Moonee Valley Family & Local History Blog

Fred Kruger's (1831-88)  photographs present a study of mid-nineteenth-century Victoria.  His most notable commission was to record life at the Aboriginal settlement of Coranderrk Station at the bequest of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines (BPA).  His sense of time and place have a creative expression that makes Kruger's work notable in the history of Australian photography. Exhibition is at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square.

'Photographer Unknown' is a new exhibition of photography that explores anonymous images and film footage. Patrick Pound has collected hundreds of old family snaps and pinned them to a wall in ordered rows. The images have been found on eBay, in second-hand shops, on YouTube, in family albums and deceased estates. This exhibition may interest anyone who has ever been left with photos from the family estate and wondered about the images and have tried to trace their relationship to the people, activities and places in the images; also public libraries and museums who receive donations of photos that then need to be identified and stored for the future. The exhibition is at Monash University Museum of Art, Clayton campus 16th September - 28th November, 2009, Curator Dr Kyla McFarlane. For a review of this exhibition go to 'Memories, with loose moorings'

' Max Dupain on Assignment" This exhibition is a collection of photographs by Max Dupain from the collections of the National Archives of Australia and the Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the Australian National University. The exhibition explores works that Dupain created in the 1940's to the 1970's for the Australian Government and the Colonial Sugar Refining Company Limited, now known as CSR. For more information about this project the Moonee Valley Library Service has a copy of the book Max Dupain on Assignment Call No. F 779 DUP and several other books on Max Dupain's photography. The National Archives of Australia had no information about the young violinist used in the promotional materials, but Robyn Davies learnt her image was part of the exhibition when her brother saw it promoted in the Qantas inflight magazine. Robyn remembers the day well, the photograph was taken in 1971 at the Methodist Ladies' College in Burwood, Sydney. In 1987 Robyn moved to Pa...

This is a travelling exhibition from the Australian National Maritime Museum at the Victorian Archive Centre in North Melbourne. The photographs record the daily lives of fishing and farming people living in isolated communities in the west of Ireland. The exhibition can be viewed from the 14th July to 8th November. Admission free. On Saturday 30th August, Public Records Office Victoria will be presenting an all-day program of talks and other activities in celebration of the Irish experience in Victoria. For bookings, contact PROV Public Programs (tel.: 9348 5600; email: ask.prov@prov.vic.gov.au ). Currachs are still used today by fishing communities in the west of Ireland. At day's end, resembling giant carapaces, they are carried beyond the high-tide mark for storage overnight in gardens or boat yards.