Mortlake & District Historical Society Inc.

27/05/2026

Can you help? We are trying to identify the unnamed women in this Mortlake CWA Choir photo. While we don't have a year, the dresses and hairstyles indicate early-mid-1950s. Perhaps some of our Followers can assist.

17/05/2026

https://www.wdnews.com.au/funds-needed-to-preserve-history-2026-04-23

THE Mortlake and District Historical Society (MDHS) has put out an appeal for support after beginning the arduous task of digitising the 157-year history of the Mortlake Dispatch.

13/05/2026

04/05/2026

04/05/2026

Two more batches of photos which have been enhanced and colourised using AI (in an incredibly basic manner). One of the main pitfalls of enhancing heritage photos with AI, obviously, is that this tool cannot always 'read' signage. In this batch of images there are inaccurate renderings of names and businesses. Focus perhaps only on the colourisation and, in some cases, the enhanced detail. Nothing replaces, of course, the original monochromatic images and these certainly won't ever do that. See the results purely as props for our imagination!

30/04/2026

Interesting. Mr AI initially colourised the Mortlake guernseys green but I instructed it to change the stripes to blue...voila! Perhaps I should get it to pull up one lad's socks?

30/04/2026

Recently five members of MDHS - Rob, Jill, Ann, Kim and I - visited the Warrnambool and District Historical Society to discuss with their members how they have been uploading details about their collection to Victorian Collections, an online database used by many historical societies and museums. We learned a great deal from our time with W&DHS members. It is always beneficial for historical societies to communicate and share knowledge and expertise, gained over many years of commitment.

30/04/2026

For around 20 years MDHS has been a member of the Western Victorian Association of Historical Societies (of which I am now President). Recently three MDHS representatives, President Rob McLaren, Secretary Jillian Clingan and I, attended the WVAHS AGM at St Arnaud. This was a great opportunity for the leadership of MDHS to meet with other groups not only in the south-west but across western and northern Victoria.