Sandhurst Research grant fund
The La Trobe University Sandhurst Collection Research Grant Fund was offered through the Bendigo Tertiary Education Anniversary Foundation for research focussed around historic collections housed in the Heyward Library of La Trobe University Bendigo.
A total of $20,000 was awarded to fund two projects which support the creation, publication, dissemination and discussion of historical literature related to the Sandhurst Collection and demonstrate its value to the local Bendigo community, as well as the global research community.
Awardees
Dr Alexis Harley, Dr Claire Knowles and Dr Thomas Ford
This project will analyse the Sandhurst Collection to produce the first study of the reception of Romantic literature and culture in Bendigo, or indeed any Australian regional centre. The influx of immigrants to Bendigo in the 1850s gave rise to the Sandhurst Mechanics Institute and coincided with a new wave of interest in Romantic literature, reflected in the Collection's holdings. The research team will examine these holdings, extant catalogues and borrowing records, along with records from the Bendigo Advertiser archive and other historical sources, to create a compelling picture of how Romantic literature impacted the history of a globally significant regional centre.
Dr Jennifer Jones
This project will consider how the milieu of mid-nineteenth century Bendigo, including belief in the mysteries of ‘Providence’, rendered daily life and suffering on the goldfield comprehensible to migrant diggers and their families. Using the methodology of ‘far reaching’ socio-cultural microhistory, Dr. Jones will chart the life stories of one Scottish family (the Brown’s), who lived in Bendigo from 1852 – 1870, to develop new understanding of gold society and its legacies