Photograph taken by Charles Pratt: Courtesy of State Library of Victoria

What was Geelong like 100 years ago?

Geelong in 1923 was a city full of its own self confidence and place that represented the technology, culture and attitudes of the Australian people. Australia was still a very ‘British’ place where most people called Britain : HOME.

This compilation of events in 1923 is designed to reflect the things that were important to the people at the time. It is structured so that the date of 2023 are the same as the dates sourced in 1923. Week 1 in 2023 is the same as week 1 in 1923.

Geelong Advertiser editions from 1923 are the primary source of the information, but additional references are used to give background details to some of the articles. Photographs are sources from the State Library of Victoria and the Geelong Regional Library archives. Occasionally other sources are used too, such as the Mitchell Library in New South Wales. Special attention is made to ensure that all images are copyright free. At least one relevant picture is added per week.

Each week also has an advertisement from the time. Advertisements tell many things about the fashion, prices and societal needs of the time. Currency of sterling and not decimal is an obvious contrast, but so too are technical and manufacturing differences too. No plastics, transistors, solid state electronics or computers back then. One thing becomes very obvious as the pages are scanned day by day, page by page and week by week: the repetition of advertisements on the same page , in the same place on the page and on the same days. Advertisement, also reflect the gender roles in society. They are designed to appeal to a particular sex.

Weekly articles don’t include every aspect of society of one hundred years ago. As author of the compilation, I have tried to give a feeling of the times, rather than being pedantic about including every aspect. Sometimes a weekly edition may include a summary of topics or entertainments or sport. Many parts of our society are routine, repetitive and mundane, so I have tried to focus on the special events or the usual or new features of the day. I would encourage all readers to visit the Geelong Advertiser of the time on the Trove website if they want more detail or a broader understanding.

I hope you enjoy reading the articles as much as I did writing them.

Note: Sources from reference other than The Geelong Advertiser are cited.

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Week	Date	Week	Date
1	January 2nd to January 9	27	July 3rd to July 9th
2	January 9th to January 15th	28	July 10th to July 16th
3	January 16th to January 22nd	29	July 17th to July 23rd
4	January 23rd to January 29th	30	July 24th to July 30th
5	January 30th to February 5th	31	July 31st to August 6th
6	February 6th to February 12th	32	August 7th to August 13th
7	February 13th to February 19th	33	August 14th to August 20th
8	February 20th to February 26th	34	August 21st to August 27th
9	February 27th to March 5th	35	August 28th to September 3rd
10	March 6th to March 12th	36	September 4th to September 10th
11	March 13th to March 19th	37	September 11th to September 17th
12	March 20th to March 26th	38	September 18th to September 24th
13	March 27th to April 2nd	39	September 25th to October 1st
14	April 3rd to April 9th	40	October 2nd to October 8th
15	April 10th to April 16th	41	October 9th to October 15th
16	April 17th to April 23rd	42	October 16th to October 22nd
17	April 24th to April 30th	43	October 23rd to October 29th
18	May 1st to May 7th	44	October 30th to November 5th
19	May 8th to May 14th	45	November 6th to November 12th
20	May 15th to May 21st	46	November 13th to November 19th
21	May 22nd to May 28th	47	November 20th to November 26th
22	May 29th to June 4th	48	November 27th to December 3rd
23	June 5th to June 11th	49	December 4th to December 10th
24	June 12th to June 18th	50	December 11th to December 17th
25	June 19th to June 25th	51	December 18th to December 24th
26	June 26th to July 2nd	52	December 25th to December 31st