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:

8672.78a The document is a letter dated 18 June 1934 from the Unemployed Ratepayers' and Citizens' Association in Bendigo to Mr. F. T. Amer, Town Clerk of Bendigo. It reports the outcomes of a special meeting held to discuss the Sustenance Act and outlines the Association's concerns and resolutions regarding unemployment relief and sustenance work.

The Association's primary resolution calls for unemployed workers to receive the full amount of sustenance to which they are entitled under the Act. It also urges the Government to provide sufficient funding to the City Council so that it can continue supervising sustenance work, ensuring unemployed people have access to appropriate relief and employment opportunities.

A second resolution requests that the City Council prevent agitators from interfering with sustenance works, including during lunch breaks while men are employed. The Association argues that supervisors should have the authority to keep agitators away from work sites, claiming that outside interference and worksite meetings are not in the best interests of the workers and may disrupt employment.

The letter concludes by stating that the Association is compiling a list of additional public works capable of employing more workers. It notes that the resolutions have already been forwarded to both the Premier and the Minister of Sustenance, expressing hope that the matter will be resolved quickly. The letter is signed by Fred C. Sweeney, General Secretary of the Unemployed Ratepayers' Association.