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:

8672.75a This handwritten letter, dated 21 May 1931, was sent from Trades Hall, Bendigo to the Town Clerk and City Council. The writer refers to a newspaper reply by Councillor Shields concerning requests made by the union in Melbourne about public holiday pay and wet weather pay for sustenance workers. The letter notes that it had been claimed these matters rested entirely with the municipal councils, and asks the council to clarify its position. Specifically, the writer seeks to know whether sustenance workers are entitled to payment for gazetted public holidays and whether they should be paid for time lost because of inclement weather.

The letter also raises concerns about the transport of sustenance workers to farms. It alleges that workers are being carried in buses licensed to hold only 16 passengers, but that as many as 54 men, and sometimes 28 men in a single bus, are being transported at once. The writer argues that this overcrowding is dangerous and warns that, unless authorities intervene, they could be held responsible in the event of an accident.

A handwritten archival note added in pink ink at the bottom records the outcome of the correspondence. It states that a reply dated 6 June 1934 explained that it was not the City Council's policy to pay for public holidays or inclement weather days. The note also indicates that the issue of overcrowded buses was referred to the appropriate authorities for investigation or action.