Beyond the Facade – Flinders street Station

Our speaker, Jenny Davies, became interested in the Flinders Street Railway Station when she learnt that her grandparents had first met there when they went ballroom dancing. She has published a book titles “Beyond the Façade – Flinders Street Station and...

Royal Exhibition Building

The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne is the only surviving nineteenth century great hall which is still used for its original purpose. Melbourne had already staged several exhibitions before this building was erected for the 1880 Melbourne Exhibition. At this...

The Great Ocean Road

Regarded as one of the most scenic roads in the world, the Great Ocean Road was constructed following the end of World War I by workers, the majority of whom were returned servicemen. Iain Grant of the Portland Family History Group was asked by a friend if he knew how...

Sand, Sea & Money-Making: Brighton in the 1840s

“A History of Brighton” was the first book that Professor Weston Bate wrote after graduating with honours in history. He used council minutes, rate books and took 10 year slices from local newspapers to see how things were changing. He considers Victoria...

Early Melbourne Suburbs

Whilst Ken Smith was doing research on Unwin’s Special Survey he searched old newspapers to see how Melbourne’s citizens reacted to land being sold for a pound an acre. He noticed in the classified sections that property sale notices provided detailed...

Amphitheatre – a Potted History

As the name suggests, this little town is situated in an open flat space surrounded by hills. It is in the Pyrenees region of central Victoria. It was named for the Amphitheatre Station, a stock run first settled in 1840 by Alexander Irvine, on behalf of the Imlay...