CHANGE OF MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE
In
the post-election reshuffle of the federal Cabinet, the Minister
responsible for the Environment portfolio that includes Heritage has
changed.
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The FAHS
congratulates and welcomes Josh Frydenberg as the new Minister for the
Environment and Energy. We look forward to working with him and bringing
to his attention the opportunities, interests, issues and challenges of
the community history and heritage movement.
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We
also wish to thank the former Minister, Greg Hunt, who has been a good
friend to the FAHS (securing a valuable operating grant) and has
supported the heritage community in such matters as forefronting the
Australian Heritage Strategy and promoting the Parliamentary Friends of
History & Heritage. His heritage advisor, Tina McGuffie, has shown
keen interest in heritage issues and has been very helpful.
FAHS wishes them both well for the next stages in their careers.
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Last Call to participate in the FAHS Survey (stage one)
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Many of the results from the FAHS survey on Historical Societies are now in. We are delighted that we have had such a good response and have received around 300 responses, many with detailed comments. However, there are many more Historical Societies out there that we'd love to hear from https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MJD7288
The survey is providing us with information of the ways in which your
society is making a massive contribution to the important work of
preserving and disseminating Australia's historical knowledge. We now
need to hear from the missing historical societies so that we can
understand the full scope of what you do and any challenges facing your
organisation.
If you have already filled in the survey thank you, otherwise FAHS would love to hear from you.
To participate, please click on the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MJD7288
We look forward to receiving the results of the survey.
Background to the FAHS survey
The Federation of Australian Historical Societies represents
approximately 1000 community history and heritage societies and museums
and their 100,000 members across Australia. These volunteers do hugely
valuable work to collect, preserve, publish and promote our history and
heritage.
The preservation, dissemination and promotion of local historical
knowledge presents significant challenges in the digital era, and the
survey will assist in identifying services required to support societies
in this endeavour.
The information provided will assist the FAHS and State umbrella bodies
in their work of promoting society needs and interests, and of seeking
recognition and support from government and the community.
This first stage aims to provide an overview of membership numbers,
premises, the contribution of volunteers, local and state government
support, collections, the use of computers, and society activities.
This will be followed by two more surveys in 2016 which will focus on
collection management including digitisation and accessibility, and on
governance matters such as succession planning, financial management and
strategic planning.
The results of the survey will be available on our website www.history.org.au.
There are 35 questions in the survey, most of which are in a “check box”
format. We estimate that someone with a good knowledge of the
operations of your society (such as an office-bearer) could complete it
in 15-20 minutes.
The FAHS requests that your society appoint a person to fill out the survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MJD7288 by 19th August
Our Online Outreach Officer, Dr. Bernadette Flynn fahsbflynn@gmail.com and our Executive Officer John Davies admin@history.org.au are available to assist with the survey
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Don Garden Guest Speaker at Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society
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FAHS President to deliver talk at Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society, 2016 AGM. Thursday 22nd August 7pm for 7.30pm start
 The
President of FAHS and RHSV, author and historian
Don Garden OAM is the guest speaker at the AGM
this year.
The society anticipates the talk in relation to the current Mapping Port
Melbourne project, for Associate Professor Garden not only is
noted for his expertise in environmental history but also has a
particular interest in Melbourne's wetlands. His talk
will include areas around the mouth of the river where the
shape of the land has changed drastically and our fine wetlands
sadly have disappeared.
The AGM is to be held at St Josephs Hall, Rouse at Stokes Street,
Port Melbourne. The Interiors of St Joseph's historic hall
have recently been restructured and renewed to create a special
venue space.
Further Information: jaydaw@hotmail.com or phone 03 9005 9709.
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Digital Access to Collections GLAM Project
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Fundamental
to this project are visits to regional galleries, libraries,
archives, museums and historical societies to see first hand what
is working and what challenges and opportunities these institutions
face in opening their collections to the world.
Frank Howarth, co-Chair of the GLAM Peak Bodies..
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Digital Access project on track to unlock collections nationwide
The GLAM Peak Bodies have appointed Rebecca Jones and John Petersen as
the consultants to deliver the national Digital Access to
Collections project. Funded by the Commonwealth Government’s
Catalyst program, this project will set out the nation’s ambition for
open access to a rich diversity of Australian content by national
and international audiences.
Fieldwork and a draft framework will be completed by the end of 2016.
A GLAM peak website is being developed in order for interested parties to track progress. This will be online in August.
The GLAM Peak Bodies represent galleries, libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and
other research collections.
- Australian Academy of the Humanities
- Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)
- The Australian Society of Archivists (ASA)
- Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities (CAARA)
- Council of Australasian Museum Directors (CAMD)
- Council of Australian Art Museum Directors (CAAMD)
- Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL)
- Federation of Australian Historical Societies (FAHS)
- International Council of Museums (ICOM)
- Museums Australia (MA)
- National Research Collections Australia (NRCA)
- National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA)
- University Art Museums Australia (UAMA)
Sue McKerracher, CEO, ALIA sue.mckerracher@alia.org.au
Kate Irvine, Executive Officer, NSLA kirvine@slv.vic.gov.au,
Alex Marsden, National Director, Museums Australia director@museumsaustralia.org.au
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ABC Restoration Australia - Call Out for Heritage Projects
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The ABC’s Restoration Australia is looking for heritage projects to film in 2016.
Are you interested in finding out about your home’s historical past?
Would you like to share the journey with Australia?
The ABC’s Restoration Australia is looking for
passionate renovators to take part in the next series. Whether
it’s art deco or something from the sixties, a Georgian mansion or
a colonial pug and pine hut.
If you, or a friend, are about to tackle a historical restoration, they'd love to hear from you.
Fremantle Media are very excited to be producing the next two series’ of the ABC’s hugely popular Restoration Australia.
They are currently looking for historically significant projects to follow.
If you have, or know someone who has, a building dating between 1815 –
1960 and are about to embark on its restoration, this could be for you!
Filming will start in August and the size and budget doesn’t matter but passion and history does.
To find out more please contact:
restoration.australia@fremantlemedia.com.au
or sophie.bleach@nationaltrusttas.org.au
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Featured Historical Society - South Australia Medical Heritage Society
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South
Australia has a relatively brief but impressive Medical Heritage, one
that is cherished by members of the South Australian Medical Heritage
Society (SAMHS). SAMHS is committed to the appreciation of medical
history, to identifying and recording artefacts of medical interest, and
to making medical heritage information more readily available.
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A Virtual Museum of SA Medical Heritage
Established
in 1983, the initial aim of the Society was establishing a Medical
Museum. For various reasons, this goal seemed unlikely to be achieved.
Energies were then directed towards establishing a website containing a
'Virtual Museum'. In 2003 retired medical practitioners, Bernard Vaughan
(radiologist) and Tony Slavotinek (surgeon) began locating, describing,
and photographing items of medical interest scattered throughout the
State. They were joined by Michael Patkin (surgeon), who contributed his
computer skills to establish the SAMHS website .
An early interest was in radiology in SA. This equipment is dispersed
in collections at Flinders Medical Centre, Glenside Hospital, Women's
and Children's Hospital, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and private
collections but all items are now all co-located in the Virtual Museum
on SAMHS website.
 
In
the Museum store at Netley is an 'Iron Lung' designed and developed by
the prolific Adelaide inventors, brothers Edward and Donald Both. A
whale-bone prosthetic hand made by Robert Norman and is likely to
be one of the first prostheses made in South Australia. This hand
prosthesis had 4 fingers operated by pulleys and strings. The fingers
could be flexed by tightening strings attached to a ring on the
patient’s remaining right thumb.
Over 500 items are grouped in 6 galleries and 80 folders on the website,
and the collection continues to grow. A future direction is provision
of information on Aboriginal, Chinese and Mediterranean medicine. One
significant photograph in the collection is of a print of an X-ray of a
hand labelled as belonging to Professor William Bragg, and taken in
Adelaide on 1 June 1896 (later, Bragg and his son were awarded the Nobel
Prize for X-ray crystallography). The SAMHS website also hosts a
biographical library with details of many notable SA health
professionals, who include Nobel Laureates, eminent doctors, scientists,
nurses, dentists and others.
SAMHS currently has 70 registered members from a wide range of
professions including historians, doctors, scientists, teachers,
business people and others, all having a common interest in Medical
Heritage. Meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of each month at
5.30pm in the Royal Society Rooms, off Kintore Avenue Adelaide. An
invited speaker addresses each meeting on a topic of medical history
interest. Guests and new members are always welcome. A field trip
is arranged each year, as well as a celebratory Christmas meeting. The
Society is currently considering a public display of medical artefacts
for History Month SA in May 2017.
Stable, effective leadership for the past 15
years has contributed greatly to the success of
the society. Factors such as intellectual stimulation, social
interaction and encouraging a range of professionals as speakers and
members, contribute to stability and growth. The challenges ahead are
continuity of active members along with on-going cataloguing and
upgrading of the web site.
Further Information: http://www.samhs.org.au/
Joy Copland, Hon. Secretary SAMHS, email: jgcopl@bigpond.net.au
Source: SAMHS website and interview with Joy Copland and Tony Slavotinek.
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Exhibition: Cabinets of Wonder: Extraordinary Collections of Ephemera
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Cabinets of Wonder at RHSV from 12th July - 22nd August
Collectors’ passions for assembling, organising and displaying objects,
for creating inventories of the world manifest an innate curiosity and
an underlying desire for order.
This exhibition is presented by the Ephemera Society of Australia Inc.,
which is devoted to the preservation, study and display of items of a
transient nature. The Society’s original mission may be colloquially
described as collecting material not traditonaly favoured by museums and
libraries.
Cabinets of Wonder showcases the best of Society members’ private
collections and explores the collecting drive behind their creation.
Installations will range from serious to light-hearted records of
political and social life. Ribbons, badges and other ephemeral records
of the 8 hour day movement will be featured together with beribboned
dance cards for events from the ‘Complimentary Return Ball’ in Foostcray
in 1886 to ‘A Matron’s at Home Yallourn 1926’.
A wall of badges, drawn from half-a-lifetime’s hunting and gathering,
together with advertising pocket mirrors reflecting the practical and
pretty ways of keeping a product in mind are just two examples of the
breadth and passion of the wonders on display.
Ephemerists love paper best and so fine, historical local Australian
letterhead from John Wren to early Reg Ansett will be featured together
with the ephemera of ink. The other tool of the office clerk, the
blotter, is a poignant reminder of humbler ambitions – saving for the
future, the best children’s shoes and the like.
Private collectors have the time, drive, passion and knowledge to devote
to exhaustively collecting on a subject, format or period.
Cabinets of Wonder acknowledges and celebrates the fascination of
collections and the role of the private collector as the keeper of items
of a transient nature.
Location: At the Royal Historical Society of Victoria,
239 A’Beckett Street, Melbourne (cnr of A’Beckett & William Sts)
(near Flagstaff Station).
Open: 12 July to 22 August (Monday to Friday only).
Times: 10-4 except Fridays 10-3.
Admission: gold coin donation.
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Managing your Digital Collection, Workshop, Stonnington History Centre
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History Matters event at Northbrook 2015
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Stonnington History Centre History Matters event: Managing your digital collection
The Stonnington History Centre is
an archive dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history of the
City of Stonnington and the former cities of Malvern and Prahran. The
centre is a branch of the Stonnington Library and Information Service
and is housed at Northbrook, located behind the Malvern Library.
Stonnington History Centre Historian Simone Sharpe provides handy tips
on how to store, protect and manage your collection of digital
photographs and documents. Stonnington History Centre, Northbrook
(behind Malvern Library) RSVP: 03 8290 1360
Wednesday 17 August 2016, 10am – 11am
Book online or phone 8290 1360. Bookings open 1 July, 10am
Bookings: http://www.stonnington.vic.gov.au/library/Whats-on/History-Matters/History-Matters-Managing-your-Digital-Collection
Source: Malvern Historical Society Newsletter
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Western Land Exhibition Community Talks Program, WA
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The community talks program for the Society's current exhibition: Western Land - a journey of discovery and rediscovery continues with a presentation on 23rd August
Frances
'Fanny' Brockman was the oldest of the outgoing and alluring daughters
of Alfred and Ellen Bussell. This weekend, Lilleyman will take guests
back in time through Fanny's diaries.
The
diaries span 30 years from 1872 to about 1905 and cover her struggles
in farming, the establishment of the timber industry, and then the rise
in caves tourism.
Tuesday 23 August 2016, 9:30 for 10am Venue: Stirling House 49 Broadway Nedlands
Tickets: $20 each Bookings essential
Tel: 9386 3841 Email admin@histwest.org.au
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WA Australian History Foundation Grants
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 WESTERN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY FOUNDATION GRANTS 2016
The Foundation is conducting a grants round this year on the following dates:
Closing date for applications – Friday 9 September
Announcement of grant recipients – Wednesday 5 October
A small number of grants will be made, normally to a maximum of $10,000 in any one grant.
A project must fall within the Foundationʼs Objects to be eligible to apply for a grant.
Objects of Association:
• to encourage interest in and knowledge of Western Australian history;
• to promote the teaching of Western Australian history at all levels of education;
• to promote research into Western Australian history, particularly from within the
State's tertiary education institutions;
• to assist with the production, publication and distribution of teaching materials
based on research and linked to curricula for use at all levels of education;
• to raise, manage and distribute funds for the furtherance of these objectives.
For guidelines and more information, see the Foundationʼs website:
http://www.wahistoryfoundation.org.au
or contact the Secretary, WA History Foundation Inc.
Dr Lenore Layman, layman@westnet.com.au, L.Layman@murdoch.edu.au
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Queensland Family History Society: Researching your Chinese Ancestry
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Researching your Chinese ancestry with Presenter: Dr Kevin Rains
Queensland Family History Society: "Researching your Chinese ancestry"
Meeting Room58 Bellevue Ave, Gaythorne QLD 4051,
Aug 6 10:00am to 11:00am
Presenter: Dr Kevin Rains
Kevin
will present a brief overview of the history of Chinese immigration to
Queensland. He will follow this with a review of the historical and
archaeological sources available for researching Chinese ancestry.
The QFHS welcomes you to attend their seminar Researching your Chinese
ancestry with Kevin Rains. Kevin will present a brief overview of
the history of Chinese immigration to Queensland. He will follow
this with a review of the historical and archaeological sources
available for researching Chinese ancestry.
Bookings are required.
Cost: $11 (members); $15 (non-members)
For more information, contact QFHS www.qfhs.org.au
Email: secretary@qfhs.org.au
Phone: 07 3355 3369
Registration: http://www.qfhs.org.au/events/researching-your-chinese-ancestry/
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Professional Historians Association Conference, Victoria
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We want to hear about the challenges, triumphs, failures and lessons you've learned working as a professional historian.
The conference will be a dynamic mix of papers, lightning presentations, panel discussions, debates, forums and exhibitions.
Think about how you want to contribute and let us know!
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The conference will explore the following:
History: Now
What’s happening in history practice now? What are some of the
tensions, challenges, dilemmas and wisdoms that come with working in
history today?
History: How?
How do we communicate history? How does digital history compare to
traditional methods? Is there still a role for books, radio and
television? How important is technology in history?
History: Whose?
Who are we doing history for? What role does history play in benefiting
communities, organisations, individuals? Should historians weigh
in on discussions on policy, planning and heritage? What are our
responsibilities?
History: Where to?
Our job is discussing the past, but what about the future? What
challenges and new practices will we face? Who might we be working
for? And what will working in history be like in 20 or 50 years time?
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KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Dr Tim Sherratt, Associate Professor of Digital Heritage at the
University of Canberra will explore ways in which we can maintain
and enrich connections between data and narrative -- to tell
stories that not only
connect us to the past, but connect us to the wealth of historical material that exists within online collections.
PANEL SESSIONS
How do historians navigate complexities and ensure ethical practice?
What are the things they never taught you at history school that
you discover in practice? What influence can history have on public
policy? What is the role of historians in challenging grand
narratives?
Presenters will share their insights, delving into these fascinating
topics to explore issues at the core of professional practice as an
historian.
A CONVERSATION
Catherine Andrews, professional historian and special friend of PHA
(Vic), will host a conversation with Emeritus Professor Geoffrey
Blainey AC, who will discuss the evolution of professional history
and the influence on Australian history and historians since the
1960s
Date: 19-20 August 2016,
Location: Graduate House, Melbourne
Registration: Members $80 per day; Non-members $110 per day; Students $65 per day
Registrations are now open! Click here for details.
Contact workinghistory@phavic.org.au with any enquiries.
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The FAHS e-Bulletin, No. 154, 29th July 2016
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