The History Council of Victoria (HCV) has completed a number of projects that promote history and heritage. These include:

Advocacy about current issues to decision-makers in government (ongoing)

The Value of History, a statement developed co-operatively by the HCV and the History Councils of New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia and jointly adopted in July 2019

Drought Stories: A Spoken and Visual History of the Current Drought in Victoria, 2009-2010

One Place, Many Stories, a digital learning resource for middle to upper primary students, 2011-2016

Sponsorship of the annual Historical Fiction Competition for Year 9 and Year 10 students, since 2015

The HCV also delivers an annual program of events, including:

Annual Lecture, sharing fresh thinking and new evidence on an historical topic, since 2004

History Roadshow for VCE history students in rural and regional Victoria, with support from the Department of Education and Training since 2006

Making Public Histories, a series of free seminars, since 2008

Each project requires resources, so please contact us if you are able to support our work or would like to discuss commissioning a new project. 

The 2016 Making Public Histories seminar series was presented as a joint initiative of State Library Victoria, Monash University and the History Council of Victoria. Here is what was covered.

Thursday 24 March 2016

The Day that Shook Russell Street

Speakers:
Detective Inspector Bernie Rankin, Victoria Police
Geoff Wilkinson OAM, Founding Media Director of the Victorian Police
Martin Green, Learning & Interpretations Manager, National Trust of Australia (Victoria)

Chair:
Associate Professor Seamus O’Hanlon, Monash University

Click HERE to learn more.

Did you miss this seminar? It was kindly recorded by State Library Victoria. Click here to watch the video.

Thursday 21 April 2016

First drafts of History: Rediscovering Victoria's war correspondents

Speakers:
Fay Anderson, Monash University
Garrie Hutchinson, University of Melbourne
Richard Trembath, University of Melbourne

Click HERE to learn more.

Did you miss this seminar? It was kindly recorded by State Library Victoria. Click here to watch the video.

Thursday 18 August 2016

The Role of History Today: in our cities, our institutions and our communities

This seminar was held as a lead-up event to Working History, the 2016 national conference of Professional Historians Australia. 

Speakers:
Lisa Murray, City of Sydney
Chris Johnston, Context Pty Ltd
Andrew May, University of Melbourne

Chair:
Associate Professor Seamus O’Hanlon, Monash University

Click HERE to learn more.

Wednesday 16 November 2016

Bread and stones: historians using and preserving digital sources

Speakers:

Michael Jones, University of Melbourne / Museum Victoria 
Sarah Slade, State Library Victoria 
Daniel Wilksch, Public Record Office Victoria 

Chair:
Owen ONeill, Public Record Office Victoria 

Click HERE to learn more.

Did you miss this seminar? It was kindly recorded by State Library Victoria. Click here to watch the video.

The 2015 Making Public Histories seminar series was presented as a joint initiative of State Library Victoria, Monash University and the History Council of Victoria. Here is what was covered.

Treasures and troves: the secret lives of books

Speakers:
Des Cowley, History of the Book manager, State Library Victoria
Richard Overell, former Rare Books Librarian, Monash University
Dr Anna Welch, curator, State Library Victoria

Thursday 23 July 2015

New directions in making history

Speakers:
Professor Al Thomson, Monash University
Emeritus Professor Graeme Davison AO, Monash University
Sarah Rood, Principal Historian, Way Back When Consulting Historians Pty Ltd
Anne Burrow, Genealogy Librarian, State Library Victoria

Tuesday 29 September 2015

S. T. Gill as eyewitness: art as historical evidence

Chair:
Associate Professor Alison Inglis (The University of Melbourne)

Speakers:
Emeritus Professor Sasha Grishin, Australian National University (and curator of the exhibition, Australian sketchbook: Colonial life and the art of S. T. Gill)
Dr Jan Croggon, Historian, Sovereign Hill Museums Association
Dr Andrew Lemon, professional historian

Thursday 26 November 2015

Melbourne's Alice: Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland as source, artefact and inspiration in art, science and history

Chair:

Dr Michelle Smith, Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Deakin University

Speakers:
Dr Wendy Garden, Senior Curator, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
Dr Juliet O'Conor, Children's Research Librarian, State Library of Victoria
Dr Nurin Veis, Manager Scienceworks, Museum Victoria

The panel discussing new directions in making history,
at the State Library of Victoria, 23 July 2015. 
Photo credit: Way Back When

The 2014 Making Public Histories seminar series was presented as a joint initiative of State Library Victoria, Monash University and the History Council of Victoria. Here is what was covered.

A land fit for heroes? Shattered Anzacs and the legacy of World War I.

Speakers:
Professor Bruce Scates, Chair of History and Australian Studies, National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University
Professor Al Thomson, Professor of History, Monash University

Thursday 12 June 2014

The therapeutic imagination and public history: Reflections on trauma and memory. 

Speakers: 
Dr Sean Field, University of Cape Town and former Director of the Centre for Popular Memory
Professor Susannah Radstone, University of South Australia

Thursday 24 July 2014

Worlds Apart: A Comparative History of Responses to AIDS in Australia and the United States. 

Speaker: 
Dr Paul Sendziuk, University of Adelaide

This event is the Annual Lecture of the History Council of Victoria and is presented in conjunction with the AIDS 2014: 20th International AIDS Conference. 

Thursday 7 August 2014

The city and the stage: musical theatre in Melbourne. 

Speaker: 
Dr Peter Wylie Johnston, University of Melbourne

Thursday 25 September 2014

Cultivating Community: garden making and public history.

Speakers: 
Richard Aitken, co-editor of Australian Garden History, author and heritage consultant
Christina Dyson, co-editor of Australian Garden History and heritage consultant
Sharon Willoughby, Manager of Public Programs at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne

Thursday 30 October 2014

Oral History in the Digital Age

Speaker:
Professor Michael Frisch, University of Buffalo

Thursday 20 November 2014

Remembering Black Saturday: Five Years On

Speakers:
Liza Dale-Hallett, Senior Curator, Sustainable Futures, Museum Victoria
Dr Robert Kenny, Senior Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Research Institute, Deakin University