Historical information

In 2005 Michele Matthews interviewed current and former residents of Bendigo for her thesis on the 1930s Depression as part of her PhD Research, with the University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts, History Department. Michele interviewed fifteen members of prominent Bendigonian families. The thesis was titled: "How Depressing?: The impact of the Great Depression on Bendigo and District 1925-1935".
The Michele Matthews Collection contains fourteen audio cassette tape recordings and one written transcript. The tapes are each approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes duration. The questions presented to the interviewees explore everyday experiences they would have lived through at the time of the Depression.
The questions covered sixteen relevant subjects:
• Introduction and housing
• Social activities, swimming, cinemas, school and games played with friends
• Organizations such as the RSL, Relief Committees etc. and any effect they had on family life
• The life of the single woman
• Unemployment and Employment
• Government Assistance
• Charities Aid
• Self-help
• People Power, e.g. boycotts or protests
• Politics
• Trouble or crime
• Family Health, Medical and Diet
• Education
• General memories of, and hardships encountered, during the Depression

Physical description

Audio tape interview with William Frederick Hillman. Son of Robert James Hillman (who was a fitter for the Victorian Railways), and Elizabeth Hebden. William was born in 1917. He attended school at Gravel Hill State School, 1922-1931. William married Bernice Alwyn Hillman in 1943. The tape has been converted to a sound file. The 90 minute interview can be listened to, and the notes viewed, at the Bendigo Historical Society. By appointment only.