Decorating Government House: Exploring the Interiors of Victoria’s Vice-Regal Residence with Dr Nicole Davis

Completed in 1876, Government House on St Kilda Road, Melbourne, was designed for the Governor of Victoria to reside, work, and entertain. Its public and private rooms, as well as staff areas, were furnished and fitted out largely by local Melbourne firms and, by 1890, richly decorated in high Victorian style.

Although the building has seen little modification to its exterior fabric during its almost 150-year history, its interior decoration and furnishing has undergone evolution and reimagining with changing fashions and residents.

This lecture will give an overview of the decoration and furnishing of Government House, Victoria, over this period and explore some of the pieces in the collection: from its magnificent crystal chandeliers to the Melbourne-made Alcock billiard table to the utilitarian but fascinating original kitchen fixtures.

Dr Nicole Davis is an historian researching the history of Government House, Victoria. She specialises in nineteenth-century urban history, including the interactions of the social and built environment. Nicole has worked in museums and heritage houses in Melbourne and Sydney as both a researcher and curator. She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne on the history and heritage of Australia’s nineteenth-century arcades in the context of broader urban transnational histories. Her current research focuses on the role of women as small business owners at these sites. In 2024 she co-authored The Story of Melbourne’s Lanes: Essential but Unplanned (with Weston Bate, Richard Broom, Andrew May and Helen Stitt) and is currently working on a monograph based on her thesis.

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the presentation, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This event is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our exhibition-house, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

This program is generously supported by The Sir Wilfred and C H (Roger) Brookes Charitable Trust.

Image: Charles Nettleton, Drawing Room, Government House, 1878. National Library of Australia, Canberra.