BRAC EVENTS
BRAC aims to bring a variety of events that showcase the history of our coverage area and the breadth of our collection. Some events are in partnership with other organisations and many required you to book (even if they are free events) - always check the details for each event so you don't miss out!
Events are always posted to our Facebook Events page to make it easy for you to share details and attendance with friends.
BRAC events - as well as a collection of other history and heritage based events taking place in our catchment area - are included in our quarterly newsletter - subscribe HERE to stay up to date.
Upcoming Events
6PM Monday 14 February 2022
Castlemaine Library, 212 Baker Street
Such Sweet Sorrow: Bite Size
Presented by Desiree Pettit-Keating, BRAC Archives Officer
An exploration of the bitter and the sweet in the world of regional chocolate and confectionery across the centuries. Tragic tales of lost loves, suspicious deaths and intrigue from BRAC's 2021 exhibition, Such Sweet Sorrow.
Includes chocolate tastings from Cabosse & Feve of Castlemaine.
Tickets strictly limited. FREE EVENT.
5:30PM Thursday 24 March 2022
Bendigo Library, 251-259 Hargreaves Street
The Motion Was Put & Carried: How the City of Bendigo carried the can for nightsoil
Presented by Susan Walter, BRAC Archives Coordinator
Flushable toilets have been available for so long now, it is easy to take them for granted, except for when we are faced with the more primitive versions in remote areas.
Modern toilets evolved gradually over time, and along the way the structure, processes and consequences included poor management, poor facilities, long drops, manure depots, earth closets, sanitary cans, septic tanks, outdoors ceramic bowls with pull-chain cisterns, and mains-connected indoors cisterns.
While we all know the manual collection systems required physical removal of material, we don’t often stop to consider how it was removed, who did it and where it all went to.
This event examines some of Bendigo’s lesser-known history of managing an unavoidable human problem using the resources of the Bendigo Regional Archives Centre (BRAC).
Tickets strictly limited. FREE EVENT.
11:30AM Tuesday 5 April 2022
Dingee Library Agency, (Railway Station) Bendigo-Pyramid Road
Such Sweet Sorrow: Bite Size
Presented by Desiree Pettit-Keating, BRAC Archives Officer
An exploration of the bitter and the sweet in the world of regional chocolate and confectionery across the centuries. Tragic tales of lost loves, suspicious deaths and intrigue from BRAC's 2021 exhibition, Such Sweet Sorrow.
Includes chocolate tastings - tickets strictly limited. FREE EVENT.
11:00AM Saturday 30 April 2022
Bendigo Library, 251-259 Hargreaves Street
Sandhurst House Hunting: An introduction to tracing property in the City of Bendigo
Presented by Desiree Pettit-Keating BRAC Archives Officer
An Australian Heritage Festival event.
This presentation from BRAC will take you through the steps and resources required in tracing properties in the old City of Bendigo district back or forward through time – discover who lived in your house, or where your great-great-grandparents’ house was sited.
This event is FREE but bookings will be required (link available closer to the date).
Complete the library's entry processes on arrival then make your way to the Reading Room on the second floor. Enter via the glass door at the Lyttleton Terrace end
1:30PM Tuesday 24 May 2022
Bendigo Library, 251-259 Hargreaves Street
Breaking Down the Walls: Next steps for property research
Presented by Susan Walter, BRAC Archives Coordinator
An Australian Heritage Festival event.
Stumped with researching the history of a property? Tried the basics but finding the doors are locked? This house hunting session focusses on some lesser-known resources and tricks of the trade (especially around land records) to assist you researching your property or ancestral home.
This event is FREE but bookings will be required (link available closer to the date).
Past Events
Thursday 6 May 2021
Discovering History: Such Sweet Sorrow
Presented by Desiree Pettit-Keating (BRAC), Dr Emma Robertson (La Trobe) & Sue Schreiber (Choclartiste)
An exploration of the bitter and the sweet in the world of regional chocolate and confectionery across the centuries. Tragic tales of lost loves, suspicious deaths and intrigue from the BRAC exhibition, Such Sweet Sorrow.
Thursday 4 February 2021
Discovering History: History Never Repeats?
Presented by Desiree Pettit-Keating, BRAC Archives Officer
While it’s said that history never repeats, responses to an outbreak of smallpox in 1870’s Bendigo are surprisingly similar to those for the current COVID-19 pandemic. Using BRAC collections, this presentation explores ways the media, municipality and public responded to the presence of infectious diseases both then and now.
29 June 2019
BRAC 10th Anniversary Talks
Bendigo Library Auditorium
The Bendigo Regional Archives Centre celebrated a decade in operation with two talks - we were joined by prominent local historian and academic, Dr Charles Fahey, and Dr David Waldron, academic, author, historian & podcaster who both shared with us the links between study, authorship, popular culture and primary resources found in the archives
Click through for an album of event photos
6 April 2019
ASA Regional Event
Bendigo Regional Archives Centre Reading Room
The Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) Victorian branch hosted a day at BRAC for members to learn about the collection, coverage, approach and future, with an opportunity to explore the archives.
Click through for an album of event photos
28 March 2019
Caring For Collections
Bendigo Regional Archives Centre Reading Room
Australian Museums & Galleries Association (AMaGA) with conservator Erina McCann (Tiaki Objects) delivered a terrific training session on basic principles of caring for paper-based collections, including archives, books and documents.
Click through for an album of event photos
