Unlocking the past

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Explore Mildura Rural City Council Libraries collection of locally significant historical items.

If you have items to donate to the collection, click here for further information.

The Mallee's Living Histories

The Mallee’s Living Histories is a local project which is working to enrich the lives of older Mallee residents wishing to share their memories with children, grandchildren and others who may enjoy knowing a little of their journey.

Explore The Mallee’s Living Histories website to find out more about the stories shared.

Click here to view Mildura Rural City Council Libraries catalogue and place a hold on the books.

 

 

1956 Floods

Learn more about the 1956 floods in the Sunraysia region.

View photographs from the Ted Lawton Collection of the 1956 floods, as well as the significant flood events of 1974 and 1992.

Read online historical newspaper articles related to local flood events.

Visit Mildura Rural City Council Libraries to explore the Local History Collection.

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56 flood memories Red Cliffs by Mary J. Chandler

Available in print.

 

 

 

 

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1956 flooding back

Available in DVD.

 

 

 

 

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1956 flood by Murray Darling Association Inc

Available in DVD.

 

 

 


Diary of Nicholas Stapleton

An account of Nicholas Stapleton's arrival and first year in the Mildura district from 4th November 1891 to 31st December 1892.

Read the document.

Frames of History

The Frames of History project is the work of author Ian McWilliams.

Part of the project includes interviewing people from the Sunraysia area on camera and archiving their life stories and experiences.

Explore the Frames of History website and enjoy the podcasts.

The Influenza Pandemic 1919

The document chronicles the 1919 influenza pandemic as reported in local newspapers at the time. The state border regulations, isolation orders and health advisories all lend a sense of urgency to the pandemic and gives a fascinating insight into what we are now faced with ourselves.

Read the document

A companion document to "A local timeline of the influenza pandemic of 1919 for Mildura and surrounding areas as reported in newspapers at the time". The stories of some of the Mildura lives lost.

Read the document

Mildura by the Vagabond

On Saturday 24th March 1894 a comprehensive article, on the creation of an irrigation colony at Mildura and the commercial undertakings of the time, was published as a supplement in The Leader (Melbourne) newspaper.

You can read the documents online by clicking on the links below.

Mildura by the Vagabond

Commercial Mildura by the Vagabond

Past Librarians

The first Mildura Public Library was opened over 130 years ago. During this time there have been many librarians who have contributed to the library service. Learn more about these past librarians here.

Myrtle Gallagher

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The first librarian appointed to Mildura Carnegie Library upon it's completion, in late April 1908, was Miss Myrtle Gallagher.

Myrtle Gallagher was paid an annual salary of £50 (approximately $11500 today).

We are searching for more information about Myrtle Gallagher and would welcome any information you may have to share about her life.


Photograph supplied by Mildura & District Historical Society.


Jessie Plant

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Jessie Plant was the second Librarian at the Mildura Carnegie Library and held the position for just over a year from 1911 - 1912.  

During this time James Mathew donated a generous gift of his personal library containing some 600 books, for which Miss Plant would have had the task of adding to the existing collection.

Read the articles which appeared in the Mildura Cultivator on 29 July 1911 on Jessie's appointment as librarian of the Carnegie Free Library, as well as 10 August 1912 on her departure from the library and Mildura to be married.


Photograph supplied by Mildura & District Historical Society.


Elsie Lowe

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Elsie Lowe was the third Librarian at the Mildura Carnegie Library.  Miss Lowe held the position for 13 years, from 1912 - 1925.  She was appointed as Jessie Plant's successor at the ordinary monthly meeting of the Mildura Shire Council held on Friday 9 August 1912.

Read the article which appeared in the Mildura Cultivator on Wednesday 14 August 1912, when Elsie was appointed to the position.


Photograph supplied by Mildura & District Historical Society.


Alice Farmer (nee Lapthorne)

Alice Farmer (nee Lapthorne)

  

Alice Lapthorne was first employed as a Junior Librarian at the Carnegie Library in 1940 and went on to be the first Children's Librarian, a position which she held for 22 years.

Find out more about Alice's life here:

A brief biography of Mrs A. M. Farmer as supplied by Mildura and District Historical Society.

Antcliff-Freda-A-brief-biography-of-Mrs.-A.M.-Farmer-September-15-1988.pdf(PDF, 2MB)

Alice was a published author.  Among her publications is the iconic book Mildura Calling.

Article that appeared on the occasion of Alice's death in the Sunraysia Daily on 11 May 1993.

Sunraysia-historian-dies-in-Adelaide-Sunraysia-Daily-May-11-1993.pdf(PDF, 814KB)


Photograph and document supplied by Mildura & District Historical Society.

Project HIBAL

Learn more about Project HIBAL and the Australian Balloon Launch Station (ABLS), located in Mildura from 1960 to 1981.

Read the document online or borrow the book from our library by clicking on the book cover image below.

View photographs from the Ted Lawton Collection of Project HIBAL operations.

Read the recent news article How Australia helped the US keep tabs on its nuclear rivals through a secret balloon program.

The last of the apple blossom  

Project Hibal by Steven Thorn

Available in print

Project Hibal, located in Mildura Victoria Australia was a secret shared American/Australian program to sample the upper atmosphere for atomic fallout. This book describes why the United States of America had a stratospheric sampling program for residue from nuclear weapons. The book also describes the problems and method of flying, recovering giant balloons many hundreds of feet in diameter with flown payloads greater than three hundred kilograms in weight, flying at heights above 100000 feet or 30 kilometres.

Red Cliffs Settler News

The Red Cliffs Settler News circulated within the communities of Red Cliffs, Cardross, Nangiloc, Colignan, Sunnycliffs, Carwarp, Iraak, Stewart, Karadoc, Koorlong and Hattah from December 1992 to November 2015.

1992                           Dec  
1993 Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
1994  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
1995  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
1996 Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
1997   Jan   Feb   March   April   May   June   July   Aug   Sept   Oct   Nov   Dec  
1998 Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
1999  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2000  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2001 Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2002   Jan   Feb   March   April   May   June   July   Aug   Sept   Oct   Nov   Dec  
2003 Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2004  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2005  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2006 Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2007   Jan   Feb   March   April   May   June   July   Aug   Sept   Oct   Nov   Dec  
2008 Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2009  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2010  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2011 Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2012   Jan   Feb   March   April   May   June   July   Aug   Sept   Oct   Nov   Dec  
2013 Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
2014  Jan  Feb  March  April  May  June  July Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov   
2015    Feb  March            Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 

Sunraysia Gang Show souvenir programmes

The Sunraysia Gang Show is presented by the Sunraysia District Scouts and Guides and has been produced almost every year since 1977.

                1979  1980 
1981  1982  1983  1984  1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990 
1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000 
2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010 
2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019   ----
 ---- 2022                 

 

To find out more about Sunraysia Gang Show click here.

Sun-raysed Children's Book

An assortment of fairy stories, rhymes, limericks, parodies, acrostics edited by C. J. DeGaris (Adjudicator of SUN-RAYSED Competitions).  

"This book contains the 14 prize-winning Fairy Stories out of a total of 1358 entries in the SUN-RAYSED Competitions of January, 1919. 

It also contains upwards of 80 prize-winning Rhymes, Limericks, etc., in the same SUN-RAYSED Competitions."

Read the document.