State Library of Victoria Local History treasures

I am going to tell you today about some of the treasures at the State Library of Victoria. They have lots of treasures, but these ones relate specifically to local history.  Firstly, they have  a huge range of digitised photographs and secondly they have  a great range of digitised historic maps. I did  a search on Gembrook, but could have chosen any other town in Victoria and I found this Real Estate poster, advertising 'Holiday home blocks'. It isn't dated but it is after 1900 when the Ferntree Gully to Gembrook railway line opened on December 19. This railway line is, of course, the Puffing Billy line.

Gembrook Hills holiday home blocks [cartographic material]. 

State Library of Victoria collection.

People came to Gembrook for the fresh country air and the spectacular scenery, as shown in these images below.

Fairies Delight, Gembrook 1908.
State Library of Victoria  Image H2009.192/3.

 

Ferns in the Gully, Gembrook.

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/2170

If you want to know what resources the State Library of Victoria  have in their collection which relate to your town, then go to their website www.slv.vic.gov.au and just type in  a name.  You can then narrow the search by item type such as Maps or Photographs. Happy searching!