HISTORY-NEWS-june-july-20151

TUESDAY 16 JUNE
WHAT’S ON
TUESDAY 21 JULY 2015
TUESDAY 21 JULY
MELBOURNE
RARE BOOK WEEK
16 – 26 JULY
2015
ANNUAL AGL SHAW LECTURE
COMBINED LA TROBE SOCIETY/
RHSV LECTURE
Charles Joseph La Trobe and
the Regulation of Everyday
Life: implementing the
Births, Deaths and Marriages
Registration Act
Speaker: Dr Madonna Grehan
Time: 6.30 – 8.00
Admission: $30
Bookings close Friday 12 June: phone
9326 9288 or office@historyvictoria.org.au
Governor Charles Joseph La Trobe is
credited with the foundation of many
of Victoria’s civic and administrative
institutions: the State Library, the
University of Melbourne, the Botanical
Gardens, and Victoria’s Police Force,
just to name a few. La Trobe is less wellrecognised
with initiating, and having
oversight of, a pivotal administrative tool
that is part and parcel of everyday life
today.
In late October 1852, Governor La Trobe
introduced into the Legislative Council
of Victoria a bill for a system of civil
registration, designed to account for
the births, deaths, and marriages of the
colony’s people. In operation from 1 July
1853, within five years the scheme was
judged to be an exemplar of statistical
science in the British Imperial world.
The rapid uptake of civil registration in
Victoria belies the logistical challenges in
implementing this sophisticated regulatory
scheme. Aspects of the system are
remarkable for their time and are valuable
to historians now. In this presentation, Dr
Grehan sheds light on the planning and
execution of this pioneering regulation
enacted by the Victorian Parliament under
CJ La Trobe’s administration.
Madonna Grehan is a historian, holds
registration as a nurse and midwife, and
is an Honorary Fellow in the University
of Melbourne’s School of Health Sciences.
Madonna is an oral history interviewer
for the National Library of Australia. A
member of the Central Human Research
Ethics Committee at the University of
Melbourne and current President of the
Medical History Society of Victoria, in
her spare time, Madonna is a volunteer
social history tour guide at the Abbotsford
Convent in Melbourne. In 2013 Madonna
was awarded the CJ La Trobe Society
Fellowship for research on women,
maternity care and family life in nineteenth
century Victoria.
EMERGING HISTORIANS
The Royal Historical Society of Victoria
and the Professional Historians Association
(Victoria) combine each year to present
lectures by a new generation of emerging
historians.
Vergangenheitsbewältigung:
Struggle to come to terms
with the past
Speaker: Minna Muhlen-Schulte
Time: 5.15 refreshments, 5.45 lecture
Free to PHA Members & RHSV members
$10.00 non-members
Minna’s talk will explore the complex
relationship German–Australians have
with their wartime past. She will discuss
her experience of working with oral
history recordings, memoirs and letters
held in the State Library of Victoria’s
Australian Manuscripts collection, and
how the silence in these records is just as
powerful as the recorded testimony.
Minna Muhlen-Schulte currently holds
the Berry Family Fellowship at the State
Library of Victoria. She has a Masters in
Public History from Monash University
and First Class Honours in Art History
and English Literature from University
of New South Wales. Minna has worked
on a range of history and arts projects for
community organisations, local and state
government including the Victorian War
Heritage Inventory, Museum of Australian
Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E) and
Mallee Aboriginal District Services. In
2014, Minna developed a program on
artist Clarice Beckett’s life and work for
ABC Radio National’s Hindsight.
OPEN HOUSE WEEKEND
25 July – 26 July
On the weekend of 25 and 26 July 2015,
over 100 buildings will open their doors
for free for you to experience good design
and architecture across the city. There will
also be a full range of free events, tours,
workshops and exhibitions for you to enjoy.
The full building list will be announced on
1 July. There is no ballot this year. Nearly
all buildings open on the weekend are open
access and self-guided, but a small number
of buildings have pre-booked tours.
Bookings open on Wednesday 8 July at
10am until booked out, limited to 2 places
per person per tour. These tours always
book out, so please check on the website
before you plan to visit these building.
THE RHSV WILL BE OPEN ON
SATURDAY 25 JULY 10AM – 4PM.
For the Love of Manuscripts
Speaker: Emma Russell
Time: 1.00 – 2.00pm
Free
The RHSV manuscript collection mirrors
Victoria’s history chronologically. It
includes details of early exploration and
attempts at settlement; Victoria’s period
of separation from NSW, the political
watershed of 1901, and the experiences
of the twentieth century, depression and
wars. The material comprises letters,
diaries, journals, station day books and
reminiscences that create an individual and
unique picture of Victorian social history.
Join historian Emma Russell as she pulls
together the rare and unique volumes
from the manuscript collection that that
showcase the only written record of
Victoria’s quieter history makers.
Jane Cannan: Section of View from Mr
Pollock’s Window. (c.1854)
Melbourne Rare Book Week
Thursday 16 July – Friday 24 July
A wonderful program of lectures and
exhibitions culminating in the Melbourne
Rare Book Fair over the weekend of July
24 – 26 has been put together by Kay
Craddock and her team for Melbourne
Rare Book Week.
The diversity of topics is outstanding.
Participants can hear lectures about books
related to medical history, legal history,
19th century books for boys, illustrated
books, architecture and celebrated book
collectors including the John Emmerson
collection which was recently donated to
the State Library of Victoria.
The week is packed with fascinating
lectures with opportunities to see some
of Melbourne’s most beautiful collections
of rare books.
Shortly all members of the RHSV will
receive a hard copy edition of the 2015
program but just to plan ahead the program
can be viewed at www.rarebookweek.com
Annual RHSV Book Sale : open to the public on SATURDAY 13 JUNE 10am – 3pm
12 www.historyvictoria.org.au