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The Biggest Family Album in Australia Collection
Image: Negative
Source: Museum Victoria
The Biggest Family Album in Australia project was undertaken by Museum Victoria between 1985 and 1991. It resulted in the collection of copies of over 9,000 photographs from rural and regional Victoria dating from the 1890s to the 1940s. These photographs continue to be a resource for the entire community, appearing in education programs, history books, exhibitions, student projects, and community projects.
The Biggest Family Album in Australia (BFA) project aimed to document Victorian history and culture using family photographs. Commencing in 1985 and continuing until 1991, rural and regional locations in Victoria were indentified and two Museum Victoria staff were stationed at each area for two weeks. At each location staff copied images and collected the associated information using a one page worksheet. The project was promoted with each area before staff arrived to undertake copying and recording work.
The criteria used for selecting images was that they contained information about people, their activities at work, home and play, and the built environment. Landscapes and portraits, particularly studio shots, were not copied as part of the BFA project, as it was felt they did not meet the aims of the project.
The BFA project was conducted to increase the representation of images of everyday life, taken by ordinary people, in Victoria's State Collection. These types of images are a unique and highly significant historical resource, and provide insights into domestic and working life, education, recreation, travel, settlement and much more. As these types of images degrade significantly with time, this project was a means of preserving these images and their associated information before it was lost or forgotten.
The collection comprises over 9,000 copy negatives, with the originals remaining with the owners. In 2006 a related project, Melbourne's Biggest Family Album. collected approximately 1,200 images of Melbourne's history using the same collecting methodology.
All of the images from both collections are digitised and accessible through the Museum Victoria website and Picture Australia.
Several publications have resulted from the project:
Bate, Weston (1989). Having a Go! Bill Boyd's Mallee, Museum of Victoria
McConville, Chris (1988). Mum and Dad Made History, Museum of Victoria
Museum of Victoria (1990). The Biggest Family Album in Australia, Museum of Victoria
Pitts, Lillian Louisa (1990). Merrigum Frank, Museum of Victoria
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 10) 9145 items
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Negative - Handing Over the Key Ceremony, Speech, Scienceworks, Spotswood, Victoria, 17 Ma ...
One of thirty-two 35mm colour negatives in nine strips. The Key Ceremony depicted in this image was the day the Museum was officially handed the 'key' to the completed building and staf ...
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Negative - Handing Over the Key Ceremony, Scienceworks, Spotswood, Victoria, 17 May 1991
One of thirty-two 35mm colour negatives in nine strips. The Key Ceremony depicted in this image was the day the Museum was officially handed the 'key' to the completed building and staf ...
Images: 1 -
Negative - Handing Over the Key Ceremony, Speech, Scienceworks, Spotswood, Victoria, 17 Ma ...
One of thirty-two 35mm colour negatives in nine strips. The Key Ceremony depicted in this image was the day the Museum was officially handed the 'key' to the completed building and staf ...
Images: 1 -
Negative - Handing Over the Key Ceremony Signing, Scienceworks, Spotswood, Victoria, 17 Ma ...
One of thirty-two 35mm colour negatives in nine strips. The Key Ceremony depicted in this image was the day the Museum was officially handed the 'key' to the completed building and staf ...
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Negative - Group with Victorian Railways No.1 Steam Bus, Plenty Bridge Hotel, Victoria, ci ...
Image of a group of men and women in front of the Victorian Railways No.1 Steam Bus outside the Plenty Bridge Hotel, Victoria, circa 1905. This image was collected as part of the Bigges ...
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Negative - Group in Front of Victorian Railways No.1 Steam Bus, Victoria, circa 1905
Victorian Railways No.1 Chelmsford steam bus parked in front of a post and rail fence on the side of an unsealed forest range. A group of three men and three women on an excursion pose ...
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Negative - View of Scottsdale, Victoria, circa 1920
The Biggest Family Album of Australia, Museum Victoria
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Negative - Girls at Tennis Net, Ashens, Victoria, 1927
Four girls with tennis racquets, standing at a tennis net.
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Negative - Man Inside a Workshop, Victoria, circa 1920
Man inside a workshop. Damage to the photograph obscures his action but he appears to be guiding a piece of wood through a saw.
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Negative - 'A Bush Barber', South Australia, circa 1930
The Biggest Family Album of Australia, Museum Victoria
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