PMI Victorian History Library

25/08/2026

The evening with historian Ross McMullin was a wonderful celebration of Australian political history, and we’re so grateful to everyone who joined us at PMI Victorian History Library.

Ross shared lively, insightful stories from The Light on the Hill and beyond, bringing the highs and lows of Labor history to life through the people who shaped it. The audience leaned in for every anecdote, and the Q&A showed just how engaged and curious our community is about Australia’s political past. A special highlight of the night was the enthusiastic response to Ross’s books. Attendees lined up after the talk to purchase signed copies, and demand was so strong that Ross completely sold out. It was clear many people were keen to take his work home and keep exploring these stories.

Our warm thanks to Ross McMullin for an engaging and entertaining talk, and to all who attended for making it such a memorable evening. We look forward to welcoming you back for more nights of enthralling learning at the library.

Recording of the night's event: https://youtu.be/LKi0M34RgFc

24/08/2026

Have you ever wondered what Balwyn looked like before it became the suburb we know today?

Join us for a guided heritage walk Melbourne and explore the rich Balwyn history that shaped this community. Starting at Balwyn Baptist Church, this local history tour will take you through the streets as they once were. From open paddocks and grazing land to a thriving suburb, you’ll discover how key moments like the arrival of trams in 1916 and changes in land use transformed the area. Along the way, enjoy stories of everyday life. Bonfire nights in Beckett Park, billy cart races down Balwyn Road, and the people who adapted as the suburb evolved.

A relaxed and engaging way to connect with Melbourne suburbs and their past.
Please wear comfortable shoes and dress for the weather.

Part of Victorian Seniors Festival. Places are limited.

📅 Wed 7 Oct | 🕡 10:15 am
📍 Balwyn Baptist Church
🎟️ Book your ticket today: https://brushfire.com/pmivictorianhistorylibrary/Balwyn2026/627209

24/08/2026

It looks like Luna is having a lovely time travelling around Europe with our Collections Librarian. She has climbed all over Dun Carloway Broch and explored the Calanais standing stones, you can just see her standing at the bottom there.

Luna is missing her friend Clementine though and can't wait to tell her all about her adventures!

22/08/2026

Do you remember what Australian books you studied when you were in school? We all know that prescribed texts can be hit and miss from students’ points of view, but the books that make the VCE and HSC lists (and so on) are chosen because they are considered to have merit and qualities worth dissecting and appreciating.

In this next instalment of our search for the Top 100 Australian Books of All Time for ’s countdown (voting opens at the end of this month!), we at the PMI Library are turning our attention to classroom classics: homegrown books that are studied at schools across Australia. As all genres are eligible, this new list of potential contenders includes plays, short story collections, memoirs, novels and poetry.

🔗 Blog post: https://www.pmi.net.au/top-100-australian-books-classroom-classics/

19/08/2026

Before sound, there was music. Live, powerful, and unforgettable.

In the early days of cinema, Melbourne audiences didn’t just watch films. They experienced them through music. Pianists, photoplayers, and full orchestras brought emotion, tension, and drama to the screen. From the first stage organs at the Tivoli Theatre to the grandeur of the Capitol and State Theatre Wurlitzers, Melbourne became a leader in film music innovation. It was a golden era of creativity and performance.

And then, almost overnight, it disappeared.

Join Rick Alabaster for a richly illustrated talk exploring the rise and fall of musical accompaniment in silent film. Drawing on years of research, Rick uncovers the instruments, the musicians, and the theatres that defined this extraordinary moment in Melbourne history.

📅 Tues 15 Sept | 🕡 6:30 pm
📍 PMI Victorian History Library
🎟️ Grab your ticket: https://brushfire.com/pmivictorianhistorylibrary/thebandplayedon/636648

19/08/2026

Stories are one of the most valuable forms of cultural memory.

In this oral history workshop, participants will explore how family history can be preserved through thoughtful life story interviews and simple audio recording techniques. The session will cover why personal stories matter, how to create intergenerational interviews, and how to ask better questions that invite genuine reflection.

Facilitated by Nina Fromhold, Founder of Memory Lane Life Stories, the workshop combines storytelling expertise with practical guidance. Nina’s work helps people record meaningful conversations and preserve voices in a format that feels intimate, accessible, and lasting.

For libraries, heritage professionals, and community-minded audiences, this is a valuable reminder that preservation is not only about objects and documents. It’s also about people, voice, and connection.

Register now and learn how to help keep those stories alive.

📅 Wed 26 Aug | 🕡 10 am - 12pm
📍 PMI Victorian History Library
🎟️ Tickets: https://brushfire.com/pmivictorianhistorylibrary/FHWOralHistory/633761

18/08/2026

We were delighted by the conversations in our library for Melbourne Rare Book Week.

The most important archives of the future might not exist… yet. Or worse. They might exist in formats we can’t open.

Johanna (NFSA), Taryn (ACMI) and Ellen (PMI Library) pushed us to think beyond paper and into the complex world of digital preservation. Where technology, authenticity, and access collide.

Here is the link to the event recording on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/BJbSx7Jwij0?si=CXzareLpo72tHyt8

18/08/2026

Wallace Kirsop had been a Life Member of the PMI Victorian History Library since 2003. We were so sorry to hear of his passing over the weekend.

He was a respected scholar, founder of Melbourne Rare Book Week, and an unwavering supporter of libraries and the study of books. Over the years, Wallace had donated from his own collection, given talks, and shared his knowledge with our community.

Here is an article the Guardian did on him in March this year recognising his significant contribution to the literary and academic world. It is and excellent tribute and well worth a read for anyone who values Australia’s book and library heritage.

📚 Read the article:

Prof Wallace Kirsop, 92, is one of Australia’s foremost experts in rare books – not just their contents but their makers, buyers and readers, and the stories they tell beyond the page

17/08/2026

What can a single tram route reveal about Melbourne’s middle class?

Quite a lot, as historian Professor Janet McCalman will show in our special Patron event at Parliament House.

The PMI Victorian History Library’s local history collection began as a retirement project by Janet’s father, Laurie McCalman. Guided by curiosity and a love of everyday detail, he built a collection that captures how people in Melbourne’s suburbs lived, worshipped, studied and moved through the city.

Drawing on that collection and her book Journeyings: the biography of a middle-class generation, Janet traces the stories of four schools connected by the 69 Tram: Scotch College, Methodist Ladies’ College, Trinity Grammar and Genazzano Convent. Along this route, education, religion and quiet social expectations shaped a generation that rarely left obvious records behind.

This is a rare chance to hear how family memory, library collections and social history intersect to illuminate a “hidden” Melbourne.

📅 Wed 09 Sept | 🕡 05:30 for 6pm start
📍 Parliament House, Victoria
🎟️ Book now: https://brushfire.com/pmivictorianhistorylibrary/69Tram/636886

15/08/2026

🧪 National Science Week is a wonderful reminder that science lives in the details all around us. At the PMI Victorian History Library, we are celebrating the natural history flora found in older books, including The Native Flowers of Victoria by Pescott and Introduction to Botanic Teachings at the Schools of Victoria by Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. These beautiful works do more than showcase Victorian wildflowers. They preserve knowledge, reveal how people once studied the natural world, and connect us to the scientific thinking of the past.

In a world where so much disappears into the scroll, libraries hold the deep memory. They safeguard books like these so that researchers, students, gardeners, historians, and curious minds can still trace the roots of our natural world. This National Science Week, we’re proud to highlight the books in the PMI Library's collection that help us see science, nature, and heritage through the same lens.

National Science Week