Audio Tour

Get more out of your visit to the Victorians on Vacation exhibition by taking our audio tour, narrated by the exhibition curator Clare Williamson.

Accessing the audio

The audio tour consists of 12 mp3 files. You can access the audio online in three ways:

• Listen online now - Click on any 'Listen to...' link to go direct to our in-page media player and listen to individual audio tour sections at your computer.
• Subscribe to the podcast and listen later - Use the link under the 'Subscribe' heading on the right-hand side of our audio pages to automatically download the entire 12-part audio tour. Listen at your computer or transfer the files to a portable device and listen while viewing the exhibition.
• Download the audio files manually and listen later - Right-click on any 'Listen to...' or 'Download...' link and choose Save to download individual audio files.

The entire 12-part tour lasts 36 minutes, or you can listen to selected sections - most are around three minutes.

If you don't have access to an mp3 player, a small number of iPods with the audio tour already pre-loaded are available for temporary loan free of charge while visiting the exhibition. See the Library's Front Foyer Desk for more information.

Listen to Introduction mp3  907KB 02:12

Welcome to this audio tour of 'Victorians on Vacation', a State Library of Victoria exhibition open 30 November 2007-2 March 2008. Discover how our holiday habits have changed over time, reflecting changes in our society, lifestyles and tastes.

Listen to Part 1: To the Seaside mp3  1.4MB 03:24

For most Australians the beach occupies a special place in our imagination. In fact, for many of us the very word ‘beach’ is interchangeable with holiday. Discover how our still-popular seaside resorts of Sorrento and Brighton Beach developed.

Listen to Part 2: St Kilda by the Sea mp3  1.4MB 03:20

Improved access by railway line and, later, cable trams helped make St Kilda a popular resort by the 1880s. Discover some of the early stories and characters behind St Kilda's development.

Listen to Part 3: Heading for the Hills mp3  1.4MB 03:20

In the mid-19th century artists such as Eugene von Guerard made Victorians aware of the great beauty of the Dandenongs and helped turn the area into a summer retreat to rival Brighton and Sorrento. Learn how von Guerard's magnificent painting 'Fern Tree Gully in the Dandenong Ranges' particularly captured the imagination of the early colonists and tapped into the worldwide craze for ferns.

Listen to Part 4: Going Bush mp3  1.4MB 03:23

When Europeans first ventured into the Australian bush, notions of leisure were far from their thoughts. But many discovered a love of being outdoors, and bushwalking became a popular activity for holiday-makers. Hear stories about the activities of some of our bushwalking pioneers, who mapped trails, built huts and established rules and regulations with a sense of fun and eccentricity.

Listen to Part 5: Alice Manfield mp3  1.2MB 02:57

Discover the story of one of Victoria's mountain tourism pioneers, Alice Manfield, or 'Guide Alice', who worked at her family's Mount Buffalo guesthouse and guided mountain climbers there in the early 20th century.

Listen to Part 6: Victoria's Snow Fields mp3  962KB 02:19

The Library holds photographic collections that document the fun and comradeship on the ski slopes in the 1920s and 1930s. Learn how the intrepid early adventurers depicted in Kathleen Magill’s photograph album 'Across the Alps on Skis' did things before the advent of modern transport, accommodation and ski gear.

Listen to Part 7: A Shack by the Beach mp3  1.1MB 02:34

Holiday accommodation is often a simple affair, whether a tent on a bush block or a beach shack lovingly constructed by its owners. Discover the story of how Edna Walling, one of Australia’s most influential garden designers, built a humble, sympathetic bush holiday home at Lorne in the late 1940s. Walling’s photographs and her account of this period touch on many of the themes in the 'Victorians on Vacation' exhibition.

Listen to Part 8: Homes on Wheels mp3  1.2MB 02:49

The holiday experiences of most Victorians changed markedly in the mid-20th century with the arrival of the affordable family car. And then came the caravan. These early ‘homes on wheels’ first appeared in the 1930s and gave families unprecedented freedom. Follow the story of the Don caravan, the first Australian-made and designed caravan, made locally in Oakleigh.

Listen to Part 9: The Craze for Cycling mp3  1.6MB 03:44

Melbourne embraced cycling as early as the 1860s with the first bicycles - wooden-wheeled velocipedes commonly known as 'bone shakers’. By the late 1800s, the cycling craze was at its height. Hear more about this fascinating era of 'spiders', 'high bikes' and 'rational dress'.

Listen to Part 10: The Golden Age of Travel Posters mp3  1.8MB 04:20

Along with the growth of leisure and tourism in Victoria came the rise of the promotional poster. The 1920s and 30s were the Golden Age of poster design in Australia, with the Victorian Railways and Australian National Travel Association commissioning posters from the best commercial artists of the day. Discover more about the most popular of these designers and their work.

Listen to Part 11: Matthew Sleeth & Rosebud mp3  798KB 01:54

As the 20th century progressed, a more prosperous middle class with greater leisure time and mobility continued to embrace the annual summer beach holiday. Matthew Sleeth, an acclaimed Melbourne photographer, captured this annual holiday ritual in his recent 'Rosebud' series. Hear about his observations on the timeless nature of the seaside holiday.