Lost Jobs: The Changing World of Work
Have you ever heard of a ‘nightman’, a ‘scoop boy’, or a phrenologist? These were all jobs that were once common, but have disappeared completely. Many jobs have vanished in Victoria over the years, while others have emerged, sometimes in completely new industries.
Exhibition dates: 22 December 2021 - 12 November 2023
Behind the Lines 2022
Discover a world beyond, where Australians emerged from lockdowns and isolation and voted for a new Captain of the starship Australia, and new alien lifeform emerged- the teal independents!
Exhibition dates: 13 June 2023 - 6 August 2023
Behind the Lines 2021
It was a year of the ‘new normal.’ With ever-present predictive models Australia’s cartoonists made us laugh just as often as they made us think. But most of all they comforted us in the uncertainty that was the year 2021.
Exhibition dates: 1 May 2022 - 24 June 2022
Christmas at Old Treasury 2019
Immerse yourself in a time gone by! Visit the Old Treasury Building’s annual Christmas display from the 1920s. By the 1920s there were quite sophisticated Christmas decorations for sale in the shops, but most people could not afford them. These are the kinds of decorations they made instead.
Exhibition dates: 18 November 2019 - 5 January 2020
The Invention of Melbourne: A Baroque Archbishop and Gothic Architect
This exhibition presented a rare opportunity to see some little-known treasures of gold rush Melbourne and to reflect on the careers of two remarkable men – James Alipius Goold, first Catholic bishop of Melbourne, and William Wilkinson Wardell, architect of St Patrick’s Cathedral.
Exhibition dates: 31 July 2019 - 2 March 2020
Wayward Women?
Discover ten stories about women’s lives in the past, all of whom could be described as ‘wayward’. Either intentionally, or through force of circumstance, they transgressed society’s rules in some way. Some prospered, but others paid dearly for their actions.
Exhibition dates: 24 June 2019 - 20 June 2021
Behind the Lines 2018
Celebrate another year in Australia’s unique, vibrant and fearless tradition of political cartooning. No politician, party or policy is safe from the nation’s best cartoonists; witty, powerful or ribald, their images offer an astutely observed journey through twelve months in our political life.
Exhibition dates: 4 March 2019 - 23 April 2019
Christmas at the Old Treasury 2018
Immerse yourself in a time gone by! Visit the Old Treasury Building’s annual Christmas display from the 1920s. By the 1920s there were quite sophisticated Christmas decorations for sale in the shops, but most people could not afford them. These are the kinds of decorations they made instead.
Exhibition dates: 12 November 2018 - 6 January 2019
Behind the Lines 2017
Showcasing the year’s best political cartoons, The Three-Ring Circus captures a world where fact and fiction collide and ringmasters, jugglers and acrobats have all stepped into the political Big Top.
Exhibition dates: 27 August 2018 - 15 October 2018
Gold Rush: 20 Objects, 20 Stories
There is a rich lode of stories of gold-rush Victoria to be discovered and the 20 objects chosen for this exhibition show just how varied they can be. From tiny manuscript dairies kept by men and women on the goldfields, to a replica of the largest nugget found in the world at the time, this exhibition has stories for everyone.
Exhibition dates: 8 June 2018 - 26 May 2019
Christmas at the Old Treasury 2017
Following a highly successful Christmas display in 2016, the Old Treasury Building is once again showcasing homemade decorations of the 1920s! By the 1920s there were quite sophisticated Christmas decorations for sale in the shops, but most people could not afford them. These are the kinds of decorations they made instead.
Exhibition dates: 13 November 2017 - 5 January 2018
Behind the Lines 2016
In 2016 a sense of destiny seemed to reshape the broad contours of the political landscape both in Australia and abroad. It was a double-dissolution year, the Olympics were on in Rio and there was a census. There had never been a more exciting time to be an Australian.
Exhibition dates: 19 June 2017 - 25 August 2017
Melbourne as National Capital
By 1900 all of the six self-governing colonies of Australia had resolved to join together to form a new nation. It would be called Australia. The new Commonwealth of Australia came into being on 1 January 1901, but there was, as yet, no capital city.
Exhibition dates: 7 May 2017 - 28 April 2021
Wild Colonial Boys
Discover the long history of bushranging in Victoria, with some new and little-known characters from our frontier past. Meet the first bushrangers convicted in 1842 who were tried and executed publicly as an example to others. And the audacious gang who held up travellers on St Kilda Road in the 1850s.
Exhibition dates: 12 September 2016 - 16 April 2018
Soldier On: WWI Soldier Settler Stories
The Victorian Soldier Settlement Scheme was heralded as a new beginning. Servicemen and women returning from fighting in World War 1 were offered blocks of farm land to help rebuild their lives.
Exhibition dates: 9 November 2015 - 28 February 2017
School Days: Education in Victoria
Travel back in time to classrooms from the late 1800s onwards. Through a range of nostalgic displays brimming with extraordinary photographs - be reminded of the days when milk was delivered to every child and being caned was all part of a normal child's education.
Exhibition dates: 2 March 2015 - 25 October 2015
Sailing Into Melbourne
Sailing into Melbourne showcased records from the collection of Public Records Office Victoria, covering the devastating shipwreck of the Royal Charter in 1856, grim stories of quarantine and grand voyages from Australia to Europe carrying large amounts of gold.
Exhibition dates: 2 June 2014 - 15 February 2015
Streets of Melbourne
Explore the stories behind our city. Visitors can put a ‘face to the name’ as they traverse the grid, learning more of our explorers, colonial origins, founding fathers and events in our city’s past.
Exhibition dates: 25 November 2013 - 18 May 2013
Trams: Moving Pictures
Between 1978 and 1993 the Ministry for the Arts initiated the ‘Transporting Art’ project. The Ministry and a number of sponsors commissioned famous Australian artists to paint Melbourne’s iconic trams.
Exhibition dates: 17 December 2012 - 1 November 2013
Gold & Governors: 150 years of the Old Treasury Building
Old Treasury Building celebrated its 150th Anniversary during 2012. This fascinating exhibition featured beautiful original paintings, drawings and architectural plans of JJ Clark, the 'forgotten' 19th century architect who designed many iconic Melbourne, Victorian and interstate buildings.
Exhibition dates: 9 April 2012 - 30 November 2012
Missing the Mark
This exhibition displays a large number of the original entries to the 1979 Landmark Ideas Competition. The entrants were to submit designs for the area now known as Federation Square.
Exhibition dates: 13 April 2011 - 27 February 2012
Sidestreets and Laneways
This was a photographic project undertaken by a passionate group of photographers from MAP Group. MAP is a non-profit association of around fifty photographers who share a passion and commitment to high quality, independent documentary image making.
Exhibition dates: 1 December 2011 - 31 January 2012
Westgate Bridge Collapse: 40 Years On
On 15 October 1970, while it was under construction, the West Gate Bridge collapsed. In a few horrifying seconds thirty-five workers lost their lives in Victoria's worst-ever workplace accident.
Exhibition dates: 14 October 2010 - 27 March 2011