User:Maddy8/sandbox

Memo:

Add - with a sentence extracted: Graeme Davison, ‘Fifty Years of Victorian Local History’, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 84, No. 1, June 2013, pp. 120-138.

Consider also: ‘”Suburb is not a rude word in Australia”: a lexical history’ in Richard Harris and Charlotte Vorms (ed.), ''What’s in a Name? Talking about Suburbs,'' University of Toronto Press, 2017, pp. 68-88.

Plus (if available) the PROV recording of GD's speech in October 2017.

Also, add a Culture and heritage page to this page, and link it to Heidelberg, Victoria - stress the heritage campaigns and also the collection.

Heidelberg Historical Society is a museum and research organisation devoted to the local and community history of Heidelberg and surrounding areas in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.

The Society was founded in 1967. Members pay an annual subscription fee and elect a management committee. The Society opened its museum and research centre in the former Heidelberg Court House in 1979 and continues to operate these facilities with support from volunteer members. The Society became incorporated as an association in 2002.

Building
The Society's headquarters and museum is the Old Heidelberg Court House, formerly part of the Magistrate's Court of Victoria. The red brick building was designed by J B Cohen (an architect in the Public Works Department) and built by Swanson Bros. The foundation stone was laid on 4 October 1899 and work continued throughout the summer, in time for the opening and first court on 2 April 1900.

The courthouse continued in use until 1979 when a more modern courthouse was built nearby in Jika Street.

The building is owned by the State Government of Victoria and is managed by a committee of the Society.

Collection
The Society's collecting focus is on the Heidelberg District from its early beginnings in 1838 and the subsequent Shire of Heidelberg (1871-1934), City of Heidelberg (1934-1994) and City of Banyule (from 1994), as established within their boundaries from time to time. The Heidelberg District encompassed a large area to the north-east of the Melbourne stretching from the Merri Creek along the Yarra River and Plenty River through the Diamond Valley to the Kinglake Ranges.

The Society collects objects, photographs, maps, business & community archives, audio-visual media, local newspapers, and electronic databases. It also has a reference library and a number of other information resources to support research.

Exhibitions
The Society develops exhibitions that display items from its own collections, often augmented by loans from members. Recent exhibitions include:


 * 'An Invitation to the Ball: Women's formal wear, 1850-1950' (2010).
 * 'Against the Forces: A tribute to the memory of Walter Burley Griffin and Marian Mahony Griffin' (2013). This exhibition contributed to nation-wide celebrations of the centenary of the Griffins' design for the city of Canberra.
 * 'A Brush with Heidelberg' (2016), highlighting the work of artists in interpreting the local landscape.
 * 'Remembering 67' (2017). This exhibition offered a multi-sensory experience of the year 1967, the year of the Society's foundation.

Activities
Public meetings are held on the second Tuesday of every second month throughout the year. A guest speaker at each meeting presents information and ideas that are relevant to the history of the Heidelberg district. Details are promoted via the Society's website.

Members receive a regular bimonthly newsletter, The Heidelberg Historian.

Volunteers are available at the museum to assist researchers with enquiries. The museum is open on most Sunday afternoons, but is closed for some weekends for collection management projects and when exhibitions are being developed.

Tours to sites of local historic interest are organised from time to time.

The Society shares current news via its Facebook page.

Awards and recognition
The Old Heidelberg Courthouse is recognised by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) as 'an unusual example of Edwardian period architecture'. The statement of significance draws attention to the 'high octagonal Court Room which has clerestory windows and a steeply pitched hipped roof (formerly slate), is surrounded by ancillary offices with a prominent entrance porch and door with a leadlight over'.

The Society is recognised as a Place of Deposit by the Public Record Office of Victoria (PROV) and is approved to hold original public records that are of local interest and significance.

The exhibition 'An Invitation to the Ball' won 'Best Exhibit/Display' category in the Victorian Community History Awards that were presented in October 2010.

The exhibition 'A Brush with Heidelberg' was commended in the Historical Interpretation category of the Victorian Community History Awards that were presented in October 2016.