Federation of Australian Historical Societies

FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES INC

e-BULLETIN No. 91 – 17 November 2011

Hon Editor, Dr Ruth S. Kerr

1) Australian Heritage Week: 14 - 22 April 2012

2) National cultural policy

3) Queensland State Archives

4) The immediate future in libraries

5) Listing of Sirius ship on the National Heritage Register

6) British World Conference July 2012

7) Treasures of Benghazi in Libya stolen

8) Heritage issues in New South Wales

9) Consider joining the online Australian Historical Societies Support Group

1) Australian Heritage Week: 14 - 22 April 2012

The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Populations and Communities has set up information on its website about Australian Heritage Week 2012 between 14 and 22 April 2012 including a section on Frequently Asked Questions. There is a register of events held during Australian Heritage Week 2011. Event registrations for the 2012 Australian Heritage Week will open in early 2012.

The Federation encourages all societies to be involved with planning and hosting a range of activities during Australian Heritage Week that showcase local history and heritage.

(Source: www.environment.gov.au/heritage/about/heritage-week/index.html and FAHS Committee 14 November 2011)

2) National cultural policy

Following the call by the Federal Minister for the Arts (The Hon. Simon Crean MP) for feedback on the National Cultural Policy discussion paper, the Federation of Australian Historical Societies has made a submission.

The ten week period for public consultation has now ended, but the discussion paper may still be accessed, using the following link:

http://culture.arts.gov.au/discussion-paper

The Federation‘s submission may be accessed on the FAHS website using the following link:

www.history.org.au/Recent%20submissions%20by%20FAHS.html

(Source: FAHS Committee – 26 October 2011)

3) Queensland State Archives

New records available at Queensland State Archives
We regularly add new records to our collection, received from various public authorities. New series and major additions to existing series of records are identified in a monthly list on our website. Recent new additions to the collection include: Nudgee State School Admission Registers (QSA Series ID 2158); Court of Petty Sessions, Winton Register of Stock Mortgages (QSA Series ID 19491); and Magistrates Court, St George Indexes to Plaints and Record of Proceedings (QSA Series ID 19349).

Images from Image Queensland
QSA Item ID436398 includes various historical photographs produced by the Lands Department, Survey Office, Cartographic Branch, Photographic Section from c 1953 to c 1955. The item includes images such as a streetscape showing government buildings in the main street of Dalby, the illumination of the Public Library (State Library of Queensland) building in William Street during the Royal visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in March 1954, and agricultural images of Queensland properties, such as raking lucerne at ‘Glenora Downs’.
QSA Item ID436399 includes various historical photographs produced by the Lands Department, Survey Office, Cartographic Branch, Photographic Section in 1955 including a photograph of the Maternal and Child Welfare building at Ipswich, a streetscape of government buildings at Quilpie, and photographs of the Queensland prawning industry.

(Source: qsa-bulletin – Issue 45, October 2011)

4) The immediate future in libraries

Libraries are moving into providing more and more data on the web. A group named the Library Linked Data Incubator Group was formed to help increase the global interoperability of library data on the Web by focusing on the potential role of Linked Data technologies.

In its final report, the group described the current state of library data management, outlined potential benefits of publishing library data as Linked Data, and formulated next-step recommendations for library standards bodies, data and systems designers, librarians and archivists, and library leaders.

The main report of the group is supplemented by two more detailed reports. "Use Cases" describes library applications which showcase the benefits of adopting Semantic Web standards and Linked Data principles to publish library assets such as bibliographic data, concept schemes, and authority files. "Datasets, Value Vocabularies, and Metadata Element Sets" provides a snapshot of key resources available for creating library Linked Data today.

Several working documents of the group have been moved to W3C's Semantic Web wiki, and discussion will continue on the public-lld mailing list -- both of which are open to participation by all interested members of the public.

Library Linked Data Incubator Group: Use Cases
www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/lld/XGR-lld-usecase-20111025/

Library Linked Data Incubator Group: Datasets, Value Vocabularies,
and Metadata Element Sets
www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/lld/XGR-lld-vocabdataset-20111025/

(Source: aliaaglin@lists.alia.org.au – 27 October 2011)

5) Listing of Sirius ship on the National Heritage Register

On 25 October 2011 the Minister responsible for the National Heritage Register under the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Hon Tony Burke MP formally added the ship, Sirius, to the National Heritage Register. The Sirius was the lead ship in the first fleet to Australia in 1787-1788 and was subsequently wrecked very close to the shore of Norfolk Island in 1790. The 25th October 2011 was the 225th anniversary of the commissioning of the Sirius. The wreck has also been protected under the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976. Many items from the Sirius are preserved in the Norfolk Island Museum.

(Source: Sydney Morning Herald 26 October 2011 p.22)

6) British World Conference July 2012

The British World: Religion, Memory, Culture and Society
University of Southern Queensland,
2 - 5 July 2012

www.usq.edu.au/oac/Research/bwc

Papers are invited for ‘The British World Conference’, to be held at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, in conjunction with the Public Memory Research Centre and the Anglican Historical Society of Australia. Abstracts are welcome on any aspect of history and or place in the world where the government, religion, people and cultures of the British Isles have been of influence. The time period is open and may extend from the medieval to the modern period.

From a teaching perspective, the landscape in which we teach history has clearly changed over time. In recognition of such developments, under our ‘Precious Past and Digital Future’ stream, we invite papers which investigate the digital dimension of teaching history and religious studies.

Abstracts of 250-300 words for a 20 minute paper should be sent to british.history@usq.edu.au by 30 April 2012. Abstracts should be accompanied by a brief (100 word) CV of the presenter.

(Source: PHAQ E-Bulletin 1 November 2011)

7) Treasures of Benghazi in Libya stolen

The United Nations UNESCO organisation has described the theft of gold antiquities dating from the time of Alexander the Great in Benghazi in Libya as one of ‘the greatest thefts in archaeological history’. The collection of gold coins, jewellery and figurines – known as the Treasures of Benghazi – were stored in a metal storage cupboard in the National Commercial Bank. The theft was believed to have occurred in May 2011. This theft compares with looting of Cairo’s Egyptian Museum early in 2011 when 2000 year old mummies were stolen.

(Source: Courier-Mail ex Daily Mail 1 November 2011 p.30)

8) Heritage issues in New South Wales

The Federation has issued a media release in association with the Royal Australian Historical Society in Sydney regarding the state of Cooma Cottage in Yass and Randwick Racecourse Tea House in Sydney.

The FAHS and FAHS affirmed their support of the federal and state policies which identify cultural tourism as a valuable component of the national economy and of inherent value to the Australian community.

They urged government at all levels to focus their efforts on fulfilling the promise of the National Cultural Policy and the developing National Heritage Strategy, as well as giving greater consideration to assisting community and non-government groups to conserve, record and celebrate local heritage features.

Media release - What price heritage? - Cooma to Randwick

(Source: FAHS President – 10 November 2011)

9) Consider joining the online Australian Historical Societies Support Group

The online Australian Historical Societies Support Group, through an arrangement between the Federation of Australian Historical Societies (FAHS) and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, is one of the My Connected Community (mc²) groups initiated and funded by the Victorian Government’s Connecting Communities policy.

The Australian Historical Societies Support Group offers participating historical societies, like-minded bodies and their members a variety of free, easy to use Web-based services which they can use to communicate with each other across the nation and the world on any topic that is of interest or concern to their organisations.

The mc² website provides easy access to online technologies now available for communicating between group members. Features of mc² include a forum, an events list, space for sharing files, space for sharing photos, a links page and a chat room.

Details on how to join the Group are available at the FAHS website.

(Source: FAHS Committee)