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:
8672.82a The document consists of two related pieces of correspondence concerning requests for charitable assistance in Bendigo in 1934.
The first page is a handwritten letter dated 27 July 1934 from the Bendigo Unemployed Association to the Mayor's Relief Committee. The Association asks the committee to consider providing assistance to the widow and family of Mr. J. L. Wilson, described as a stonemason who died in the Bendigo Hospital on 24 July. The letter explains that the delegation wishes to raise this case for discussion and expresses hope that the committee will cooperate in helping what it describes as a needy family. Handwritten archival annotations highlight the worker's death and identify the letter as relating to the Mayor's Relief Committee.
The second page is a typed letter dated 20 November addressed to Mr. H. F. Betteridge at the Bendigo Benevolent Asylum. It states that the Mayoress has received applications for assistance from Mrs. J. L. Wilson and Mrs. M. Hardy, and requests Betteridge's advice on what assistance should be provided. A handwritten archival note refers back to the earlier letter of 27 July 1934 from the Bendigo Unemployed Association to the Mayor's Relief Committee, linking the two documents as part of the same case history
