In This Section
Records for Mechanics’ Institutes convey the diversity of these organisations in Australia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The concept came from England where they were largely designed to offer further education to trades people. Here they expanded to serve the wider community as meeting places, libraries, venues for lectures and conduits for information from Britain. We are fortunate to hold some financial records and minutes for the Mechanics’ Institute in Mornington. These records show fees paid to speakers, the purchase of periodicals and books, hiring out the halls and borrower information.
By the 1950s, Public Libraries had become the dominant community lending resource, replacing Mechanics’ Institutes. The Archive has a rich collection of organisational history for the Public Library Service on the Mornington Peninsula.
Archive Records for the former Shire of Hastings include the specifications for fitting out the new Civic Building on Marine Parade Hastings in 1964. The Shire of Hastings was formed in 1960 after nearly seventy years as part of the Shire of Frankston and Hastings, based at Somerville and Frankston. The new Shire’s meetings were held at the pub in Hastings before the new Office building was opened.
The building is still home to local government, and some of the ‘artefacts’ listed in the Furniture Specifications remain today, including the female change room lockers described here!