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Victorian Bushfires Collection
Image: Motor Car - Bushfire Damaged Holden 48-215, FX, Churchill, 2009
Source: Museum Victoria
February 7, 2010 marks the first anniversary of Black Saturday, the greatest natural disaster in Australia's recorded history. In the weeks following the bushfires that ravaged many parts of Victoria in 2009, Museum Victoria set up the Victorian Bushfires Collection to preserve and document objects and stories from the fires. The collection includes bushfire-damaged objects, emergency services equipment, oral histories, artwork, images, and material from public education campaigns.
Museum Victoria hopes the collection will not only lead to greater public understanding of bushfires and their effect on communities but also assist in the healing process through commemoration and the sharing of stories.
The collection will continue to grow as it documents the reconstruction efforts, changing patterns of bushfire response and the effect of climate change on how we understand and engage with our beautiful but dangerous bush.
Significant items:
- A burnt-out 1950 FX Holden 48-215, part of a collection of vintage motor cars destroyed in the Churchill fire
- A chimney from Kinglake, all that remained of the nineteenth-century homestead 'The Uplands'
- Burned and melted domestic objects, from a Box Brownie camera to a child's bicycle
- 'Black Saturday', a painting of Marysville by Glenn Morgan
- Sam the Koala, a koala that became a public symbol of hope and resilience in the aftermath of the fires
- A 'Thank You' sculpture that was donated to the People of Victoria at the Thank You Melbourne and Victoria concert of 7 April 2010
Related Narratives:
Recurring History of Bushfires in Victoria
Healesville Primary School Bushfire Artworks Collection
Collecting & Rebuilding the Black Saturday Chimney
'The Uplands' Homestead, Kinglake, 1890s-2009
Stories Revealed Through Bricks & Mortar
The Making of the Thank You Gift
The Premier Speaks about the Thank You Gift
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 61 - 70) 162 items
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Pamphlet - 'Official Visitors' Guide Prom Country', Tourism Victoria, circa 2008
Official visitors' guide for the country around Wilsons Promontory published by Tourism Victoria, circa 2008. It has an extensive motor map of the Wilsons Promontory National Park and s ...
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Postcard - 'S.O.C. Day' Seeds of Compassion Day, Victoria, Sep 2009
The Seeds of Compassion (S.O.C.) postcard, was created and designed by Rhonda Abotomey, as a bushfire recovery initiative founded on the premise of making a difference one person at a t ...
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Sticker - Leadbeater's Possum, Australian National Georagraphic, circa 2000s
Sticker produced by Australian National Geographic to raise awareness and support for the threatened Leadbeater's Possum. The Leadbeater?s Possum is found in the Mountain Ash forests an ...
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Raffle Ticket - Bushfire Fundraiser, Buckingham Hotel Social Club, Ticket 571, 2009
Raffle ticket purchased at the Buckingham Hotel Social Club, Footscray in late February 2009. Like many hotels and sporting clubs around the country the Buckingham Hotel was raising mon ...
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Recipe Book - Elizabeth Lawrey, 'The Uplands', Kinglake, Jan 1927-Jul 1935
Recipe book used by Elizabeth Lawrey from January 1927 to July 1935. The recipes are written by hand on the pages of a 1927 foolscap size diary and many loose recipes inserted througho ...
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Sticker - 'No Tree, No Me', Australian Koala Foundation, 2009
Sticker printed in black and red on white stock encouraging preservation of the trees that sustain koalas. This sticker was in circulation for approximately 20 years. The phrase was co ...
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Book - 'Koala Sam: An Australian Story of Love and Survival', Heather Freeman & Peter Town ...
Koala Sam is a book written by Heather Freeman and illustrated by Peter Townsend. It is an 'adapted' story about Sam the Koala in picture book form. The book was released prior to Sam p ...
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Bookmark - Victorian Floral & Faunal Emblems, State Government of Victoria, circa 1990s
Bookmark produced by the State Government of Victoria to promote Victoria's Floral & Faunal Emblems, the Leadbeater's Possum, Helmeted Honey Eater and the Common Pink Heath. Omitted fro ...
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Leaflet - 'Keepsake', Opening of Viewfield, Mt Macedon, Victoria, 6 Nov 1984
Printed keepsake for the opening of the new Viewfield, a home rebuilt in Mt Macedon after the Ash Wednesday bushfires. Viewfield, owned by John and Zelma Gartner, was rebuilt to the pl ...
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Letter - John & Zelma Gartner to Friends, Ash Wednesday Bushfires, Mt. Macedon, Victoria, ...
Letter sent to friends of John and Zelma Gartner describing their experience through Ash Wednesday and the loss of their house and its contents in Mt. Macedon. The small community of Mt ...
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