Federation of Australian Historical Societies

FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES INC

e-BULLETIN No. 92 – 6 December 2011

Hon Editor, Dr Ruth S. Kerr

1) Queensland Art Gallery Exhibition: Daphne Mayo - Let there be Sculpture

2) Public Sector Information – A National Resource

3) Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame, Kalgoorlie

4) Australian Parliamentary material online

5) Digitised newspaper titles on Trove by National Library

6) Primrose from England - to Bendigo Art Gallery

7) Western Australian fires - loss of Wallcliffe House

8) 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Awards (includes Australian History)

9) New Tasmanian Heritage Council Chair

1) Queensland Art Gallery Exhibition: Daphne Mayo - Let there be Sculpture

Queensland Art Gallery
5 November 2011 − 5 January 2012

Daphne Mayo (1895–1982) is one of Queensland’s most significant artists. She was not only an outstanding sculptor and creator of some of Brisbane’s grandest monuments, but also a passionate advocate for the arts who succeeded in transforming cultural opportunities for her fellow Queenslanders. Daphne Mayo: Let there be Sculpture is the first retrospective for this remarkable artist to be mounted by a state gallery. The exhibition, comprising over 50 works drawn from public and private collections around Australia, shows the diversity of Mayo’s output in style, subject matter and medium. The works range from portrait busts to architectural monuments; official commissions to creative, modernist experiments; and include ceramics, paintings and drawings, as well as sculptures.

In 1911–13 she undertook a Diploma in Art Craftsmanship at the Brisbane Central Technical College, studying under the art master R. Godfrey Rivers and specialising in modelling under L.J. Harvey. In 1914 she was awarded Queensland’s first publicly funded travelling art scholarship, sponsored by the local Wattle Day League. When her departure overseas was delayed by the outbreak of World War 1, she attended Julian Ashton’s Sydney Art School and worked with the Ipswich monumental mason Frank Williams to gain experience in stone carving.

Mayo made a highly significant contribution to art and history in Australia through the large public commissions she received, including the Brisbane City Hall tympanum (1927–30), the Queensland Women’s War Memorial in Anzac Square (1929–32) and relief panels for the original chapel at Mt Thompson Crematorium (1934). These works ornamented Classical Revival buildings. For the largest work, the City Hall tympanum, she created a pageant of colonial conquest, ‘The progress of civilisation in the state of Queensland’. Her contract fee of ₤5750 was reportedly the highest yet received by an Australian woman artist.

She undertook a major commission for the east doors of the new Public Library of New South Wales building (1940–42). Further public commissions included a war memorial for The King’s School, Parramatta (1948–52), a portrait bust of Sir Thomas Blamey for the Australian War Memorial, Canberra (1957–58), and ‘The Jolly Swagman’ statue for the western Queensland town of Winton (1959). In 1961–65 she undertook her last major commission, a statue of Sir William Glasgow in Brisbane.

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication which is available from the Gallery Store.

The exhibition is curated by Dr Judith McKay, Fellow of RHSQ, John Kerr Medallist, and is a member of the Queensland Heritage Council.

(Source: Royal Historical Society of Queensland – 17 November 2011 - acknowledgement to Dr Judith McKay for her very extensive research including an Australian Dictionary of Biography entry on Daphne Mayo.)

2) Public Sector Information – A National Resource

The 2011 Information Policy Conference was held on 15 November to mark the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's (OAIC) first year of operation. The conference considered public sector information as a national resource and how it can be made available for community access and use. Topics discussed include: barriers to proactive publication, and consideration of how technology can facilitate information management and exchange, while also protecting the personal information held by government.

More information is available at: www.oaic.gov.au/news/media_releases/media_release_public_sector_information.html

A Guide to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 has been published that provides a broad perspective on FOI. It provides a detailed history of the Act and its operation in Australia and charts the progress towards the 2010 reforms and beyond. The guide is designed for a wide audience, in and outside government. The guide is available at: www.oaic.gov.au/publications/agency_resources.html#foi_guide

The OAIC has published a new Issues Paper, Understanding the Value of Public Sector Information in Australia. The paper explores ways of valuing public sector information (PSI) and assessing the impact of publication. It suggests that both government agencies and users of PSI complete a survey on the publication and reuse of PSI. The responses to this survey will help the OAIC develop a methodology for valuing PSI, as recommended by the Gov 2.0 taskforce.

The OAIC welcomes submissions by 31 January 2012 on three issues:

The ideas presented in this Issues Paper: does the paper propose a workable approach for mapping the PSI landscape and developing a methodology for valuing PSI?
The draft survey form in the Appendix to this paper: is the survey form appropriately framed to address the right issues and gather useful information?
The literature survey in Part 4 of the paper: does this survey adequately cover the field, and are their gaps or limitations in the existing research?

The paper is available from

www.oaic.gov.au/publications/papers/issues_paper2_understanding_value_public_sector_information_in_australia.html

More information about the consultation can be found at www.oaic.gov.au/news/consultations.html#issues_paper2

(Source: aliaozgovpubs@lists.alia.org.au – 15 November 2011)

3) Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame, Kalgoorlie

The Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame in Kalgoorlie was confirmed for closure on 2 December 2011 until further notice to allow a full review into its finances and business plan.

Around 26 staff will be made redundant as part of the suspension but maintenance on the building and facilities will continue.

The Hall of Fame posted an operating loss of around $A1 million last year but has cash of $1 million after donations from miners earlier this year prevented its collapse.

The board has engaged museum consultant Neil Anderson to review its business strategy. It will also explore the possibility of a closer alliance with the Western Australian Museum, which owns many of the Hall of Fame exhibits.

Hall of Fame chairman Peter Jones indicated that seeking taxpayer funds was not a viable option. Also, relying on support of members is not sustainable.

(Source: The West Australian November 16, 2011 and Mining News – 16 November 2011)

4) Australian parliamentary material online

The Association of Parliamentary Libraries of Australasia (APLA) has published a report Australian parliamentary material online on its website.

http://www.apla.org.au/information/bm.doc/australian-parliamentary-material-online.pdf

APLA is a collaborative network of federal and state parliamentary libraries in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea and promotes information sharing.

This study of access to online parliamentary information in Australia covers the national and state parliaments and provides information on the publication of Hansard, live broadcasting and other parliamentary information products.

APLA commissioned a study of digital parliamentary publications across national and state parliaments to:

obtain information on the extent of parliamentary information resources available online;
collect information on digitisation projects;
benchmark standards and practices across Australian parliaments; and
share lessons learnt in digitisation projects.

The study is part of an ongoing program of activities of the association to enhance knowledge and publication of parliamentary resources in print and online. It finds that:

all parliaments except South Australia provide access in real time to chamber proceedings through live broadcasting;
of those offering live broadcasts most offer Video/Audio and Audio only versions;
none yet offer real time captioning;
two (ACT and Queensland) offer access to historic broadcasts;
Hansard, the record of parliament, is available online from all Australian parliaments;
three provide access to a complete set of records from the first sitting of parliament (Australian, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory); and
one has undertaken part digitisation of the print back set (Queensland).

Key issues identified and discussed in this document include:

accessibility to parliamentary material, particular the requirements of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0;
increasing use of social media (web2.0 technology) for interactive parliamentary proceedings, through interactive services such as Twitter and Facebook which provide real time citizen participation;
a range of technical standards and technological solutions; and
an increasing impact on awareness of and participation in parliamentary processes.

The report provides an overview based on the information that was collected through a survey and analysis of web sites. More detailed technical information and contact information for parliamentary libraries can be found on the APLA website www.apla.org.au.

(Source: aliaozgovpubs@lists.alia.org.au; aliaACTIVE_list – 17 November 2011)

5) Digitised newspaper titles on Trove by National Library

The FAHS is keen to promote the work of Trove which is managed by National Library of Australia. It was released in December 2009 and is the national discovery service for Australia. It contains metadata for millions of freely accessible items, from more than 1,000 contributing institutions. In 2011 it was developed further to include selected sets of e-resources subscribed to by Australian libraries. Trove v4.0 was released in May 2011 after 120 million subscription e-resources were successfully included. This took the Trove content total to almost 240 million items.

An article by Rose Holley, Manager of Trove, in the latest issue of D-Lib Magazine describes why and how the work was undertaken, what was achieved, the issues and recent developments and future plans for this important Australian resource. The full-text is available at www.dlib.org/dlib/november11/holley/11holley.html

The National Library of Australia is pleased to announce that the following newspaper titles have been added to Digitised newspapers and more on Trove:

Victoria
Oakleigh Leader (North Brighton, Vic. : 1888 - 1902)
Oakleigh Leader and District Record (Brighton, Vic. : 1887 - 1888)
Sunbury News and Bulla and Melton Advertiser (Vic. : 1892 - 1900)
The Benalla Ensign and Farmer's and Squatter's Journal (Vic. : 1869 - 1872)
The Coburg Leader (Vic. : 1890 - 1913)
The Elsternwick Leader (Brighton, Vic. : 1888)
The Elsternwick Leader and Caulfield and Balaclava Guardian (Brighton, Vic. : 1887)
The Elsternwick Leader and District Record (Brighton, Vic. : 1887 - 1888)
Elsternwick Leader and East Brighton, South Brighton, Cheltenham, Mentone, Mordialloc, Oakleigh, Sandringham, Balaclava & Caulfield Record (Vic. : 1887)
The Kerang Times (Vic. : 1889 - 1890)
The Kyabram Union and Rodney Shire Advocate (Vic. : 1894)
Healesville Guardian and Yarra Glen Advocate (Vic. : 1898)
These titles have been funded by the State Library of Victoria

Tasmania
The Observer (Hobart, Tas : 1845-1846)

New South Wales
The Leader (Liverpool, NSW : 1946-1949)
This title has been funded by the Liverpool City Library

To identify the latest titles added to Trove, subscribe to one of the National Library's Web feeds.

Digitisation is a successful ongoing national program. For those libraries and organisations wishing to digitise a newspaper title, please see the National Library's Contributor Guidelines and Factsheet. Additional information is available by emailing austnewsdigiproj@nla.gov.au.

(Source: Dr Hilary Berthon, Australian Newspaper Plan, National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT 2600. e: hberthon@nla.gov.au t: +61 02 6262 1642;www.nla.gov.au/anplan - 4November 2011; aliaaglin-bounces@lists.alia.org.au - Aileen Weir – 1 December 2011)

6) Primrose from England - to Bendigo Art Gallery

A flowering primrose was sent from England to Victoria in the early 1850s and created a sensation for thousands of people congregating to see it. British artist, Edward Hopley was inspired by the event and painted A Primrose From England and exhibited it in 1855. It was reproduced in the Illustrated London News in 1858. These events illustrate the great significance historically of memory of home in nineteenth century Australia. The primrose was the symbol of spring and was promoted as a plant to ease homesickness in Australia. One of the richest Australian magnates, George Lansell of Bendigo, bought Hopley’s painting and displayed it in his home, Fortuna. It was loaned to the Bendigo Art Gallery and finally donated to the institution by descendents in 1864.

(Source: Weekend Australian 12-13 November 2011. Review p.15 including coloured photo of the painting.)

7) Western Australian fires - loss of Wallcliffe House

The heritage-listed 146-year-old Wallcliffe House owned by Michael and Rosemary Chaney was one of 39 houses destroyed in a control-burn fire which became out of control in the Margaret River district in the days of 23-26 November 2011. Wallcliffe House was built in 1865 by the Bussell family after whom nearby Bussellton town was named. The house contained furniture made by Knapton, a furniture maker who arrived on Western Australia’s second convict ship.

(Source: Weekend Australian 26-27 November 2011 p.9; Australian Financial Review 26-27 November 2011 pp.1 and 12.)

8) 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Awards (includes Australian History)

On 1 December 2011 the Prime Minister Julia Gillard MP and Arts Minister Simon Crean MP launched the 2012 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.

The call for entries states that ‘This year sees the introduction of a new award for poetry and the incorporation of the Prize for Australian History to further acknowledge the valuable contribution all genres of literature and history make to our cultural identity.

Entries are now invited for the categories of adult fiction, non-fiction, Australian history, poetry, young adult fiction and children's fiction. The winner of each award will receive $80,000 tax-free and shortlisted entries will receive $5000 tax-free.’

The call for entries also outlined that ‘The Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History is the nation’s pre-eminent award for excellence in Australian history and is awarded annually for an outstanding body of work that contributes significantly to an understanding of Australian history.

Works first published, produced or broadcast between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2011 are eligible to enter and may include a published book, film or radio documentary, CD-ROM, DVD, other form of multimedia or a series of these works. Australian History Prize entries may also be entered in the non-fiction category.’

Entries close on 1 February 2012. Online entry forms and the 2012 guidelines are now available on the Awards website. We encourage you to submit your entries as early as possible.

To find out more about the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards visit the website. Those interested may also subscribe to the PMLA eNewsletter or to the Office for the Arts eNewsletter, Art & culture stories.

(Source: PMLiteraryAwards@pmc.gov.au - 1 December 2011)

9) New Tasmanian Heritage Council Chair

On 2 December 2011, Brian Wightman, MP, Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage, announced the appointment of Dr Dianne Snowden as chair of the Tasmanian Heritage Council for a three year term from 1 January 2012. The Minister stated that 'Dr Snowden is a notable Tasmanian-educated historian, who's made a significant contribution to the field of historic heritage and the wider community.' Members of the Tasmanian Historical Research Association and all associated with the Federation of Australian Historical Societies will know of Dianne's role on the Federation Committee as well. The Federation congratulates Dianne on her appointment. The Minister stated that the names of the other members of the Council are to be announced by late December 2011.

(Source: Press Release of Minister Wightman on 2 December 2011 - www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=33821)