Local Area Collection

Bayside : Portrait of Place celebrates the tenth anniversary of Bayside Gallery opening it's doors to the public in 2011.

A commemorative work detailing the accomplishments of Italian immigrant, Carlo Catani who rose to become Victoria's Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department 1890 - 1917. A much valued and loved public servant, Catani was responsible for the creation of new townships, roadways, the reclama...

Admired for her distinctive ethereal paintings of incidental scenes The present moment: The art of Clarice Beckett sheds new light on the artist's spiritual impulses. It provides the reader with an outline of the international cultural trends that inspired her practice and shaped her visions of n...

This walk is primarily around the commercial heart of Sandringham. It includes the Rotunda on the foreshore, the Masonic Hall in Abbott Street and information on Sandringham’s past such as the tram line, the Sandringham Coffee Palace and the Roxy Cinema. The walk starts at Sandringham Station a...

Annotation. Portraits of Melbourne families in lockdown during Covid 19, 2020.

Bonleigh, in its eponymous avenue in Brighton was originally built circa 1862 on five acres that ran down to Port Phillip Bay. For her current owners Jill Davies and Graeme Samuel is was love at first sight in 2015 when they were introduced to Bonleigh. Within months they had bought the house and...

This biography explores the remarkable life of Jessie Traill - artist, traveller, humanitarian and independent spirit. From the ten-year-old who first met Tom Roberts painting on the shores of Port Phillip Bay, to a student of Frederick McCubbin and etchers John Mather and Frank Brangwyn, Jessie ...

The suburb of Brighton is among the oldest in Melbourne and has had its share of personalities, events, incidents, visits from the Royal family, some fine examples of architecture and interesting sports occurrences. Interesting seems to be the operative word as the author sifts though the municip...

"...chronicles the swimming histories of 152 Iceberger swimmers. In addition, the book also includes numerous full colour photos of certain Iceberger events, some very 'cool' and very 'cold' places to swim and other information pertinent to our hardy winter swimming group..."

'The fossil's explosed along the seashore at Beaumairs, lived in shallow waters, little more than five million years ago. Take care if you collect a fossil, each one represents a unique part of our history -- Professor John St J.S. Buckeridge, FGS." -- back cover.

How did a serial killer from the 19th century almost get away with murder? At the end of the 19th century, Martha Needle became known as 'The Black Widow' of the Richmond poisoning case after secretly poisoning her husband and children. The Black Widow was a media sensation in her day, as infamou...

This is the story of the station buildings of the Victorian Railways, told for the first time as a comprehensive history. It begins in the 1850s when the colony's first railways were opened by privately owned companies and follows the colourful story of station building by the Department up to th...

Beaumaris Modern - Modernist Homes in Beaumaris is a collection of mid-century modern Beaumaris houses, beautifully documented by Jack Shelton, a bayside local now living and working as a professional photographer in LA. Some are original in their design and are the architects' own homes from the...

George Higinbotham was a highly influential politician in colonial Victoria. One of his contemporaries described him as a man of 'dash and daring' who 'won from privilege and class ground that they have never since been able to recover.' Even today debate rages about his character and his legacy....

The extraordinary Martha Needle was not only the most treacherous poisoner in Australian history - she clearly stands out as one of the nation's worst murderesses of all time. And from an international perspective, she still ranks among the world's most prolific female killers. In her day, Martha...

This book is the fourth in the series on the biology of the Rickett's Point Marine Sanctuary, Beaumaris, Victoria. It is preceded by The Algae and Marine Invertebrates of Rickett's Point (2012), Sea and Land Birds of the Urban Sanctuary, Rickett's Point (2016) and The fossils of the Urban Sanctua...

This is the latest volume of selections from the work of John Stanley James, alias "Julian Thomas", better known as "The Vagabond". Under those guises he roamed the 19th-century world, contributing many vivid reports and exposes to a variety of publications in Britain, America and Australia.