A bustling scene at Queen’s Wharf, 1853
18 Jun 2024Full of life and activity, you see here a crowded Cole’s Wharf, located between Spencer and King streets, in the early 1850s.
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Latest articles by Dr Cheryl Griffin
An elegant colossus reaches for the sky
22 May 2024Captured by amateur photographer Pierre Robin in early September 1959, this is one of the last photographs to capture the solid presence of the Colonial Mutual Building on the north-west corner of Collins and Elizabeth streets.
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A corner of Melbourne at the crossroads
24 Apr 2024Standing tall on the right-hand side of this photograph, taken looking east along Little Collins St from Russell St, is the head office of Preston Motors, the go-to place to buy the latest Chevrolet and Buick cars.
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Breakdown outside the Windsor Hotel, 1920s
20 Mar 2024Eight men, one broken-down car and a wagon to cart it on. This dismal winter’s day was not going well for the driver, seen here on the far right of the photograph in chauffeur’s outfit, complete with greatcoat to ward off the worst of the Melbourne weather.
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It’s raining, it’s pouring: Elizabeth St a raging torrent, 1863
24 Jan 2024December 15 to 22, 1863 – a week to remember for the citizens of Melbourne. It rained and rained and rained some more and when the rain stopped, and the sun emerged, more than 127 millimetres had fallen.
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Read all about it! The Argus office makes news
21 Nov 2023Seventy people arrested in Lisbon for taking part in anti-English protests. The attempted poisoning of the Russian Tsar proves to be untrue. Australian and New Zealand mail believed to have been destroyed when a train caught fire in Nebraska is found and rescued.
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The Lamb Inn, a “roystering place for shepherds with cheques”, c. 1840
25 Oct 2023Tucked away in the bottom right-hand corner of this watercolour by W F E Liardet are two small windblown figures battling Melbourne’s notorious north-westerly winds.
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Observing the universe: the Great Melbourne Telescope, 1875
20 Sep 2023The open-air reflector telescope at the back of the Great Melbourne Telescope Building faces up to the skies, its seemingly delicately filigreed barrel looking like something from a circus act.
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An afternoon concert in Little Bourke St in the 1880s
23 Aug 2023Seven bandsmen, dressed in flat caps and uniforms, perform outside a substantial bluestone building, believed to be the premises of R Goldsbrough & Co, wool and grain agents, a company that had large grain and produce stores around the city.
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Hold the front page! Melbourne’s first printing office
26 Jul 2023This image of a derelict building in a laneway off Market St was the scene of great activity in the early years of the colony ...
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Thunder, drums, bells, whistles: the magic of the Town Hall organ
21 Jun 2023Melbourne Town Hall was opened in August 1870 and two years later the “grand” organ you see here was installed, with 4373 pipes and 24 manual and 66 speaking stops.
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Clackety-clack: train journeys and the Travellers Aid Society
24 May 2023“Clackety clack – clackety clack. There was a big train”. Some of my favourite childhood stories were about trains. And my absolute favourite was a Little Golden book called The Train from Timbuctoo that began with these words.
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