History and identity - News and events

Events | Featured projects | Call for entries | Announcements

Events

Hill End Historic Buildings Open Day - Hill End, New South Wales

19 October 2008

Hill End Historical Building Open Day is a rare chance to view ten unique buildings constructed in the 1870s. Visit humble miners cottages, Hosies Store, St Pauls Church and the historic residence of Craigmoor with its original furnishings. Also on view are the former homes of artist Jean Bellette and Donald Friend and intriguing diversity of restoration and conservation throughout the village. Hill End.

A Modern Vision exhibition - Canberra

11 July - 26 October 2008

Early Australian photographs by pioneering photographer Charles Bayliss will be on display. The extraordinary work and career of Bayliss, one of Australia’s greatest 19th century photographers, will be examined in detail in A Modern Vision, an exhibition curated by Senior Lecturer at the ANU School of Art, Helen Ennis. A Modern Vision features the full range of Bayliss’ output – architectural photography, panoramas, landscapes and scenes of life at the time. National Library of Australia.

Caroline Chisholm and Sydney's Female Immigration Depot - Sydney

Ends 31 October 2008

The Female Immigration Depot, operating from 1848 to 1886, was the primary reception and hiring depot in Sydney for 'unprotected' females. A new display and online exhibition explores the immigrant women's voyages to the colony, Irish orphans who stayed at the depot, Caroline Chisholm's contribution to female immigration, and the archaeology associated with these women recovered from beneath the barracks' floors. Hyde Park Barracks.

Picture Paradise - Canberra

11 July - 9 November 2008

This is the first exhibition to survey the history of photography of our region - from India and Sri Lanka, Southeast and East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands to the west coast of North America. It features pioneer local photographers as well as Europeans working in the region. The exhibition reveals the rich heritage and the many outstanding achievements of the first century of photography in the Asia-Pacific region. National Gallery of Australia.

Ned Kelly: Fact and Fiction - Eden, New South Wales

30 August - 16 November 2008

A travelling exhibition by the National Museum of Australia, the exhibition tells Ned Kelly's story through the places and people that shaped the man and the legend. Included in the exhibition is Ned Kelly's death mask, skull kast, Mick Jagger Helmet and replica Joe Byrne armour. Eden Killer Whale Museum.

Modern times: the untold story of modernism in Australia - Sydney

8 August 2008 - 15 February 2009

Modern times reveals how modernism transformed life in Australia across five tumultuous decades from 1917 to 1967. The exhibition traces for the first time the impact of modernism on all aspects of Australian culture - from art, design and architecture to advertising, photography, film and fashion. Powerhouse Museum.

Sydney's pubs: liquor, larrikins & the law - Sydney

23 February 2008 - 22 February 2009

This exhibition takes visitors on a rich journey through Sydney's pubs past and present. Sydney's pubs includes historic photography, pub paraphernalia, material relating to the sly grog era, historic film and an interactive map of the city and its pubs in 1910 and today. Justice & Police Museum.

Trash or Treasure? Souvenirs of travel - Sydney

5 July 2008 - 17 March 2009

Discover a diverse array of souvenirs collected by pilgrims, sailors, soldiers, cruise passengers, holiday makers and tourists. The ritual of acquiring souvenirs has been carried out by travellers for hundreds of years. A souvenir serves as a tangible reminder of a destination visited when the traveller returns home. It can evoke memories and encourage the owner to pass on personal stories to friends and family. Australian National Maritime Museum.

Blue Jeans and Jungle Greens: Revisiting the Sixties and Seventies - Adelaide

19 February 2008 - 21 August 2009

Blue Jeans and Jungle Greens: revisiting the 60s and 70s explores the political and social complexity of the Sixties and Seventies. The exhibition examines both the conflict in Vietnam, including the part played by South Australians in the war, and the anti-war campaign on the home front. The History Trust of South Australia.

Featured projects

Christina Henri, Roses From the Heart - Hobart

September 2008

From 1788 to 1853, 25,266 women were transported to Australia. Roses From the Heart, a project coordinated by Tasmanian conceptual artist Christina Henri, commemorates those convict women through sewing 25,266 christening bonnets with the help of the community. More than 11,000 bonnets have already been completed. Many of the bonnets featured in Christina Henri's work will form part of the exhibition Bonnets and Boats at the Parramatta Artist Studio (5 September 2008 - 10 October 2008). Bonnets & Boats aims to re-connect convict women's history and their stories to the English settlement of Australia. It will engage descendants of convict women transported to Australia and allow them to tell their interpretations of the stories handed to them from generation to generation. Parramatta Artists Studio.

Remembering Vietnam

July 2008

Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War lasted from August 1962 to January 1973 - the longest period of war-time service in Australian history. Fairfax photographers captured the conflict at the battlefront as well as the social and political turmoil that raged at home. Visit Fairfax Photos to purchase photographs of this significant era.

Aboriginal Culture Cruise - Sydney

June 2008

Set sail on a journey to discover the stories of the Eora, Cadigal, Guringai, Wangal, Gammeraigal and Wallumedegal people. Come ashore on an island in Sydney Harbour to a traditional welcoming ceremony. Learn the Aboriginal names and meanings of significant Sydney landmarks. Explore Sydney's waters on this unique cultural harbour cruise.

Light Railways Research Association of Australia

May 2008

These railways have been associated with a wide range of industries, including sugar production, timber milling, tourism, construction, manufacturing, quarrying and mining. The Society is a leading publisher of books on sawmilling history.

Defiance- Sydney

May 2008

Defiance tells some extraordinary real stories of people that either worked at the Sydney's North Head Quarantine Station or were interned there, battling against one of mankind's greatest enemies, disease. The experience that is created to tell these stories is called immersion theatre. The audience sits inside the same authentic buildings where the stories actually happened, and the actors are close enough to touch. Sydney's Quarantine Station operated from 1828 to 1984. Directed by Carlton Lamb. North Head Scenic Drive, Manly.

Memory of a Nation - Canberra

April 2008

Memory of a Nation is a must-see for all Australians. Highlights include Edmund Barton's draft of the Constitution- complete with corrections in red pen, a letter from Don Bradman to Robert Menzies in 1963 -  agreeing to play in the PM's XI cricket match, but not without qualms, Douglas Mawson's proclamation -  which led to the Antarctic Treaty, Charles Kingsford Smith's application for a pilot's licence and Harold Holt's briefcase. This exhibition showcases stories of ordinary and extraordinary Australians like Freda Beryl Wilson, Australia's first female trade commissioner, and the inspiring feats of 80-year-old Ernie Old who cycled around Australia on his trusty Malvern Star. National Archives of Australia.

Australia in Maps

6 March 2008

Some of Australia's most fascinating maps are reproduced in the book Australia in Maps, which reproduces 52 great maps from the National Library's collection of more than 1 million rare maps, charts and aerial photographs. Maps include Eddie Mabo's map of the landholdings on the eastern shoreline of Murray Island in the Torres Strait, a key document in the successful legal fight for native title rights recognised by the High Court. Others include James Cook's 1770 chart of the east coast of Australia and the path of Charles Kingsford Smith's flight across the Pacific in 1928. The book was compiled by the previous curator of maps, Maura O'Connor.

Call for entries

Queensland Family History Society, Annual Family History Awards - National

Entries by 30 November 2008

Submissions are invited for the Annual Family History Awards. These Awards acknowledge family history publications with significant Queensland content. Selection and presentation will be made the following year at the Annual General Meeting.

Announcements

The Battle of Long Tan - Bruce Beresford to Direct

August 2008

Bruce Beresford is expected to direct the upcoming Vietnam war film The Battle of Long Tan. After finishing work on Mao's last dancer, Australian actor Sam Worthington has also been cast in the production. Martin Walsh, of Red Dune Films, has been developing a feature version of the story since 2004 after optioning The Battle of Long Tan as told by the Commanders to Bob Grandin (Allen & Unwin, 2004). Beresford has collaborated with Justin Monjo to write the screenplay. The producers (Walsh and co-producer Charles Hannah) said they aim to commence production by mid-2009, with Queensland as the most likely location for the Australian base in Nui Dat and the nearby rubber plantation where the battle took place.

Centenary of Women's Suffrage in Victoria 1908-2008

28 July 2008

The Victorian Government has launched The Centenary of Women's Suffrage Curriculum Material to promote and celebrate this year's democratic milestone. The curriculum materials are aimed at students in years four to ten. The materials not only tell the story of the suffragists but encourage students to engage with the history through hands-on, research and extension activities.

Convict database available

July 2008

The Convict transportation registers 1787-1867 database has been compiled from the British Home Office (HO) records by the State Library of Queensland. You can find details for over 123 000 of the estimated 160 000 convicts transported to Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries - names, term of years, transport ships and more. 

Australian Women and War

22 July 2008

Australian Women and War, compiled by Melanie Oppenheimer and published by the Department of Veterans Affairs, has recently been launched with more than 300 photographs from public and private collections. It is a tribute to Australia’s women as nurses and volunteers, as workers taking over the jobs of soldiers away at war, as mothers, wives and lovers.

National Maritime Museum acquires First Fleet convict engraved medal

22 July 2008

The silver medal, 74 mm in diameter, was engraved by convict Thomas Barrett while on the transport ship Charlotte in January 1788 at the conclusion of the First Fleet's voyage. The engraving is of a fully-rigged ship secured to a buoy with the sun down and a crescent moon and stars on the upper right. On the reverse side of the disc is a short description of Charlotte's voyage. Barrett engraved the medal for the First Fleet's Principal Surgeon John White, and it's believed he used a surgeon's silver 'kidney dish' to make it. The museum paid $750,000 for the medal with assistance from the Commonwealth Government's National Cultural Heritage Account.

Stories please! South Australia's State Heritage Areas

June 2008

The State Heritage Areas website is seeking a diversity of personal accounts to bring colour to their electronic storyboard. Stories can be of long ago or more recent times. They may be personal memories from childhood or family stories passed on by earlier generations. In particular, the website team is looking for stories in relation to Arckaringa Hills, Belair National Park, Beltana, Burra, Gawler, Hahndorf, Cooper Creek, Moonta Mines, Mount Gambier, Mount Schank, Mount Torrens, Penola and Port Adelaide.

Plan to protect Mawson's huts

18 June 2008

Mawson's huts built at Commonwealth Bay early in 1912 to house Australasian Antarctic expedition members and their scientific equipment, are to have a management plan to conserve and protect them. The Mawson's Huts Historic Site Management Plan 2007-2012 sets out the direction of management of the site regarded as Australia's most significant historic presence in Antarctica. This follows a range of critical conservation work carried out by the Australian Antarctic Division and the Mawson's Huts Foundation. The site was included on the National Heritage List in 2005, and had been registered on the Register of the National Estate since 1980.

Claim of Burke and Wills relics found

12 June 2008

A University of Melbourne academic, Frank Leahy, claims he has found some of the Burke and Wills exploring party equipment buried in a creek bed inland from Brisbane, at a site known as Plant Camp. Plant Camp was the last site before a party of four struggled onto Cooper Creek in South Australia, to find that their support party had left hours earlier. Items recovered from the site include a rifle, revolver, bullets, spirit level, buckles, sewing kit, hinges, and latches. The Royal Society of Victoria have now asked the Queensland Government to declare the site a heritage area, as Dig Tree and Camp 65 were declared. The Burke and Wills Society said they could not accept the find as authentic until surveying instruments were found at the site. (The Age, 12 June 2008)

Myall Creek massacre recognised 170 years on

11 June 2008

Heritage Minister Peter Garrett, today announced the inclusion of the Myall Creek massacre site, near Inverell, on the National Heritage List. Minister Garrett made the announcement while attending a memorial service for the 170th anniversary of the massacre. Myall Creek is the 79th place to be included in the National Heritage List, joining other Indigenous sites including the Hermansburg Historic Precinct, the Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps, the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape and the Mount William Stone Hatchet Quarry.

NSW State Library secures $10 million for online history

10 June 2008

The NSW Government recently committed $10 million to create a digitised catalogue for the library's extensive collection relating to Australia's heritage. Users will be able to go online to discover the library's riches, including the letters of John Macarthur, original writings by famous Australian authors and sketchbooks by the likes of Conrad Martens.

Key online resources

• Australian History (Project Gutenberg of Australia)
• Australian Literary and Historical Texts Online
• Mitchell Library Online
• Digital Resource Finder - educational videos
• Convict Creations

Collection resources

• Australian War Memorial
• Australian National Maritime Museum
• Documenting a Democracy: Australia's Story
• Collections Australia Network
• Picture Australia
• Picture Queensland
• George Raper Collection

Institutions and government organisations

• Australia's Heritage
• Australian Cultural History research links
• History Council of NSW
• History Council of Victoria
• History Council of South Australia
• History Council of Western Australia

Peak bodies and associations

• The History Teachers' Association of Australia

People

• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
• The Dictionary of Australian Biography (Project Gutenberg of Australia)
• South Land to New Holland
• Joie de vivre!
• Ben Hall
• The Macarthurs and the Merino sheep
• Ned Kelly
• Charles 'Moth' Eaton

Featured websites/projects

• eGold: Electronic Encyclopedia of Gold in Australia
• Despatches from Gallipoli - Scenes from a Remote War
• Treasures of the State Library of Victoria
• South Seas: Voyaging and cross-cultural encounters in the Pacific (1760-1800)
• Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me?