Look History in the Eye, Melbourne

Behind Melbourne’s fading advertisements lie stories that were never meant to survive. In this talk, author and historian Sean Reynolds uncovers the hidden lives of women revealed through his Melbourne Ghost Signs research - stories found not only on walls, but in rate books, police files, directories, inquests, and the deep holdings of PROV. Recorded live at the Victorian Archives Centre in Febru...

What secrets do Melbourne's ghost signs hold? Join us as Sean Reynolds, the Instagram-famous 'ghost sign guy' shares tales of roving North Melbourne  unveiling the vibrant history embedded in every brush stroke. We pause at enchanting spots like the Maison Marnay Brandy sign, and learn about Sidney Albert Cheney, the automotive pioneer who helped bring Chevrolet and Morris to Austra...

Unravel the enigma of the 'Sandy Point Man'. Discover how advanced forensic techniques combined with historical detective work put a name to a skeleton discovered off the coast of Victoria in 2017. With Victorian forensic experts Dr. Dadna Hartman and Dr. Runa Daniel leading the charge, hear how they applied complex methods like bomb pulse dating and forensic genetic genealogy to give th...

Join us as we journey into the profound stories of Australian women who ventured to the United States during the 1920s and 1930s, leaving their mark on the art world, sport, politics, and society. With historian Dr. Yves Rees as our guide, we uncover research into pioneering artist Mary Cecil Allen, Judge May Lahey, surfer and teacher Isabel Letham and social economist Persia Campbell, whose remar...

The Brookside Reformatory for Girls was in Cape Clear, ten miles from Scarsdale Victoria. Award-winning education journalist Erica Cervini delves into its cruel and unusual treatment of girls, their multiple escapes, and what we can learn from its ultimate failure. The Brookside girls is episode 14 of Look history in the eye . Erica recently wrote an article for Public Record Office Victoria'...

Prepare to journey back in time to the captivating, yet controversial world of phrenology, with our guest Dr. Alexandra Roginski. This episode takes you from the hustle and bustle of public readings and fortune-tellers in Melbourne's Eastern Arcade to the somber tale of the Gunn-Alley Murder. We shed light on the rise and fall of phrenology, and delve into the intriguing parallels between phr...

Hold on to your hats as we unearth the audacious story of Fanny Finch, an English emigrant who journeyed to Australia in the 1830s. Finch, a woman of colour, dodged open mine shafts and drunken men to succeed as a businesswoman and a trailblazer for women's rights in her efforts to survive as a single mother.  We also bring to light how her life inspired an award-winning stage play, which cli...

This gripping family memoir shares Jonathan Butler's investigation into the unsolved murder of his serviceman relative, Warwick Meale. It shines fresh light on Australia’s queer military history. Author, Jonathan Butler shares insight into his book The Boy in the Dress .  Today’s episode is a recording of our Melbourne Writers Festival event from 2022 with author Jonathan Butler in conversati...

The Australian gold rush years saw a boom in immigration and prosperity, but it wasn’t always a harmonious time. Racist attitudes towards Chinese people in Victoria led to discriminatory legislation. Standing up against this oppression, thousands of Chinese people presented petitions to government. These petitions are some of Victoria’s earliest examples of activism and they provide a rare opportu...

Queer stories from the archives discusses important records preserved in PROV’s collection. From love letters and police framing, to records of urban beats, Angela Bailey, Vice-President of the Australian Queer Archives shares the stories of queer lives from the earliest days of colonial Melbourne. This talk was originally given at the Victorian Archives Centre for International Archives Day 2022....

This episode is about the 1907 sighting of a creature known as the 'Kamarooka Panther'. The big cat was first spotted by sisters Alheith and Trine Christensen and made headlines from Bendigo to Melbourne, and right across the State. Interview with Desiree Pettit-Keating from the Bendigo Regional Archives Centre. We're venturing out of Melbourne for  The Kamarooka panther , episode 8...

Charles Troedel Archive  explores nineteenth century Melbourne through the lens of advertising, and the artwork of Charles Troedel. Troedel helped shape a visual cultural identity which continues today. This talk was originally given for Melbourne Design Week 2022.  Talk by Amanda Scardamaglia, Associate Professor and Department Chair of the Swinburne Law School and author of Printed on Stone: The...

This episode recognises the women who worked in Footscray’s munitions factory during World War One, and earlier. This talk was originally given as an online presentation for International Women’s Day 2022.  Pioneer girls and flappers is episode 6 of the podcast series Look history in the eye. Talk by Katie Wood, PhD Candidate in history at La Trobe University and Senior Archivist at the University...

Episode 5   is about the 1955 escape of five prisoners. Yet this was not to be the first escape from Pentridge Prison in Melbourne and it would not be the last. P entridge Prison Escape , Episode 5 of the podcast series Look History in the Eye.  As guest crime writer Susanna Lobez puts it: "There are three ways to undergo a prison sentence. The soft way. Which is where the prisoner obeys all...

Melbourne is considered the music and food capital of Australia, but it all happened in two decades. This episode Deadtown to Musictown for Look History in the Eye, explains the backstory behind how food and music culture became the lifeblood of the City. Some claim it’s all thanks to a person called John. The story begins with the discovery of a protest poster held at Public Record Office Victori...

Little was known of famous 19th Century Melbourne businesswoman Madame Brussels, until Barbara Minchinton discovered an old photo album in 2018 still in the hands of an ancestor Dennis James. It finally put a face to the rumours which had dominated her legacy in Melbourne for over a century.   Presented by Kate Follington and Public Record Office Victoria this is an interview with archival histori...

Monuments for the masses , episode 2 of the podcast series Look history in the eye explores the reasons why Melbourne was desperate for a landmark in the 1970s and where it all went wrong. Melbourne loves to look back and laugh at the kitschy ideas that were submitted in the Landmark Competition. But the archives tell a different story, one where world-famous architects and artists were let down b...

The Silent Prison , Episode 1 of the podcast Look History in the Eye is about the convergence of ideology and design. Pentridge Prison in Melbourne, and its on-site panopticons, were the physical manifestation of criminal reform ideas in the 1800s. Radical concepts were designed into the architectural vision for the prison and introduced a method we now know as one of mankind’s most brutal forms o...