Federation of Australian Historical Societies

FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES INC

e-BULLETIN No. 141 – 12 August 2015

Hon Editor, Dr Ruth S. Kerr

1) Book - Callan Park: Compassion and Conflict in the Asylum

2) Icon Conference 2016: Turn and Face the Change: Conservation in the 21st Century

3) MacDonnell Range Reef Mine walk closed indefinitely

4) Tennant Creek Battery Hill Mining Centre and tours re-open

5) Magna Carta - celebrations of its 800th anniversary

1) Book - Callan Park: Compassion and Conflict in the Asylum

Friends of Callan Park and Oral History New South Wales held a joint launch of Callan Park: Compassion and Conflict in The Asylum on 1st August. It followed the recent exhibition of the same name for the National Trust’s Heritage Festival where the interest and curiosity about the stories of the people who were patients at Callan Park, or lived in the housing on site or worked its wards was so high that Friends of Callan Park decided to publish the exhibition panels together with linking pages which set the context.

Professor Paula Hamilton launched the book. Professor Hamilton is President of the Oral History NSW, recently retired from UTS and a local resident who has been a great supporter of the local community, particularly with her engagement through oral history.

The book is available for $15 = $10 book plus $5 for postage and handling.
Payment - Cheque: payable to Friends of Callan Park, PO Box 238, Rozelle 2039 or EFT: BSB 633 000 Act. # 142343243. Payment must include a surname and “book”. Send confirming email to focp.admin@gmail.com.

Details of the Friends of Callan Park activities are on their website: http://www.callanpark.com/?p=1041

Callan Park is known to members of New South Wales historical societies who attended a Royal Australian Historical Society Annual Conference dinner there in 2000.

(Source: Australia ICOMOS E-Mail News No.691 – 24 July 2015)

2) Icon Conference 2016: Turn and Face the Change: Conservation in the 21st Century

15-17 June 2016 - Aston University Conference Centre, Birmingham, UK

Icon's third triennial conference will ask the conservation profession to consider its place in a challenging cultural and economic climate.
Turn and Face the Change: Conservation in the 21st Century will take place from 15-17 June 2016 at Aston University Conference Centre in Birmingham.

Papers for both the plenary and group sessions are invited to address the following themes:
How can the profession get ahead of the curve and influence decision-making?
Is the conservation profession keeping up with changing trends?
What will the conservation profession of the future look like?
What are the factors affecting emerging professionals?
Is conservation in fashion?
Is conservation relevant in today's digital world or how do we make it relevant?
Does conservation need to challenge the established perception of the profession?
What does a modern conservator look like? Have we progressed or gone full circle?
What is the changing shape of conservation in the cultural sector?
What are the current treatment trends?
How is the profession using new technologies, techniques and science?
How will the relationship between conservation and craft evolve?
What are the current trends in education and training?

Deadlines
Send Plenary session abstracts to conference@icon.org.uk by 31 October 2015.
Send Group submissions to your Group Chair by 31 October 2015.
Send abstracts for the Emerging Professionals and Education & Training sessions to Susan Bradshaw sbradshaw@icon.org.uk by 31 October 2015.
Papers will be selected by 30 November 2015.
Abstracts should be 150 words and include title, names, addresses and email addresses of all authors and indicate author for correspondence.
Booking will open in November 2015.

http://icon.org.uk/events/icon-conference-2016-turn-and-face-change

(Source: Cambridge Heritage Research Group Bulletin Issue 24, 3 August 2015)

3) MacDonnell Range Reef Mine walk closed indefinitely

The MacDonnell Range Reef Mine self guided walk at Artlunga Historical Reserve, Northern Territory has been closed indefinitely because of a rock fall. The area is on the Binns Track which is accessible all year round. Northern Territory Worksafe will inspect the mine on behalf of The Parks and Wildlife Commission to assess the mine’s safety and accessibility.

(Source: Northern Territory News 27 July 2015 p.9)

4) Tennant Creek Battery Hill Mining Centre and tours re-open

The Battery Hill Mining Centre and tours were re-opened by the Chief Minister Adam Giles MP on 10 July 2015. The Northern Territory government provided an Industry Development Grant to complete renovations and improvements to revitalize the centre. The displays include an underground mine shaft and original gold battery and the McLaughlin Minerals Collection. The underground tour runs twice a day on weekdays and once a day on the weekend. The Corrections Barkly Work Camp provides three low risk prisoners to do maintenance work five days a week.

(Source: Tennant and District Times 17 July 2015 p.5 including photograph)

5) Magna Carta - celebrations of its 800th anniversary

The Hon Jim Spigelman, former Chief Justice and Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales spoke on the Magna Carta at the Centre for Independent Studies in June.
Magna Carta signed by King John in 1215 was intended to be a peace treaty to end a civil war. The King repudiated it within two months and the Pope declared it void. After King John died an amended version was issued as a coronation charter in the name of his son, Henry III, on his accession in October 1216. The reissue of Magna Carta in 1225 was only two thirds the length of the 1215 version. The Forest Charter accompanied it. They were the first documents promulgating the requirements of good governance and limits on the exercise of political power – the tradition of organic legitimacy. Spigelman distilled out six themes:

The sovereign’s acts are exercised in accordance with certain processes;
The obligation of the sovereign to consult the political nation on certain issues;
The charter restricts the sovereign’s feudal and prerogative powers;
The sovereign is subject to the law and custom;
The sovereign must provide a judicial system for administration of justice and all free men are entitled to due process of law.

Magna Carta provided the institutional basis for future expansion of personal liberties by parliament and the courts. Spigelman states that it is the above themes applied over the centuries which gave the charter the significance we celebrate today.

(Source: Australian Financial Review 16 June 2015 p.43)