Calling all inquiring minds - celebrate your passions, trace your heritage and research your stories. Melbourne Royal® Heritage has a significant collection of Melbourne Royal® and Melbourne Royal® Show archives for you to explore.
This collection includes results catalogues from Melbourne Royal Show competitions and the Food and Beverage Awards
Annual Reports from 1858 onwards
The National Agricultural Society of Victoria (NASV) was formed in 1870.
A selection of RASV and Royal Melbourne Show media clippings scrapbooks.
A collection of architectural drawings which document various building projects on the showgrounds site.
Collection of showground maps from 1880s to present day.
A History of the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria, Volume One (1840-1980), Frederick Noble and Robert Morgan (1981).
A History of the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria, Volume Two (1980-1998), Robert Morgan (1998).
Revelations of Australia’s Outdoor Side-Showmen by Bob Morgan (1995).
The Red Cross Division Competition at the Royal Melbourne Show (2015).
Illustrative booklet produced for the Century Show to commemorate 100 years of RASV.
Show Guides were a program of events for the activities on each day of show.
Researched and created by John Peck
The search for Victoria's inaugural Miss Show Girl in 1957 attracted 220 competitors. Miss Show Girl was the first such event in Australia and other states soon followed.
The Garryowen Equestrienne Turnout is one of the most prestigious equestrienne events in Australia.
The Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy is Australia's most prestigious wine award.
RASV Heritage launched an oral history project in 2011 to collect, record and document the experiences of individuals who have been involved in the RASV in various ways.
First presented at the Royal Melbourne Show in 1955, the perpetual Golden Axe Trophy is awarded to the Grand Aggregate Champion of the Woodchop Championships.
The François De Castella Trophy is one of the Melbourne Royal Wine Awards marquee awards. The trophy is named in honour of François Robert De Castella (1867-1953) a Swiss-born Victorian viticulturalist and winemaker who wrote the influential Handbook on Viticulture for Victoria. As the state’s viticultural expert, he helped the fledgling industry through very difficult times during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Awarded for the first time in 2012, the Trevor Mast trophy for the Best Shiraz recognises the lifetime contribution Mast made to the Australian wine industry. Trevor was a long-time winemaker at Australia’s Mount Langi Ghiran winery and a legend in the Victorian wine industry for his visionary cool climate wine production. Trevor passed away in March 2012 and remained an ever-popular champion of Victorian wine having spent his entire career making wines in the state.
Awarded since 2013, the James Halliday Trophy for the Best Pinot Noir recognises the importance of Pinot Noir to the Australian wine landscape and the development of Pinot Noir as a mainstream varietal. This trophy has been named in Halliday’s honour for his lifetime contribution to the Australian wine industry and to Pinot Noir production.
Find out more about some of the key historical events that make up Melbourne Royal's history