of its members and the development of national identity; and it tells us more about the development of an interest in Australia’s past within the broad reaches of geography. Congratulations Sue! BOOK SALE 2007 The date of the RHSV Giant Book Sale is Sunday, July 29th - note it in your diaries. Fiction and books on any subject are now being accepted. Please bring them into the RHSV or ‘phone the office on 9326 9288 to arrange for collection. Please support one of the major fundraisers of the year. RHSV receives funding for significance survey The RHSV has received funding in the second round of Victoria’s Heritage Grants to undertake a Significance Survey of its photographic collection. A significance assessment is a process by which collections are objectively assessed for their historic, aesthetic, scientific, research or technical and social and spiritual significance. The importance of such a survey is it assists with resource allocation in terms of collections management, it can justify accessioning and de-accessioning of material, it can identify material of national, state and local significance and most importantly it can assist with the exhibition of material. In terms of the RHSV the Significance Survey will assist in prioritizing material for digitization. Recently received Never a week goes by than one or more of the RHSV's collections is enriched by a donation of material from a member, an affiliated historical society, a member of the public or a public institution. This is how the Society's collections - book, manuscript, pamphlet and ephemera, journals, photographs, art-works and maps - have grown since the Society's inception. Generally speaking we bring to members, through History News, details of large donations. The single items which add to and/or complement our collections receive less publicity. So the 'serendipity factor' of historical research means that the wise researcher, when tackling a new subject, always takes a fresh look at our holdings as shown on our website or make contact with one of our volunteer librarians (between 10:00 and 4:00 weekdays). Just recently we received eight glass negatives (one actually a positive) relating to shipping. Very old and not in great order, they were treated with respect, printed and an analysis of their content made. Some are from Lindts' studio, others intrigue us, offering hints as to their content. The photo below is a detail from the positive: four gentlemen reclining on the deck of what we take as the Orizaba (zaba is observable on the life belt). We look forward to hearing from readers who have extra information or alternative hypotheses. STUDY GRANTS SCHEME SITUATIONS VACANT Are you interested in old photographs? Following a successful grant from the Ian Potter Foundation, we are about to embark on digitizing our photographic collection. If you are interested in working close to glass plate negatives, early albumen prints and other rare and fragile photographs then we need you. Project planning is underway and we need help to implement digitization. Skills gained will be in handling and scanning photographs, databases, and the opportunity to contribute to one of the RHSV’s most significant projects. Do you like detail? RHSV is seeking a Membership Secretary. Tasks will include updating our records, handling inquiries from potential members, encouraging new members, and helping to identify strategies to increase membership numbers. It’s a wonderful opportunity to get “your teeth into a project” and would be very valued by the RHSV. Do you enjoy helping researchers? The RHSV is always in need of extra help in the library. Library volunteers will be trained in cataloguing, in library systems and in assisting researchers. Helping in the library is a fantastic opportunity to get first hand experience in the depth and richness of our collection – a feast for the mind as well as being greatly valued by us all at the RHSV. Time commitment for all volunteer positions: one morning/afternoon a week, or more For further information please phone Kate Prinsley, Executive Officer 9326 9288 The History of the University Unit welcomes applications for its Study Grants Scheme for 2007. The scheme is directed at stimulating research into, and promotion of, the history of the University of Melbourne and its contribution to the wider community. The grants provide up to $1000 and are available to researchers from both inside and outside the University. The final date for submissions is 20 April 2007. More information and application forms may be found at http://www.history.unimelb.edu.au/huu/research/grants.html. Please email huu-enquiries@ unimelb.edu.au if you have any further questions.
RHSV Activities LECTURES Delving into the Buchan Caves Date: Thurs 26 April 2007 Time: Supper 6.15 Lecture 7.00 Cost: $15.00 Place: The Royal Historical Society of Victoria, 239 A’ Beckett Street Melbourne Bookings essential: 9326 9288 or 9663 5259 The first historical record of the Buchan caves in East Gippsland dates from 1840. To celebrate the centenary of Frank Moon’s discovery of the glittering Fairy Cave in 1907, a session of four illustrated talks will provide insights into the formation of the caves, and their significance in the lives of the original Kurnai people, and all the generations since. Over the past century, the Caves and their well-planned park reserve have been managed by Parks Victoria and its antecedents as a spectacular Victorian tourist attraction. The first Caves manager, Frederick Wilson, was recruited from the Jenolan Caves in New South Wales. The Royal Society of Victoria and the RHSV, with generous support from Parks Victoria, have joined forces to organize this event. The four speakers have that broad range of scientific and human interests, which now so readily coalesce in the field of environmental science. They all enjoy a passion for the natural world, including caving. This evening we can share their adventures vicariously and thrill to the insights gained from their research and their passion. Personal memories of the caves will be welcome. All this good food for thought will be complemented by a delicious supper which will begin the evening. INTRODUCING THE PANEL OF SPEAKERS: John Webb is Associate Professor of Environmental Geoscience and coordinates the Environmental Science degree at La Trobe University. Mark Ellaway gained a PhD in 1992 with a study of the groundwater hydrology of the Buchan area and since 1994 has been a School Manager in Anthropology and Environmental Studies at the University of Melbourne. Brian Finlayson is Associate Professor and Reader in the School of Social and Environmental Enquiry at the University of Melbourne. During three decades of an academic career, he has had numerous publications. A notable one, and the first book to be published on the topic, is Beneath the Surface: A Natural History of Australian Caves (UNSW Press, 2003) jointly edited with the fourth speaker for the evening. Elery Hamilton-Smith is Professor of Environmental Studies at Albury’s Charles Sturt University. His 50 years of caving and interest in the Buchan Caves led him into a comprehensive historical study of the area, with a strong focus on people. EXHIBITIONS In about 1856 and Fisher Folk of Fishermans Bend These two exhibitions will continue until May. In about 1856 highlights the strength of the RHSV collection. Early maps of Melbourne, books and photographs are all brought together to show the City developing socially, culturally and architecturally. Of particular interest are the Jane Cannan illustrations and the Walter Woodbury Panorama of Melbourne in 1855. Fisher Folk of Fishermans Bend is a comprehensive exhibition of rare photographs, maps and other documents about early fishing families in Fishermans Bend. The exhibition is on loan from the Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society. Miners’ Cottages Speaker: Tony Dingle, Associate Dean Education Department of Economics, Monash University When: Time: Tuesday 8 May 5.45 pm following the Annual General Meeting Cost: Members: free; Non-members: $5.50 This paper stems from an interest in the history of housing and especially of housing shortages and how they are overcome. In the nineteenth century the need to house a factory or mining workforce in areas without a substantial existing housing stock posed considerable difficulties. Accommodation needed to be provided rapidly and in large quantities and at a cost that would allow workers to pay for them either through purchase or rental. Typically mine or factory owners provided accommodation for the workforce they needed, or other sources of capital were mobilised by private landlords to provide shelter of some kind. On the Victorian goldfields a different approach was adopted. Miners financed and built their own accommodation in the form of small wooden cottages. These are still a major component of the built landscape of the goldfield towns and constitute one of the few examples of an Australian indigenous architecture. The paper seeks to explain the circumstances under which small towns of property owning miners emerged on the geographical periphery of the capitalist world in the mid nineteenth century. The keys to this achievement were access to land on which to build at minimal cost, combined with a cheap and easily erected cottage design. Tony Dingle is Associate Dean Education in the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He is an economic and urban historian and has researched and published extensively in Australian and British economic, social, urban and environmental history. He has written or edited ten books as well as many journal articles. His current projects include studies of the growth of consumerism in Australia, urban transformations in old inner city industrial areas, the evolution of miner’s houses and a history of the relationship between Melbourne and the River Yarra. Thank you Two National Trust properties – Labassa and Beleura (an associate property) were venues of recent RHSV activities. We thank Elizabeth Anya-Petrivna, Curator, Collections Team (Labassa) and Anthony Knight (Director, Beleura) for expertise, hospitality and generosity. 3
Page 1: NOTICE of 2007 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETI
Page 5 and 6: Community OPINIONNews Lessons to be
Page 7 and 8: Around the Societies 150th Annivers

RHSV History News April 2007 - Royal Historical Society of Victoria

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