Calendar of Events

Join the Chief Executive of the National Vietnam Veterans Museum to hear about how, over a 20 year period, a Land Rover and trailer evolved to become a National Museum and the spiritual home of Vietnam veterans. The National Vietnam Veterans Museum tells a story about the people involved throughout a divisive era of Australian […]

Join Michael McKernan, a historian working in the field of Australian social and military history, to hear of his most recent project which focuses on the history of Victoria in the First World War, commissioned by the State Library of Victoria. Learn about how the State of Victoria adapted to the rapidly changing nature of […]

Australians have been making pilgrimages to the battlefields and cemeteries of the Second World War since the 1940s. From the jungles of New Guinea and South-East Asia to the mountains of Greece and the deserts of North Africa, they travel in search of the stories of lost loved ones, to mourn the dead and to […]

Join Paul Ham, acclaimed author of Vietnam, and hear about the three year ordeal endured by the Sandakan prisoners of war. Through the consultation of thousands of court documents and interviews with the families of survivors and the deceased, Paul has pieced together what happened to the people who suffered and died during this barely […]

More than 10,000 young Australians served in Bomber Command during the Second World War, flying raid after raid over Europe knowing the odds were against them. More than a third died in the air.In his new book, Lancaster Men: The Aussie Heroes of Bomber Command, Peter Rees describes the bravery shown, which he claims has […]

This is a two day annual event ‚Äì Don‚Äôt Miss it. 120+ trading tables. Many displays. Antique and modern arms. Medals. Knives and Swords. Badges. Uniforms. Hunting & Shooting supplies & Clothing. Ammo. Security Equipment. Accessories and Optics. Books. Bayonets. Living History groups. Related Memorabilia and more. Saturday 9am to 3.30pm / Sunday ‚Äì 9am […]

On behalf of the Committee of Management of the Running Rabbits Military Museum and the President and members of the Upwey Belgrave RSL, I would like to invite you or your representative to the formal dedication of the ‚ÄúVisions of Kokoda‚Äù Diorama. This will conclude an eighteen month project undertaken by model builder Tony O‚Äôconnor […]

Special Guest - The Family of Harry Hawker. On the 25th of August starting at 2 PM we will be having our open day, our guest is the Hawker Family, all relatives of Harry Hawker. There are many connections to the Hawkers in the area . George Hawker (His Farther) was with the Victorian Rangers […]

Discussing his publication, Uncommon Soldier, Chris Masters, one of Australia‚Äôs foremost investigative journalists, turns his attention to the modern Australian soldier. Moving away from our ongoing fascination with Anzac story, he looks at the rich and illuminating present to write a character study of the modern Australian soldier‚Äîwar fighter, peacekeeper, street-level diplomat, and aid worker. […]

In the lead up to the Centenary of the Great War, the Australian and New Zealand governments will embark on a great initiative, one destined to change the way that conflict is remembered. ‚ÄòProject Albany‚Äô will involve the digitisation of tens of thousands of repatriation files, charting what happened to the diggers who came home. […]

Six Australians, aged between 20 and 25 should have been standing in an Aussie backyard the day before Christmas 1944, drinking a cold beer and burning sausages on the barbeque. Their conversation should have been about the Boxing Day Test. Instead these young men with bright futures were at RAF Binbrook being briefed for an […]

By 1914, a small number of determined women had been graduating from the Melbourne Medical School for 23 years and there were almost 130 women registered as medical practitioners in Australia. From the declaration of war in August 1914, the male medical fraternity enlisted enthusiastically across the country and women doctors were just as keen […]