We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the place now called Victoria, and all First Peoples living and working on this land. We celebrate the history and contemporary creativity of the world’s oldest living culture and pay respect to Elders — past, present and future.
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Some material may contain terms that reflect authors’ views, or those of the period in which the item was written or recorded but may not be considered appropriate today. These views are not necessarily the views of Victorian Collections.
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Have a question? Contact Hymettus Cottage & Garden
Michael Looker of the Royal Botanical Gardens Melbourne drew up the planting plans for restoring Ballarat's historic gardens at Hymettus in 1985 for Heritage Victoria. This was done as it was the only known intact Victorian era working-mans exhibition garden in Australia with surviving layout and original documentation and photographs. Restoration of the garden was aided by an Australian Bicentenary grant.
Pressed tin buttons were produced in large numbers between 1900 and the Second World War and being ephemeral have rarely survived. This button was produced for fundraising for local charities at Ballarat on Button Day in October 1925.
Historically and socially significant artefact, revealing much about the attitudes and values of the period in which they were produced. Button days were a popular way of fundraising and commemoration that developed through Wattle Days and the First World War retaining their popularity into the early 1950s.
Small tin badge with stylised rising sun motif in red with forget-me-nots in blue beneath a banner and on beneath the nosegay the words forget not. in blue.
ballarat, charities, fund raising, button day, 1925, badges
ceiling paper, wallpaper, ballarat, hymettus,
melbourne, centenary of melbourne, 1934, eucharistic congress, mermbership card
ceiling, hymettus ballarat, dining room, wallpapers, ceiling papers, decorative papers, ballarat
non-fiction
bushfire, black saturday bushfires, victorian bushfires, kinglake, warnambool, marion taffe, mx, newspaper, davey family
Faille silk and braided with barley twist to top and military braid to scalloped lower edge.
window decoration, valance, dining room
This example of a late 1920s valance retained in the front parlour at Hymettus is a part of the period decoration and still fills its purpose of over a century ago in concealing the curtain rails. of the room. Although the house was built 1900 -1901 the room was redecorated in the late 1920s.
A rare surviving example of a silk patterned and machine embroidered valance in situ since the 1920s.
valance, window, parlour, hymettus, ballarat
One of a series of sketches in 1943 by war artist Geoffrey Mainwaring while covering the war in the Pacific. Mainwaring went on to take charge of the Art department at the School of Mines Ballarat, SMB now Federation University.
war, landing craft, mainwaring, ballarat smb, sketch, war in the pacific, new guinea, war artist
non-fiction
malley, dust storm, nature
non-fiction
eureka centenary, ballarat, certificate
non-fiction
eureka stockade, ballarat, eureka centenary, souvenir, eureka improvement and progress association, peter lalor
Brass band instrumental music competitions were enthusiastically followed in Australia in the early twentieth century. Ballarat was a leading centre for these musical competitions and Michael Taffe played cornet and flugelhorn with several local brass bands. He was Australian Junior Cornet solo Champion in 1920 and won the open section of the instrumentals at the VRI competitions held in the ballroom at Flinders Street Station in 1924.
michael taffe, victorian railways institute, cornet solo, flinders street station ballroom
prisoner of war, world war i, lindsay family, drawing, german,
non-fiction
city of ballaarat, welcome, ballarat, lake wendouree, rowing, canoeing, 1956, southern hemisphere,
eureka stockade, royal australian mint
non-fiction
frank clune, china, nathan spielvogel, travel, australian writers
mt pleasant school, ballarat, bicentenary, michael taffe, francis ellis, tree planting
On timber matress base/frame stamped Tunbridge & Sons Ballarat.
non-fiction
avenues of honour, remembrance, world war i, italy
non-fiction
ruby lindsay, naturalist, barrett, art nouveau, creswick, ballarat
non-fiction
olympic games, melbourne, australia, invitation to holld olympic games
Small 95 page booklet published in 1857 by Fairfax, Melbourne and inscribed by W. D. Lang.
non-fiction
Rev John Dunmore Lang's defence of his son who was imprisoned for his part in the fraud at the Bank of New South Wales Ballarat and Clunes in 1854.
drake, lang, rev john dunmore lang, ballarat, clunes, select committee of enquiry
eureka stockade, ballarat, nathan spielvogel
non-fiction
eureka stockade, centenary, sydney, fellowship of australian writers, mary gilmore
non-fiction
memoir, spielvogel, ballarat, dimboola
Victorian Collections acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
