McKenzie Collection of glass plate negatives

The McKenzie Collection of glass plate negatives unlocks glimpses of our city not seen for almost 100 years.

In the 1990s, renowned architectural photographer Ian McKenzie OAM (1939-2014) picked up 240 glass plate negatives at a local market. Believed to be from a Victorian news archive, they dated back to the 1930s. The slides lay dormant in a dusty garage until 2020 when Ian’s wife Louise decided it was time to bring them back into the light. Louise McKenzie, and two other history-lovers, Ernie Ward and Fiona Collyer, signed up as City of Melbourne volunteers and joined forces with City of Melbourne Libraries Community Heritage Team Leader, Linda Longley and Local History Librarian, Fiona Campbell.

Together, the project team has devoted more than three years to unlocking the mysteries of the collection. What began as a simple digitization exercise swiftly morphed into a wild journey of discovery and kismet. Intensive detective sessions and discussions with fellow historical networks ensued, gradually unearthing our photojournalistic history and technologies, the merits of volunteer work, and astonishing stories from 1930s Victoria.

From the domestic to the dramatic, the celebratory to the solemn, these fascinating images capture a fleeting yet significant period in Interwar, Depression-era Melbourne. Above all, the McKenzie Collection project has brought about a powerful and sustained sense of engagement, connection and celebration between people across decades and places.