Old Treasury Building

Madame Brussels- Wayward Women? at Old Treasury Building Madame Brussels (1851-1908) was one of the most famous brothel-keepers in late nineteenth-century Melbourne.  Her houses in Lonsdale Street entertained men of influence and made her a wealthy woman. H...

March is #WomensHistoryMonth and we're revisiting our 'Wayward Women?' exhibition.
Starting with the most notorious: Caroline Hodgson AKA Madame Brussels!

Exhibition space with many framed works.

Get excited! 'Behind the Lines' travelling from the Museum of Australian Democracy is up at the OTB! We're excited to be the only Victorian venue for this always entertaining (and thought provoking) exhibition!
We'll be sharing some of our favourite cartoons soon!
Last day is Sunday 3 May 2026.

Cuttings, Combings, Fettlings and Flock: Fashionable Consumption and Australian Wool ‘Waste’ YouTube video by OldTreasuryBuilding

Did you miss out talk last week as part of the PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival Independent Programme? Good news! It's now available to watch on our YouTube channel!

Media Literacy and Political Cartoons in the classroom (for Educators) This online session will provide tips and resources to help you use political cartoons in the classroom to build students' media literacy skills.

We are very excited to announced that the Museum of Australian Democracy and OTB will be holding an online PD session for educators on media literacy and using 'Behind the Lines' cartoons in classroom settings!

Thursday 12 March at 4pm. Free, registration essential.
The session will be recorded.

Cuttings, Combings, Fettlings and Flock: Fashionable Consumption and Australian Wool ‘Waste’ Explore fashion and its resulting waste by examining the mail order catalogues produced by the Melbourne department store Foy & Gibson.

People have been creatively using fashion waste for more years than we can imagine! In this free talk Dr Lorinda Cramer examines the archives of one of Melbourne's largest deparment store chains and how they were turning waste to profit!

Blue cotton 1850s crinoline dress.

1920s 'flapper' dress, cream with bead embroidery.

Did you know the OTB has a small collection of historic dresses? Your exclusive chance to view some of them in person is part of the PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s Independent Programme! events.humanitix.com/crinoline-fl...

Old Treasury Building Summer Hours. 25 January 10am-4pm, 26 January closed, 27 January, closed, 28 January 10am-4pm (regular hours resume)

Please note, the museum will be CLOSED due to extreme heat forcast on Tuesday 27 January 2026.
The museum will also be CLOSED on the public holiday Monday 26 January.

Sounds tasty!

Cuttings, Combings, Fettlings and Flock: Fashionable Consumption and Australian Wool ‘Waste’ Explore fashion and its resulting waste by examining the mail order catalogues produced by the Melbourne department store Foy & Gibson.

In 'Cuttings, Combings, Fettlings and Flock: Fashionable Consumption and Australian Wool ‘Waste’' Dr Lorinda Cramer will explore fashion and its resulting waste.
FREE ONLINE:

Crinoline, Flapper & Mini: Transformative Fashion Moments Join Margaret Anderson, Director of the Old Treasury Building, on a special tour of the latest exhibition Swinging Sixties!

Join Margaret Anderson on a tour of the OTB costume displays in 'Crinoline, Flapper & Mini: Transformative Fashion Moments'
BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL $25:

OTB is excited to be joining the magnificent line up of events in this years PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival Independent Programme!

Discover our events below:

Arrival of the gold escort. Illustration shows a 3 storey stone building with a crowd of people out the front. Image courtesy State Library Victoria.

Slightly blurry black and white photograph of a three storey building. Image courtesy Royal Historical Society Victoria.

Black and white photograph of a three storey building. Image courtesy State Library Victoria.

Did you know? The Old Treasury Building is the third building to hold that title. The first Treasury was in William Street followed by 300 Queen Street. While the William Street building has been demolished, the Queen Street building is still there!

Some exciting records released!

19th century building under construction. The stone building has a metal scaffolding with a crane resting on either side of the metal construction.

Did you know it took around 60 workmen to build the Old Treasury Building?
Their equipment seems basic now, but this was the first documented use of a travelling crane in Melbourne!

Old TReasury Building Holiday Hours. 24 December 10am-4pm. 25-27 December CLOSED. 28-31 December 10am-4pm. 1 January CLOSED. 2 January 10am-4pm (regular hours resume)

The Old Treasury Building will be open across the holiday period, except for the public holidays.
Our Monthly public tour will be running at 11am on 28 December, the perfect last minute gift!

Looking for affordable gift ideas? Did you know we have a $10 or less section in our online store? Some great items on offer including a new design of our best selling lens cloth!

A great photos! We asked around and we've had classes in Japanese, Indonesian, French, Chinese, Latin and English!

Looking Back on the Swinging Sixties YouTube video by OldTreasuryBuilding

Did you miss our talk on the new 'Swinging 60s' exhibition last week?
Good news! It's now available on our YouTube channel!

This should be an interesting discussion! Book here: www.historycouncilvic.org.au/making_publi...

Christmas Greeting Cards – Old Treasury Building These whimsical Old Treasury Building cards were designed to echo the Christmas cards of the Victorian Era, 1837-1901. Thanks to new printing techniques and cheaper postage stamps, Christmas cards wer...

Good news! Our whimsical Christmas cards are back in stock! Get ahead of the season with these Victorian inspired cards. 5 designs, 5 in a pack.

Looking back on the Swinging Sixties Join Margaret Anderson as she explores life in the 1960s and asks did Victoria really ‘swing’ in the 1960s?

Want to find out more about our new exhibition 'Swinging 60s'? Join @margaretotbmelb.bsky.social as she takes us through the decade in this free online talk!

Consuming Fashion: Fibres and Fun in the 1960s YouTube video by OldTreasuryBuilding

DId you miss our talk last week as part of Melbourne Fashion Week ?
It's now available to view on our YouTube Channel! Discover the impact of Barbie and Woolmark in the 1960s!

Consuming Fashion: Fibres and Fun in the 1960s Join us for the next in our Material Histories seminar series.

Discover more about Barbie's impact on Melbourne fashion in our free online talk this Wednesday, 'Consuming Fashion: Fibres and Fun in the 1960s'. Tickets available:

Entrance to the exhibition installed in a heritage building.

Display of protest banners from the 1960s.

Garments on display in cases.

A Barbie doll in a gold dress stands beside a pink pajama set.

Our new exhibition 'Swinging 60s' is now on display! Discover stunning original dresses, protest banners and much more, including a very influential 12.5 inch doll!
'Swinging 60s' was researched and curated by the Old Treasury Building in partnership with @vicarchives.bsky.social. Free entry.

Consuming Fashion: Fibres and Fun in the 1960s Join us for the next in our Material Histories seminar series.

Have you booked for our #MelbourneFashionWeek talk next week?
Discover our free online seminar 'Consuming Fashion: Fibres and Fun in the 1960s'!

Geography Programs – Old Treasury Building Environmental Protection & Destruction When Europeans arrived in Melbourne they found a pristine landscape, untouched by human hands, or so they thought. Local First Nations people had lived on and […]

Have you heard? We've launched a new Education Program! Discover geography at the Old Treasury Building.

Aligned to the Victorian Curriculum levels 3-10.

The Great Australian Dream- A Home of our Own YouTube video by OldTreasuryBuilding

Did you miss our talk last week 'The Great Australian Dream'? It's now available to view on our YouTube channel!

The Great Australian Dream- A Home of our Own Reflect on the highs and lows of home building in Victoria, from boarded-up streets in the Great Depression, through the acute shortages of the post-war years,

Join us online this Thursday for 'The Great Australian Dream'.
Discover the highs and lows of home building in Victoria and how the rooms in our homes have changed over time.

🗓️ Don't miss our upcoming MPH webinar this Thursday 25 September!

We are bringing together three of the authors of 'Fathering: An Australian History' (@MUPublishing) to delve into the history of Australian fathering and family life.

✍️Register now: tinyurl.com/279m2nnx

Material Histories is presented by Old Treasury Building in partnership with @deakinuniversity.bsky.social and Australian Catholic University.