For many years after its construction in 1850, Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Prison Pentridge was a place of dread. Today, though it has a grim and violent history, Pentridge is an entirely different place. Inmates inside the controversial housing facility have included some of Australia’s notorious criminals – among them Ned Kelly and Chopper Read – … Read on
During the 1920s, many Aboriginal people moved to Fitzroy, Victoria, attracted by job prospects and cheap rent. Now replete with wine bars, bakeries and fancy restaurants, Fitzroy was once known as ‘Melbourne’s worst slum,’ but it was a thriving First Nations space with a real sense of community. By the 1940s, Fitzroy had the largest … Read on
In the Victorian-era, England was swept with a new craze for ancient antiquities – in particular, those originating from Egypt. The fascination has become known as ‘Egyptomania’, and it reveals the culture of curiosity, discovery and exploration that exemplifies the Victorian era. Egypt had entered international news in 1822, when the Rosetta Stone was translated, … Read on
Australia’s contributions to filmmaking are significant – for example, we were the first in the world to extend films to feature-long narratives. Very few people know that Australia is also responsible for the world’s first feature-length film – The Story of the Kelly Gang. It’s also the first ever film about Ned Kelly, the first … Read on
In partnership with University of Tasmania By Dr Imogen Wegman, Lecturer in Humanities, Diploma of Family History One of the things I enjoy most about being a historian is getting to stretch my imagination out over centuries’ worth of built landscapes. But in this age of digitisation, I am not only reliant on what I … Read on
The German steamship SS Preussen, which journeyed to Australia in 1886–87, left a trail of wreckage that carried over into the subsequent century. The Preussen departed its home port of Bremen in northern Germany on 3 November 1886. It then called at Antwerp in Belgium, where most of the 570 passengers were boarded after first … Read on
One of the Victorian Football League (VFL)/AFL founding clubs, Fitzroy Football Club was formed in 1883. Known for most of their lives as ‘the Lions’, the club struggled to survive through the 80s and 90s. The lion mascot was meant to reflect the ‘never say die’ spirit of the club – a spirit that was … Read on
The tradition of wearing mourning jewellery to remember a loved one dates at least as far back as the 1600s. Here, we look at the basics of this fascinating custom and its symbolism, and how to identify Victorian mourning pieces. Mourning jewellery is most often associated with the Victorian period, popularised by Queen Victoria’s very … Read on
This is the story of aconvicted child killer and theonly woman to be hanged in Western Australia. As is often the case, our tale begins with an affair. Thomas Nicholls Morris and his wife, Sarah, had what she described as an unhappy and quarrelsome marriage, with Thomas having ‘kept’ a mistress, Martha Rendell. Looking for a … Read on
Norfolk is a history-lover’s heaven. Traces takes a look back on Consulting Editor Eden Cox’s journey to Norfolk Island. As we boarded the Air New Zealand flight to Norfolk Island on a Friday morning, my partner and I chatted about Marcus Clarke’s fictional convict classic, For the Term of His Natural Life. In it, Clarke … Read on