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 - Relief during the great depression

This item includes the following documents:

8672.51a The document is a dated request, 16 September, addressed to Messrs. Myer's Grocery Department. It instructs the grocery department to provide a specified quantity of food items to Mrs. Crowley, with the goods to be delivered directly to the bearer of the note.

The cost of these groceries is to be charged to the Mayor's Unemployment Relief Fund, indicating that the supplies were being provided as part of a municipal relief programme for someone in need rather than as a private purchase.

The requested provisions include 4 pounds of potatoes, 1 tin of plum jam, 3 pounds of oatmeal, ½ pound of tea, and 2 pounds of sugar. These items represent a basic selection of staple foods intended to support a household.

The document concludes with the signature line "Town Clerk," indicating that the order was officially authorised by the local council administration on behalf of the unemployment relief scheme.