Arts & Culture » History
The Lamb Inn, a “roystering place for shepherds with cheques”, c. 1840
Tucked away in the bottom right-hand corner of this watercolour by W F E Liardet are two small windblown figures battling Melbourne’s notorious north-westerly winds.
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Autumn Moon at the Chinese Museum: Be enthralled, engaged, and entertained
On the weekend of September 30 and October 1, Chinatown, Melbourne will celebrate the Autumn Moon Festival, when family and friends come together, for the seasonal harvest and the recounting of the many associated ancient legends.
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Observing the universe: the Great Melbourne Telescope, 1875
The open-air reflector telescope at the back of the Great Melbourne Telescope Building faces up to the skies, its seemingly delicately filigreed barrel looking like something from a circus act.
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An afternoon concert in Little Bourke St in the 1880s
Seven bandsmen, dressed in flat caps and uniforms, perform outside a substantial bluestone building, believed to be the premises of R Goldsbrough & Co, wool and grain agents, a company that had large grain and produce stores around the city.
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Hold the front page! Melbourne’s first printing office
This image of a derelict building in a laneway off Market St was the scene of great activity in the early years of the colony ...
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Thunder, drums, bells, whistles: the magic of the Town Hall organ
Melbourne Town Hall was opened in August 1870 and two years later the “grand” organ you see here was installed, with 4373 pipes and 24 manual and 66 speaking stops.
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Clackety-clack: train journeys and the Travellers Aid Society
“Clackety clack – clackety clack. There was a big train”. Some of my favourite childhood stories were about trains. And my absolute favourite was a Little Golden book called The Train from Timbuctoo that began with these words.
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Odeon Theatre, 283 Bourke St
There had been a theatre on this Bourke St site since the Melba Theatre opened in 1911. That was during the era of the silent movies.
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A jewel of a theatre: the Bijou in Bourke St
The Victorian Academy of Music, feted by the press as a “jewel of the theatre”, was a much anticipated “palace raised to the Muses” and its foundation stone was laid with great fanfare by the Governor of Victoria on May 23, 1876.
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Women at work – Sands and McDougall staff, 1897
What better way to celebrate Women’s History Month in March than taking a peek into the working lives of female office workers in the 1890s?
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How one customer’s fondness for organics made Garden Organics what it is today
An experience of sublimation
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