Open House Melbourne Weekend
Save the date: Saturday 27 July and Sunday 28 July 2024
Re/Discover QVWC when we open our doors over two days with a program of free activities to immerse yourself in the fascinating history of this iconic building.
Program includes a talk with our Feminist Historian in Residence Barbara Wheeler, Ruth Maddison Artist Talk and Exhibition, Weaving Workshop and FREE Exhibitions!
First release tickets on sale 12pm Wednesday 3 July
Second release tickets on sale 12pm Saturday 6 July
Book here:
https://openhousemelbourne.org/event/queen-victoria-womens-centre/
PROGRAM DETAILS:
Feminist Historian in Residence Talk - Saturday 27 July 2-3PM
Join Barbara Wheeler in her first public presentation of research as the Feminist Historian in residence at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre. The project commenced in March 2024 and will conclude in April 2025.
In the last two decades of the nineteenth century medical women in America, UK and Australia responded to prejudice by working together to access medical education and training and to deliver professional health services to women and children.
This is the era of first wave feminism that was gathering momentum across the globe. Melbourne’s suffragettes supported the rights of women to enter the medical profession and aided the establishment of Australia's first hospital run by women for women in Melbourne a decade before Victoria’s women achieved the right to vote. This is the story of the Queen Victoria Hospital that began at the Welsh Church on La Trobe Street, established itself at Mint Place off Little Lonsdale Street and expanded its operations at 210 Lonsdale Street Melbourne.
Ruth Maddison Artist Talk and Exhibition - Saturday 27 July 3PM
Join Ruth Maddison for an artist talk and viewing of her photographs taken of the original Queen Victoria Hospital.
3PM, running for 1 hour in a group of 80, bookings required
Ruth Maddison (b. Melbourne, 1945) is one of Australia’s foremost photographers. For 48 years Maddison has been exploring ideas surrounding relationships, working lives, and communities through portraiture and social documentary photography. A self-taught practitioner, Maddison shot her first roll of film in 1976 and had her first solo exhibition in 1979 at the Ewing Gallery, Melbourne. Her work continues to be exhibited widely throughout Australia in solo and group exhibitions.
Weaving Workshop - Sunday 28 July 1-4PM
Lorraine Brigdale and Yasmin Silveira will host a weaving workshop, learn about traditional techniques and hear stories in a relaxed and welcoming space.
Lorraine is a proud Yorta Yorta woman and award winning multi media artist living in regional Victoria, Lorraine has been the recipient of multiple art awards and in 2023 was invited to exhibit her weaving in ‘Melbourne Now’ exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Yasmin is a Palawa and mixed-race woman working and living on Bunurong Boon wurrung Country. She is a descendant of the Tawlwoolway and Tyereelore people, of north eastern lutruwita (Tasmania). Yasmin has an Advanced Diploma in Visual Arts (Fine Arts), is experienced in painting, printmaking, digital illustration, jewellery and weaving.
Three FREE Exhibitions - Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 July 11AM-5PM
UNMASKED: Celebrating Nursing and Midwifery, Victoria and Beyond, Exhibition on loan from Her Place Women's Museum Australia.
UNMASKED pays tribute to the nurses and midwives of Australia, with a particular focus on VIctoria. Drawing on 230 years of history and set against a background of social and political change, the exhibition highlights the multiple and diverse roles of nurses and midwives.
UNMASKED is presented by Her Place Women's Museum Australia in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services and Safer Care Victoria and is supported by the Victorian Branch, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. This exhibition is made possible with funding from the Victorian Government.
Ruth Maddison Exhibition
Photographs taken by Ruth Maddison, a patient at the hospital, of the original Queen Victoria Hospital.
Past and Present Collection
Peruse our archive collection of both historical photographs when the Centre operated as a hospital and photographs post 1990 when the Centre was in a fight to save its future!
