Bendigo Regional Archives Centre in Bendigo, Victoria | Public & government service

Bendigo Regional Archives Centre

Locality: Bendigo, Victoria

Phone: +61 3 5449 2700

Address: 251-259 Hargreaves Street 3550 Bendigo, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.brac.vic.gov.au/

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25.01.2022 FLASHBACK FRIDAY The 2020 Bendigo Cup will be run and won next Wednesday at the Bendigo Jockey Club, and our article from last year uses the BRAC and PROV collections to look back at the winners from 50, 100 and 150 years before, including 1919 when the local horse, Bullengarook, won! You can read the article here: https://www.brac.vic.gov.au/bendigo-cup-19

24.01.2022 Did you know BRAC's International Women's Day Exhibition is still available online? Whether you can't wait for the cricket season to start, you heard Virginia Trioli on 774AM this morning, or you're wondering if the milk in your tea would ever have been local, you'll find a story of interest or inspiration here: https://www.brac.vic.gov.au/locating-women-bendigo

24.01.2022 From the City of Bendigo council minute books, 1957 - can anyone shed any light on what the Hill-Billy Club might have been? BRAC has minute books back as far the 1850s, and for a range of shires including Marong and Swan Hill - visit the catalogue page on the BRAC website for the full list.

21.01.2022 Flashback Friday This time last year, BRAC was preparing to launch the exhibition, Langston Street in Fifteen Objects - you can still read the catalogue for the exhibition, with fascinating stories about the people who have lived in Langston Street over time, here: https://www.brac.vic.gov.au/langston-street... Here are a few photographs from the Bendigonian newspaper, featuring the life and times of some of these Ironbark residents...

20.01.2022 Today marks the International Day of Rural Women - there are so many footprints of women in our rural communities throughout the BRAC collection. Bridget Gill of Shelbourne is just one brief story of hundreds, and gives examples of the many places you can find more on incredible rural women just like her: https://www.brac.vic.gov.au/2020-rural-women

18.01.2022 A proposed open air dance palais in King Street, from the City of Bendigo permit plans collection (uncatalogued).

18.01.2022 The Spring newsletter is out now Any guesses as to which collection is depicted in this quarter's Spring Surprise? https://mailchi.mp/77ef9ec40699/2020-sept

14.01.2022 FLASHBACK FRIDAY With Remembrance Day coming up next week, we thought this pair of sketches from the City of Bendigo Maps & Plans collection would be appropriate. Undated, these two plans outline a design for an honour roll by JA Johnstone of Bath Lane, made of jarrah wood and fibro cement (though 'red gum' was initially flagged and then crossed out). In the bottom corner of the second design, there is also a small doodle of a critter of some description! An i...ndex is available for this collection but it is as-yet uncatalogued - information on how to order can be found here: https://www.brac.vic.gov.au/additional-collection Next Wednesday, 11 November at 11AM, we will halt for a minute's silence and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many across the world for our freedoms today. Lest we forget.

14.01.2022 BRAC explores the collection by taking a look back at Bendigo's response to the outbreak of another infectious disease - smallpox - in 1872 and see no matter how much changes, some things seem to stay the same... You can read our look back here: https://www.brac.vic.gov.au/disease-deja-vu

13.01.2022 FLASHBACK FRIDAY It's that time of year again, and for those who think that Halloween is an American tradition, it's time to be schooled! This observance, of Celtic origin, has been celebrated in our district in many different ways since as early as 1858. The Caledonian Society held annual Halloween and All Hallows Eve balls throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, where there would be 'dooking' for apples, and children collecting goodies like butterscotch ...in paper bags. Various photos have appeared in the Bendigo papers since the 1940s which show different groups, often school classes, engaged in dress ups and telling scary stories. This one was published in the The Bendigo Advertiser in 1951, depicting student teachers at Sandhurst House dressed for their Halloween party. Sandhurst House (also pictured, WH Robinson photo) stood on the corner of Mitchell & Mollison Streets, where the Luke Goggin Real Estate building now stands. The 1888 building was purchased from the Heywood family by the Government in 1945 to accommodate female trainees attending the Teachers' College at the Camp Hill site; it was used, along with Lancewood, and Comerford in Golden Square until the new facility at Flora Hill was built in 1958, at which time the lease from the Backhaus Estate expired and the grand building was demolished. Prior to being a hostel for the College, the building was an 82-room guest house and coffee palace, which had been operated for 39 years by the Heywood family. William Heywood's probate papers give a fascinating insight into the guest house, with a room-by-room description of all the contents, from the individual guest rooms to the dinning hall and kitchens. You can find this PDF document by searching 'William Heywood 1922' on the Public Record Office Victoria website.

13.01.2022 BRAC's Spring newsletter will be out soon - if you're not already subscribed, you can sign up using the 'Email Signup' link on our Facebook Page. The local collection focus for this quarter is the City of Bendigo City Engineer's Reports (1947-1979), which are a wealth of information about the development of the local landscape, as well as the evolution of council-managed facilities such as the Golden Square Caravan Park, the Showgrounds, Cemeteries, sports grounds, gardens and more. Find out how to access this fascinating collection in the newsletter...

11.01.2022 BRAC hold an extensive collection of council correspondence - these are some historical letterheads from letters received by the City of Bendigo Council from the 1800s through into the 1920s. Sandhurst inward correspondence can be ordered to view in our Reading Room by date and in some instances, by topic, here: http://access.prov.vic.gov.au//comp/daPublicBaseContainer

09.01.2022 FLASHBACK FRIDAY The Bendigo Pre-School were planning for their Bonfire Night around this time 50 years ago, and had written to the City of Bendigo council seeking permission to run a spinning wheel at Londonderry Oval for their fiesta. #BonfireNight ... The letter was tabled at the meeting of council on 5 October 1970, and this extract is from the City of Bendigo Council Minutes collection (VPRS 16269 P1 Unit 28).

08.01.2022 Get your Zoom app set up and ready for the launch of James Lerk's latest publication, this Saturday morning:

08.01.2022 How glorious are these blueprints for Bendigo’s Lyric Theatre? From a yet-to-be catalogued collection of council permit plans c1940, these depict the entrances for this magnificent looking building:

08.01.2022 PROV North Melbourne is part of Open House Melbourne but this year is taking our house to yours, via YouTube! Wondered where all those inquests, plans, criminal files and other records are kept and brought up to the Reading Room for researchers? Tune in From 9AM on Saturday and then head to Facebook for a Q&A session at 10AM:

07.01.2022 FLASHBACK FRIDAY They say The Simpsons has an uncanny knack for predicting the future, but in this case, it was art imitating life! This is an excerpt from the City of Bendigo Council Minutes in 1945 (VPRS 16269/1/15), with a resident complaining about greyhounds swimming in the Bendigo East Swimming Pool... it made us think of this episode of The Simpsons in season three

07.01.2022 Did you know? Since April, the Discovering History series in partnership with the Library & La Trobe have been delivered online - and recorded! You can watch these fascinating and diverse presentations any time on the Goldfields Library YouTube channel, including Into Deep Water, Housing the Diggers, Dressed & Blessed, Children Lost & Found and Black Gold: https://www.youtube.com/c/GoldfieldsLibraries/videos

05.01.2022 New Discovering History session, coming soon:

04.01.2022 Don't leave your application sitting on your desktop - make sure it's entered before 5PM tomorrow (Wednesday) for the Victorian Community History Awards:

03.01.2022 Well over 100 guests joined our last, in-person Discovering History talk back in February to hear prominent local historian, James Lerk OAM, explore tomato sauce production in the Bendigo district. Now James' book - Bendigo's Once Flourishing Tomato Industry - has been published and given the BRAC collection was used extensively in his research, we're happy to share details of his book launch! Conducted as an online, interactive launch using the conferencing app, Zoom, James ...will discuss his book (along with input from some special guests) from 11AM on Saturday 15 August 2020. If you're not familiar with the program, there are lots of easy tutorials online - don't be intimidated, it's very simple to use and you can remain muted and opt not to appear by video if you only wish to listen to the presentation and not participate directly. For more details about the launch including the Zoom link) or the magnificent 156-page volume, contact James at [email protected]

02.01.2022 Did you catch our last Discovering History seminar, with Dr Fred Cahir? You can watch it anytime you like on YouTube via the link below, and learn about the magnitude of Aboriginal involvement on central Victorian goldfields in the mid-19th century:

01.01.2022 Fancy a bite to eat at the Dad & Dave Cafe? You wouldn't have missed it - there are dozens of applications for putting up neon signs in the 1940-50s across Bendigo, this image is from the uncatalogued collection of City of Bendigo permit plans.

01.01.2022 Our congratulations go to Brian Rhule, author of Maldon: A New History, which was recently given the History Publication Award in the 2020 edition of the Victorian Community History Awards. The awards, conducted by PROV and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, were announced recently and Brian's book was recognised as the best non-fiction publication on Victorian history for 2020. Judges said: "This new history of Maldon is a window into the minutiae of life in a gold-m...ining town and makes a valuable contribution to the ever-expanding body of work on the Victorian goldfields. The book covers a rich spectrum of material, shining a light on many elements of everyday life in this early mining town, covering the period from the gold rush of the 1850s up until 1928 - a period when the steam powered quartz gold-mining industry dominated the local economy. Skillfully contextualised, this account covers the vicissitudes of mining and the local economy, while providing insight into the rich fabric of social life, the political sphere, and labour issues. The township has proud traditions relating to its gold-mining past and classification by the National Trust in the 1960s as Australia’s ‘first notable town’. The author, a retired lawyer with a ‘passion for researching history’, reflects perceptively on this legacy when considering the future of heritage in Maldon." You can download the full VCHA Winners Booklet here: https://prov.vic.gov.au//f/files/VCHA%202020%20Booklet.pdf