Discover the wonders of Victoria's past.
24 - 31 October is History Week
To celebrate, why not spend the week travelling back in time, discovering Victoria's wide and wonderful past.
From fascinating walking tours and engaging discussions, to exhibitions and ‘history in the making' events -there is something in store for everyone to enjoy.
This History Week you can...
- celebrate the 175th anniversary of Melbourne's foundation by discovering some of the key people and events that shaped our city;
- indulge in Melbourne's passion for shopping, from the Paris end of Collins Street to the local corner store, at the 'til you drop Exhibition;
- go trick or treating on a guided Halloween tour of the Melbourne General Cemetery;
- reflect on Victoria's worst industrial accident - the collapse of the partially completed West Gate Bridge - through eyewitness testimony, photographs and moving footage taken at the time;
- discover the oldest area of continuous Chinese settlement in the western world, meeting Dai Loong (the Big Dragon) and sipping on Chinese tea;
- enjoy a Sunday afternoon in the countryside taking part in a festival of celebration for the 150th Anniversary of the Malmsbury Viaduct, and then popping into Kilmore on the way home for a tour of the Kilmore General Cemetery;
- take a free guided walk within Victoria's first public hospital, hearing the stories about the dedicated people who have contributed to 162 years of caring for the community;
- get a glimpse into working-class life in late 19th century Melbourne as you delve through an archaeological time capsule at the Melbourne Museum;
- explore Victoria's largest and most visited war memorial and learn the fascinating story of the mystery of the missing Diggers of Fromelles;
- take a cemetery tour with a difference, recalling some of Melbourne's macabre crimes on the "Mostly Murders" tour;
- meet Wendy Lee, St Kilda's Neon Ice Skating Girl (Little Audrey's lesser-known cousin!);
- visit historic Walhalla, taking part in guided town walks, ghost tours, a market and an 'open house' inspection of heritage buildings at the Walhalla Heritage Day;
- ride on a model steam train at Scienceworks and check out historical vehicles in action;
- spend a spine tingling night at one of Melbourne's oldest cultural institutions - the State Library - discussing the things that scare us;
- hear how things have changed over 50 years of medical practice in Victoria;
- research your family history with the experts at the Immigration Museum;
- learn all about the Velvet Rebel, Jessie Webb, who was one of the founders of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria;
- find out all about farming in the Plenty Valley and why it became known as Melbourne's Food Bowl;
- and much, much more!
