Public Record Office Victoria

The Victorian Community History Awards will be hosted by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria in 2026. Get your entry in by following the link in their post below.

The Victorian Community History Awards 2026 are now open!

If you've produced a community history project – or know someone who has – now is the time to put in a submission. There are nine categories covering a wide range of history work:
- The Collaborative Community History Award
- The Community Diversity Award
- The Local History Project Award
- The Oral History Award
- The History Publication Award
- The History Interpretation Award
- The Digital Storytelling Award
- The History Article Award
- The Small History Publication Award

Submissions close Tuesday 30 June, and this year's awards cover work completed between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2026 – so there's plenty to celebrate.

Head to https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/victorian-community-history-awards-2026/ for the submission form and full terms and conditions. Good luck to everyone entering! 🏆



(Image: "Two ladies dressed in long gowns on beach, Brighton.; c.1890"; object number PH-980268. The Royal Historical Society of Victoria has more than 100,000 licensable items in its archives. For a high-resolution copy of this image or others, contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria)

These plans of Hawthorn Football Club were drawn by A.E. Curtis 30.7.64. They are part of our series of Public Building Plans documenting the regulation of health and safety standards in public buildings used for the purpose of education, entertainment, amusement and recreation. Other buildings you can find in this series include schools, hospitals, theatres, hotels and churches.

🗺️ Find these and more Hawthorn Football Club plans here: https://go.vic.gov.au/4twNtVm

🔍️ And search all Public Building Plans on our dedicated Topic Page: https://go.vic.gov.au/4doK70K

"She had a magnetic presence. You really wanted to be around her and wanted to be part of whatever change she was creating." How is Joan Kirner remembered, 36 years on from becoming our first female Premier?⁠
Read our latest blog post: https://go.vic.gov.au/4wXn2eM
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Image citation: PROV, VPRS 14518, P1

National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

As part of National Reconciliation Week we share our publication 'Finding Your Mob' for Aboriginal people researching their Victorian family history. We recently updated the publication with the latest information on the types of records held in the collections of both Public Record Office Victoria and the National Archives of Australia and the Koorie Reference Services available to Aboriginal people. Online tools and resources are listed together with other organisations that may be able to help people reconnect with their history.

View 'Finding Your Mob' online: https://go.vic.gov.au/4dsYbYr
And learn more about Reconciliation Week here: https://www.reconciliation.org.au/our-work/national-reconciliation-week/

What's the perfect addition to any 90s outfit? A Brashs bag! Preferably full of top 40 cassette tapes - what was on your music shopping list back then?

👠https://go.vic.gov.au/4erDQUn

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the launch of Rehearsing the City last night, as part of . It was wonderful to share the exhibition with so many people and to meet many of the talented photographers whose work features in the show.

The exhibition brings together archival imagery alongside photographs by Ai Tam Do, Adrian Leung, Suzanne Phoenix, Ted Richards, Sande Harsa, Mark Forbes, Melanie Cobham, Michael Currie, Andrew Tan, Hashem McAdam, Chris Bekos and Deb Stembridge.

National Gallery of Victoria

More info: https://prov.vic.gov.au/whats/public-exhibitions/rehearsing-city

The Ballarat Heritage Festival starts today, featuring four days of unique heritage experiences, exhibitions, displays, performances, talks and tours.

🎟️ https://ballaratheritagefestival.com.au/

📸 Ballarat Fishery VPRS 12903/P0001/2328, 196.

This week is National Volunteer Week, recognising the invaluable contribution millions of volunteers across the country make every day. Today we invited our volunteers to come together to celebrate their achievements so far this year, including:

🟡 Listing more than 67,000 land selection files
🟡 Indexing seven years worth of 1940s divorce records
🟡 Completing digitisation of a register of inward correspondence of the Chief Secretary’s Department
🟡 And working through upwards of ten other projects to help make Victoria’s history more accessible for all.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers for everything they do here at the archives. Just a few of our volunteers are pictured here with historian Robyn Annear who shared a fantastic presentation on "Who killed the acting Town Clerk?" demonstrating how public records can be used in different ways (like finding a possible murder suspect!)

Learn more about our volunteer program: https://go.vic.gov.au/43kNPUs

🐝🌻🐝Did you know tomorrow is World Bee Day?! These fantastic photos are from hives in Echuca: https://go.vic.gov.au/429CHJs