Suburbs At War: Malvern & Prahran During The Great War
Australian History Local History Social History Military History World War I Urban Studies Melbourne History
Suburbs at War: Malvern & Prahran During the Great War is a meticulously researched, first-edition local history that brings Melbourne’s inner-south-east to life during 1914-1918. Author and historian Helen Doyle moves the focus away from the trenches of Europe and into the kitchens, trams, factories and council chambers of two iconic suburbs, showing how rationing, recruitment drives, fund-raising concerts and bitter conscription debates played out in streets still recognisable today. Archival photographs, newspaper extracts and personal letters are woven into a compelling narrative that proves “home front” history can be every bit as dramatic as the battlefields overseas.
What makes this copy especially appealing to collectors is its pristine first-edition status and the single, neat handwritten inscription on the dedication page—an intimate trace of its first owner that adds character without detracting from readability. The book is otherwise clean and tightly bound, making it an excellent shelf or reference copy for local historians, genealogists, or anyone curating a Melbourne-history collection. Because the title was produced in a modest print-run by the City of Stonnington, first printings in this condition seldom surface on the secondary market.
For readers, Suburbs at War is more than a regional chronicle; it is a window onto Australian identity at a formative moment. Doyle charts how women’s volunteer groups kept economies afloat, how returning veterans reshaped suburban politics, and how communities debated the true cost of empire. Students of Australian, war or urban history will value the extensive footnotes and bibliography, while descendants of Malvern and Prahran families will discover street-by-street accounts that could unlock new branches on their family tree.
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