The Labour History conference for 2022 is being held in the beautiful city of Bendigo, Victoria. We would like to acknowledge that the conference is taking place on unceded Dja Dja Wurrung Country and to pay our respects to Elders past and present.
Our sessions will be hosted across three great venues: La Trobe University Bendigo campus (at the library gallery and plaza), the La Trobe Arts Institute and the Bendigo Trades Hall.
On Friday, we will spend time at the La Trobe University Bendigo campus on Edwards Road. We will be based at the La Trobe Library Gallery and Plaza for the afternoon, which is a new space created with the recent library refurbishment. We will begin with a Dja Dja Wurrung Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony on the Plaza at 2pm, which we encourage you all to attend.
Parking can be found on campus and is just $2.20 for the day. Buses also run regularly from the city centre (transport details are on our conference website).
On Saturday and Sunday, we will move into the city of Bendigo, with two venues on View Street – the centre of Bendigo’s Arts Precinct. The venues are just across the road from each other, about 5 minutes walk.
La Trobe Arts Institute is a beautiful gallery space and will be the base for all our morning/afternoon teas and lunches, as well as our plenaries and panel sessions.
The Bendigo Trades Hall will be a great historic venue for our conference! We have two rooms for our panel sessions – the Unity Hall and Council Chambers.
View Street is also the site of the Bendigo Art Gallery (currently hosting a major Elvis exhibition!), the Capital Theatre, and various boutique shops and cafes that you may want to explore. If you walk down towards the city centre, you will also find the beautiful Rosalind Park (complete with fruit bat colony…). Some of you may have booked rooms at the Barclay Motel on View Street, which means you will never have far to walk!
View Street itself is about 15-20 minutes walk from the train station, or a short bus ride. There is parking available at the Queen Elizabeth Oval and on nearby streets. Parking is typically free on the weekends but some time limits do apply (especially on Saturday mornings).
If you are joining us for pre-dinner drinks and/or our conference dinner on Saturday evening, we will meet for drinks at the Rifle Brigade Hotel on View Street and then walk down to Oya’s Turkish Kitchen for 7.00pm.
If you are able to stay until the end of the conference – and we very much hope you can! – we will go for an after-conference celebration to the Rifle Brigade Hotel on View Street.
All our venues currently require visitors to be double vaccinated if not medically exempt. Please be ready to show your certificate or exemption when asked. We will follow all current COVID-safety rules in place at the time of the conference. We ask that you bring along your masks, as these are recommended though not compulsory indoors, especially when physical distancing is difficult.
If you can, please do stay longer and enjoy the city of Bendigo and surrounding area. The Bendigo Visitor Information Centre can provide tips on where to travel but we can highly recommend: the Central Deborah Goldmine museum, the Golden Dragon Museum (you can join a tour during the conference), and a ride on the Talking Tram. If you have time to go a little further afield, Castlemaine and Maldon make great day trips. Or perhaps check out some of the local wineries. If you love food, you might also be interested to know that Bendigo is a UNESCO City of Gastronomy!