Digitised video (4.25GB) Duration: 68 minutes. Recorded February, 2020 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Geoff Stock is one of the select baby-boomers who was born at the Pines Hospital that was in Adelaide Street, sent to school in Ringwood and, 66 years later, still resides in the Ringwood area. Over that period, he has seen many changes, not only to the area of East Ringwood and Heathmont but central Ringwood itself. Geoff has many stories to tell of growing up in the district - mostly humorous - but revealing the 1960s/70s lifestyle.

Digitised video (335MB). Duration: 13 minutes. Recorded March, 2020 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)In this talk, Ringwood and District Historical Society President Russ Haines presents an overview of technological developments in image colourization, with a slide-show demonstration of examples using black and white photographs from RDHS achives.

Digitised video (335MB). Duration: 24 minutes. Recorded August, 2023 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)In this talk, Ken Briscoe presents an overview of RDHS activities centred around the sorting and digitising of slides and movies for archival conservation, with examples of a local film found in the archives and a collection of items from the former Ringwood Amateur Photography Club.

Digitised video (909MB). Duration: 11 minutes. Recorded March, 2020In this talk, Ringwood and District Historical Society President Russ Haines presents a brief history of student punishment throughout Australia, with a focus on local references.

Digitised video (1.11GB). Duration: 20 minutes. Recorded March, 2021. (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenters: Gerry Robinson and Peter Le Get of Heathmont History Group (HHG) look back over developments in the area over the previous year. HEATHMONT HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2020 Summary - "Of course for 2020 the Covid 19 virus dominated. Other finalists included roadworks on Bedford Road corner, new Wards for MCC and their elections, 100th birthday and death of Rita James, opening of Milk & Wine Co. café replacing Barclays, election of Kylie Spears as Mayor, closure of Heathmont Medical Centre, demolition of Miller homestead in Coven Avenue, final edition of Maroondah Leader local newspaper, opening of HE Parker Sports pavilion, 50 more bollard arts, and the ugliness of the former Anglican Church and other local sites."

Digitised video (2.61GB). Duration: 61minutes. Recorded March, 2021 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)In this talk, Ringwood and District Historical Society President Russ Haines takes us through the early history of the Birt's Hill / Croydon Road area, the former locations of the Bilcock and Hardidge families. The Bilcock family had one of the early general stores in Kent Avenue and later moved to Toorak Avenue, Croydon. The father, David Bilcock was a talented film maker. His daughter, Joan Bilceaux, was a renown singer, model and actor, having varied the spelling of her surname as her chosen professional name.

Digitised video (3.06GB) Duration: 50 minutes. Recorded March, 2021 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Eric Panther is a dynamic and passionate speaker, who is one of Australia’s leading experts on Australian postcards. He is the current president of the Australian Cartophilic Society, which includes the collecting of cigarette and trade cards as well as postcards.

Digitised video (4.69GB) Duration: 90 minutes. Recorded April, 2021 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)The Guest family are well-known to anyone who lived in Ringwood, particularly East Ringwood, during the 1940s-80s and earlier. Everyone knew of their bakery and the taste of the Guest Brothers' delicious bread. Tommy Guest grew up in this environment and took it all in, as a part of growing up. In the last 12 months, Tommy has written many stories on the RDHS' Facebook, which has helped many people get through the pandemic shutdown.

Digitised video (3.20GB) Duration: 63 minutes. Recorded May, 2021 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Dr Jeff Kildea is an Honorary Professor in Irish Studies at the University of New South Wales. In 2014 he held the Keith Cameron Chair of Australian History at University College Dublin. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the Irish in Australia including Hugh Mahon: Patriot, Pressman, Politician, Anchor Books Australia, Melbourne, 2017 (Vol 1) and 2020 (Vol 2). This talk examines the background to Mahon’s expulsion from parliament and how it led to his being ostracised by his fellow Australians including his neighbours at Ringwood.

Digitised video (3.79GB). Duration: 67 minutes. Recorded March, 2022. (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Gerry Robinson and Margaret (Maggie) McKern of Heathmont History Group (HHG) combine to present an overview of Heathmont's pioneering orchardists, with Maggie providing a history of her Clark family property, "Roslyn", purchased in the 1930s and operating as a poultry farm and lemon orchard on the corner of Canterbury Road and Armstrong Road in Heathmont.

Digitised video (1.41GB) Duration: 40 minutes. Recorded May, 2022 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Author and Historian Carole Woods OAM presents this talk on her biography of Australian humanitarian Vera Deakin, known for her involvement with the beginnings of Australian Red Cross and her incredible work in tracking down details of First World War Australian wounded and missing soldiers.

Digitised video (3.07GB) Duration: 50 minutes. Recorded May, 2022 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Prof. Charles Sowerwine, Emeritus Professor at University of Melbourne, Fellow at La Trobe University and Chair of RHSV Heritage Committee, presents this talk on the subject of Heritage, both from an academic point of view and the practical appreciation of this integral part of our culture and local identification.

Digitised video (2.66GB) Duration: 51 minutes. Recorded August, 2022 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Louise Blake is a writer and historian with an interest in the stories of women, families, and communities on the nineteenth-century goldfields in Australia and New Zealand. Inspired by her family connection to the gold mining settlement of Woods Point, Louise completed a PhD on Women and Community on the Upper Goulburn Goldfields in north-east Victoria in 2019. In this talk Louise will share her research on Lawrence and Esther Chubb, who lived and worked at Gaffneys Creek on the Upper Goulburn Goldfields in the 1870s and 80s. In a series of letters Lawrence wrote to his family in England, and now held by the State Library of Victoria, Lawrence shared his early struggles as an independent miner on the central Victorian goldfields, his protracted courtship with Esther, the ordinary intimacies of their life at Gaffneys Creek, the work that Esther did to support the family in this remote mining region, as well as the material and emotional support provided by and to family, friends and neighbours. A rare and revealing source, these letters help to expand our understanding of the lived experience of mining families, particularly the work that women did to sustain families and communities, in this period of waged labour and tribute mining in Victoria.

Digitised video (3.23GB). Duration: 60 minutes. Recorded October, 2022. (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Gerry Robinson is the convenor of the Heathmont History Group (HHG). Gerry presents this talk on the the many facets of what makes up local history - the natural history of fauna, flora and geology; the social history; the histories of families; the changes in history and how we adapt to new technologies.

Digitised video (894MB). Duration: 20 minutes. Recorded February, 2023 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)As a follow up to the recent centenary celebrations of the 1921 Ringwood State School building in Greenwood Avenue, Ringwood and District Historical Society President Russ Haines presents this look back at the often overlooked earlier history of the village of Ringwood, including the establishment of Cass' School in 1874 on five acres of land between Dublin Road and Everard Road, becoming Ringwood's first school.

Digitised video (1.90GB). Duration: 35 minutes. Recorded March, 2023 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Ringwood and District Historical Society President Russ Haines presents this talk on Bamford’s timber yard following the donation to the Society of the account books dating from the business’s inception in 1908 until the mid-1950s.

Digitised video (2.26GB). Duration: 54 minutes. Recorded September, 2023 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Judith Vimpani, Vice President of Marysville Historical Society, talks about her experiences, interviews and extensive research in re-gathering Marysville's history lost in the catastrophic 2009 Black Saturday fires.

Digitised video (3.17GB). Duration: 56 minutes. Recorded June, 2023 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Wren Lakeman has a Bachelor of Archaeology and Masters in Professional Archaeology from LaTrobe University, finishing in 2018. She has been working as a sub-contractor for many different archaeology companies and with tickets in excavation, now works for Archstone Archaeology, providers of machinery and operators to archaeological sites all over Australia. For this talk, Wren talks about her work and outlines results of earlier excavations carried out in Ringwood.

Digitised video (3.19GB) Duration: 75 minutes. Recorded May, 2023 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Past-President of RDHS, Richard Carter, is the guru when it comes to researching properties. South Side Story examines the often forgotten - but important - part of Ringwood from Wantirna Road to Olive Grove on the southern side of Maroondah Highway, Ringwood, Victoria.

Digitised video (3.04GB) Duration: 40 minutes. Recorded August, 2018 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)In March 2017, Rachael Cottle commenced an internship with Museums Victoria. Working in the Humanities department, Rachael worked with a collection of 154 items from a World War II RAAF air crewman, Norman Henry James. Rachael shares her story of interning and volunteering at Australia’s largest public museum organisation.

Digitised video (3.80GB) Duration: 51 minutes. Recorded October, 2018 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Croydon Historical Society Vice President Geoff Arnott is an active writer and researcher of heritage, having written the history of Wedderburn and many Croydon-related books. In this talk, Geoff provides a background of his family, why he decided to look into it, and the dark secrets revealed. His story is typical of many Australian family that began with migration from the “old country” during the 1850s, trying to seek their fortune and a new life in a new country.

Digitised video (5.14GB). Duration: 61 minutes. Recorded May, 2018. (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Peter Le Get, together with his wife, Mary, have been one of the few families to purchase, and live in, four homes in the suburb of Heathmont. The Le Get’s came to Heathmont when pioneer orchardists were beginning to sell their properties, which led to the sub-division of land into housing blocks. It was the time of a new community coming together, with sporting clubs starting up, churches and schools built, roads being defined or asphalted, and the proliferation of new shops and businesses.

Digitised video (4.06GB). Duration: 48 minutes. Recorded February, 2019. (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Gerry Robinson is the convenor of the Heathmont History Group (HHG). Heathmont has changed over the years and this has been detailed in HHG’s award-winning books, The 48 Courts of Heathmont, From apples to Coffee, Heathmont Street Names, and many more. This talk draws a line in the sand, looking back where we’ve been and where Heathmont is today.

Digitised video (4.04GB). Duration: 74 minutes. Recorded March, 2019. (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)In this talk, Ringwood and District Historical Society President Russ Haines presents an insight into the naming of some of the district's streets.

Digitised video (2.72GB). Duration: 50 minutes. Recorded April, 2019. (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Ringwood and District Historical Society were privileged to have military historian Anthony McAleer present this talk on the Monash Militia camp operating in Lilydale in February, 1914 - six months before the start of World War One - for 3000 citizen soldiers including some from Ringwood. The camp was commanded by John Monash, later General Sir John Monash.

Digitised video (339MB). Duration: 6 minutes. Recorded May, 2019 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)In this talk, Ringwood and District Historical Society President Russ Haines takes us through a brief history of George and Annis Bills horse troughs, manufactured in Australia and installed to provide relief for working horses in the first half of the 20th century. Around 700 troughs were originally distributed throughout Australia and overseas, some still existing locally today.

Digitised video (3.86GB). Duration: 75 minutes. Recorded May, 2019. (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Bronwyn Koll grew up on her family’s orchard in Wonga Park. In this historical perspective on the first industry of Ringwood, Bron talks about her orchardist roots and highlights the seriousness of looking after crops with the ongoing threat of insect pests in the district, including backyard gardens.

Digitised video (4.25GB). Duration: 70 minutes. Recorded July, 2019 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)In this talk, Ringwood and District Historical Society President Russ Haines takes us through East Ringwood's fascinating transition from early roots going back to working class families - some still in the area - to the village of today. East Ringwood is still seen as a quiet place, having resisted large-scale development although many larger blocks now include multiple unit dwellings.

Digitised video (2.52GB) Duration: 46 minutes. Recorded July, 2023 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)Presenter: Simon Elliston talks about his walking group visits to historic sites around Victoria, including an overview of Wombolano Park in Heathmont, once visited by acclaimed celebrities such as Dame Nellie Melba and Agatha Christie.

Digitised video (335MB). Duration: 08:30 minutes. Recorded June, 2023 (Video is available for viewing at Ringwood & District Historical Society Archives by appointment)In this talk, Ringwood and District Historical Society President Russ Haines uses a slide-show of then-and-now photographs to compare Ringwood's shopping precinct changes over the past 14 years.