Explore the past, appreciate the present, and look to the future.

Welcome – Wominjeka!

Thanks for signing up to our quarterly newsletter – our aim is to keep you up-to-date with current news, upcoming events, recent inclusions in the Victorian Heritage Register and stories from community members!

If you are new to our community, here is a bit of information on who we are and what we do as the Heritage Council of Victoria:

We are an independent statutory authority, established under the Heritage Act 2017, which identifies and protects places and objects of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria.

We are made up of ten members and ten alternate members.

We promote public understanding of Victoria’s cultural heritage and conduct community education and information programs.

We undertake research related to identification, conservation and interpretation of cultural heritage.

📷 Instagram: Luna Park (H0938) and Palais Theatre (H0947) @walking_perspective

Contents:

1. Recent inclusions in the Victorian Heritage Register​
2. Custodian Interview
3. If this place could talk...
4. If you missed it...
5. Updates from Heritage Victoria
6. Upcoming
7. Professional heritage courses
8. General news

1. Recent inclusions in the Victorian Heritage Register

The Victorian Heritage Register, established under the Heritage Act 2017, includes the state’s most significant heritage places, objects and historic shipwrecks. The role of the Heritage Council of Victoria is to ensure that our diverse cultural heritage is enjoyed, managed and protected for current and future generations; so the heritage council decides which places and objects are included in or removed from the Victorian Heritage Register.

Click on the links below to see the recent determinations of the Heritage Council:

Yarra Bend Park (H2398), Fairfield – 26 March 2021

Diesel Locomotive A60 (H2408), Seymour – 15 April 2021

📷 Instagram: Yarra Bend Park, H2398, @cristinaz13

Did you know the first place to be included in the Victorian Heritage Register was the Melbourne Town Hall on October 9, 1974 (H0001). Since then, there have been over 2000 other places and objects included from around the State of Victoria.

📷Linden (H0213) unless otherwise credited: HIN LIM AIPP 2021 | Hin Lim Photography

2. Custodian Interview

Linden New Art – Melinda Martin, Gallery Director

Linden New Art gallery is located at Linden (H0213) – 26 Acland Street, St Kilda, Port Phillip City.

Melinda joined the team at Linden New Art as Director in July 2012 with 20 years of arts management experience. She is passionate about connecting audiences to the work of leading contemporary artists and creating conversations that lead to new ways of thinking and understanding the complex world we live in.

a) What are your main responsibilities for this place?

I am the Director of Linden New Art, overseeing all operational matters and leading a small team of arts professionals to deliver outstanding exhibitions and visitor experiences.

b) What do you think is most significant about this property and it's history?

The fact that it has taken on so many different purposes over time and in many ways tells the story of Melbourne and the way in which migration has changed the face of this city. Firstly, Linden was a home for the Michaelis family, who emigrated from Europe in the 1800s and built Linden in 1871. It became a private hotel in the mid 1950s, known as Linden Court, where many post-World War II migrants would come to stay before they settled into their new lives in Melbourne. In 1983 the site was purchased by the St Kilda City Council (now the City of Port Phillip) and opened to the public as an art gallery in 1986! We turn 35 next year.

c) What is your favourite material aspect of the property?

That would have to be the beautiful decorative elements in the cast iron details or the ornate marble fireplaces throughout the building. In 1997 we underwent a major renovation to repair the roof and make our building more accessible. Our new entrance and upstairs gallery was designed by Michael Taylor and it is essentially a glass box that glows at night with the lights on. This addition starts a conversation between old and new as soon as visitors come to the gallery. The surrounding gardens are pretty special as well, and Linden means 'lime tree' in German, and the gardens were designed by landscape gardener and botanist, William Guilfoyle (1840-1912), who also famously designed Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens.

d) Do you have any favourite facts about the property? Is there something surprising you have found out about the building and its history by working in it?

I am fascinated by the mix of architectural styles that have emerged over the centuries. When Linden was operating as a private hotel – Linden Court – additions were built at the back of the mansion which are now Linden Projects Space and Linden Workshop Space. Given the predominantly Victorian style that visitors encounter as they approach the entrance and move though the main galleries, the 1950s additions at the back of the site really stand out as modern and unique. In fact, the large two-storey glass box that links the old and new parts of the building was inspired by glass panels found in the Linden Project Space. Similar glass panels are often used in Queensland to refract the light.

Ash Keating, Duality > Fall, 2021 [installation view]. Image courtesy of the artist and Linden New Art.

e) How do you think this property's heritage status and history interacts with its current use/purpose?

Our exhibitions are very much 'in conversation' with the architectural features of Linden – one of our current artists, Nicholas Rolland, has created a site-specific installation that responds directly to the history of our heritage-listed building. This encourages a closer engagement with our unique, domestically scaled spaces. It is a truly unique combination of historical and contemporary – the artworks on display are new and haven't been seen anywhere else, yet visitors are surrounded by layers of history as they move through the galleries and around the property.

f) If you could personify the property, what words would you use?

I like to think of Linden as a wise old aunt – worldly, elegant and storied.

g) What did you know about cultural heritage and its protection before you started working in this property? And what has the property taught you?

I was a kid that was taken to nearly every National Trust property in Victoria and if not, Australia. My parents were lovers of architecture and the past. I loved these old places and the stories they held. Working in this building for nearly 10 years, I have learnt that properties like this are often full of surprises and in the re-development, we found an empty bottle of cognac under the floor. The bottle now sits in my office.

Nicholas Folland, Burn Down the House, 2021 [installation view]. Image courtesy of the artist, Tolarno Galleries and Linden New Art.

h) How has being a custodian of this heritage property influenced your life and your outlook?

It has made me appreciate that we need to preserve each decade of our architectural styles and social history, as they help us understand the conversation the people have had with this city. How we live, the design of the spaces we move through, influences who we are. It also has made me more aware, that this Victorian building is just one layer of this history.

The building is located on the lands of the Yalikit William Clan of the Boon Wurrung and that history must always be a part of the conversation and understanding we have of this Colonial building. Being part of a place that has the longest living civilization anywhere in the world is something to be proud of and it is why we regularly show the work of First Nations artists.

i) Do you ever get feedback from visitors to the gallery about the building itself? What do people think?

Visitors are constantly telling us how struck they are by the beauty of the space itself – it is as moving and memorable as the experience of seeing works of art. You can tell that visitors are in awe of the grandness and scale of the galleries, and many of them comment on how well our stunning new entry foyer and additional exhibition spaces integrate with the historical foundations of Linden. They love the design of the steel beams which run through the glass box foyer, and the natural light that streams into the upstairs gallery on a sunny afternoon. You can often find visitors sitting in the front garden to take in the natural beauty of the property.

We would like to thank Melinda for her time and her work at Linden New Art.

If you would like to find out more, you can read about this place in the Victorian Heritage Database or click the button below and check out their website.

Did you know the vast majority of the state’s more than 186,000 cultural heritage places are protected and managed by local government under the Planning and Environment Act 1987?

📷 Instagram: Yarra River/Princes Bridge, H1447, @walking_perspective

3. If this place could talk...

The Princes Bridge – Melbourne (H1447)

For 176 years, a bridge has stood where the grand Princes Bridge stands today, crossing the Yarra River. The current bridge, designed by John Grainger, was opened in 1888 after two predecessors. The bridge is known for its cast iron lampposts and decorated spandrels featuring coats of arms for the State of Victoria, the City of Melbourne, the Royal Arms and six of the seven municipalities that contributed to the cost of the bridge.

Victoria went through a period of massive growth through the late 1800s, and increasingly the first stone-built Princes Bridge became unable to cope with the expansion of the city. When the current Princes Bridge was designed, the Argus newspaper wrote on the 18th March 1882 that the "proposed dimensions of the bridge were too lavish and would add immensely to costs (Culture Victoria)”. However, the dimension of 99 feet was designed specifically to match the wide streets of Melbourne's grid; enabling Princes Bridge to support the harmonious passage of trams, pedestrians, and motor vehicles today.

Princes Bridge has played a significant role in linking port, recreational and industrial facilities in Melbourne and has facilitated the economic, suburban, and demographic development of the city and state. Additionally, Princes Bridge has witnessed many historical events in its lifetime; so, what stories would the Princes Bridge tell us, if it could talk?

📷: Public Records Office Victoria – Etching of wooden Princes Bridge over Yarra, artist unknown, VPRS 12903/P1 item 522/11

📷: Public Records Office Victoria – Princes Bridge Melbourne VPRS 12800/P1 Item H 2272

The Great Flood of Melbourne, July 1891:

The Yarra River flooded regularly in the early years of colonisation, and the Great Flood of Melbourne was the result of continuous rain over one weekend in July 1891, causing the Yarra to break its bank and flood suburbs, making thousands homeless (State Library Victoria). According to an article published on the 15th July 1891 by the Bendigo Independent, the weather was nice enough to allow crowds of people to watch the flood develop from Princes Bridge (Old Treasury Building).

On the 14th July 1891, the Argus reported, “at daylight the riverside districts of the city presented an appalling sight. From Princes Bridge for several miles upwards the Yarra resembled an inland lake, spreading out into innumerable lagoons to right and left (Old Treasury Building)”.

📷: Public Records Office Victoria – Princes Bridge and rear of Flinders Street Station in Background VPRS 12800 P3 item ADV 1438

Flinders Street Station, 1854 & 1910:

In 1854, the first railway in Melbourne was built from Flinders Street to Port Melbourne, running alongside the Yarra River fish market. The fish market stood on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets for 25 years until the expansion of the population and railway system, meant a larger network hub was required.

In 1859 Princes Bridge station opened, serving the line to Richmond. It closed in 1865 with the completion of the tunnel beneath Swanston Street joining the Flinders Street and Princes Bridge lines. The Flinders Street station building (H1083) which stands today was opened in 1910, and still uses the original platforms of the Princes Bridge Station.

📷: Public Records Office Victoria – 1918 Princes Bridge Station Copy H 3979 VPRS 12800

📷: Public Records Office Victoria – Princes Bridge exterior and Prince Henry's Hospital appeal sign Flex Station ADV 1500 VPRS 12800

Moomba Festival, 1955 to present:

Because of its central position over the Yarra River, Princes Bridge is often a focal point for celebratory events in Melbourne, such as the Moomba Festival. Moomba is Melbourne’s longest running and largest community festival that is held annually on the Labour Day long weekend (Museums Victoria).

In 1951 Melbourne celebrated fifty years of Federation with a parade and the staging of the theatre production ‘Out of the Dark: An Aboriginal Moomba’, a result of successful lobbying by the Australian Aborigines League to have Indigenous people represented in the Golden Jubilee of Federation celebrations that year (Aboriginal Victoria). In 1954, William ‘Bill’ Onus, Indigenous activist and entrepreneur, proposed the name 'Moomba' for the Melbourne City Council's new autumn carnival (Aboriginal Victoria).

Moomba often involves boat races, a parade with impressive floats, performances, and other more unique events such as the Birdman Rally, where competitors wearing homemade flying devices jump off a platform into the Yarra River.

📷: Public Records Office Victoria – 1955 Moomba Procession Victorian Railways Floral Float VPRS 12800 H 3952

📷: Public Records Office Victoria – 1927 Illuminations Princes Bridge for the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York, H 1382 GLS STATION VPRS 12800

📷 Instagram: Princes Bridge, H1447, @walking_perspective

5. Updates from Heritage Victoria

Heritage Victoria is a business unit in the planning group of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). Heritage Victoria administers the Heritage Act 2017, maintains records in the Victorian Heritage Register, recommends places and objects that should be included in the Register and issues permits to make changes to heritage places and objects.

Projects

In March 2021 Heritage Victoria published A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects after commissioning this study from the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA). The report – which is the first of its kind in Australia – identifies 100 places, objects and collections that have special meaning to Victoria’s contemporary queer communities. It tells the stories and experiences of communities that have been ignored and at times persecuted.

New website

Heritage Victoria recently launched a new website: www.heritage.vic.gov.au/. The new site is user-friendly and accessible. It explains Heritage Victoria's role and how you can be a good custodian for heritage. 

If you’re an owner of a heritage place, you will find:

• A much simpler menu and layout
• An easy way to find out the heritage protection for your property and who to speak to
• A step-by-step section on Heritage Victoria's grants, eligibility and how to apply
• A short video on the permit application process
• A dedicated section on maintaining and modifying a heritage property
• Clarity on Heritage Victoria's processes and time frames.

Heritage Victoria welcomes your feedback so they can continue to improve your online experience – Contact Heritage Victoria here.

8. General News:

Please note the Heritage Council recently made some changes to Forms B and D and to Protocols 1 and 2. Please use the copies available on the website for updated versions.

📷: HIN LIM AIPP 2021 | Hin Lim Photography | Linden (H0213)

As a peak heritage body, we acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Country that we call Victoria, as the original custodians of Victoria’s land and waters, and acknowledge the importance and significance of Aboriginal cultural heritage in Victoria. We honour Elders past and present whose knowledge and wisdom has ensured the continuation of Aboriginal culture and traditional practices.

Note: The statutory scope of the Heritage Act 2017 covers places and objects of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, but does not apply to a place or object that is of cultural heritage significance solely on the ground of its association with Aboriginal tradition. In this newsletter, the terms ‘cultural heritage’ and ‘heritage’ are used generically and interchangeably to refer to the ‘heritage’ to which the Heritage Act 2017 applies, recognising that heritage places and objects may have multiple attributes and values.

To find out more information about Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Traditional Owner responsibilities, see the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council.