University of Melbourne Archives:

Past News

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.