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 document:
8672.88a The document is a letter dated 30 October 1935 from the Town Clerk to Mr. A. E. Cook, M.L.A., State Parliament House, Melbourne. It explains that an exceptionally cold and wet winter caused demand for government-supplied firewood to rise well above normal. As a result, the available quota of wood distributed to unemployed people in Bendigo had already been exhausted, and no further supplies were expected to be available for several weeks.
The Town Clerk states that the additional wood already distributed had been issued in good faith to deserving recipients who were in need. He asks Mr. Cook to make representations to the Sustenance Department so that authority can be granted for an additional supply of firewood. If the request is approved, the Town Clerk undertakes to coordinate with the local Forestry Offices to regulate future distributions more effectively and ensure that adequate supplies are available before the following winter.
The letter concludes by acknowledging that maintaining supplies until more wood becomes available would require a significant reduction in current distributions. The Town Clerk therefore requests that, if possible, an extra allocation of firewood be authorised, stressing that such assistance would be greatly appreciated by the community. The letter is signed "Yours faithfully, Town Clerk."
