Moonee Valley Family & Local History Blog

The Essendon Gazette and Flemington Spectator- available on Microfilm Our Local History computer at Sam Merrifield Library has been in need of a facelift, and we are excited to report that it has been upgraded and is now available for all your local history research needs! And with this upgrade comes the good news that our Microfilm and Microfiche collection is back in action!!! There are many resources in this collection that aren’t available elsewhere physically or digitally, and they may hold the missing piece to your research puzzle. The collection includes locally relevant information including newspapers, cemetery records, births, deaths and marriages, land sale notices, and various other indexes. If you’ve never used a microfilm/fiche reader before, there’s no need to worry- there’s a handy step-by-step guide to using the machine in hard-copy next to the computer, and in a PDF file on the PC’s desktop. An example of an Ascot Vale Land Sale Notice on microfilm For some tips and t...

New year, new reading. The folks at Trove are always working hard to bring us ever more digital resources that we can access from anywhere with an internet connection. Despite the challenges of recent times, they have continued to deliver, as always! Check out what’s new in February . Man and two boys reading 'Australasian' newspaper, country edition , 1910-1920. Photograph by Lindsay Cumming, courtesy of State Library Victoria. Many Victorian newspapers have been digitised for the first time, and are now available to access through Trove. Several of these digitisation projects have been funded by family history organisations or local historical societies, who are now able to share their physical resources with us in digital form. One close to home example is the Brunswick and Coburg Leader , from 1914-1921- now you can discover what was going on in our neighbouring suburbs around that time! A quick search for some Moonee Valley suburbs in this publication delivers such ge...

Back in November we introduced you to a new podcast by the Keilor Historical Society- the Keilor Historical Podcast. Episode 1 featured President of the society Susan Jennison chatting with host Richard Whybrow about the bridges of the Keilor region. But wait, there’s more! One episode wasn’t enough to cover everything there is to know about Keilor’s historical bridges, so Episode 2 is online and ready to go! Listen in as Susan and Richard continue their conversation, and uncover some more fascinating facts about significant bridges in the area. Click here to find all the ways you can access the podcast. Keilor Iron or Basket Bridge, Old Calder Highway-c.1910-1930. Photograph courtesy of State Library Victoria.

This year the annual RootsTech conference about researching family history, hosted by FamilySearch each year in Salt Lake City in the US, is being held completely online and access is free. Save the dates: 25 - 27 FEBRUARY, 2021. And register online to save your space at the online conference:  https://www.rootstech.org There will be over 150 sessions including celebrity keynote speakers, varied classes hosted by family history specialists from all over the globe, cultural activities, an online marketplace and even opportunities to potentially connect with distant family members.

2020 was a year of getting back into the kitchen for a lot of us, since we were all spending a lot of time at home! Quarantine cooking was definitely a way of life for some, and many of us experimented with sourdough starters, growing our own veggies, and making epic quantities of Bolognese sauce. But there’s only so many times you can face a bowl of Bolognese at the end of a long day… run out of dinner ideas? Feeling nostalgic about your favourite childhood dishes? Need some new (old) inspiration? Trove has all the answers. The wonderful folks at Trove have put a spotlight on vintage recipes, and have created a handy guide for how to find them amongst all the online resources that Trove make available. Search through newspapers and gazettes, magazines and newsletters, and even books and libraries to find a little spark of culinary inspiration. You might not even plan to cook the recipes you discover, but you will be sure to enjoy stepping back in time and seeing what food fads were t...

Christmas is looking a little different in Moonee Valley this year, but one thing that hasn't changed is the Christmas lights adorning houses in our local streets. Warm summer evenings are perfect for strolling the streets with your family, and keeping an eye out for some dazzling displays. Hunting for Christmas lights is also a great chance to wander down some streets that you might not have been down for a while, and check out the fabulous architecture of houses in your area. Moonee Valley has some fantastic grand mansions, which look even more amazing than usual when lit up with festive lights! It’s a perfect opportunity to see your local streets in a different way, and get in the Christmas spirit! From us at the Moonee Valley Family and Local History Blog, we wish you all the best for the festive season, and the new year. Merry Christmas! A Merry Christmas , 1911. Image courtesy of State Library Victoria.

Our friends at the Keilor Historical Society have been putting together a podcast- have a listen and learn something new about the history of the area! The Keilor region has an ongoing rich and fascinating history- from its naming in 1840s, through the gold rush era, to significant archaeological discoveries of some of the  earliest sites of human habitation in Australia.  We look forward to hearing all about various aspects of the history of the area, explored in depth in this new podcast. The inaugural episode is online and ready to go! In this episode, Susan Jennison- president of the Keilor Historical Society, discusses the many bridges of the Keilor region with host Richard Whybrow. You can access the podcast on various platforms- click here to visit the KHS Anchor site, to find out how to get your ears around this great new podcast. And keep an ear out for more episodes in the future! Bridge at Keilor c.1920-1930 (from State Library Victoria)

Now that the weather is warming up and we can venture a little further from home, why not take advantage of a sunny day and enjoy a walk along the river? With our self-guided history walk, you can get to know a little more about the history of Aberfeldie while taking a stroll along the lovely Maribyrnong River. This walk begins outside the iconic Incinerator Gallery on Holmes Road in Aberfeldie and follows a gentle westerly path with stops along the Maribyrnong River, concluding at the newly restored Afton Street bridge. View of the Afton Street Bridge from the Afton Street Conservation Park. August 2020, photograph by S. Holmes. Click  here  to download the Aberfeldie Self-Guided Walk PDF, and either print it, or follow it on-screen on your phone or tablet. The PDF also contains links to photographs, newspaper articles, websites and items in the Moonee Valley Libraries catalogue, so you can look further into Aberfeldie’s interesting history in your own time, from home. We hop...

Lots of things are looking quite different this year, and in particular, festivals and events that we’d usually attend in person have had to make a giant leap from the physical world to the virtual. A more traditional festival- a scene on the east side of Pridham Street, Flemington, c.1900-1905. Photograph courtesy of Moonee Valley Libraries. The folks at  Royal Historical Society of Victoria have put together a fun and varied virtual history festival that you can take part in without leaving your home- festivals have never looked like this before! Welcome to the Stay at Home Festival . In the wise words of the Royal Historical Society- Have. Some. Fun. The festival happens all the time, any time, in your own time (for as long as we’re all spending most of our time at home). And there are events and activities for home historians of all ages! Ever wanted to try creative writing with a historical theme? Join the History Writer’s Group and get a new writing task each month. Interes...

E W Cole is definitely a contender for most colourful historical personality from Moonee Valley.  Never heard of E W Cole? Perhaps the cover of one of his books might jog your memory? Cole compiled and published a series of Funny Picture Books. The first one launched on Christmas Eve 1879 and they remained incredibly popular for decades.  Remember this?  If you remember the Funny Picture Books you’ll probably remember that Cole loved absurd humour. The first of the series has been made available for free online thanks to the Gutenberg Project – so one of your suggested things to do this Thursday is to re/discover Cole’s Funny Picture Book #1.   B e warned though: what was considered funny and family appropriate then is not necessarily still considered funny – or appropriate for anyone – today, but the book is certainly interesting, has a few gems, and even the bits we cringe at now say a lot about the culture of the time and place in which the book was published. E W...

James “Jim” Paizis was born in 1924, the son of Greek immigrants, in West Melbourne, and grew up in Carlton, learning English when he began at school. As soon as he turned eighteen, he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy, serving on corvettes. Before long he was found to have “OLQ”: officer-like qualities. He became a Sub Lieutenant. As part of the commemorative website created in honour of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in the Pacific, 95 year old Jim Paizis has been interviewed about his memories of WWII and the much shorter, smaller Melbourne that he grew up in. It’s a fascinating interview: https://www.wwiiathome.com.au/jp.html

Have you ever daydreamed about putting together a book?  Perhaps compiling something pictorial – a mix of word and images – like a family history with lots of photos included, an illustrated history of your house, or maybe a narrative about your local area with a selection of photographs and other images you’ve spent years collecting?  If you share the dream of wanting to compile a compelling illustrated book, then join us for an online workshop, More Than Words, next Tuesday, 1 September, at 7pm. Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald will be presenting a webinar on how she wrote and produced photographs her book Modern Mending .  Erin is Australia's leading clothes-mending practitioner and a former journalist, editor and photographer. You can book your place in  the webinar online via EventBrite .  Go to our Eventbrite page to book for More than Words Like all of our Libraries Go Online events , the webinar will be hosted on Zoom (which is free, and very easy to use if you ha...

As it is Family History Month, and we're still locked down with Stage Four restrictions, here’s a list of family history things that can be done without leaving the house. Ten Family History Things To Do From Home: 1. Write your own memoirs – there’s no time like the present to preserve your memories. You could record them too, especially if writing is not your thing. 2. Connect with family members via phone or online to collect their stories as well. If you want to use video chat (like Zoom or something similar) to do this, but you're not sure how, this how-to video from State Library Victoria might help. 3. Document your photos. Note down everything you know about who is who, and when and where. Everything. And a bonus: document that you were the one who did this and you’re pretty much guaranteed to be a favourite ancestor of any family history loving descendants for generations to come!  4. Keep researching. Although libraries and archives are closed the...

Moonee Valley Libraries now has access to the full range of magazines offered online by RB Digital. This means even if you don’t consider yourself to be much of a magazine reader there’s there’s likely something you’d enjoy. For library members they are free to read on your own smart phone, computer or tablet. For history enthusiasts there are 92 history titles to explore from around the World. English language history titles include National Geographic History , American History from the USA, All About History , Archaeology and various BBC history titles such as History Magazine , World Histories and History Revealed from the UK, and from Australia there is Traces (formerly Inside History ).  Two of the history magazine available via RB Digital Recent issues are brimming with great reads. Traces has articles on Paul Brickhill (the Melbourne-born author of the Great Escape and the Dam Busters ), Australia’s oldest synagogue (in Hobart, and celebrating its 175th anniversary t...

The Clocktower building, in Mount Alexander Road Moonee Ponds, has a colourful history. Originally built over 140 years ago, the structure has been remodelled, badly damaged, revived and reimagined so many times the tower is the only original piece that remains. Even that is different, as it didn’t gain the clock until 1930. Throughout its existence, even as the façade has changed, and whether it’s been known as the Mechanic’s Institute, the Town Hall, the Community Centre or the Clocktower Centre, the building has always been a local landmark in Moonee Ponds, and central to community life. Learn more – and see wonderful historical images – in the new video and a webpage that have been created to mark the Centre’s twentieth anniversary as Moonee Valley’s performing arts hub.  On the Clocktower history webpage you can slide back and forth to see the building as it was first imagined, and in recent times.

August is National Family History Month, and is the perfect time to get stuck into some research on your family history!  Curious about the history of your house? Our Things to do Thursday post last week  hopefully gave you a starting point to begin researching the history of a building. For National Family History Month we continue on this theme, and will be running two online sessions on Tracing the History of you House. Our resident expert Meredith will guide you through the resources available to you to get you started on your own research, and answer any questions you may have. Click here to register for our afternoon or evening session on August 5th.  Woodlands- Built in the mid-1880s as a base from which to supervise the building of nearby Earlsbrae (Lowther Hall). Demolished to make way for units in the mid-1950s, despite being in immaculate condition. Photograph c.1908, courtesy of Essendon Historical Society. The National Family History Month website has l...

Curious about when your house was built? Interested in finding out about the original occupants? Wondering about the history of that interesting old building on your street? Don't know where to begin? Moonee Valley Libraries has just the guide for you! Our Researching the History of a Building guide brings together all the resources available through Moonee Valley libraries, as well as online, to get your started with your research project. Whether you're interested in when it was built, the original occupants of a building, the architecture style or tracking down an old photo of a bulding, the guide has tips and tricks to point you in the right direction. Once you're familiar with the resources available to you from home, let yourself fall down a research rabbit hole and see what you uncover. And keep an eye on Moonee Valley Library's  Eventbrite page and social media channels for our upcoming online event Trace the History of Your House, for National Family Histor...

Group of men reading newspaper broadsheets Drawing by S. T. Gill (1818-1880) courtesy of State Library Victoria Have you noticed that Trove is looking a little different these days? Trove is a one stop shop for all your Australian research needs, and is a collaboration between the National Library of Australia and hundreds of Partner organisations around Australia. From late June 2020, Trove has been updated with a fresh new interface and a bunch of new features to help you get the most out of your research. You can read the story behind the new design and features here , before getting stuck into finding your way around the new layout. Explore the extensive collection of digitized Australian content- newspapers, government gazettes, photographs, maps, journals and even sheet music! Can’t find something on the new look Trove that you could on the old version? There some handy hints for making the most of the new layout here , along a great how-to video for a broad introduction...

Our friends at the Incinerator Gallery in Aberfeldie have re-opened to the public! Essendon Incinerator, Walter Burley Griffin, Holmes Road  (1975) Photograph by John T. Collins, courtesy of State Library Victoria. One of the current exhibitions showing at the gallery is Fluidity- An Exhibition in Digital Waves . You can experience it in person at the gallery, or online in the digital space. "Fluidity is an exhibition presented on-site at Incinerator Gallery, and as an online resource via the Gallery’s website. It explores the force of soft power to affect change in the world through the political and poetic navigation of water. Fluidity brings together newly commissioned works by some of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists, as well as works curated from the City of Moonee Valley Art Collection. These are presented alongside long-standing ecological projects that celebrate sustainable and healthy waterways in Melbourne’s North West." Fluidity runs from June 19th until A...

Maribyrnong River , photograph (c. 1910-1930) Robert Macedon O’Brien, courtesy of State Library Victoria. As restrictions start to ease during these pandemic times, we're all pretty ready to stretch our legs and get out and about (safely, and practicing proper social distancing of course!). The fine folk at Victoria Walks have compiled a fantastic collection of guided walks throughout Victoria, with many in our own Moonee Valley. Click here to see the walks available in your local area. You can enjoy a stroll along the Maribrynong River, a walk through the streets of Ascot Vale, explore the trails throughout around Woodlands and Napier Park and many more. Learn a little more about your area by exploring it on foot- the walks may take you down paths you've never wandered before, or help you to see familiar sights with fresh eyes. There's plenty of other walks throughout Victoria on the Victoria Walks website, so if you feel like venturing further afield, Victoria Walks is ...