Federation of Australian Historical Societies

FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES INC

e-BULLETIN No. 137 – 14 May 2015

Hon Editor, Dr Ruth S. Kerr

1) National Cultural Heritage Account - funding for acquisitions of Australian protected objects

2) FAIR partners

3) Discovery of 1620 book ordered to be burnt

4) National Conference of Oral History Australia

5) Hazel de Berg Award for Excellence in Oral History

6) Black Australia: entangled histories on Queensland's cane fields

1) National Cultural Heritage Account - funding for acquisitions of Australian protected objects

Each year the Commonwealth government’s Ministry for the Arts provides $500,000 to assist cultural organisations to acquire Australian protected objects under the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986. The Account helps to ensure Australian protected objects are retained in Australia, preserved and made accessible to the public. All Australian cultural organisations, including museums, art galleries, libraries, archives, historic buildings, national trusts, local history museums and galleries, and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander keeping places for sacred/secret material, are encouraged to apply.

We encourage you to consider how the Account might be able assist with future acquisitions. For more information on the Account, click National Cultural Heritage Account or email for an application form.

(Source: ICOMOS Email News 679)

2) FAIR partners

Blue Shield Australia (BSA) is liaising with Australian Libraries and Information Association (ALIA) about becoming a FAIR partner with them. This is a major new initiative from the ALIA aiming to increase the reach and profile of their advocacy for the library and information sector.

ALIA is running a campaign to raise funds for books for Vanuatu school libraries affected by the recent cyclone. Details of this campaign can be found by clicking on https://fair.alia.org.au/were-helping-school-libraries-vanuatu.

(Source: BSA Email – 1 May 2015)

3) Discovery of 1620 book ordered to be burnt

A copy of Varia Opuscula Theologica (Various Theological Brochures) written by a Spanish Jesuit, Doctoris Francisco Suarez and published in 1620 has been discovered in an Oxfam shop in Shropshire in the United Kingdom. The book was ordered by Pope Innocent XI to be burnt in 1679 but this book survived while other Saurez books were burnt. The book in Latin has a stamp on it indicating that it came from a college in Rome.

(Source: MX newspaper, Brisbane, 8 April 2015 p.7)

4) National Conference of Oral History Australia

The National Conference of Oral History Australia is to be held in Perth on 9-12 September 2015 at State Library of Western Australia.

The major theme of the conference is the changes in technology and their impact on the recording and application of oral history. The conference has a number of supporting themes as follows:

Capturing memory and the recording of history.

Recording the history of disasters – and the right time to interview survivors.

The relationship between history and therapy – including consideration of trauma, dementia and dealing with terminal illness as well as training and preparation and counselling of the interviewer.

The uses of history – including oral history, in museum displays, performance, plays, theatre, radio, the internet, cinema and television.

Technology and oral history – including providing access via websites, the ethical dimensions of accessibility, plagiarism and the protection of intellectual property.

Digital technology and current ‘state of the art’ equipment.

Community and indigenous oral history projects.

(Source: Royal Historical Society of Western Australia Email – 24 April 2015)

5) Hazel de Berg Award for Excellence in Oral History

Oral History Australia has established an award to recognise people who have made an outstanding contribution to the cause of oral history in Australia. The Award is not restricted to members of Oral History Australia. The inaugural award was presented at the International Oral History Association Conference Sydney in 2006. To commemorate her pioneering work in oral history, the award has been named the Hazel de Berg Award for Excellence in Oral History.

The recipient shall be the nominee deemed by the National Committee of the Oral History Australia to have made an outstanding contribution to the cause of oral history in Australia over a considerable period of time. Relevant activities are many and varied and include:

Promotion and raising of awareness of oral history, within the oral history profession, with historians, with organisations and within the general community.

Volunteer work with communities, not-for-profit groups and with oral history associations.

Initiation of and contribution to oral history projects documenting Australia's past and contemporary history.

Recording and documentation of oral history.

Preservation and archiving of oral history collections.

Research involving assessing oral history.

Publication of papers, journal articles and books.

Education and/or teaching including conduct of seminars and workshops.

Mentoring

Such other contributions to oral history considered worthy of recognition.

Anyone may make a nomination and there is no impediment to a person nominating them self. This national award presents the opportunity to give public recognition and encouragement not only to the recipient but to the important role of oral history.

Closing date for the applications for the 2015 Award: 30 June 2015.

See further details and download nomination form http://www.oralhistoryaustralia.org.au/page/awards.html

The award will be presented at the Oral History Australia Conference Perth WA 9-12 September 2015.

(Source: Oral History Australia Inc – Email - 4 April 2015)

6) Black Australia: entangled histories on Queensland's cane fields

Associate Professor Tracey Banivanua Mar in dialogue with filmmaker Amie Batalibasi
Date: Friday 29 May 2015
Where: The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Cairns Campus – Room D3.063
Time: 4.30 – 6.30pm Pre-lecture refreshments: 4.00pm
Registration: the lecture is free to attend please register at : https://alumni.jcu.edu.au/EpeliHauofa

About the Lecture: In the year that Faith Bandler, a giant of indigenous political struggle in Australia, passed away, this paper reflects on the legacy of Australia's nineteenth century labour trade in the Pacific. Through a survey of the collective political struggles of Queensland's South Sea Islander community, the paper explores the role that solidarity has played in the articulation of a Black politics in Australia - one that was inclusive rather than exclusive, and defined by familial, and emplaced networks of connection. In moments of resistant politics on the fringes of sugar towns in the nineteenth century, to protests against deportation in 1906, and the Black Power inspired struggles for recognition in the 1970s, South Sea Islanders, Murris and Islanders in the Pacific have together produced powerful forces for change. Although often consisting of connective and contingent moments of articulation, rather than coherent 'hard' political networks it will be argued that this is a historical narrative yet to receive the acknowledgement it deserves. For if measured from the criteria implied by Hau'ofa's eloquent plea to overcome the smallness and disconnection of the colonial era, these political moments were significant formations of internal decolonisation.

(Source: Australian Institute Pacific Studies – Email 7 May 2015)