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.

Vol. 7, No. 1, Mar-Apr 2002 CONTENTS Comment 2 Cultural Tourism Centre for Nillumbik In Search of stones by Anne Mullholland 3 CD Review 5 Elizabeth Scarlett on Continuum Short Story 6 The Thin Black Line by Jocelyn Harewood Poetry 9 Homage to Lloyd Rees by Christine Crowl Book Review 10 September 11 by Noam Chomsky Doing the Country Thing 12 With Brian Woodstock and Ross Henderson Heritage Across Cultures 14 The City of Whittlesea Heritage Week 2002 Photography 16 Rusty Stewart Book Review 18 Planting the nation, edited by Georgina Whitehead Poetry 20 Radiant Awnings by Shelton Lee Book Review 22 A Girl’s Best Friend: The Meaning of Dogs in Women’s Lives; Jan Fooke and Renate Klein Heide Museum of Modern Art 23 First Stage of Heide Museum of Modern Art Redevelopment CD Review 24 Cloud Lining Grace Notes Professor Ratbag aka Lisa Bellear by Christine Croydon 26 Artin' About 28 Wining and Dining 30 "Peter Dougherty has been involved in the local art scene for many years. As publisher and editor of the arts magazine Artstreams, his comments on the various branches of the arts are widely respected. His "The Arts" column in the Diamond Valley Leader presents a brief summary for a much wider cross section of the local community. Peter also operates his own gallery and the Artstreams Cafe at the St Andrews market. Peter has a wealth of knowledge about present day and historical aspects of local art and artists." - Eltham District Historical Society Newsletter No. 161, March 2005Colour front and back cover with feature articles and literary pieces with photographs and advertisements printed in black and white. 36 pages, 30 cm. Vol. 1, no. 1 (Nov. 1996) - Vol. 10, no. 5 (summer ed. 2005/​06) art streams, brunswick music festival, cultural tourism, drystone walling, stones, willy wonka's ice cream gourmet food, jocelyn harewood, eltham fullife pharmacy, chris pittard, mary-lou pittard, lloyd rees, christine cowle, smiths gully general store, montsalvat, bulleen art & garden centre, manningham arts centre, brian woodcock, ross henderson, eltham wiregrass gallery, manningham gallery, city of whittlesea heritage week, greensborough cake kitchen, arts on burgundy, were st food store, shelton lee, thompsons pharmacy, heide museum of modern art, dynamic vegies, christine croydon, bundoora homestead, lisa bellear, stolen generation, tony tuckson, john borrack, viewbank

Black and white photograph - Grade 5B, 1970."Attached to photograph" Back Row- L to R: David Roberts, Annette Rentick, Mark Albin, Yvonne VanDyk, John Abbott, Julie Oliver, Stuart Lowe. 2nd Row- L to R: Mandy Hutchison, Fiona Logan, Robin Maraffa, Jillian Pulling, Ellen Stockton, Louise Gogerly, Lisa McMahon, Glenda Holding, Ann Thompson 3rd Row- L to R: Alwen Healy, Beverley Andrews, Ken Doig, Robyn Simpson, Paul Mathews, Diane Murford, Kerry Beal, Julie Marsh. 4th Row- L to R: Chistine Grerling, Robert Jones, Stephen Dorian, Leonard Hutt, Philip Best, Laurence Cleary, Warren Henderson, Ian Parker, Paul Whitehead, Ross Smith. Front Row- L to R: Janise Berry, Raelene Tann, Ann Marshall, Lynette James, Lynette Magnusson, Erin Jameson, Christine Conroy, Susan Leslie. Teacher: Mary Ellen Lynch.