PMI at Parliament House

 

All Aboard the 69 Tram

This was the title of a talk (no music at all)  arranged by the Prahran Mechanics Institute Library (PMIL).  The presenter was Professor Janet McCalman.  The invitation from PMIL explains the event

For the first time in our history, we’re hosting an event at Parliament House. And not just anywhere in Parliament House. We’ll gather in the magnificent South Library, part of the Parliamentary Library completed in 1861.

With its grand historic interiors, solid brass fireplaces and soaring shelves filled with more than 50,000 books and reports, the library is a remarkable working space at the heart of Victoria’s democracy. Above the main entrance hangs Parliament’s first ceremonial mace, used in Victoria from 1857 to 1866 and later by the federal House of Representatives.

This extraordinary setting provides the perfect backdrop for a very special Exploring Victorian Voices Patron Lecture, featuring acclaimed historian and new PMI Library Patron, Janet McCalman.

This Patron Lecture is a rare opportunity to hear Janet explore a story with a profound connection to the PMI Library. The library’s local history collection began as a retirement project by her father, Laurie McCalman, whose passion for uncovering the overlooked details of everyday life helped shape one of our most distinctive collections.

Drawing on these resources and her book, Journeyings: the biography of a middle-class generation, Janet traces the lives shaped by four schools connected by the 69 Tram: Scotch College, Methodist Ladies’ College, Trinity Grammar and Genazzano Convent. 

The talk was excellent, using the people living along the tramline (which ran from Kew to St KIlda) as the spine, from which she branched out bringing aspects of the late 1930s up to the present and then returning back to attitudes and experiences in the earlier period.  Interest was added by the first question from the audience by a bloke who had been a driver on the 69 tram and shared comments about the schoolchildren on the tram.

Some amusement arose when a Division Bell rang rendering the talk inaudible.  This went for about 2 minutes - barely long enough to get out of the khazi and on to the Floor I would have thought.  It also tinkled a couple of times later in the event .

One of the attractions of the event was that it gave us access to the Parliament building which is not I suspect easy to obtain other than through the guided tour process.  We had to follow security protocols - including Frances binoculars getting sequestered (for unknown reasons - the camera on my phone has much higher zoom levels).  Here are some photos I took.

The view from the top of the steps on the main entrance.

The view along the colonnade: very imposing which I presume was the idea.

The lobby, with folk lining up to do the security thing (after having gone through scanners.

The terrazzo blokes have had fun.

As we were guided to the event we passed through a display boosting Shepparton.  There were even less people there when we came through after our event!  Looks like a heck of a lot of work for a brief event (unless it didn’t start until after 7pm).

The South library.