Barbara Minchinton spent a doctorate’s worth of years delving into Public Record Office Victoria’s archives on land history before working with Melbourne’s urban archaeologists on cesspits and brothels. She has been a volunteer at PROV for over a decade and has yet to work on an uninteresting set of records.

John Burch is a PhD candidate at Federation University Australia, Ballarat. After a career in the public service, he is pursuing his interests in the ecology and human use of the Victorian Mallee. In 2017 he was awarded the Victorian Premier’s History Award for Returning the Kulkyne, an exploration of the history of land use of the Hattah–Kulkyne National Park. He is currently researching Aboriginal land use in the back country.

Virginia Blue is a Master of Urban Cultural Heritage graduate from the University of Melbourne, and an interior designer who focuses on heritage architecture in her practice Blue Fruit, based at the Abbotsford Convent. This article was inspired by her minor research thesis on the life and architectural works of Howard R Lawson. Having ‘accidentally’ bought a Lawson house a few years ago, Virginia was curious as to the thinking of its architect.

Darren Arnott is a Melbourne-based IT security consultant and is the author of No regard for the truth, shortlisted for the Victorian Community History Awards 2020. A former Rowville resident, he has an interest in local history and was intrigued by the story of the Italian prisoners of war. Darren conducted much of his research for this book at the Victorian Archive Centre and workshopped his manuscript as part of Hazel Edward’s ‘Complete your book in a year’ program at Public Record Office Victoria.

Emma Beach majored in historical records management for a bachelor’s degree in social science from the University of Melbourne.

Janine Callanan is a Master of History student at the University of New England and resides in Melbourne. This article was taken from her minor research thesis which utilised Victorian inquest records, among other primary sources.

Asa  Letourneau, currently in the role of Online Engagement Officer, has been with PROV in a variety of roles since 2005. Asa is most interested in cultural collection interoperability and making archival records as accessible as content found in libraries, museums and galleries.

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Material in the Public Record Office Victoria archival collection contains words and descriptions that reflect attitudes and government policies at different times which may be insensitive and upsetting

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