Moomba
Social life & customs, Such was life:
Melbourne’s Moomba festival first took place in March 1955 and was initiated to liven up Melbourne and attract tourists.
Such was life
Does my bustle look big in this?
People & professions, Such was life:
The Centennial Exhibition of 1888 at Melbourne’s Exhibition Buildings was a motza for women. Posh citizens complained about the lack of servants – young women had flocked to the better pay and free fun down at the exhibition.
Death on the Pyramids
Some soldiers in Egypt during World War I were so taken by the pyramids, they decided to climb them, with tragic results.
Before it was the Australian Open it was the…
The first Victorian tennis championships took place in 1880 just three years after the first Wimbledon tournament.
The history of hello
Social life & customs, Such was life:
You’re the first person in the world to answer the telephone- so what do you say; Hello? Hulloa? Hi? Anybody there?
Monster Petition
In 1891 women throughout Victoria went door to door, gathering signatures for a women’s suffrage petition, which became known as the ‘monster petition’.
Matthew Flinders’ cat
People & professions, Such was life:
One of my favourite books in our children’s collection is a story written by explorer Matthew Flinders about his cat, Trim. This story languished for many years in the archives of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, until it was discovered and published in the literary magazine Overland in 1973.
Martha Needle – Melbourne’s 19th century serial poisoner
People & professions, Such was life:
In 1894, Martha Needle was sentenced to death for the murder of her prospective brother in law, Louis Juncken, and executed in the Old Melbourne Gaol. She was also said to have poisoned her husband Henry, their three daughters Mabel, Elsie and May, as well as attempting to murder Herman Juncken.
Victoria’s early horse trams
Social life & customs, Such was life:
In 1884 Melbourne’s first tramway- a horse tramway in Fairfield- was built to promote land sales in the area (100 years of Melbourne’s trams, pg 1). Two horses pulled a carriage containing… Read More ›
Romeo Street and Juliet Terrace (what’s in a name?)
Buildings & streets, Such was life:
In the 1870s Romeo Lane and Juliet Terrace in central Melbourne were home to men and women of the night. Supposedly men would ply their trade in Romeo Lane and… Read More ›
