Celebrating 30 years of the Hotham History Project

Five of the seven people in this photograph have been active members of the Hotham History Project (HHP) for the past 30 years.

Janet McCalman (far left) and Lorna Hannan (cutting the cake) were the prime movers, and they gathered a group of interested people to make their idea a reality.

It was instituted in 1995 with the mission to research and write about the history of North Melbourne. The original plan was to record history in both book form and through interviews with long-time residents that comprised a library of oral history.

As the years have progressed our mission has expanded – walks, talks, submissions to the City of Melbourne and Victorian Government on matters of heritage and answering queries from the public about local history. We also contribute articles to local newspapers.

We have extended the project to include West Melbourne, and our latest publication has been a history of that area as we became aware that most of our focus had been on the North.

Our thanks have to go to the North Melbourne Library, in particular Heather McKay, who was the local history librarian for many years and collaborated closely with the Project. Her book Men of Hotham: Municipal Government in North Melbourne 1859-1905 is a most valuable publication.

In many ways this is a watershed year for the group. Lorna Hannan has stepped down as chair after 30 years, to be replaced by Karl Hessian. However, Lorna will remain on the committee.

The Project is attracting new, younger members, and the committee is keen to closely examine its constitution and direction to make sure it is relevant to our continuously changing population and environment.

A celebration took place for and invited guests on Sunday, November 9 after the formal AGM had taken place. This included talks and refreshments.

One of the talks was by Dr Robyn Phelan, a local sculptor and teacher of sculpting. She is interested in working on a project recognising the place of the Benevolent Asylum and its inmates in conjunction with the HHP.

Several of the longstanding members were given a beautifully designed paperweight. Everyone in the photograph has contributed to the written history of the area, and altogether the Project has published 15 books and supported the publication of two more.

Those that aren’t out of print are available from our website hothamhistory.org.au •