Robyn Ballinger has been writing and researching histories on regional Victoria for the past ten years. She is currently building on her interest in how the dynamic forces of culture and nature inform attitudes toward water use as a PhD candidate in the School of Historical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Jill Barnard, a professional historian, is a partner in Living Histories. Her recent work includes Welcome and farewell: the story of Station Pier (with Sonia Jennings) and Holding on to hope: a history of the founding agencies of MacKillop Family Services (co-authored with Karen Twigg), both published in 2004. This article is based on Jill and Karen's research for the latter title.

Peter Andrew Barrett is an architectural historian and heritage consultant, based in Melbourne, Australia. He has a Masters Degree in Architectural History and Conservation from the University of Melbourne. His Masters thesis, Building through the Golden Gate, researched architectural influences from trans-Pacific trade and migration between Australia and California 1849-1914. As a heritage consultant he has worked on a variety of heritage projects in California and Australia, including a cultural resources study of the Little Tokyo district in downtown Los Angeles, and a number of heritage studies of historic buildings and structures in Australia. He also teaches architectural history at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and has participated in architectural exhibitions, the most recent being Re: Built Environment: Imitating Melbourne Architecture that discussed international influences that shaped Melbourne's built environment.

Abigail Belfrage has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons), a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science (Cultural Heritage Management) and a Masters in Public History. She is a member of the Professional Historians' Association. She puts her love of research and archives to good use in her position as Archivist, Reference Service at Public Record Office Victoria; coordinating PROVguides and other archival finding aids, and managing PROV's Reference Helpdesk.

Louise Blake has had an interest in performing arts history since she discovered the PROMPT collection of theatre programmes at the National Library of Australia more than ten years ago. She has a post-graduate diploma in Cultural Heritage Management from the University of Canberra and a Masters in Biography and Life Writing from Monash University. Louise has indulged her interest in cultural heritage through her work at the National Library of Australia, National Museum of Australia and, more recently, as a reference officer at PROV. She is a member of Museums Australia's performing arts special interest group, PASIG. In addition to the performing arts, her research interests include family history, biography, popular culture, and the natural history of New Zealand.

Dr Andrew Brown-May is a senior lecturer in the History Department at the University of Melbourne. He is director of the Encyclopedia of Melbourne project and his books include Melbourne street life (1998) and Espresso! Melbourne coffee stories (2001).

Dr Judith Buckrich was born in Budapest, Hungary and emigrated to Australia with her parents in 1958. She completed her PhD thesis on the life of the science-fiction writer George Turner at the University of Melbourne and is now an Honorary Research Fellow in that University's Cultural Heritage Unit. Judith has written commissioned histories on the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind, Port Melbourne, St Kilda Road, Collins Street, and the Montefiore Homes, and is currently researching the history of Prahran Technical School for the Prahran Mechanics' Institute, to be published as Design for living: a history of Prahran Tech in 2007. In 2005 she curated an exhibition 'History: Community: Identity: Showcasing Melbourne's Diversity' for the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

Fred Cahir is a PhD candidate and Eco-Tourism teacher at the University of Ballarat. His previous publications and MA thesis have centred on the history of inter-racial relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of Central Highlands Victoria in the colonial period. His PhD thesis focuses on the role of Aboriginal people on the goldfields of Victoria between 1850 and 1900. His industry partner is Sovereign Hill Museum and Parks Association.

Brienne Callahan holds an MA in Global Media Communication from the University of Melbourne. Whilst her research generally focuses on gender, politics and elections, she retains a soft spot in her heart for history and North Carlton.

Jenny Carter is a genealogist, family historian and teacher who visits PROV's reading rooms once a week, sometimes more often when working on a research project. The idea for the present article came about during a visit in early 2007 when she was looking through the Chief Secretary's Department files for information on which to base a talk on researching family history. Fascinated by a group of letters that caught her eye, Jenny soon found herself discovering what credentials were needed when applying for a government position in mid-nineteenth-century Victoria.

Zoe Gray Carthew is a student of history and English at La Trobe University, currently doing her Honours in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century evolutionary science and literature. In 2004 she shared the David Johansen prize for History. She also edits the La Trobe History Society's magazine, Passim. Zoe takes a fervent interest in historical fiction, especially of nautical, science and romance genres, and works in a bookshop in the centre of Melbourne. She is a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society.

Rick Clapton is a second-year PhD student in the History Department of the University of Melbourne, where he is completing a research thesis on the criminalisation and policing of Melbourne's traffic between 1900 and 1930. Originally from London, Ontario, Canada, he first became interested in drivers, driving and traffic during his time as Driver Rehabilitation Specialist (1999) at Parkwood Hospital, where he assisted people with disabilities to return to driving. During his undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario, Rick completed a thesis on the policing of London's motor-traffic. Since moving to Melbourne he has discovered interesting comparisons between Australia's adoption of the motor-car and that of North America.

Dr Simon Cooke completed his 1998 doctoral thesis 'Secret sorrows: a social history of suicide in Victoria, 1841-1921' in the History Department at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of A meeting of minds: the Australian Psychological Society and Australian psychologists 1944-1994 (2000).

Jan Croggon has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and an MA in Australian history from the University of Melbourne, and a PhD from the University of Ballarat. She is a member of the Professional Historians Association, and of Museums Australia (Vic.), and serves on the branch committee of Museums Australia (Vic.). Her doctoral thesis examined the role of the Celts in Ballarat in the second half of the nineteenth century. She is employed full time as Senior Historian at The Sovereign Hill Museums Association in Ballarat, and has been associated in many capacities with this organisation since 1979. Jan is part of a team of historians, curatorial staff and educators at Sovereign Hill who are committed to making history accessible to the general public, and to providing an academic and scholarly rigour in interpreting the significance of the story we tell for our visitors.

Peter Davies has had a research interest in the archaeology of Australia and the ancient Near East for more than fifteen years. He is the author of Henry's mill: the historical archaeology of a forest community (Archaeopress, 2006). He currently teaches archaeology at La Trobe University in Melbourne.

Annamaria Davine is an honorary research fellow in the School of Historical Studies at the University of Melbourne, and a member of the Professional Historians' Association. Her main area of interest is Italian migration, particularly that of small groups. In 2006, her book 'Vegnimo da Conco ma simo Veneti': a study of the immigration and settlement of the Veneti in Central and West Gippsland 1925-1970 was published by the Italian Australian Institute at La Trobe University, Bundoora. The same year, she completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne and a book, 'Neither here nor there': Italians and Swiss-Italians on the Walhalla goldfield 1865-1915, based on her thesis is due to be published in late 2008. Anna has just finished writing the history of the Pastorelle Sisters, an Italian Congregation of religious women who arrived in Australia after the Second World War.

Karin Derkley is completing a Masters Preliminary at La Trobe University where she intends writing her thesis on the migration of the artist John Glover to Van Diemen's Land in 1831. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Communications from RMIT University and has worked for many years as a journalist.

Noni Dowling completed her Bachelor of Arts from La Trobe University in 2006. There she pursued her passion for history, completing a Major in the subject. Through her studies she also discovered an abiding interest in criminology and the law. Noni thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing her article 'Love is Murder: the Fated Affair of Frederick Jordan and Minnie Hicks' because it wound these themes together. In the future she hopes to complete a Diploma of Education with the aim of teaching secondary level History and Legal Studies. A long-term ambition is to pursue further studies in History, covering research topics such as criminality in colonial Australia, and social justice, civil and human rights throughout history. While not studying at present due to family commitments, she continues to write for her own enjoyment.

Ruth Dwyer is a freelance researcher and occasional author with a previous involvement in education. As a researcher her main interests are in the Australian decorative arts, the non-British population in nineteenth-century Victoria, and the history of Hawthorn, the suburb in which she lives. Papers concerning the arts have appeared in The World of Antiques & Art, and especially in Australiana, a journal published quarterly in New South Wales. She has contributed to catalogues published by the National Gallery of Victoria, and has regularly undertaken research concerning Australian antiques including the documentation of furniture and objects made of precious metals, including cups, presentation pieces and jewellery.

Cate Elkner is a Senior Researcher with the Cultural Heritage Unit (CHU), in the School of Historical Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her 2003 PhD thesis, an industry partnership between the University of Melbourne and the Italian Historical Society (under the auspices of Comitato Assistenza Italiani, or Co.As.It.), explored the contemporary intersections between archives, history, identity and memory. Cate has been with the CHU since January 2006 and is working on a number of projects in the areas of digital scholarship, archives, migration and child welfare history. In the past, Cate has worked for Public Record Office Victoria, most recently with its Koorie Records Unit.

Charlie Farrugia is one of the most experienced archivists currently on staff at PROV, having joined in late 1985. He has worked in most areas of the Office and is currently a Team Leader within Agency Services. In his time at PROV, Charlie has worked in sixteen different PROV locations.

Victoria Haskins is a lecturer in Australian history at the University of Newcastle. A former curator at the National Museum of Australia, she is a cultural historian utilising a range of sources including material culture and visual representations as well as the traditional archive. Victoria has researched and published widely on the history of gender and race relations in Australia, work that includes a number of articles in historical journals, an edited collection with Fiona Paisley and Anna Cole, Uncommon ground: white women in Aboriginal history, and her 2005 book, One bright spot, on Joan Kingsley-Strack, a white feminist activist for Aboriginal rights. She is particularly interested in the historical roles and representations of white and Indigenous women in settler colonial histories, and her studies of Indigenous domestic service have broadened her research outlook to encompass South-East Asia under British colonial rule, and the United States of America. Victoria is currently writing a book about white and Aboriginal women's relationships in domestic service throughout Australian history.

Heather Holst lives in Castlemaine and became interested in the subject of 'home' through working in services for the homeless for 15 years. Her paper 'Home Truths' is part of a larger PhD project at the University of Melbourne on making a home in the Castlemaine district.

Alain Hosking is a student of history and politics at La Trobe University, currently undertaking research in the field of American civil rights. Alain began his studies at the University of Sydney where he was awarded the George Arnold Wood memorial prize for history. He then pursued interests in music performance and composition before returning to complete his undergraduate studies at La Trobe. In 2007 he assumed the editorship of the La Trobe History Society's magazine, Passim. Alain's research interests include the history of American politics, society and technology; social movements; and the history of the Cold War. His essay here was written as part of the 2006 La Trobe University Reflective History group.

Dr John Anthony Leckey has a Bachelor of Commerce, a Bachelor of Letters (Hons) and a PhD in history at the University of Melbourne. He is a member of the Professional Historians Association, is a Fellow in the Department of History, and represented the University of Melbourne at cricket. His book Low, degraded broots? Industry and entrepreneurialism in Melbourne's Little Lon 1860-1950 was published by Australian Scholarly Publishing in 2005.

Sonia Jennings is a professional historian and partner in Living Histories. Her history work has covered diverse areas including fashion, artistic culture, nursing, government and sport. Sonia and partner Mary Sheehan are currently working on a history of the Australian Federation of Air Pilots. Sonia is the Victorian representative on the Australian Council of Professional Historians Associations.

Valerie Lovejoy is a PhD student in the School of Historical and European Studies at La Trobe University. She lives in Bendigo and has a particular interest in Victorian regional history. She is the author of Mapmakers of Fortuna: A History of the Army Survey Regiment. Valerie's PhD thesis is a study of nineteenth-century Chinese immigrants to the Bendigo goldfield.

Sarah Mirams is a PhD candidate at Monash University, Gippsland Campus. Her MA thesis explored the history of the Mallacoota Inlet National Park. Sarah has worked as a teacher, an education officer at both the Museum of Victoria and Heritage Victoria, and a public historian. She has published a number of history textbooks, curriculum resources and academic articles. Sarah's PhD thesis focuses on the life of EJ Brady with particular reference to Mallacoota.

Lee-Ann Monk is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow (Industry) in the History Program at La Trobe University, where she is researching the history of Kew Cottages (Kew Residential Services) as part of an interdisciplinary research team funded by an ARC-Linkage Grant with the Victorian Department of Human Services. Lee-Ann is writing a book on the history of Kew Cottages from its beginnings as the first specialised institution for people with intellectual disability in Australia to its imminent closure. This research relates to the work she undertook for her PhD, which focused on the social and cultural history of nineteenth-century asylum attendants, their work and identity. The book based on that research, Attending Madness: A History of Work in the Victorian Asylum, will be published by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, UK.

Benjamin Mountford has studied Public History and Education at the University of Melbourne and the University of Western Australia. His research interests include Chinese-Australian history, crime and punishment in colonial Australia, urban history and museology. He has held research, education and public access positions at Melbourne Museum, The Western Australian Museum and the Cultural Heritage Unit at the University of Melbourne. He is currently writing a fourth year history dissertation on Fook Shing, a Chinese detective in colonial Victoria.

Barry Patton is an Honours student in history at the University of Melbourne and works part-time as a newspaper sub-editor. He is currently preparing his Honours thesis on the separation and removal of Aboriginal children from their families in early colonial Melbourne and Adelaide.

Lyn Payne has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Diploma in Education, Master of Educational Studies and Master of Arts (Public History). She has been a teacher of history in secondary schools and was an educator in schools programs and public education at Museum Victoria for over ten years. She has an ongoing interest in the history of education in Victoria, in local and community histories and in cultural heritage.

Dawn Peel lives and works in Colac. She has had articles published on the history of old age, housing and the elderly, Federation, soldier settlement, the home front during the Second World War and the role of death in community formation. While Colac's history is drawn on in all of these, it is always used to illuminate wider historical themes and to demonstrate the potential and broad relevance of local history in this regard. Her books include Quality community care (2003) - a history of the Colac District Hospital, and Year of hope: 1857 in the Colac district (2006), which received a commendation in the Victorian Community History Awards. Her current project is a biography of Anna Bage. Called 'Anna's journey: a British lady in West Africa and colonial Australia', and hopefully to be published during 2008, it outlines the adventurous life of a woman who had, amongst her experiences, spent time in the Colac of the 1850s.

Keir Reeves is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cultural Heritage Unit in the History Department at the University of Melbourne. His doctoral dissertation was on the Chinese on the Mount Alexander diggings. He has recently been awarded an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship to undertake research into the history and cultural landscapes of central Victoria and to consider the international significance of the region in terms of its heritage values. His research interests include mining history, regional history, Chinese-Australian history, Asian history and heritage, heritage studies and cultural landscape analysis. He has lectured in goldfields history and Chinese-Australian heritage for the past three years.

Belinda Robson is the author of Recovering art: a history of the Cunningham Dax Collection (2006) and holds a PhD in History from the University of Melbourne. Her doctoral thesis was a biography of Eric Cunningham Dax and she has published several articles on the Cunningham Dax Collection and on the role of Dax in reforming mental health services in Victoria. She has also worked in social research and policy in government and non-government sectors. In the 1990s she worked at VICSERV, the peak body for the psychiatric disability sector, and later worked in state government in the areas of family violence, elder abuse and victims of crime. Her current role is Research Fellow at the McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing at the University of Melbourne.

Professor EW (Bill) Russell was a member of the Public Records Advisory Council. He has had a long association with Public Record Office Victoria, having been an archivist 1968–74, a member of the Task Force on Records Management 1978–80, and Director-General of the Department of Property and Services, of which PROV was a Division, 1985–88. Bill obtained his Diploma of Archive Studies from University College, London, in 1973 and was the first Victorian archivist to hold formal qualifications in archives. His doctorate in history at Monash University, completed in 1980, was based on records in PROV.

Jessica Ellen Stagnitti is completing her Honours year of a Bachelor of Development Studies at La Trobe University. Jessica's research interests include Latin American and African history, the social construction of race, ethnicity and culture, social justice issues, and the lack of regulation in the cosmetics industry and the implications of this for consumers. This present essay has allowed Jessica to further develop her interest in writing history as narrative.