Old Treasury Building

02/09/2026

Have you ever wondered why people wear badges on their backpacks or work lanyards? Wearing badges for a cause has a long history in Australia, but their popularity exploded in the Vietnam Moratorium Campaigns of the 1960s and 1970s.

Learn more about this history by booking into Material Histories: Wearable Protest: https://events.humanitix.com/material-histories-wearable-protest?c=fb

Video sources:
Vietnam Lottery (ABC News, 1965)
Prime Minister Harold Holt with American President Lyndon Johnson, NAA: A1200, L57447
Photos of Monash University students outside the Old Treasury Building, Donation of Harry Fatouros, City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection.
Badges from Museums Victoria Collection.
Herald Sun Moratorium image

30/08/2026

📺 Did you miss our July Making Public Histories webinar? It is now available to watch on YouTube!

Chair of the HCV and Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee moderated a fascinating session on 'Why Republics Die' along with our panel of eminent historians.

Our scholars Ángel Alcade, Frederik Juliaan Vervaet & Julia Bowes, all experts on three distinct periods, considered how democratic and republican regimes fail. Are they vulnerable to authoritarian and military threats, or are they victims of their own shortcomings?

➡️ Watch now: https://youtu.be/F3qQDg7LtP8?si=Ib1sGMujksc8QQv0

Making Public Histories is co-presented by Old Treasury Building & Monash University Publishing.

24/08/2026

Plates in name only
Stuck in time, sends a message:
Return to owner!

Happy Book Week folks!

Give us your best book related haiku in the comments!

If you’re always lending books and never getting them back, why not invest in some bookplates! Once only available to the upper class, a bookplate, or an ex libris (Latin […]

19/08/2026

George Rowe's 1858 painting of Melbourne from the Observatory has had a ⭐ glow up ⭐.

The nearly 170-year-old panorama depicts the 1854 Exhibition Building, the Public Library, Parliament House and the Police Barracks. Now, thanks to the expertise of Sound Environment, we've added some life to the image through animation and sound.

Visit Vault 6 to see the new animated panorama and see how many movements you can spot? Watch a dog muster a herd of sheep while a drove of oxen haul goods behind them.

11/08/2026

Just as ships were repaired for over a century in Duke's and Orr's Dry Docks, our Yarra: Stories of Melbourne's River is due for some TLC. The exhibition will be closed between Friday 14 August and Tuesday 1 September 2026 to refresh the display.

But never fear, if you need to learn about the history of Melbourne's most important waterway, head to our website to view our online Yarra exhibition.

The rest of the Museum will be open as usual!

📷 Duke’s and Orr’s Amalgamated Dry Docks Ltd
Collection, University of Melbourne Archives.

https://www.oldtreasurybuilding.org.au/yarra/

30/07/2026

⌛ It is not too late to register for 'Making Public Histories: Why Republics Die', tonight 5pm-6:30pm!

In the third Making Public Histories event of 2026, Prof Peter McPhee will be moderating a panel of historians from three distinct periods to consider how democratic and republican regimes fail. Are they vulnerable to authoritarian and military threats, or are they victims of their own shortcomings?

Our panel will feature Dr Ángel Alcalde with 'Fascism and the Destruction of European Democracies in the 1930s’; Julia Bowes with

‘Make America Great Again? A Historical Perspective on the Right and the Decline of Democracy in the United States’; and Frederik Juliaan Vervaet delivering his Old Treasury Buildingtation ‘Reform Unwillingness and the Death of the Roman Republic.’

The webinar will take place via Zoom and is completely free. Making Public Histories is co-presented by Old Treasury Building & Monash University Publishing.

➡️ Register now: https://historycouncilvic.org.au/events/making-public-histories-2026-why-republics-die/

27/07/2026

20/07/2026

The 1960s is remembered as a time of loud and energetic protest, most think only of student protests, but they were one part of a cross-generational push for change! Australians from all walks of life questioned old hierarchies, developing new strategies of protest in the process.

More than any other decade the 1960s is remembered as a time of loud and energetic protest. Most think first of student radicals, but they were only one part of […]