Kew Historical Society Inc.

22/08/2026

23/07/2026

A more familiar site to residents of Kew and Kew East

23/07/2026

Have you swum at the Kew Swimming Pool? Probably not for a while! This is what it looked like at the opening of the Kew Baths in 1925. The buildings on the west side of the open air pool in High Street were changing rooms. A diving board was located at the south end and a diving tower at the north end. This was one of three photographs taken at the official opening in 1925. They were recently donated by Barbara Sutherland, the daughter of the City of Kew Engineer, John Maughan, who designed the original Kew Baths.

14/07/2026

From early Kew days until motoring became a popular pastime, boathouses along the Yarra/Birrarung were hubs of leisurely water-based recreation popular for swimming and boating from Spring to Autumn while in winter the area was more regularly used by the rowing and canoeing clubs for training. The quarterly “Kew Historical Society Newsletters” are full of fascinating articles, including histories of Kew boating and boathouses. One of these is Julie King's December 2022 “Life on the River - Macaulays' Boathouse” and it brings to life the charm of yesteryear recreation and the Kew Canoe Festival.

Around 1890, Isaac Macaulay built a two storey family home on River Retreat by the river, later putting up a double storey boathouse beside the home offering boat hire and refreshments for locals and visitors enjoying picnics and recreational swimming and boating. At the ground level was a small kiosk selling lollies and sandwiches plus canoe storage with separated change rooms upstairs and an entry fee of threepence for an adult and a penny for a child. Every year from 1910 until the late 1930s, the Boathouse hosted the Kew Canoe Carnival as a charity event. The Boathouse survived floods, but with the rise of motoring, interest in boating waned, and the Boathouse closed in the 1950s, the estate later becoming a private home called Mole’s End.
Read the whole story athttps://kewhistoricalsociety.org.au/khs/wp-content/uploads/KHSNewsletter-2022-1.pdf
Have you seen anyone boating or swimming in that once popular part of the river?

10/07/2026

This dress from the 1860s was owned by Mary-Anne Henty of Kew. It was conserved last year at the Grimwade centre where we were horrified to hear that its silk is starting to shatter. This week we also responded to survey by a Master’s student about shattered silks in our collection. It made me wonder how AI could be used to create a 3D record of the dress. We already have multiple photos. How should it be animated? Without a background or against a background. Could we use a portrait of Mary-Ann in the State Library as the avatar. Over to the experts.

09/07/2026

Last night's Kew Historical Society's July meeting featured original 1974 footage of Kew presented by local history enthusiast Tony Michael. Many of the places and spaces have been radically changed over the last 50 years.
The two building pics are stills from the film. Do you remember these buildings or the "Kew Junction never closes" sign or the Volkswagen motor yard?
Thoughts?
For your diary: Next meeting, August 12, Emily Grant on Boroondara Archives. photos

17/06/2026

Exploring a mystery antique table top tool. So far we haven’t been able to work it out. Tell us what you think this is.

13/06/2026

It’s been bothering me for years. What is this equipment, who would have used it, and what was it designed to do?

09/05/2026

What a delight it has been for everyone to view this fabulous coat from 1927. Was it purchased in Paris where it was made or imported into Australia? I’m betting on the former.