Piecing together the lives of soldiers
This ANZAC Day we remember some Bendigo soldiers who are included in the Vincent Kelly photographic archive.
Such was life
Sybil Craig: a life in pictures
Arts & literature, Such was life:
Melbourne artist Sybil Craig became one of the first women war artists in Australia. The Library holds Sybil’s archive which contains over 1700 photographs and more than 280 works on paper, many of which are now online.
Keith Kings Public Transport Collection
The Library has received a large donation of material documenting Victoria’s public transport, featuring some wonderful photographs of decorated trams.
The old tin shed
Buildings & streets, Such was life:
‘The Elizabeth Street blot’, ‘unsightly’, ‘deplorable’, ‘an ancient eyesore’. Few buildings in our city’s history excited as much controversy as ‘the old tin shed’.
The art of shadows: Andrew Macredie’s silhouettes
People & professions, Such was life:
In the 1850’s, cartoonist and illustrator Andrew Macredie created two volumes of beautiful silhouettes depicting his Banyenong neighbours, local pastoralists and their wives.
Convict tattoos
What do the following things have in common: candlesticks, beehives, cock fights, drinking glasses, swans, flowerpots, crucifixes, stags, comets, and roses? Give up? They’re all convict tattoos.
Baker of ours
Kate Baker’s autograph book bears witness to her passionate advocacy for Australian literature. Manuscripts librarian Sandra Burt tells us more.
Ruth Hollick and early Australian fashion photography
Arts & literature, Such was life:
Ruth Hollick is noted for her portraits of children and of Melbourne society’s elite as well as creating some of the earliest known fashion photographs in Australia.
Newly digitised works on paper
Arts & literature, Such was life:
After ten years, the Library’s Works on Paper project has resulted in the digitisation of more than 11,000 original drawings, prints and watercolours, creating an extraordinary archive of unique Victorian artworks.
Fish named after men
People & professions, Such was life:
Melbourne in the 1850s had a small but ambitious scientific community. One particularly idiosyncratic member of that community was William Blandowski, a man often at odds with the scientific establishment. He found himself embroiled in controversy with his choice of names for newly described Murray River fish.
