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.

Physical description

Michele Matthews Collection: PHD Research - Requests for support from older bendigo Residents

This item includes the following documents:

8672.32a Letter outlining her PHD research and seeking input from older Bendigo Residents - Letter folder with sticky note attached

8672.32b The document is a letter written in January 2004 by Michele S. Matthews, a PhD student, inviting members of the Bendigo community to participate in her doctoral research. Her study focuses on the economic depressions of the 1890s and the 1930s in Bendigo and the surrounding district, with particular emphasis on understanding how these events affected the everyday lives of ordinary people.

Matthews explains that, because the 1930s Depression occurred within living memory, she hopes to interview elderly residents who can recall the years 1929–1935. She outlines several criteria for participants, including being born between 1918 and 1925 (or earlier if they have clear memories), having lived in Bendigo or within a 50-kilometre radius during the Depression, and having parents who held a home or business loan with the Bendigo, Sandhurst, or Star Building Societies.

To establish her credibility, Matthews describes herself as a Bendigo local and experienced historian who had worked in the field for approximately twenty years. She highlights her previous research on Bendigo’s contributions to Federation and Sir John Quick, as well as her employment as an in-house historian for both the Bendigo City Council and Bendigo Bank. She also notes her contributions to the Interpretive Centre and the Making a Nation exhibition.

The letter concludes by stating that the history of the two depressions in Bendigo has never been thoroughly examined and that the memories of older residents would be invaluable to the project. Matthews encourages interested individuals to contact her by telephone, expressing her hope that their personal experiences will help preserve an important part of Bendigo’s history.

8672.32c The handwritten letter asks a newspaper or advertiser to help find interview participants for PhD research on Bendigo during the depressions of the 1890s and 1930s. The researcher wants to study how those periods affected ordinary people’s daily lives, especially because the 1930s Depression had not previously been examined in detail locally.

Proposed interviewees should:

Have been born roughly between 1918 and 1923.
Have a clear memory of the period.
Have lived in Bendigo, or within about 50 km, during the Depression.
Have had parents who owned a home or business in areas including Bendigo, Sandhurst, or nearby districts.

The writer also notes strong personal and professional ties to Bendigo, including years of residence, research on Sir John Quick, and work connected with the Bendigo City Council and Bendigo Bank. Marginal notes suggest revisions to the date range and wording before publication.

8672.32d Letter to the newspaper editor based on the above.

8672.32e The two page type written document is a PhD thesis proposal titled “How Depressing?: The Impact of the 1890s and Great Depressions on Bendigo and District.” It outlines a comparative historical study of how the economic depressions of the 1890s and the 1930s affected the Bendigo region, with a focus on their social, economic, and community impacts. The research seeks to determine whether the effects of the two depressions were similar or different, identify the factors that shaped those experiences, and explore what local people remembered about the 1930s Depression.

8672.32f The three page type-written document outlines a proposed thesis examining the social, economic, and political impacts of the Great Depression in Bendigo between 1925 and 1935. It is organised into nine chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of life during the Depression, with a particular emphasis on the role of the Bendigo Benevolent Asylum and the experiences of ordinary people.

8672.32g Photo of Floppy Disk 3.5 inches possibly an outline of Michele's PHD