We live surrounded by material things. Some are mundane and utilitarian, others exotic objects of desire, but all our belongings have something to say about who we are and how we live. Objects reflect both culture and history. Individually and collectively, they shape our lives, link us to others and connect us to the past. Yet objects are often strangely absent from accounts of past lives. This seminar series aims to unpack some of the stories that objects can tell about the present and about the past. We also hope to provide a forum for discussion for those of us interested in material histories. We aim to cast the net widely, with no limitations on either time or space.
In presenting this series the Old Treasury Building is working in partnership with colleagues from Deakin University and the Australian Catholic University. We have chosen a lunchtime slot (1-1.50PM AEST), to keep presentations concise and focused, but still allow audience participation. This is a free digital seminar series, with recordings available after each seminar for anyone who cannot join us on the day. Access information will be provided on registration. To register for the next seminar in the series please click on the link below.
Each seminar will present two researchers who will speak for 12-15 minutes each on objects that are linked by a common theme. If you are engaged in research on any aspect of material history and interested in presenting in the series, please contact the convenors via the MHSS contact form.
View recordings of previous presentations here.
The Fashion Cycle: From Retail to Reuse
Friday 28 February at 1pm
First Speaker:
All the Latest Novelties: Modernity, Luxury and Consumer Desire in Australia’s Nineteenth-century Arcades
Nineteenth-century arcades were marketed as dreamworlds, where the desire for exclusive or exotic commodities could be indulged. They were curated spaces that aimed to have a specific mix of businesses, including shops, that offered diverse experiences and products to the consumer. In Australia, through advertising, displays and merchandising, arcade retailers particularly emphasised goods, including jewellery, clothing, and accessories, that had connotations of luxury, modernity, and cosmopolitanism. These often linked with international locations, trends, and fashions, to demonstrate the Australian colonies as places of progress, sophistication, and civility – where fashionable items could be attained just as they might in Britain, Europe, or North America. This presentation will look at some of the ways that businessowners created consumer desire for their products, from the humble to the extraordinary.
Nicole Davis is an urban historian, working in the museum and heritage sector, with a particular interest in retail and business histories. Her PhD thesis focused on the social, economic, and architectural history of Australia’s nineteenth-century arcades and their place in the contemporary world. Her latest co-authored book is The Story of Melbourne’s Lanes: Essential but Unplanned.
Second Speaker:
Alterations as evidence of garment life cycles: wedding dress 1875/1943
A wedding dress in the Henty Costume Collection at the Kew Historical Society, which was made for Alice Henty when she married John Hindson in Melbourne in 1875, was radically redesigned in 1943 when it was worn by three of her granddaughters at their weddings during WWII. This presentation will discuss the dress and its alterations and how such a well-provenanced item can provide evidence of life cycles of a garment that was treasured and reused across generations.
Dr Laura Jocic is a curator and historian with particular expertise in fashion and textiles. She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne investigating dress in Australian colonial society and is interested in the materialities of surviving items of dress to elucidate the complex histories of garments and dress practices.
'The Fashion Cycle: From Retail to Reuse' is presented as part of the PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s Independent Programme.
Material Histories is presented by Old Treasury Building in partnership with Deakin University and Australian Catholic University.
Objects of Connection: The Overland Telegraph
Friday 16 May at 1pm
In 2022, a virtual exhibition was launched to mark 150 years of the Overland Telegraph Line. A collaboration between Australian Catholic University, the History Trust of South Australia, the State Library of South Australia and the South Australian Museum, the exhibition re-tells the Line’s significance through a more inclusive cultural narrative, beyond its place in European-centred colonial history. In particular, it seeks to emphasise First Nations perspectives on the Line’s paths through Aboriginal Country, and highlights the vital role of other non-European actors in its construction. It reveals the Line’s important transcultural history - both as a tool of colonial expansion and as a complex zone of cross-cultural contact and exchange. The exhibition draws on the collections of three of South Australia’s cultural institutions, and the re-interpretation of items of material culture is a key aspect of the exhibition’s approach.
Speakers:
Mandy Paul is responsible for the management of the South Australian State History Collection. Understanding and sharing complex and contested histories has been a thread running through her career, informing her work over three decades as a social history curator, museum director and collections manager, and as a consultant historian on native title claims. Mandy holds postgraduate qualifications in history and museum studies and has published widely in on Australian social history, museology, and native title. Mandy is also a member of State Records Council and a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Humanities at the University of Adelaide.
Amanda Nettelbeck is a Professor of History at the University of Adelaide and the current Australia-Japan Foundation Visiting Professor in Australian Studies at the University of Tokyo (2024-25). Her fields of research include a focus on the application of colonial law to Indigenous people, including through policing and the courts, and the history and memory of Australia's frontier wars. Her last book, Indigenous Rights and Colonial Subjecthood (Cambridge University Press, 2019) won the 2020 Australia & New Zealand Law & History Society legal history prize. She is a member of the South Australian Libraries Board, and is current chair of the Editorial Board for the journal Australian Historical Studies.
Material Histories is presented by Old Treasury Building in partnership with Deakin University and Australian Catholic University.
