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The papers of Les Blake reflect his long career as a writer, educationist and historian, and include well-organised research files, literary manuscripts, correspondence and personal papers. The main subject strengths are local history (Victorian localities, especially Geelong, Prahran and the Wimmera), history of education in Victoria, Australian literature, overlanding (including the original diaries of the Mollison Family, 1845-1870) and gold. Blake prepared biographical studies of many Victorians, the most notable being Peter Lalor, Percy Leason and John Shaw Neilson. All the research material for his unpublished biography of Steele Rudd, based on a manuscript by Winifred Hamilton, is in the collection, as well as correspondence with a great many Australian authors represented in Blake’s book Australian Writers (1968). Over the years Blake served on a number of Victorian commemorative committees (Captain Cook, Matthew Flinders, C.J. La Trobe, Norman Lindsay) and his papers include minutes and reports of those committees.