Friends of the Baillieu Library
2008 Programme of Events
The Friends will receive further information about each event nearer to the time. As well, during the year Friends will also receive invitations from the Baillieu Library to talks and other events built around its exhibitions programme. The Committee welcomes suggestions for other events – please speak to one of us at a meeting.
Tuesday 18 March
5:30 for 6:00 pm Leigh Scott Room – Baillieu Library
Annual General Meeting
Speaker – Prof Janet McCalman, Chair of the Library Committee
Wednesday 19 March
6:15 for 6:30 pm Leigh Scott Room – Baillieu Library
Launch of Cambridge Collected: The Pierre Gorman Story Catalogue and Exhibition
Dr David McKitterick, Cambridge University
Tuesday 22 April
5:30 for 6:00 pm Leigh Scott Room – Baillieu Library
MUP Author Talk
Prof Harriet Edquist – Pioneers of Modernism: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Australia
The Arts and Crafts architects created some of the most thoughtful, beautifully crafted and inspired architecture in Australia's history.
The Arts and Crafts movement - emerging in the 1880s and 1890s - brought a breath of fresh air to Australian design. A sense of innovation and understanding of the values of simplicity, harmony and unity permeated both architecture and the allied arts and crafts.
Professor Harriet Edquist traces the development of the movement from its origins, including key architects who introduced the theories and idioms of the British Arts and Crafts movement and transposed them to Australia. From remote government buildings to homesteads for the landed gentry, from the quintessentially Australian bungalow style to religious architecture, from garden design to furniture integral to its environment, and finally to a vision for the 'new city', we see the innovation and influence of the Arts and Crafts movement.
Pioneers of Modernism is a richly illustrated and visually impressive book but it is Edquist's thorough research and perceptive eye that make this original and scholarly account of major significance in acknowledging the importance of the Arts and Crafts movement in Australian design history.
Harriet Edquist is Professor of Architectural History in the School of Architecture and Design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She has published widely on Australian architecture and art and was editor of Transition: Discourse on Architecture from 1987 to 1992. She is the author and editor of a number of books, including The Culture of Landscape Architecture and Frederick Romberg: The Architecture of Migration 1938-1975.
Copies of Harriet’s book will be available for purchase.
Wednesday 7 May
5:30 for 6:00 pm Leigh Scott Room – Baillieu Library
The Vulgar History of the Order of the Garter
Joint evening function with the Australian Friends of St George’s Chapel and Heraldry Australia.
Speaker: Professor Stephanie Trigg, University of Melbourne
Professor Trigg’s talk will present some recent research on the origins of the Order of the Garter, with particular attention to the medieval origins of the Order. It will consider some popular and literary traditions of the Order’s founding, dismissed as a “vain and idle romance” by Peter Heylyn, and as a “vulgar error” by Elias Ashmole in the seventeenth century, and yet lovingly told and re-told throughout the centuries. Even if we cannot be sure of Edward III’s motives in choosing a garter as his emblem, the story of the king, the lady and the garter opens up a series of powerful symbolic and cultural references and allusions that are symptomatic of the ongoing fascination with royalty and medieval tradition.
Stephanie Trigg is a Professor of English in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne. Her current projects include a cultural history of the Order of the Garter (funded by a Discovery Grant from the Australian Research Council).
After the seminar, those attending are invited
to join members of the three groups and Professor Trigg
for a two-course dinner and drinks in
the Karagheusian Room, University House; cost: $66.00 inc GST.
Enquiries: David Studham – 0417 143 414
RSVP by 5 May to Leanne McCredden, 8344 5997 or leannelm@unimelb.edu.au.
Please book early as there is a limit of 30 for the dinner.
Download the flyer with full details
Wednesday 21 May
5:30 for 6:00 pm Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
Cnr Nicholson & Londsale Streets, Melbourne (Melways 2F J1)
Twilight visit to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in the City, including a tour of its libraries and museum.
The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons was founded in 1927. In 1935 the College building was opened and soon won a prestigious award for its architecture.
The Curator of Collections, Mr Geoff Down, will take us on a tour of the main building and its collections. These include:
- The Cowlishaw Collection is a large collection of books on medicine and related subjects, containing many early, classic and rare editions and the The Leonard Murphy Collection of rare works focussing on urology.
- An impressive collection of portraits, dating from the 18th century onwards. In the main, those represented have been closely associated with the College, especially the Presidents. But there are many other portraits of those who have earned a place in the history of medicine. Many are by well-known artists, including Judy Cassab, Ivor Hele, George Lambert, Sir John Longstaff and Joshua Smith. Among the portraits is that of Farquhar McCrae, the first surgeon in Victoria, painted by Georgiana McCrae.
- A rich variety of material which the College has acquired through gift, donation and bequest, and especially by presentation. This includes furniture, sculpture, ceramics, glass, silverware and pewter, as well as photographs and works of art on paper.
- The College has built up a substantial collection of surgical instruments, dating mainly from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of these carry important associations, such as a set of scalpels used by Lord Lister. The collection contains both general and specialized sets of instruments. In addition, there are tools and apparatus associated with surgery, such as a Lister Carbolic Spray.
Entrance by gold coin donation to support the work of the Friends of the Baillieu Library.
RSVP by Friday 16 May 2008 to Leanne McCredden, tel. 8344 5997; e-mail: leannelm@unimelb.edu.au.
Optional Dinner after the visit to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons
After the visit to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, why not join us for dinner? Enjoy a delectable Chinese banquet at the Shark Finn Inn, 50 Little Bourke St., within easy walking distance of the College. The restaurant is a few doors down from Spring Street.
Cost - $40.00 per person; BYO wine
It would be appreciated if members would book and pay for the dinner in advance. Please download the form.
Tuesday 24 June
5:30 for 6:00 pm Leigh Scott Room – Baillieu Library
MUP Authors Talk
Katie Holmes, Sue Martin and Kylie Mirmohamadi - Reading the Garden
Whether a small plot in the backyard of an inner-urban home or a capital city's sprawling botanic garden, Australians have long desired a patch of dirt to plough or enjoy.
Our second 2008 author’s evening for members and friends in June focusses on the garden in Australia. Reading the Garden explores our deep affection for gardens and gardening and illuminates their numerous meanings and uses. As the authors write 'Planting a garden is ... an act of memory and settlement: those who make a garden look back to recollected forms and forward to new growth that will become a special kind of place.'
Reading the Garden explores our deep affection for gardens and gardening and illuminates their numerous meanings and uses from European settlement to the late twentieth century. More than just a pastime, the act of garden making has helped migrants create 'home' and an identity in a new place, and we continue to use our outdoor landscapes to preserve the memory of a loved one, feed the family or beautify our surrounds.
The Friends have always had a special interest in gardens and horticulture and have purchased a number of significant titles in this area over the years.
Katie Holmes is an Associate Professor of History at La Trobe University. She has published widely on gardening in Australia. Her book Spaces in Her Day was shortlisted for the NSW and Victorian Premiers' Awards and she has co-edited other anthologies, including Freedom Bound.
Susan K. Martin is an Associate Professor in English at La Trobe University. Her writing on Australian literature, culture and garden history has been featured in many books, including The Oxford Literary History of Australia and Imagining Australia, and journals such as Postcolonial Studies and Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes.
Kylie Mirmohamadi is an historian who writes on Australian garden history, and Australian history and culture. With the other writers of this book, she co-edited Green Pens, a volume of Australian garden writing.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase. Entrance by gold coin donation.
RSVP by Friday 20 June 2008 to Leanne McCredden, tel. 8344 5997; e-mail: leannelm@unimelb.edu.au
Saturday 23 August
Leigh Scott Room – Baillieu Library
Politicians’ Private Libraries
Saturday afternoon seminar with speakers on the libraries of:
- Sir Robert Menzies - Prof Judith Brett, Latrobe University
- Hon Malcolm Fraser - Dr Caitlin Stone, University of Melbourne
- Lord and Lady Casey - Judith Dwyer, Berwick Mechanics’ Institute
Thursday 18 September
6:30 for 7:00 pm University House, University of Melbourne
Annual Dinner
Dr Peter Yule, who is researching the biographies of the Baillieu Family.
Tuesday 21 October
MUP Author Talk
Prof Ken Inglis - Sacred Places: War memorials in the Australian Landscape
Tuesday 11 November
5:30 for 6:00 pm Leigh Scott Room – Baillieu Library
Members Night
Focus on the Baillieu Library and its collections.