Photographs of portraits of Mary Gaunt (nee Palmer) and Judge William Henry Gaunt, Parents of Mary Eliza GauntThese two photographs are rare depictions of members of the Gaunt Family, a family of historic influence in the Indigo Shire during the nineteenth century. Photographed are Judge William Henry Gaunt, a respected member of the community whose work in law and order in multiple roles gained him high esteem. Also photographed is his wife, Mary Gaunt, someone rarely depicted and little associated history outside the connection to her husband. Two portrait black and white photographs, female on the left and male on the right, in a single black frame with basic relief and white matte board. Paper overlay in top of frame with textMary Gaunt Judge William Henry Gaunt/ (nee Palmer)/ Parents of Mary Eliza Gauntmary gaunt, judge william henry gaunt, william henry gaunt, william gaunt, mary eliza gaunt

Transcript: Athenaeum building celebrates 170 years Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 11/11/2009 Reporter: Lisa Whitehead Tomorrow marks the 170th birthday of one of the nation's historic cultural landmarks. Melbourne’s Athenaeum building has, in one form or other, provided education and entertainment for the Victorian colony as it became a city; and along the way, documented its growth. Transcript KERRY O’BRIEN, PRESENTER: Tomorrow marks the 170th birthday of one of the nation's historic cultural landmarks. Melbourne's Athenaeum building has, in one form or another, provided education and entertainment. For the Victorian colonies it became a city and along the way documented its growth. The building's original library and theatre still draw devotees and as Lisa Whitehead reports, a loyal band of volunteers. KEVIN QUIGLEY, ATHENAEUM PRESIDENT: There's nothing like us that has been here from day one, four years after the boat pushed ashore, here we are. It's a thread that runs through the life of Melbourne. LISA WHITEHEAD, REPORTER: In the heart of Melbourne's CBD, the Athenaeum is a celebrity in disguise, the oldest cultural icon in the city, but barely noticed. MARJORIE DALVEAN, VOLUNTEER HISTORIAN: People of Melbourne walk past this area and they have no idea what it is. RAY LAWLER, PLAYWRIGHT: It seemed to me to be a place that absolutely, or breathes Melbourne, I suppose, culture. LISA WHITEHEAD: Just four years after Melbourne was founded, the colony built a Mechanic's Institution, one of the first in the world, a place where the working class could meet and learn. KEVIN QUIGLEY: People think of it as Wild West sort of place where these hearty types drank and rushed about, but Melbourne was freely settled. It was a city of people who wanted to better themselves - entrepreneurs. And the Mechanic's Institution was that innovative idea that had grown up in Edinburgh and London about providing an opportunity for education for the working people. LISA WHITEHEAD: Mark Twain lectured there. Later, other buildings were added and a theatre to host classic plays. And it adopted its more bourgeois friendly title of the Athenaeum. Crucially from the start there was the library, the first to offer affordable lending to the working man. And it still attracts devotees. Former University lecturer Margaret Bowman, 89, comes in every Wednesday, along with her dog to join an enthusiastic band of volunteers sorting through the archives. MARGARET BOWMAN, FORMER UNIVERSITY LECTURER: Doing research is something that I find actually I enjoy more than anything. Every old lady needs to have a project and now I've got a project. MARJORIE DALVEAN: Margaret, Christine has just found out that Alfred Deakin was a member here from 1874 to 1877. This place is not flashy, we've never been flashy. But book lovers walk in here and they know this is the place for them. ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE: Old times and old names. The Athenaeum theatre in Melbourne for more than 40 years has been one of the city's best known cinemas. LISA WHITEHEAD: In the 20th century, the theatre surrendered to the new craze of talking pictures, and one particular fan was famous Australian playwright Ray Lawler. At 13, he dropped out of school to work in a Footscray factory and two years later his first trip to the glamorous Athenaeum cinema hinted at the education he was missing. RAY LAWLER: It just had a style about it which I responded to, I think. I was looking for something and this seemed to be part of it. Ray Lawler went on to write "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" and found literary fame overseas. About a century after it had started as an educational place for the working man, Ray Lawler had, in effect, become an Athenaeum graduate. RAL LAWLER: If they had been looking for the sort of person that they were hoping to encourage along the way, I suppose I would have been somebody that might have fitted the mould, you know. LISA WHITEHEAD: In time, the cinema was returned to its theatrical roots. FRANK THRING, 1977: It has a great resemblance to the Theatre Royal in Hobart which Larry Olivier has called the best theatre he's ever worked in. And it's almost identical. It is the true Victorian playhouse. The horseshoe shaped thing: stalls, dress circle and gallery. And you're close to the audience and they're close to you. Marvellous feeling. LISA WHITEHEAD: Today, it's still a theatre. But time has brought compromises. The once vaunted art gallery has now covered its windows and become a comedy club and performance space. TV and suburban life have eaten away at the library membership. It offers an online service now, and a recent federal government grant will pay for the upkeep of its gracious interior, including the 1930s elevator Ray Lawler used to ride. For him, it's money well spent on history quietly made and discreetly observed. RAY LAWLER: It's the lack of awareness, I think, that people don't know what they've got here. They've really got the whole history of Melbourne almost. KEVIN QUIGLEY: It was a similar organisation in Sydney but we are the only one that's got a continual lineage on the same spot. We started here and we're still here and we'll be here for another 100 years. KERRY O'BRIEN: Lisa Whitehead on a great Melbourne landmark. © 2010 ABC | Privacy Policy Beginning as the Melbourne Mechanics' Institution in 1839, the Melbourne Athenaeum has a long history that reflects the cultural and social development of Melbourne. It continues to be managed as a not-for-profit organisation by a volunteer board, with a subscription library (maintained since 1839) and a leased theatre.Video broadcast ABC 7:30 Report for 11/11/2009. "Tomorrow marks the 170th birthday of one of the nation's historic cultural landmarks. Melbourne’s Athenaeum building has, in one form or other, provided education and entertainment for the Victorian colony as it became a city; and along the way, documented its growth."athenaeum, australian broadcasting corporation, kerry o’brien, kevin quigley, lisa whitehead, marjorie dalvean, ray lawler, margaret bowman, frank thring.

The program states: "The University of Melbourne presents the Melbourne Theatre Company in The Merchant of Venice". The play completes the Melbourne Theatre Company's Season 24, Part one, of performances at the Athenaeum Theatre, The Melbourne Theatre company was also performing at the Russell Street Theatre (at the Melbourne University. ). While MTC was waiting for its purpose-built playhouse at Southbank to be completed, performances were held at the Athenaeum and popular with subscribers. Program notes state that the company thanks everyone for their support "during Part 1 of the Season, during which attendances were higher than at any other time in our Company's history". The Artistic Director for this season was Ray Lawler, author of the Doll Trilogy which was later performed at the Athenaeum Theatre. The play was directed by John Sumner who would have appreciated the acoustics of the 'intimate theatre".Paper program; coloured cover; 16 p. includes articles about the play and the actors.melbourne theatre company, the merchant of venice, william shakespeare, john sumner, jonathan hardy

The play is about a war in Malaya that commenced in 1948 and lasted twelve years. The Malayan Campaign has gone down in history as the world's first defeat of communist guerrilla welfare. The soldiers were mainly National servicemen.Paper programprivates on parade, athenaeum theatre, program, melbourne theatre company, malayan campaign

Bruce Spence plays puck Page on the history of the Melbourne Athenaeum with picturesPaper program coloured front cover a midsummer night's dream, athenaeum theatre, program, melbourne theatre company, william shakespeare

Directed by Graeme BlundellProgramme gives history of the play first performed in Italy in 1946 and filmed as Marriage Italian style in 1954 with Sophia LorenTheatre program colouredfilumena, athenaeum theatre, program, programme, melbourne theatre company, eduardo de filippo

Cast includes Ruth Cracknell Steve Bisley and Harold Hopkins Sydney Theatre Company Production restaged for Melbourne by Wayne Harrison Program includes a history of previous productions from 1937Coloured programathenaeum theatre, program, programme, the doll trilogy, kid stakes, other tmes, summer of the seventeenth doll, sydney theatre company, melbourne theatre company, ray lawler

History of the playcoloured programsiren, athenaeum theatre, program, programme, hocking & woods, glenn elston, kinselas productions, australian shakespeare company, graeme blundell, david williamson

history on playcoloured program :good conditionfive guys named moe, athenaeum theatre, elston hocking & woods, cameron mackintosh, clarke peters, louis jordan hits

The history of the blues performed by arrangement with Warner Chappell Music, imago Atlantis Pty Ltd, and the Australian Film and Theatre Development, with the assistance and support of the Perth Theatre Fund. Cast: Venetta Fields; Marcie Jones; Jenny Davis; Michael Edward-Stephens.coloured program: good conditionblues in the night, athenaeum theatre, elston hocking & woods, elston hocking and woods

Performers included Sandy Gore and Norman Kaye; 1982 was the year the training scholarship was first rewarded at the value of $6000. Short history on the origin of play. Paper program : coloured coveras you like it, william shakespeare, melbourne theatre company, norman kaye, sandy gore

coloured black and red flyer contains a brief history of Edith piaf lifepiaf, athenaeum theatre

Silk programs, at that time, were only produced for a very prestigious night at the theatre. Historical note: The town of Gisborne was named after one of the members of the first committee of the Mechanics’ Institution (renamed in 1872 to Melbourne Athenaeum), formed in November 1839. His full name was Henry Fyshe Gisborne 1813-1841. The program, crafted of printed silk with a silk fringe all around the four edges is unique in the program collection. The program reveals an interesting fund-raising entertainment held at the Melbourne Athenaeum theatre in 1884. As the theatre was available for hire by everyone in the Melbourne community, over the course of its history it was hired by a large variety of theatrical performers, political groups, sporting and arts groups, in addition to fundraising groups, as found here. Proceeds of this concert were donated to the Melbourne-based Sick Children’s Hospital and the Upper Macedon Episcopalian Church – an unusual combination of charities. The Mount Macedon area became a popular place for holiday- makers from Melbourne in the 1870s and many professional people built holiday retreats with beautiful gardens in the area. The development of the area created a further need for places of worship. The names of the people taking part numbered over 70, several having the same family names as those listed as members of the Melbourne Athenaeum at that time but there is no proof that the people involved with the performance were subscribers to the Melbourne Athenaeum. At the time the Athenaeum hall consisted of a large flat space requiring chairs to be placed in lines, with hand-written alphabetical signs to indicate the rows and individually numbered chairs. The hall seated 900 patrons. When the hall was used for balls, banquets and exhibitions all the chairs were removed and stored under the stage and in a room at the side of the hall. The layout of the hall can be seen in this photograph from the archives, taken in the early 1900s. This fringed, silk program was produced for a concert held on 9-10 October 1884 under the patronage of the Governor Sir H Brougham Loch at the Athenaeum Hall in aid of the Convalescent Fund of the [Melbourne] Sick Children’s Hospital and the Episcopalian Church of Upper Macedon. The evening of light entertainment comprised eleven solo musical performances and thirteen tableaux, some humorous, referencing biblical and classical themes from plays, paintings and operasm enhanced with painted scenery and a multitude of costumes.melbourne athenauem hall, the sick children's hostipal, episcopalian church

A rare program from the time when films were shown at the Athenaeum Theatre while Frank Talbot leased the theatre. The program has a managerial announcement from Talbot announcing the new policy: "under which the theatre will be devoted exclusively to English and Australian pictures". The company supplying the British films was called British Dominion Films Ltd. Talbot also stated: "It will be part of the managerial policy to screen such Australian films as may be available". The films were preceded by "The Herald" news reel and "The Daily Dozen at the Zoo". The theatre orchestra, playing before and during interval was conducted by Mr J Kost. The music included "Tales of Vienna Woods by Johann Strauss and selections from Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance". The program represents a time when films were shown at the Athenaeum Theatre. Records indicate that graphic entertainments started with magic lantern slides in the 1890s and continued with silent movies. The first full-feature film shown in Australia was "The Story of the Kelly Gang" in 1906 at the Athenaeum Theatre and the first talkie to be shown in Victoria, "The Jazz Singer" shown in 1928. Later when Hoyts took over the lease, Cinemascope films were exhibited completing a history of film shown at this one theatre. paper program; 10 pages; coloured front page.

This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand. The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical Society.A photographic copy of a book plate made for the historian Dorothy Rogers which was first published in the 'Jubilee History of Kew' (1910) by F.G.A. Barnard"Athenaeum built 1860. 1865 purchased & Town Hall built around it. Later a new front was added as in picture - note old lamps - At present under demolition for Safeways Store"athenaeum hall, walpole street, kew town hall, walpole street, dorothy rogers