Historical information

Dr Michele Matthews has been a local and social historian for nearly three decades since she first used correspondence held by the then Bendigo City Council for her Honours thesis. She is an ardent advocate for the use of local history records to tell Victorian and Australian history from a grassroots perspective. Michele’s MA thesis, ‘A forgotten “Father” of Federation: Sir John Quick 1852‑1911’ (2003), and her PhD thesis, ‘Survivors, schemes, Samaritans and shareholders: the impact of the Great Depression on Bendigo and District 1925‑1935’ (2007), both drew heavily on Bendigo and district records.

A copy of her Thesis is held in the Bendigo Historical Society Collection.

Michele worked as an historian, undertaking numerous contracts for the former City of Bendigo Council, including researching and writing the Catalogue of Bendigo City Council’s Correspondence 1856‑1899. Since working at the Bendigo Regional Archives Centre (BRAC), she has created an accompanying subject and person index for this catalogue. Michele also worked as the historian for Bendigo Bank, cataloguing their extensive record collection. She has also written articles, book reviews and teachers’ notes for documentaries. A personal highlight was writing the entry for Sir John Quick in the Australian dictionary of biography, vol. 11.

Michele was an Archives Officer at BRAC since its commencement in 2008. Many of the records she looked after in her day‑to‑day work are the same ones she first used while researching for her Honours thesis back in 1983. She has spoken at many public functions about the records housed at BRAC, and is particularly proud of the digitised online project, Petitions of the people.

Physical description

Michele Matthews Collection: Photos Used for her PHD

This item includes the following documents:

8672.21a A CD containing 68 lo-res black and white photos

8672.21b 68 lo-res black and white digital photos Contact BHS for details

8672.21c California Gully Primary School Pupils Black and White Photo Grades 1 to 3 1927

8672.21d California Gully Primary School Pupils Black and White Photo Grades 3 to 4 1931

8672.21e California Gully Operetta - Children in costumes on a set with props

8672.21f Packet of Coloured Photo prints and negatives. 13 photos two copies of each

8672.21g Colour photo of The Anne Caudle Centre (former Benevolent Home) Bendigo

8672.21h Colour photo Amalfi is a majestic, circa-1875 Victorian house at 137 Forest Street, Bendigo. Built for the respected Favaloro business family, it is famous for its red-pine and terrazzo floors, ornate leadlight, and stable block.

8672.21i Colour photo of a turn of an early Bendigo house

8672.21j Colour photo of "Florenzia" 20 Steane Street Bendigo, once owned by the Cohn Family. Fiorenza (Italian for Florence) is a prominent, historically significant Italianate mansion located at 20 Steane Street, Bendigo. Built in approximately 1928, this grand property was designed with no expense spared by leading architects and craftsmen of the era.

8672.21k Entrance to Florenzia

8672.21l Colour photo of St Aidan's Orphanage was a major residential care facility in Kennington, Bendigo, established in 1905 by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Operating until 1981, it is noted as the first orphanage in Australia to house both boys and girls. The heritage-listed complex has since been repurposed.

8672.21m Colour photo of St Aidan's Orphanage was a major residential care facility in Kennington, Bendigo, established in 1905 by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Operating until 1981, it is noted as the first orphanage in Australia to house both boys and girls. The heritage-listed complex has since been repurposed.

8672.21n Colour photo of St Aidan's Orphanage was a major residential care facility in Kennington, Bendigo, established in 1905 by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Operating until 1981, it is noted as the first orphanage in Australia to house both boys and girls. The heritage-listed complex has since been repurposed.

8672.21o Photo of Bendigo Certified Milk (BCM) at the corner of Queen Street and Valentine Lane.

8672.21p Photo of a heritage house in Bendigo

8672.21q Photo of a heritage house in Bendigo

8672.21r Photo of a heritage house in Bendigo

8672.21s Photo of a heritage house in Bendigo