1955
- Robin Boyd publishes an article in The Herald announcing a meeting to form a National Trust
- A Provisional Executive of the National Trust is appointed wit Sir Daryl Lindsay as Chairman
1956
- Inaugural meeting of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) is held at Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne and attended by 300 people
- On 23 May the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) are formally incorporated as a company
- We move into Como and also open it to the public on the weekend of July 4 and 5. Over 5,000 people visited and police were called to control the traffic
1959
- Leila and Constance Armytage sell Como to the National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
- Classified place plaques are introduced
- Our first Trust Newsletter is published
1960
- Items of furniture originally belonging to Lt. Governor La Trobe are donated for display in his cottage (the furniture was purchased by the donor’s family at the dispersal sale of La Trobe’s effects in 1862 and had been stored in a shed in Sorrento since 1935)
- Our first guide to classified buildings goes on sale for 1 shilling
- We are growing and appoint our first full time secretary
1963
- A preservation rally, held for Rippon Lea on the Western Lawn, attracts 10,000 people
- Gift of £10,000 for maintenance of Como made by Mrs Fitzpatrick & Miss Armytage
- The Old Heidelberg Police Residence is vested in our care
1964
- The first Victorian Trust tour for members was held of the significant sites of Tasmania
- The rebuilt and refurbished La Trobe’s Cottage is officially opened by Sir Robin Delacombe, the Governor of Victoria
- We acquire the PS Adelaide in Echuca
1965
- The Australian Council of National Trusts is formed
- We accept a gift of the Nareeb gates
- We classify our first cemetery at Ebenezer Mission, Antwerp
1966
- The Beechworth Powder Magazine opens to the public
- The deserted Lake View House in Chiltern is identified as the setting for “Ultima Thule'” the third volume of author Henry Handel Richardson’s classic “The Fortunes of Richard Mahony” – we classify the house as ‘of national importance, preservation highly desirable’ and a Housing Commission demolition order on the house is stayed
- We acquire Illawarra
- We begin our closes association with the Melbourne festival MOOMBA
- We classify our first 20th century building, the Capitol Theatre ceiling in Swanston Street, Melbourne
- We make our final payment on Como
1968
- We buy the Polly Woodside for 1 cent!
1969
- Beechworth Carriage and Harness Museum opens
- We acquire Patterson House at 399 Coventry Street, South Melbourne Portarlington
- We acquire the Hepburn Graves, Smeaton & McCrae Homestead, McCrae
1970
- His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales visits Como and plants a tree
- Our lovely childhood home of famed writer Henry Handel Richardson, Lake View House in Chiltern, opens to the public
- The Old Melbourne Gaol, Melbourne’s oldest gaol, is vested in our care
- We acquire Mt Sugarloaf, Camperdown and Mott’s Cottage, Port Fairy and the Bellhouse portable iron house at 40 Moor Street, Fitzroy
- We acquire the Black Springs Bakery in Beechworth, Portarlington Mill and Barwon Grange in Geelong
1971
- The Women’s Committee open our shop, Trust Baskets, at 38 Jackson Street, Toorak
1972
- Mrs Luisa Jones dies, leaving Rippon Lea to us
- South Parkville classified as our first Urban Historic Area
- The Government Buildings Advisory Council is created through an Act of the Victorian State Parliament
- We acquire the significant regional newspaper office the Federal Standard Printing Works in Chiltern; Woodbine in Port Fairy and McCrae Homestead, one of Victoria’s earliest homesteads, built in 1844
1973
- We acquire the Endeavour Fern Gully, Red Hill
1974
- The Historic Buildings Act is passed – the first such legislation in Australia
- We formally acquire the magnificent Rippon Lea Estate in Elsternwick and Thomas and Elizabeth Austin’s significant Western District property, Barwon Park in Winchelsea
1975
- Federal Australian Heritage Commission Act passed
- We acquire The Heights, Geelong
1976
- Sir Daryl Lindsay, the last of famous family of artists and our first Chairman dies, aged 86
- The Hon. Rupert Hamer vests Gulf Station, Yarra Glen to us
- We acquire the ANZ Bank, Bendigo and the Smythesdale Lock-up
1977
- Mott’s Cottage, one of Port Fairy’s oldest surviving buildings, opens to the public
- The Polly Woodside opens to the public, attracting 7,000 visits over 3 days
- We acquire Blackwood Cottage, Blackwood and St Peter’s, Cape Bridgewater
- We become managers of the Port Fairy Powder Magazine
- We publish our first Technical Bulletin Exterior Paint Colours by Miles Lewis
1978
- The Government of Victoria appoints us as the Committee of Management for Tasma Terrace, to be reserved as a site for Historical Purposes
- We acquire Clarendon Terrace, East Melbourne
1979
- Official opening of our headquarters by then Premier the Hon. Rupert ‘Dick’ Hamer at Tasma Terrace
- We formally acquire Barwon Bank in Geelong
1980
- We acquire Labassa, North Caulfield
- We adopt the Burra Charter (the Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance)
- We formally acquire the portable iron Abercrombie House from Arden Street North Melbourne
1981
- Meadlow, Surry Hills is bequeathed to us
- Our Significant Tree Register is launched
1982
- We acquire Mills’ Cottage, Port Fairy and Mooramong, our Western District sheep station
1983
- The Portable Iron Houses in South Melbourne open to the public
1984
- NTAV opens a cultural and heritage room in Pioneer Park, Berwick
1985
- Glenfern, East St Kilda is bequeathed to us
1985
- We formally acquire Mulberry Hill, where Picnic at Hanging Rock was written, through the generous bequest of Sir Daryl and Lady Joan Lindsay
1987
- We become managers of Mills Cottage and reserve, Port Fairy
1988
- The World Ship Trust awards the 1988 medal for supreme achievement in the preservation of Maritime Heritage to the Polly Woodside (only the seventh time this award has been presented)
- We acquire Dow’s Pharmacy, Chiltern
1990
- The save the W-Class tram preservation campaign is launched
1991
- We deaccession Barwon Bank, Geelong and Blairgowrie House, Sorrento
1992
- The first classification of our Public Art Committee, the Bourke and Wills statue in Melbourne, is made
1993
- The bird hide at Mooramong is opened
1995
- We win the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Award for Restoration of Mills Cottage, Port Fairy
1996
- The Old Melbourne Gaol wins the Cultural Tourism category of the Victorian Tourism Awards
2001
- A gardener at Como unearths buried jars of preserved fruit, probably put there between 1878 and 1920.
2002
- NTAV produces tree plaques for owners of trees of classified significance
- Glenfern established as a Writer’s Centre
- Old Melbourne Gaol and Rippon Lea receive MAP accreditation
2003
- We deaccession the ANZ Bank, Bendigo
2004
- We deaccession the former ANZ Bank Bendigo
2005
- NTVA opens a cultural and heritage room in Pioneer Park, Berwick
- NTVA and MPC agree on an upgrading of the maritime precinct, including Polly Woodside, in conjunction with the new convention centre
2006
- Rippon Lea House and Garden is included in the National Heritage List
- The most severe drought on Mooramong in the last 100 years
2007
- National Trust of Australia, Victoria, secure the Victoria Tourism Award for Outstanding Contribution for Volunteers
2009
- Old Melbourne Gaol Crime and Justice Experience wins National Tourism Award
