Early Melbourne Frame Makers
This timeline features the most prominent frame makers in Melbourne in the 19th and early 20th centuries
Click on the image for each frame maker for more information. Dates show the approximate period a frame making business was active.
Framers in Focus Nineteenth Century Melbourne Frame Makers
Read more about frames and frame makers at the NGV Centre for Frame Research
Related exhibition: She-Oak and Sunlight: Australian Impressionism
1840
1847
Melbourne declared a City by letters patent of Queen Victoria on 25 June
1850
1851
Melbourne’s population reaches 29,000
1851
Gold discovered at Warrandtye and Central Victoria
1851
Victoria becomes a colony, separate from New South Wales
1853
First exhibition held of the Victorian Fine Arts Society, Melbourne
1854
Melbourne Exhibition, held in conjunction with Paris Exposition Universelle of 1855, showcasing the city’s advancement of arts and technology
1856
State Library building constructed, which would later house the National Gallery of Victoria
1860
1861
National Gallery of Victoria is founded
Melbourne’s population reaches 125,000
1865
Melbourne overtakes Sydney to become Australia’s most populous city
1866
Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia held
1867
The National Gallery School and the Artisans’ Schools of Design established in Melbourne
1870
1875
Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition held
The Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition, Fine Arts Court, October 6 1875. Calvert, Samuel, engraver. Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria.
1880
1880
Women admitted to University of Melbourne
1880
Melbourne International Exhibition held at the newly opened Royal Exhibition building
1884
Australia’s first regional art gallery is founded in Ballarat Victoria
1885
Victorians’ Jubilee Exhibition
1888
Centennial International Exhibition held
1889
9 x 5 Impression Exhibition held at Buxton’s Rooms, Melbourne
1890
1893
Bank closures signal start of the depression
1894
City streets first lit by electric lighting
1900
1901
The Commonwealth of Australia is formed with the federation of the states and territories, and Melbourne becomes the nation’s capital.
1909
Women receive the right to vote in Victoria
1910
1914
World War I is declared
This timeline features the most prominent frame makers in Melbourne in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Click on the image for each frame maker for more information. Dates show the approximate period a frame making business was active.
Framers in Focus Nineteenth Century Melbourne Frame Makers
Read more about frames and frame makers at the NGV Centre for Frame Research
Related exhibition: She-Oak and Sunlight: Australian Impressionism