Box Hill Historical Society

20/05/2026

Next society meeting...

43 years with the Wilderness Shop.

Special Guests: Mary and Neil Blundy.

In 1980, the Blundys opened their shop in Carrington Road, and in 1996 relocated to Whitehorse Road. They will share stories of their retailing in central Box Hill across the years.

Date: Sunday, 21 June 2026
Venue: Bert Lewis Room, 1st Floor, Box Hill Library, 1040 Whitehorse Road Box Hill.
Time: 2pm.
Visitors are most welcome.
Admission: A donation towards our costs would also be most welcome.

19/05/2026

The below book has been donated for our book sale, but in the mean time the society are hoping to trace their original owners or connect with any descendants who may recognise them.

Pease get in touch via Facebook message or email us at [email protected]

Even the smallest clue could help us.

06/05/2026

Next society meeting...

Box Hill Golf Club has a fascinating history. Please join members of their history working group to hear the story of the club, and the various sites they have occupied. The group would welcome any contributions from attendees with knowledge of the club.

Date: Sunday, 17th May 2026
Venue: Bert Lewis Room, 1st Floor, Box Hill Library, 1040 Whitehorse Road Box Hill.
Time: 2pm.
Visitors are most welcome.
Admission: A donation towards our costs would also be most welcome.

IMAGE: Opening Day - 14 March 1953

19/04/2026

Our next cemetary tour...

In 2026 we are trialing a tour of Burwood cemetery on 10th May, to see if there is enough interest to also include regular tours there. As with our Box Hill cemetery tours, bookings are via Trybooking, with enquiries to our email. This tour will leave from the Gilmour Street entrance, (50 metres from the corner with Highbury Road.)

Cost: $15 for Society members; $20 for non members.
Bookings essential:

The Box Hill Historical Society will be conducting a tour of Burwood Cemetery on Sunday 10th May 2026 commencing at 2pm. Come to visit the graves...

12/04/2026

We are very grateful and excited to announce that...

We have reached our target. Huge thanks to all who contributed. We will advise details of the unveiling at a future date.

09/04/2026

Following our earlier post on the Gillies Bequest, here’s where you can learn more about William Gillies’ legacy and our efforts to honour him with a memorial plaque.
Find out more on our website:
https://www.boxhillhistoricalsociety.com.au/funding-of-william-gillies-memorial-plaque/

08/04/2026

Do you remember the Gillies Bequest from your schooldays? He left the bulk of his estate, nearly £10,000, as a perpetual bequest to the schoolchildren of Victoria, to allow for the establishment of school bands/orchestras, to encourage reading aloud by the supply of books via circulating libraries, and for the encouragement of nature studies. He lies in an unmarked grave in Box Hill cemetery. We are fundraising to honour his memory with a plaque. The link is active and below.

Box Hill Historical Society is seeking funds to enable a plaque to be placed on the unmarked grave of William Gillies.

07/04/2026

NEXT SOCIETY MEETING...
Norman Carter, a former President of this Society, made a series of films of his family and the local district, and donated copies to the Society many years ago. These films have been skillfully restored and assembled into an intriguing record of 13 years of living in our area by Chris Long, who will introduce the films.

Venue: Bert Lewis Room, 1st Floor, Box Hill Library, 1040 Whitehorse Road Box Hill.
Date: Sunday, 19th April
Time: 2pm.
Visitors are most welcome.
Admission: A donation towards our costs would also be most welcome.

16/03/2026

As part of the 2026 Whitehorse Heritage Festival, which will run from Sunday 13th to Sunday 20th September, we will be holding our annual secondhand and collectibles book sale in the lower hall at the Box Hill Town Hall.

We have already received some 20 boxes of donated books, covering a wide range of topics, and more are promised, so the sale will be a large one, perhaps equalling the 40 boxes we had available in 2025.

05/03/2026

New index online!

We are pleased to announce the completion of a major indexing project - the recording of all names in the Box Hill ratebooks from 1947 to 1984, creating a database of over 100,000 entries.

We have now uploaded the final batch of entries, that of South Ward for 1954-1984. The various indexes are now available for searching on our website (under RATEBOOKS), with the original records available for perusal in our rooms on a Tuesday between 11am and 4pm.
https://www.boxhillhistoricalsociety.com.au/our-collection/