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FAHS Fellowship awarded to Professor Patricia Grimshaw
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The FAHS President, Assoc Prof Don Garden, presented a FAHS Fellowship to Emeritus Professor Patricia Grimshaw on 15 November, as part of a major event at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria to launch the new publication Remembering Melbourne.
The Fellowship was awarded in recognition of Professor Grimshaw’s role in leading the women’s history movement at local, state, national and international levels.
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Professor Grimshaw was a founder of the Australian Women’s History Network, and a co-founder of the International Federation for Research in Women’s History in 1987. She was Australia’s national representative at the International Federation’s meeting in Bellagio, Italy, in 1989, and became its second president from 1995 to 2000.
As a leading academic at the University of Melbourne, she led research and conducted courses in gender history, and served as the Head of the History Department. She has supervised 55 PhD theses and over 30 Masters theses and is loved and revered by countless former students.
Pat has also been involved in grassroots family and local history, notably in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, and has participated in RHSV events.
The FAHS congratulates Patricia Grimshaw on her achievements and has been delighted to offer her the Fellowship.
Source: FAHS, President, Associate Professor Don Garden
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The FAHS Survey of Historical Societies - Results Stage One
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Survey of Australian Historical Societies is now online
http://history.org.au/Report%20on%20Stage%201%20(General).html
Earlier this year the FAHS conducted Stage One of the 2016/17 survey of Australian Historical Societies. Responses were received from more than 300 societies and we were most impressed with the time people took to undertake the questionnaire and the quality of the responses.
This first stage provides an overview of membership numbers, premises, the contribution of volunteers, local and state government support, collections, the use of computers, and society activities.
The following information was collated and is available for viewing:
- Year established, incorporation; members (membership numbers, types of membership); premises (occupy, own, space available); insurance; paid support; volunteers (numbers of volunteered and hours worked)
- Support from local and state government; sources of income
- Types of items in collection; museum activity; catalogue of collection
- Website, use of social media; purposes for using computers
- Societies’ activities and any problems faced by societies.
Comparisons are made where appropriate with the results of the previous survey of this kind conducted by the FAHS in the year 2000.
The report can be viewed on the FAHS website
http://history.org.au/Report%20on%20Stage%201%20(General).html
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The FAHS Survey - Now Open Stage Two on Collection Management
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Stage Two of the FAHS Survey of Historical Societies on Collection Management is now open. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZWLYLTN
We are excited to launch the FAHS survey on Collection Management to find out what items you have in your collection (both physical and digital) and how you are documenting, preserving and making available this material. What's working and what's not -the survey canvasses information about the following aspects:
. the nature and size of your collection
. the importance of different parts of your collection
. cataloguing
. digitisation
. collection policies
. accessions register
. access to the collection
. forward planning.
The information we collect will assist the FAHS in its work of promoting society needs and interests, and of seeking recognition and support from government and the community.
For simplicity, the questions use the term 'your society' throughout, but it is not restricted to groups calling themselves 'historical societies'.Other bodies with similar purposes (for example, family history societies, heritage societies and museums) are welcome to complete the survey.
The results will be published on the FAHS web site. The report will not contain any information that identifies particular societies.
For assistance with the survey please contact FAHS:
Online Outreach Officer, Dr Bernadette Flynn: fahsbflynn@gmail.com or
Executive Officer, John Davies admin@history.org.au
It is not necessary to have completed Stage One before doing Stage Two, but if after receiving your Stage Two response we detect that we did not receive a Stage One response from your society, we will send you an invitation to complete Stage One.
To enter Stage Two of the survey, please click on the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZWLYLTN
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Report on GLAM Peak Bodies Meeting in Canberra
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Associate Professor Don Garden represented the FAHS at the Glam Peak Bodies meeting at the CSIRO, Canberra on 9 November 2016
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For historical societies a major issue of interest was a Progress Report on Digital Access to Collections Project by consultants, John Petersen and Rebecca Jones. They are very near the end of the project, which will hopefully be the first stage of an ongoing project if further grant money can be obtained.
Stage one of the project commenced in July and will be completed on 9 December 2016. In this initial stage they have essentially scoped the current status of and challenges for the digitisation of Australia’s cultural collections, with some emphasis on small collecting bodies such as historical societies.
They are drafting a national framework that sets out the nation’s ambition for digital access to collections, using a number of case studies of organisations (at different stages of development) that have been drawn from field research. They will also design a prototype ‘toolkit’, which will be a guide to advise and encourage small organisations to work on digitising their collections.
It was made clear that digitisation essentially has two stages – scanning or otherwise digitising, and then placing digitised resources online. It is recognised that small organisations are focussed on the former and many have reservations about moving on to the latter.
Also of great interest to societies was a report on Trove which is continuing to undertake work behind the scenes, but the staff is insufficient to continue harvesting for the time being. A new funding model is being planned and it will likely include a user-pays system for many Trove users, although whether this will apply to individuals and small organisations is not yet clear.
Copyright – it is still hoped that legislation will be put before parliament to place unpublished material on the same copyright basis as published material.
http://www.glampeak.org.au/
Source: FAHS, President, Associate Professor Don Garden
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Demolition of Corkman Hotel in Carlton, Melbourne
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 The Corkman Irish Pub Demolition: Happy Ending or Unresolved Issues?
There has been indignation across the community at the wanton destruction of the Corkman Irish Pub (originally the Carlton Inn) at the corner of Leicester and Pelham streets, Carlton, on 15 and 16 October 2016. It was torn down without a permit, despite a Heritage Overlay and despite a Council order restraining the demolition when it began.
The RHSV has issued a press release deploring this action - Statement on the Demolition of Corkman Hotel. Here, Professor Charles Sowerwine examines the issues.
‘The 'cowboy' developers who illegally knocked down the Corkman Irish Pub have apologised for demolition of the 159-year-old hotel and have said they will rebuild it.’ Does this report from the front page of the Age (28 October) mean a happy ending? Can we all go home now?
Unfortunately, the issues which this wanton vandalism raised remain.
The demolished building dated from 1857, making it one of the oldest buildings in Carlton. It was important not just for its age and generally intact exterior, but also for its position in the urban fabric. Standing at the southeast corner of University Square, it provided an anchor reminiscent of the square’s original built environment, mainly double-storey Victorian terraces. The south side of the square is now dominated by the mediocre ten-storey University of Melbourne Law Building (2002), the east side near the corner by a hodgepodge of older, almost equally mediocre buildings. Without the Corkman, the remaining heritage buildings around University Square lose their visual power.
Reconstruction is thus essential. No other penalty will maintain the integrity of this important public space. To be sure, it will not be the same building, but it will perform the same visual function as the old one. And it will send a powerful signal to other developers tempted by the immense profits from demolition and development.
Reconstruction in this case is only on the cards because of the immense public outcry, ‘putting pressure on the government and its agencies to act,’ as the Age reported (27 October). The planning minister, the Hon. Richard Wynne MP, responded to the outcry, announcing that he and Lord Mayor Robert Doyle would go to VCAT to seek an order forcing reconstruction of the building. And, if that fails, the minister continued, ‘Any application for a permit for buildings and works on the site will require the restoration and reconstruction of the Carlton Inn in its entirety in the form it was in prior to demolition’. The next day, when the developers apologised, he insisted that ‘the letter from the developers changed nothing, and that he would continue’ his VCAT action for ‘an enforceable order’ and ‘new controls’ (Age 28 October).
This is a great start. The minister deserves congratulations and support for his stand. It’s important we all send a message of support given the pressures developers will be putting.
Much more remains to be done, however. Without significant changes to the legislation, equally significant buildings remain at risk. When the developers of the Corkman site made their calculations, they looked at the maximum fine for illegal demolition of a building with a Heritage Overlay and estimated it would cost them no more than $200,000 in penalties. But by demolishing the Pub, they doubled the value of the site, for which they had paid $4.74 million, as Clay Lucas reported in the business pages of the Age (24 October). So they weighed a $200,000 fine against a $4-5 million profit. What’s $200,000 out of $4 million? (5%, leaving a tidy profit: $3.8 million). But wait, there’s more. their intention from the start was to build a twelve-storey apartment building. They had even commissioned the architects, as Lucas reported (Age, 31 October).
Such profits are enough to tempt other developers. That the developers were caught out by public opinion this time is no guarantee for the future. Without regulation that repairs the weaknesses in the system, heritage buildings are not safe.
A first step will be to construct a penalty regime that is a real deterrent. First, increase substantially the fines for illegal demolition. Second, provide that restoration or reconstruction is required after illegal demolition. And third, ensure that those found guilty of illegal demolition cannot receive planning permits to build anything other than the reconstructed building on the site.
Illegal demolition is not, however, the greatest problem. The greatest problem is legal demolition, usually as a result of failure by a Council to classify or to act, or of a VCAT judgment. Readers of History News will have seen all too many stories of demolitions of heritage buildings and indeed most will have experienced the loss of a beloved landmark in their town or neighbourhood. These are almost always legal demolitions.
In fact, the developers may well have succeeded in getting VCAT to approve their plan to demolish the Corkman and build a twelve-storey apartment building, perhaps keeping part of the façade.
The problem is that Victoria has a two-tier system of heritage protection. Special buildings (the Queen Victoria Market, for example) are granted protection by the state Heritage Council and are listed on the Victorian Heritage Database (and even that needs strengthening!). Other buildings obtain protection through Heritage Overlays (HOs) issued by local councils. HOs, however, are much weaker than state heritage listing, as we saw with the Corkman.
Local councils lack funding and expertise even to assess and classify their heritage. And when they do apply an HO to a building or a precinct, the HO is not binding. Developers regularly appeal to VCAT, which often decides that some other criterion, such as the need for more housing, overrides the HO.
We need action on three fronts.
First, the state must support local councils’ heritage efforts. In its 2015 submission to the review of the Heritage Act, the RHSV argued strongly that HOs should be subject to state overview, responsibility and enforcement.
Second, when considering planning issues involving HOs, VCAT should be required to give precedence to heritage considerations.
Third, and most important, we need complete reform of the Kennett-era planning structure. For twenty years now we have had a legalistic, case-by-case approach. This enables developers to go to VCAT and push the limits of whatever plans councils have put in place. The Kennette experiment with deregulated planning has been an obvious failure on all fronts, heritage most of all. What we need is a proactive statewide planning body.
Restoration of the Corkman is a great start and sends the right signal. But we need to do much more to maintain Melbourne’s character, not only in the City and inner suburbs, but across the whole of greater Melbourne and, especially, throughout Victoria. Think of how many suburbs have lost special buildings that gave them their character. Think of how many are on the chopping block now. Think of the many special buildings which give character to so many of our wonderful country towns.
With concerted action, some real benefit may yet come out of the whole sorry Corkman saga. It has galvanised public opinion, highlighted the many problems that bedevil our planning processes, and created a will to overhaul the system. Let’s all get in, back the steps the minister has taken and build momentum for more action.
Source: Professor Charles Sowervine, Chair of the RHSV Heritage Committee
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Featured Historical Society - Gisborne and Mount Macedon Districts Historical Society
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The Gisborne and Mount Macedon Districts Historical Society was formed in 1992 by the successful amalgamation of the Mount Macedon Historical Society and the Gisborne Historical Society. The society invites the public to visit the court house heritage precinct open daily from 10am to 2pm, including the stables, lock-up and original privy and offers tours, special events and exhibitions throughout the year.
A dedicated group of volunteer members of the Historical Society meet regularly to assist with the accessioning, conservation, filing and indexing of the collection of over 11,000 photographs, maps, and local records and to attend to research enquiries received by phone, mail or email. A research fee of $25.00 per surname or topic applies.
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Phyllis Boyd, former Secretary, President and currently Vice President of Gisborne and Mount Macedon Districts Historical Society has been passionate about the society for over 30 years and puts its success down to the enthusiasm of the members and their love for sharing the history of the area. The society takes a pro-active leadership role in heritage and in 1995 formed the Macedon Ranges Heritage Council which represents and provides a focal point for all heritage and historical groups within the Macedon Ranges Shire to liaise as a single body with shire administration and be a forum for the exchange of ideas.
The society has been successful with a range of grants to enable heritage conservation,
computer upgrades and specialist projects and related activities. Other sources of income include research, membership and the sale of local history and pictorial books. The volunteers also produce 5 to 6 newsletters a year and contribute to a community newspaper once a month. The newspaper that is distributed to 9,000 homes in the Macedon Ranges contains a full page history article and a 100 years ago column sourced from early newspapers.
Phyllis's dedication to local history was recognised in an Order of Australia medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours, 2016. As Phyllis mentions, one of the main challenges is attracting younger people to the society for without this engagement the society may not survive after the next 10 or 20 years. To encourage interest, the society runs schools' programs at the site and offers a history award to year 7 students.
Location: Gisborne Court House, 4 Hamilton Street, Gisborne, Victoria 3437
Email: history@gisbornemountmacedon.org.au
Website: http://www.gisbornemountmacedon.org.au/
Telephone: (03) 5428 1450
Source: Gisborne and Mount Macedon Districts Historical Society and interview with Phyllis Boyd
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Launch of Remembering Melbourne
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Land and landscapes all have resonances for us. They evoke past times in our lives or the life of a society, stirring powerful emotions. Cities, towns and buildings arouse the same feelings. If landscapes or buildings are lost or damaged, the power is intensified. Nostalgia - a sense of mourning - is conjured and a longing for a past time awaken. Books about such losses are important catalogues of such feelings.
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The Royal Historical Society of Victoria, in collaboration with QBD books, has produced Remembering Melbourne 1850-1960, a 368 paged case-bound book of images with captions and forty introductions. No all buildings in the book are lost, but many not lost are altered, or exist in changed contexts. Remembering Melbourne reveals these losses and alterations in almost 800 images. This high-quality publication follows the successful Lost Brisbane book produced by RHSQ in 2014.
The Melbourne book was created by an RHSV committee led by Richard Broome, and supported by 22 historical societies, whose members provided images and captions. Together with a large RHSV team of caption writers, over a hundred people contributed to the book.
Remembering Melbourne was launched by the Hon. Richard Wynne Minister for Planning in Victoria on 15 November 2016, who pronounced it a ‘beautiful book’, and one that ‘you cannot put down’. Over one hundred people attended the launch, which was followed by a lecture from the Minister on current planning issues.
Sales of the book were brisk at the launch, and thanks to the RHSV publicist Dr Samantha Smith, Richard Broome appeared on ABC radio the next morning. The RHSV sold 500 copies of the book in a day! Further publicity on page 2-3 of the Melbourne Age, led to a further flood of orders.
The book is available from the RHSV or QBD books for $35 plus postage
http://www.historyvictoria.org.au/shop/remembering-melbourne
Source: Emeritus Professor Richard Broome, Vice President RSHV
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Launch of Lost Brisbane 2
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The Royal Historical Society of Queensland is pleased to announce that Lost Brisbane 2 and Surrounding Areas: The Later Years is available for purchase.
Created in conjunction with QBD The Bookshop, Lost Brisbane 2 traces the changes in the city and its environs from the 1940s to the 1990s, and is a spectacular collection of more than 450 photographs from the Society’s photographic collection accompanied by detailed captions to tell the story of each photo.
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The book is not only about buildings and places that no longer exist. It highlights the changes in landscapes, streetscapes, work places, transport, and recreational pursuits. The camera unleashed a great opportunity to record the life of the city and panoramas from key vantage points show how the landscape has changed.
Lost Brisbane 2 was compiled over many thousands of hours by the volunteers on the RHSQ Publications Team – Kay Cohen, Val Donovan, Ruth Kerr, Margaret Kowald, Lyndsay Smith and Jean Stewart.
Lost Brisbane 2 is available for purchase from the Commissariat Store for $35.00 per copy.
For more details phone: RHSQ on 07 3221 4198 or email: info@queenslandhistory.org.au.
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University of Sydney Medical History Donation
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Poker machine billionaire Mr Len Ainsworth, has donated $2 million to the University of Sydney to preserve its historic collection of diseased tissues and medical instruments. The collection was commenced in 1889 to teach medical students. The collection includes an 1895 heart and a lung infected by the 1918 Spanish influenza. It also contains material used by Louis Pasteur in his experiments in 1888 in investigation of methods of rabbit eradication in New South Wales. Mr Ainsworth was a medical student before he founded his original gaming company, Aristocrat.
Source: Australian Financial Review 31 October 2016 p. 12
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Closure of One of the Oldest Stores in NSW
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The Carcoar Enterprise store run by Colleen and Charlie closed in October 2016 after 165 years. It lays claim to being one of the oldest stores in Australia, opening in in 1851 and is steeped in history, with its dark-panelled compartment shelves neatly housing treats and staples for country life. It is a symptom of small regional New South Wales towns. Letters to the Editor summarised the plight of these towns as faster roads bypass small country towns. The Carcoar Enterprise Store had everything including some souvenirs for tourists. It is an illustration of the heritage of Australia.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald 25 October 2016 p. 16. Photos: Dean Sewell
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Stonnington History Centre New Exhibition, Victoria
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'Threads of History: Dressing Stonnington through time' exhibition
11 November - 10 December
Northbrook Pop-up Gallery
1257 High Street, Malvern
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Wander through the work of the seamstress, the tailor, the fashion designer. Discover the clothing made and worn in Stonnington since the 1850s in the Stonnington History Centre's new exhibition.
Hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 12noon - 5pm
Venue: Northbrook Pop-up Gallery, 1257 High Street, Malvern
(behind Malvern Library and the Stonnington History Centre - follow the driveway)
The Stonnington History Centre is an archive dedicated to preserving and interpreting the rich and vibrant history of the City of Stonnington.
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Cultural Tourism Toolkit Available, NSW
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An initiative to invigorate cultural tourism in regional NSW was launched last on Thursday 27 October in Dubbo at the opening of a national conference for regional artists and arts workers from across the country.
The Cultural Tourism Toolkit, produced by Arts NSW, offers practical suggestions on how to promote the work of regional artists and cultural organisations, with case studies including the Four Winds Festival at Bermagui, the Our Rivers – Our History project on the Mid-North Coast, and the Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk at Albury.
The Cultural Tourism Toolkit is available for download
Source: History Council of NSW Newsletter
http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/index.php/news-and-publications/news/toolkit-to-build-regional-arts/
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Master of Heritage Management, QLD
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The University of Queensland is presently inviting applications for enrolments in its Master of Heritage Management.
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Graduates of archaeology, anthropology, history, town planning, architecture and other cognate disciplines are encouraged to apply. An Honours degree is not required.
For further information, follow this link, or email Dr Andrew Sneddon.
Source: Australia ICOMOS E-Mail News No. 755
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Master of Heritage Studies, WA
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The University of Western Australia (UWA) is currently accepting applications in the Master of Heritage Studies for study in Semester 1, 2017. Applications will close on 3 February 2017.
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The course is likely to be of interest to those who wish to work in a field that intersects with heritage, be this in government, the business sector, non-government organisations, international organisations, museums, universities, heritage agencies, national and provincial parks and more.
The Master of Heritage Studies covers tangible and intangible heritage including natural, cultural and historical heritage. Students will have the opportunity to travel across Western Australia and around the world, to understand heritage issues and learn how to work with industries and governments to record, manage and present heritage in partnership with Indigenous communities. The Master degree includes both an exchange program to China – critical for students wishing to be competitive in the Asian Century – and the opportunity for highly desired professional placements.
Please email the postgrad team for further information or apply now!
Source: Australia ICOMOS E-Mail News No. 755
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Master of Cultural Heritage, Deakin, Victoria
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Deakin Master of Cultural Heritage DUAL AWARD with World Heritage Masters at Brandenburg Technical University – Cottbus, Germany
Applications are now OPEN for 2017 entry to Deakin’s long-standing and internationally recognised post-graduate programs in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies. We offer flexible learning options at the Melbourne Burwood Campus or online.
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We are very pleased to offer a unique dual award with our partners at the World Heritage Studies program at BTU-Cottbus in Germany. To join our 3rd dual award cohort in March, please apply online to enrol in the Master of Cultural Heritage, and also send an Expression of Interest letter to Kristal Buckley by email by 30 November. For further information, visit the culturalheritage@deakin blog.
Source: Australia ICOMOS E-Mail News No. 755
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The FAHS e-Bulletin, No. 158,
6th Dec 2016
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