Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Karen Price is a local artist who loves the rich variety of domestic architecture that can be found throughout Moonee Valley and nearby areas.

On Thursday evening (19th March 2018), to mark the start of National Trust Heritage Week, Avondale Heights Library and Learning Centre will host the opening of Karen Price’s new art exhibition Here Today, Gone Tomorrow. The exhibition includes 34 pen and watercolour paintings.

Concerned at the frequent sudden appearance of vacant blocks in recent years, often in spots where she couldn’t quite remember what used to there, (and perhaps also influenced by once having lived in a house later pulled down so the mansion next door could add a tennis court), Karen decided to document in ink and watercolour a selection of domestic dwellings from Moonee Ponds, Essendon, Ascot Vale, Strathmore and Travancore.

Karen chooses the homes to paint based mostly on their aesthetic appeal, as well as looking for clear sight lines and trying to include a variety of architectural styles in the series. She makes no claims of being an architectural expert, but she has tried to concentrate on houses that appear to be more or less as they were originally designed. Her method is to roam the streets with a camera, and then to work from her photographs.

Currently Karen is working on a series of works documenting the course of the Maribyrnong River, after which she may return to paintings of Moonee Valley buildings.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow opens at Avondale Heights Library and Learning Centre on Thursday 19th April at 5.30 pm to 7.00pm. The exhibition runs from Thursday 19th April to Friday 18th May.

All images in this post © Karen Price.

Heritage Week Talk: Public institutions in Flemington and Kensington

We have an upcoming talk on the history of public institutions in Flemington and Kensington, happening on Wednesday 18 April, 6.30pm-7.30pm, at Flemington Library.
History enthusiast John Dickie, Chair of the Flemington Association Committee, will share his expert knowledge on the establishment and history of local institutions in the Flemington and Kensington area. Learn the history of our library, the police station, churches and various other local institutions.

Please contact library staff in person or call 8325 1975 if you require access for a wheelchair or disability scooter before attending an event so that we can ensure appropriate seating is arranged. Moonee Valley Libraries uses Eventbrite for all event bookings. When booking, you will be required to provide your name and contact details. The Eventbrite privacy policy can be found via the Privacy link at the bottom of the page.

Old News

Have you ever wanted to track down a local news article that you saw a while back, but forgot to cut and keep?

This, of course, is one of those little jobs where we at the library might be able to help. We have several resources to try if you're after old news articles from the 20th or late 19th century (from indexes of articles to microfilmed reels of old papers), but this post will focus on how you might go about searching for more recent articles, ones from this millennium.

Here are some of the special resources we offer: Newsbank Here you can search a browse local papers (as well as many others) including: -The Moonee Valley Weekly (2007-2013) -The Weekly Review (Moonee Valley) (2016-2018) -The Leader, Moonee Valley (2000-2017)

ANZ Reference Centre: This makes these papers (amongst others) searchable: -The Moonee Valley Weekly (Nov 2010-May 2013) -The Leader, Moonee Valley (May 2009- Mar 2018)

To access Newsbank and ANZ Ref Centre, go to our Online Resources page, click on Newspapers and Magazines, and then click on the relevant button. If you're outside of the library, you'll also need to log in with your Moonee Valley library barcode number from your library card.

We also have some of the local papers since 2000 microfilmed and available at Sam Merrifield Library for use with the local history PC. However, as Newsbank and ANZ Ref Centre allow you to search and browse much more easily, I'd try them first.

Index to Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages

The Victorian birth, death and marriage indexes online have been extended. This means that there are now an extra 8 years of marriage entries (up to 1950) available, as well as one more year of birth details (1853 to 1917).

Church of Ireland Gazette - 1856-1923 online

The Church of Ireland have made historical editions their Church of Ireland Gazette available, and searchable, online. There are nearly 7o years of gazettes available, from March 1856 to December 1923.

These Gazettes provide birth, death and marriage notices for clergy; ads; news; and a variety of regular columns, from which you can learn a lot about parishes, attitudes, and (should your family include Irish ancestors) perhaps a little about your family history.