University of Melbourne Archives:

Past News

Protest! Archives from the University of Melbourne is currently on display at the Leigh Scott gallery on the first floor of the Baillieu Library. An article about the exhibition can be found in the latest edition of the University's The Voice.

An article about uncovering children's voices in the archives, written by Principle Archivist Helen McLaughlin, features in the latest University of Melbourne Voice.
The University of Melbourne Archives is excited to announce the launch of Malcolm Fraser: Guide to Archives of Australia's Prime Ministers. The guide is a joint publication with the National Archives of Australia and will be launched by Dr Margaret Simons, the Hon. Simon Crean and Petro Georgiou. A full pdf of the Guide is available online here.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Mount Lyell mine fire in October this year, the University of Melbourne Archives have digitised and made available online the Royal Commission report that investigated the incident. The fire was one of Australia's worst industrial disasters, in which 42 miners lost their lives. The volume is from the Mount Lyell collection, which contains over 70 shelf metres of records dating back to 1892.
The Duke's and Orr's Amalgamated Dry Docks Ltd collection has now been listed and the list is available online. The company was a central part of Melbourne's maritime history and the former dry dock is now home to the Polly Woodside. Read about the collection and it's treasures here.
The University of Melbourne Archives' architectural plans of JJ Clark are currently featured in an exhibition at the Old Treasury building, Gold and Governors.

Posters, costume designs and photographs from decades of student theatre at the University will be displayed to mark the creation of the Melbourne University Student Theatre Archive. The exhibition will be shown on the second floor of Union House until Monday, 30th July.
The latest edition of the University's The Voice, published fortnightly in the Age newspaper, features a front-page article about family history resources at the University of Melbourne Archives. Read it here.
The magazine of the short-lived Mildura branch of the University of Melbourne, Dust, is now available online.

The only extant recordings of the John Henry Austral radio programs are now available online. Developed by Sim Rubensohn for the Liberal Party in the late 1940s, the programs were the first national political advertising campaign on radio in Australia. Hear an interview with the University Archivist on Radio National Drive and read an article by Stephen Mills on Inside Story for more information.
The University of Melbourne Archives hosted a public seminar: "Wartime 'Census': The University of Melbourne Social Survey, 1941-1943". Thursday, 14 June 4.30pm, Ground Floor Baillieu Library.

The staff of the University of Melbourne Archives would like to express their sadness at the passing of David Scott on April 22, 2012. David donated a large collection of papers related to his campaigning efforts for East Timorese independence to the UMA in 2006. An obituary by Richard Tanter in The Age outlines his leading role in Australian social welfare and policy fields.

The architectural plans of William Pitt have been the subject of a conservation project supported by the Miegunyah Fund. In all, 82 items were flattened, repaired and cleaned. The collection contains drawings of a number of significant Melbourne buildings including the Rialto, the Stock Exchange and the St Kilda Town Hall.

An article on the changing nature of inter-personal communication featuring UMA collections, including Malcolm Fraser, Francis Hare and others, is currently featuring in the University's Voice newspaper.
An exhibition featuring highlights from the La Mama Theatre collection is now showing in the ground floor of the Baillieu Library. Items include correspondence, play appraisals, and photographs relating to performances by Cate Blanchett and Stelarc, the scripts of David Williamson, and linocut posters by Tim Burstall. The exhibition closes on 8 April, 2012.
UMA holds the Victorian Women's Liberation and Lesbian Feminist Archives, along with other collections detailing the struggle for women's rights. Jean Taylor will be launching her book, "Stroppy Dykes: Radical Lesbian Feminist Activism During the 1980s" at the Brunswick Neighbourhood House on Saturday 31 March. This coincides with the completion of the listing of the VWLLFA collections, which were used extensively in the preparation of the book.
February 13 marks the inaugral UNESCO World Radio Day. The University of Melbourne Archives has recently digitised what appear to be the only extant copies of the John Henry Austral radio campaign. This campaign was run by the Liberal Party in the late 1940s to oust the Chifley government. It was the first major national political campaign on radio.

2011-2012 marks the centenary of Australian Antarctic Exploration. The UMA holds a number of collections of interest, including those of Raymond Priestley and the Geology Department's collection of 1,500 glass slides of Antarctic which will be digitised in 2012.
The University of Melbourne Archives congratulates Mr Ian Renard, chair of the Archives Advisory Board on being named Member of the Order of Australia for his service to the tertiary education sector, business and commerce and cultural institutions.
The University of Melbourne Archives recently received a new accession of papers from renowned architectural academic, George Tibbits. An article in the University of Melbourne Voice reveals the significance of this collection.

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen in Victoria The Footplate, the journal of the union that ran from 1918 to 1938, has been digitised with the generous support of the Locomotive Division of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

The hunt for Ned Kelly is now online! 54 letters to and from Superintendent Francis Hare, who was apppointed officer-in-charge of the hunt for the Kelly gang, have been digitised and are available on the University Libraries' Digital Repository, along with the brief for the prosecution in the subsequent trial.
The University of Melbourne Archives recently received a new accession of papers from the renowned engineer, AGM Michell. An article on Michell's contribution to the international shipping industry and the material held in the Archives, can be read on the School of Engineering's The Melbourne Engineer.

The Library Collections blog is now available, featuring regular updates relating to Archives material.