About

This collection dates back to the late 1970s when a small group of people decided that material relevant to the history of Mont Albert and Surrey Hills should be collected. This coincided with the grass roots movement which resulted in the establishment of the Surrey Hills Neighbourhood Centre. The 'History Nook' became a part of the centre from its beginning.

The collection includes photos, documents, memorabilia, advertisements, ephemera and a small collection of artefacts relating to the history of Surrey Hills and Mont Albert (post code 3127) within the City of Boroondara and the City of Whitehorse. The Neighbourhood Centre has supported the collection ever since. Over time the collection has outgrown available space at the Centre and in 2022 the collection was formally handed over to the Surrey Hills Historical Society (SHHS) in anticipation of its move to a heritage facility being provided for SHHS and the Canterbury History Group (CHG) by Boroondara Council. The move is expected to take place in early 2024.

Our Collection

There are over 5000 photos in the collection including many of early residents, sporting teams, shopkeepers and local primary school grades. The collection is not static; there is concerted collecting of contemporary material to document for the future some of the many changes in the built environment of our suburbs over recent decades. There are also c400 vertical files and several thousand index cards on individuals, organisations etc.; a small collection of ephemera and artefacts; an almost complete run of the Surrey Hills Neighbourhood News; 4 registers containing details of every house in Surrey Hills and Mont Albert and a reference library.

During 2007, many of the photos in the collection were scanned, so the collection now contains digital images as well as hard copies. The current focus of work on the collection is cataloguing it onto Victorian Collections.

Take down policy: These records are digitised by this organisation on Victorian Collections for the purposes of education and preservation. If you believe that we have infringed your copyright please contact us and we will remove the material from the site.

Our collection

Local history collection (1978)

The collection is largely paper-based with an extensive photo collection and a small library of local history books. There is a small collection of artefacts.

Themes: Building community life, Shaping cultural and creative life