What we offer
We have a searchable database of our collection available to the public.
As cataloguing is a never ending activity but constantly being updated, not all of our records are catalogued or searchable and you will need to ask a volunteer for further information.
We maintain a local history collection relevant to Morwell, Morwell Bridge, White City, Derham’s Hill, Driffield, Hernes Oak, Churchill, Hazelwood, Jeeralang Junction, and other small towns within the early Morwell Shire boundary and the now Latrobe City. Because we closely border with Boolarra, Yinnar, Moe, Traralgon and Yallourn North Historical Societies we often overlap with records from these societies.
- Commercial Road Primary School
- Collins Street Primary School
- Maryvale High School
- Morwell High School
- Morwell Technical School
- Kurnai College
- Tobruk Street Primary School
- Morwell Park Primary School
- Crinigan Road Primary School
We also have some records of small country schools that are now closed.
We are an approved ‘Place of Deposit’ (POD), for Public Records, and among our vast collection we have local government reference material in the form of Rates Books, early correspondence, road details etc.
Places of Deposit are community facilities such as Mechanics’ Institutes and Historical Societies that preserve public records of local significance.
State Government records held in a Place of Deposit remain under the control of Public Record Office Victoria. Agencies wishing to place records into PODs must first obtain approval from Public Record Office Victoria.
We also have photographs, cemetery records, street information and some house photos. Community organisations, sporting and recreation clubs, manuscripts, parish maps, general maps, ephemera, and family histories are just a few of the extensive records we hold.
Book Library
Our Book Library consists of a wide range of subjects including local, Gippsland and other area histories, directories, war histories and personal family publications.
As we are situated in the Latrobe Valley, we are uniquely positioned to also have a wealth of knowledge within our membership of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV), Gas & Fuel Corporation and the paper industry (Australian Paper, A.P.M.)
Donations
Donated items of relevant papers, books, photographs and objects etc are always welcome.
By donating copies of your researched information in the form of certificates, wills, titles, photographs, family trees etc. to the Society, you will be adding to our extensive collection so that other researchers may benefit in the future.
Do you have some old photos, papers or information or perhaps discovered some objects or artefacts pertaining to Morwell and the wider area?
If you have, please don’t throw them away. We are developing an extensive resource collection of items relevant to the local district such as early books, pamphlets, maps, newspaper cuttings. Rather than throw them away, why not donate them to the Society? If you have items you cannot part with, we would love to borrow them for copying and the originals will be returned to you.