A collection of Victorian Railways Newsletters.non-fictionFrom 1930 until 1973, Victorian Railways News Letter was the inhouse journal for what is now Vicrail. Being a railway family with three stationmasters many copies remain in the family home, Hymettus Cottage.railways, railway family, journal, community

ill, p.56.non-fictionA pictorial view of the Victorian Railways in the pre 1920s era.railroad trains -- australia -- history., railroads - victoria - pictorial works

Hoda Afshar's 2018 body of work, "Remain," offers a forthright and unapologetic political commentary on Australia's border protection policy, shedding light on its impact on human rights. This collection comprises a film and a series of photographic portraits that chronicle the stories of stateless men who chose to stay on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, even after the closure of the immigration detention centre in October 2017. In the accompanying film, the experiences of these men are conveyed through episodic fragments, narrated with a mix of lyrical and brutal voiceovers. Some express themselves through poetry, others through song, while some recall the riots and suicides. Set against the backdrop of a picturesque landscape featuring lush foliage and crystal-clear water—a stark contrast to the harsh realities described—the emotional impact of the work is intensified. It creates a simultaneous sense of beauty and horror. The photographic portraits of the same individuals are equally compelling. Positioned prominently against a dark backdrop, these subjects assert their presence, emphasizing their right to be seen. The deliberate simplicity of these portraits serves as a powerful political statement, countering the invisibility imposed by the act of detention. Afshar metaphorically acknowledges the struggles faced by these men, depicting them contending with the elements—fire, water, and earth—yet never questioning their inherent humanity. Here we see Behrouz Boochani, the Kurdish Iranian writer whose memoir ‘No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from the Manus Prison’ won the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Literature and the Prize for Non-Fiction in 2019. Boochani was held in detention on Manus Island from 2013 until the centre’s closure in 2017 and was forced to remain on the island in a stateless condition.

Collection of notes and guides on researching aspects of family history, including Buninyong resident's index, Victorian Pioneers index, 1881 British Census guide, PROV series of guides to the archives. Research sources and guides on immigration, Shipping, Land, Education, convicts, etc.genaology, public record office victoria, family history, buninyong, immigration, shipping, convict records, land records, education records

Photographer notations on slide: B21 Published: 10 April 1934 Published title and caption: Preparing for Garden Week Reference: PREPARING FOR GARDEN WEEK. (1934, April 10). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved February 2, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203840965 Caption: "Garden Week, which opens to-day at Wirth's Park, will present the best of the Autumn flowers, together with seasonal shrubs and trees, grown by Victorian Horticulturists. Girl students are here seen preparing one of the exhibits. The display will continue until Saturday inclusive." Description: Female gardeners from the School of Horticulture, Burley, preparing an exhibit for Autumn Garden Week located at Wirth's Park on the site of the current Melbourne Arts Centre. A horticultural training establishment commenced at Burnley in 1891. Women were allowed to attend from 1899 under the enlightened leadership of Charles Luffman. By 1934, following the tragic impacts of World War One, women were both required and determined to earn a living and to be paid landscape architects, designers and managers. Wearing trousers and overalls was an outward indicator that should they wish, they could be horticulturalists, not just gardeners. Garden Week was billed as one of the most important floral displays held in Australia, showcasing flowers, fruit and vegetables, bulbs, succulents, garden ornaments, practical appliances and garden literature. There were large display halls and model gardens - designed to provide inspiration to the amateur gardener and showcase Victorian producers. Featured in "Newsworthy: Melbourne in photographs 1933-1936" exhibition at East Melbourne Library, October to December 2023. Exhibition caption by project volunteer, Louise McKenzie. In January 2026, volunteer Fiona Collyer contacted Burnley Campus Archives at University of Melbourne to share the image. Jane Wilson, Manager of the Burnley Campus Archives, University of Melbourne, supplied the following information: "I find that we actually have that photograph as a newspaper cutting, sent in from a former student. This is some additional information: Students are: Evelyn Yule (1932), Betty Holmes (1932), Margaret Doherty (1932) and Alice Glascodine (later Mrs. Tucker) (1933). Alice sent us the newspaper cutting." Alice didn't specify who was who in the photograph but noted: "An earlier cataloguer had thought Alice was the one on the right, but I’m not sure."Photographer notations on slide: "B21".gardens, events, 1930-1939, horticulture, world war 1, gardening, women gardeners, jodhpurs, clothing and dress, burnley horticultural college

Photographer notations on slide: Steel Manuf’rs at McPherson’s Ltd 1933 Published: The Age, 30 August 1933 BUREAU OF STEEL MANUFACTURERS OF AUSTRALIA. (1933, August 30). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204372874 Published title: Bureau of Steel Manufacturers of Australia Published caption: A group of Inter-State Visitors, from the Bureau of Steel Manufacturers of Australia, on a tour of inspection at the Bolt Works of McPhersons Pty. Ltd., Burnley-Richmond, yesterday. Research by Project Volunteer, Louise McKenzie: The photo shows a line up of 36 men, in three rows, in front of a building. They are mostly dressed in dark 3-piece suits, or camel coats. But one gentleman stands out in his full length leather coat! Striped ties are popular, and they are all holding hats. One man, at the rear towards the right, looks a bit younger with his thick, black, brylcreamed hair.. These interstate gentlemen are described in the newspaper caption as representatives of the Bureau of Steel Manufacturers "...on a tour of inspection at the Bolt Works of McPhersons Pty Ltd, Burnley, Richmond." Interestingly, the Bureau of Steel Manufacturers of Australia (BOSMA) still exists, and is the industry body for major Australian steel producers like BlueScope, Liberty, and InfraBuild, representing their interests, engaging with government, and participating in standards setting for the domestic steel market, with a history dating back to 1923. While BOSMA focuses on primary manufacturing, the Australian Steel Institute (ASI) serves as the broader peak body for the entire steel supply chain, from mills to end-users, promoting and supporting the industry. But at the time of this photo, the Australian steel industry was just starting to make headway. As the AST website explains, "Steelmaking in Australia began just a decade prior to the start of the 1851 Gold Rush whilst Australia was still divided into colonies. Iron ore deposits were discovered in 1840 at Iron Knob, South Australia but a lack of equipment meant that the process of producing steel was impossible. Even attempts at smelting the iron ore in a blast furnace to create pig iron were unsuccessful due to the poor quality of iron ore and coke available to the budding industry. In the other colonies at the time, such as Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales, there were minor discoveries of iron ore but poor technical expertise and limited quantity meant that the quality of steel was poor. Compared to the far superior steel being imported from Britain at the time, the steel manufacturing industry simply couldn’t compete and was unviable. By the 1870s, almost all steel production in Australia had been abandoned. The situation began to change at the turn of the century. Rapid growth sparked higher demand for industrial machinery made from steel and infrastructure such as rail. It became apparent that there was a need for locally manufactured steel and soon there would be an answer. In 1901, the year Australia united into a federation, the nation’s first blast furnace went into production at Eskbank near Lithgow in New South Wales. The development was spearheaded by William Stafford and his son Esk, and Stafford is known as the father of Australian steel production. In 1915, production expanded with another steel mill in Newcastle that was opened by BHP. It sourced coke from local mines and iron ore from South Australia, creating a domestic loop for steel manufacturing. In the following years, more steelworks opened in Whyalla, South Australia and Port Kembla in NSW. Steel manufacturing in Australia was now underway." The company mentioned in the photo’s notation and in the newspaper caption, was McPhersons, "...an Australian hardware firm, for many years a leading merchant of woodworking and metal-working machinery... [and founded by] Thomas McPherson (c.1823–1888) who had a home "Dudley House" at 142 Dudley Street, West Melbourne. [The] ironmongery business [was located] in 1860 at 149 Spencer Street, Melbourne. Merchandise carried included bells, lathes, horseshoes and steam engines." (Wikipedia - McPherson's Pty Ltd) Anyone who has read Robyn Annear’s excellent award-winning 2014 book Bearbrass – the name for early Melbourne - will remember only too well her description of West Melbourne, from where the city of Melbourne as we know it, emerged. Her book resurrects the village that was early Melbourne – from the arrival of white settlers in 1835 until the first gold rushes shook the town – and brings it to life in vivid colour. The McPherson family, whose arrival in Bearbrass coincides with this period (Thomas arrived in 1852), became intimately involved in the growth and development of Melbourne. Thomas was Mayor of Melbourne (1870-1871); his eldest son Hunter became a successful Sydney businessman; second son Edward and third son William inherited the company, and ran it together until 1896 when Edward killed himself. William had a notable career in politics as treasurer of Victoria 1917-1923, in which year he was knighted. 1928-1929 he was Premier of Victoria, and a noted philanthropist. The family were significant property owners in the city of Melbourne: 149 Spencer Street, 582-588 Collins Street, 554-566 Collins Street, together with a property on Jeffcott Street, West Melbourne, and factories in Sunshine, Tottenham, Kensington and Richmond – all by the mid 1940s. By that time they also had controlling interests in several Australasian industries, including Ajax Bolt and Rivet Pty Ltd of NZ, F W Hercus Manufacturing Co Ltd, manufacturers in South Australia of lathes, guillotines and other heavy machinery, also of Patience and Nicholson (P & N), manufacturers in Maryborough, Victoria, of twist drills and thread-forming tools; also Wiltshire Files on Sunshine Road, Tottenham, manufacturing files and rasps. The Acme Machine Tool Company became a branch of McPhersons, and the company claimed to have supplied, from their own manufacture, all five million rivets (some 3,600 tonnes) used in the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge – described as a steel through arch bridge, which opened in 1932; the tallest of its kind in the world (Wikipedia – Sydney Harbour Bridge) McPherson’s was also innovative in other ways. It published a comprehensive catalogue, extensively detailed with prices, available free of charge to farmers and other businesses. In 1908 it had 148 pages. By 1937 it had grown to 372 pages. The University of Melbourne’s Archives entry on McPherson’s Limited notes: "After the outbreak of the Second World War, McPherson’s factories worked at full capacity and were crucial to Australia’s war efforts. On 5 December 1944 McPherson's converted to a public company named McPherson's Ltd, with William Edward as Chairman of Directors. By the start of the 1950s the company had a very different Board of Directors; in 1947 the Managing Director Oliver Addison died, and his replacement Marshall Eady died only six months later. Both had been Directors since McPherson’s became a proprietary company in 1913. Another Director, Philip Bevan, died in 1948 and this was followed by the death of William Edward in 1950. S.B Holder, F.G. Thorpe, H.L. Hastie, F. Grassick and D.G. Syme all joined the Board before 1950. The company continued to prosper for many years after the death of William Edward. His son, William David, was invited to join the McPherson’s Ltd Board in 1951. He married Angela Cumming in 1955 and soon after was sent to Brisbane as Director in Charge to oversee the building of a new warehouse. The opening of this warehouse in Queensland meant that the company now had major outlets in five states. As time went on, manufacturing in Australia began to decline and imports of everyday tools began arriving from Asia. These tools were being produced with much lower labour costs and could be sold at cheaper prices. William David retired in 1984 and eventually parts of the company were divested, such as the Richmond Bolt Works which closed in the early 1990s. Since the 1980s, McPherson's has diversified into housewares, printing, and health and beauty care products." This article also contains photos, one of which is a photograph of 'Bolt works picnic' 1920, showing workers in their shirt sleeves participating in a tug of war in a rural "picnic" setting. McPherson’s premises at 554-566 Collins Street more than lasted the test of time and is listed as historically significant. The magnificent art deco building from the 1930s in the heart of Melbourne was first commissioned in 1934 and completed in 1937. It is an imposing building fronting almost a quarter of the city block between Spencer Street and King Street, and was designed to be a warehouse, office and showroom for the hardware empire. International architects Stuart P Calder, and Reid and Pearson designed the four-storey building with a basement level and a stair tower at the centre that provides access to what was a tennis court on the roof. It is considered an example of the streamlined modern style in Melbourne and shows how the McPherson company, protected from taxes after World War I, was able to manufacture goods without being affected by the competition. The building has survived, and its current iteration is as the home to il Mercato Centrale – an Italian style artisan market concept. The University of Melbourne Archives hold a particularly good image of the building from its heyday, complete with Collins Street lamps on the pavement outside the store. And to return to our image, sited at "Bolt Works of McPhersons". Today this segment of McPhersons is still very well known - Ajax. A good summary of the company’s history, and the development of the name and business, can be found on the Mine Suppliers Online website: "AJAX Fasteners can trace its heritage back to 1900, when the Acme Bolt Company was established in West Melbourne, Victoria. In 1909, William McPherson used the company as the basis for establishing McPherson’s Bolt Works – adopting the brand ‘Ajax’ – and moved it to Richmond. Over the years, the company changed many times in response to industry needs to ensure that it remained the premier manufacturer of high quality fasteners in Australia. Many other names in the industry, such as Firth Cleveland, Spurway Cooke and Nettlefolds were merged or acquired into the company. McPhersons ended their 80-year ownership of Ajax in the early 90s when they sold their shares to National Consolidated, which was also a major shareholder at the time. In 1997, Ajax Fasteners moved to new purpose-built premises in Braeside, Victoria. Soon after, National Consolidated was taken over by the diversified manufacturer Austrim. The group soon acquired the iconic Nylex, and adopted the name Nylex Corporation. In January 2007, ACME Operations Pty Ltd acquired Ajax Fasteners and continues to operate the business today from the Braeside plant. The name ACME provides a nostalgic return by the new owners to the company’s heritage, when the Acme Bolt Company was founded in July 1900." REFERENCES: BUREAU OF STEEL MANUFACTURERS OF AUSTRALIA. (1933, August 30). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved January 25, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204372874 Wikipedia, McPherson’s Pty Ltd, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McPherson%27s_Pty_Ltd Wikipedia, Richmond, Victoria, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_Victoria Industry: From the mid-19th century, Richmond was a centre of manufacturing industry, including many large complexes such as the Bryant & May match factory, Jaques Limited engineering works, the Wertheim Piano factory and Pelaco. Wikipedia, Sydney Harbour Bridge, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge eMelbourne, Manufacturing, https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00896b.htm 'New life for Melbourne's McPherson Building', The Urban Developer, https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/mcphersons-building-melbourne-il-mercato-centrale-food-retail-destination Bureau Of Steel Manufacturers Of Australia Limited, http://www.bosma.org.au/ 'A Brief History of Steel Manufacturing in Australia', AST, https://astraders.com.au/a-brief-history-of-steel-manufacturing-in-australia/ 'Steel manufacturing in Australia: a brief history', Hard Bakka Steel Fabrication, https://www.hardbakka.com.au/component/virtuemart/steel-manufacturing-in-australia-a-brief-history?Itemid=494 McPherson's Limited, University of Melbourne Archives, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/nodes/view/58364 Source of Description: 'Nuts and Bolts: A story of a family and a firm', Barbara Hamer (2006), McPherson’s Printing Group 'Photograph of 'Bolt works picnic' 1920', University of Melbourne Archives, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/assets/display/1287217-max?u=dea2e4d2fd07ac822e624f1e7d39adb3 'Photograph of the exterior of the McPhersons Department store at 546 Collins Street, Melbourne.', University of Melbourne Archives, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/assets/display/1287215-max?u=12430d30453a77059b7d10d49006a521 Robyn Annear, Bearbrass: imagining early Melbourne, Black Inc., 2014 (originally published 1995 by Mandarin) 'Company details', Ajax Fasteners, http://www.minesuppliersonline.com.au/australia/braeside/hardware/ajax-fasteners 'Former McPherson's Building', Victorian Heritage Database, https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/741Photographer notations on slide: "Steel manuf'rs at McPherson's Ltd 1933 B5".1930-1939, industrial workers, clothing and dress, 1930, iron and steel industry, businesses, bridges, industry, melbourne, gold rush, moderne style architecture

Black hardcover book with dust-jacket.Dust-jacket has a black spine and back cover. There is a white spine label taped across the bottom of the spine. The front cover is burgundy with faint stripes and a black and white image of a row of white crosses in the centre. The title appears in orange print above the image. Author's name and series title also appear on the front cover in white text.non-fictionDivided into two parts, this volume covers all major aspects of Australian Defence Force history and research resources and archives for further information. australian military history, australian defence force, archives, women and defence, defence policy

The bottom half of the cover and the spine are black with the title printed in silver. The top half is a sepia photograph of two smiling prisoners of war, the bottom of the image is overlaid with black barbed wire.non-fictionStories from the Australians at War Film Archive that follows the stories of the POWs from capture to eventual liberation. The book ranges across all the wars, from the men and women trapped under the ruthless Japanese regime, to the forgotten POWs of the Germans and the Italians, captured in Crete or Greece, or anywhere in occupied Europe. [Trove]prisoners of war, wwii, ww2, world war 1939-1945, second world war, australian prisoners of war

Paperback book. Black and white image of soldiers in uniform standing in front of and on top of a tank, wraps around the full cover. Title is overlaid in white print on the front and on the spine.non-fictionAustralia's contribution to the Great War has become part of the core of its national identity, and this work from the Australian War Memorial's Peter Burness offers a compact, thoroughly-illustrated and authoritative survey of the founding of the ANZAC tradition. From the shores of Gallipoli, through the trenches of France and Belgium, to the Light Horse in the Middle East, Australians at the Great War: 1914-1918 showcases photographs, artworks, posters, maps and artefacts from the War Memorial's comprehensive archive, along with detailed historical and anecdotal passages. Both as a testament to the courage of Australians at war, and as a guide to Australia's cultural legacy, Australians at the Great War: 1914-1918 is the perfect introduction. - taken from Trove.wwi, ww1, first world war, world war 1914-1918, australian war memorial, military museums - australia, military participation - australia