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FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES INC

 

e-BULLETIN No. 76 – 18 December 2010

 

Hon Editor, Dr Ruth S. Kerr

 

 

 

1) Jobs Fund for Heritage 2009-1010 - feedback on projects

 

2) National curriculum in History -‘History shows there’s no pleasing everyone with a national curriculum’

 

3) Refinements to national curriculum in 2011

 

4) Timber sawmill historical archaeological survey manual

 

5) Guidelines for Commonwealth agencies for assessing Commonwealth heritage values and establishing a heritage register

 

6) Heritage listings in the Northern Territory

 

7) Heritage assessment of West Kimberley

 

8) Consider joining the online Australian Historical Societies Support Group

 

 

1) Jobs Fund for Heritage 2009-2010 - feedback on projects

 

The Federation would like to have your feedback on your experience in fulfilling your aims in the Commonwealth's Jobs Fund Heritage Projects in 2009-2010. The FAHS was a strong supporter of the fund which provided extensive funding for building and heritage conservation projects for historical societies. We are now submitting feedback to the Commonwealth Department (Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Populations and Communities previously Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and The Arts {DEWHA}), who handled the Program, on the roll-out of the projects, and are seeking feedback from you addressing the following points:

Would you please forward this feedback on your project to our Executive Officer, John Davies at the following email: admin@history.org.au

(Source: FAHS Executive Committee – November 2010)

 

2) National curriculum in History -‘History shows there’s no pleasing everyone with a national curriculum’

 

A short article written by Christopher Bantick, Senior English Teacher at Trinity Grammar School, Melbourne and curriculum co-ordinator at the time of the introduction of a national curriculum in Britain, appeared in the Weekend Australian for 13-14 November 2010 on page 11. His point is that there is too much in the English, History Mathematics and Science curricula and they are being introduced in a rush. Minister Garrett announced in October that the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority had received almost 26,000 submissions. Few were complimentary. The federal Schools Minister, Hon Peter Garrett MP, has announced that the curricula are to be introduced from 2011. The State and Territory Ministers are set to approve them in December 2010. Critics of the rush state that the goal of a national curriculum is highly commendable so extra time to refine it would be beneficial. The National Union of Teachers supports the introduction with the proviso that reviews occur.

 

(Source: Weekend Australian 13-14 November 2010 p.11)

 

3) Refinements to national curriculum in 2011

 

Education ministers on 8 December 2010 decided that further refinements are necessary in 2011 to the English, Mathematics, Science and History curricula. Meanwhile students in Victoria and Australian Capital Territory are to begin learning the curricula next year. The Minister, Hon Peter Garrett MP, stated that the states and territories would determine how they will implement the curricula so that they are fully implemented by 2013. Western Australia’s Minister has stated that her state will not implement the curricula until they are finished, following a disastrous experience with incomplete curricula in the past. New South Wales’ Board of Studies has requested further changes to the courses.

 

(Source: Australian 9 December 2010 p.3)

 

4) Timber sawmill historical archaeological survey manual

 

The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage has circulated on its ListServ the timber sawmill survey manual of the Light Railways Research Society of Australia Inc (LRRSA) as it considers it a good model of how to do a targeted historical/industrial archaeological field survey. It can be accessed at LRRSA website:

 

www.lrrsa.org.au/LRRSA%20Fieldwork%20Manual.pdf

 

(Source: TICCIH in OZ – 27 November 2010)

 

5) Guidelines for Commonwealth agencies for assessing Commonwealth heritage values and establishing a heritage register

 

A new heritage assessment guideline has been released by the Australian Government. This guide has been prepared to assist Commonwealth agencies in the task of identifying Commonwealth heritage values. The guide, Identifying Commonwealth Heritage Values and Establishing a Heritage Register: A Guideline for Commonwealth agencies, is a comprehensive and easy to read reference for heritage professionals and will help in the promotion of best practice heritage management. This free document can be downloaded using the above link.

 

 (Source: ICOMOS Email News No 465 – 3 December 2010)

 

6) Heritage listings in the Northern Territory

 

The Fort Wellington settlement site on Raffles Bay and the Maranboy tin mining area have been listed on the Northern Territory Heritage List by the Northern Territory Government. The Historical Society of the Northern Territory made three trips to the Fort Wellington site in 2008, 2009 and 2010. It has been reported on briefly in FAHS e-Bulletins. The Minister, Hon, Karl Hampton MP has also declared the Maranboy Mining Precinct, located 70km south of Katherine, a heritage place under the Heritage Conservation Act.

 

In his Press Release on 29 November 2010 the Minister, Hon Karl Hampton MP said that Fort Wellington, in Raffles Bay on the Coburg Peninsula, was originally designed to serve as a trading post with Macassan seafarers and eventually develop into a commercial port. It predated the settlement of Darwin by over forty years. These commercial aspirations were overshadowed with the British using it as a presence in the face of perceived Dutch and French interest in North Australia. Fort Wellington symbolises the hardships experienced by the settlers and was a site where cultural contact between the British, Macassans and Indigenous Australians occurred. The physical remains of Fort Wellington include the foundations and flooring of stone structures, a distinctive cutting in the coral to support boat landings and what appears to be evidence of the fort. The Minister said that “additionally, there is high potential for archaeological research to uncover further evidence of structures and everyday items to give us further insight into this interesting part of our history.”

 

The Maranboy Mining Precinct consists of Shepherd’s Sawmill, the original Police Station Site, the Old Gaol Cell, the Leading Hand’s House, Allmich’s Hut, the Government Battery and Processing Plant, the Cemetery, Dillon’s Store Ruins and Historic Mining Leases. Established in 1913-14, the Maranboy Mining Precinct was and is significant to the Territory as an example of European twentieth century mining operations and settlement,” the Minister, Hon Karl Hampton MP said.

 

(Source: NT News 30 November p.11; Press Release by Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage Minister, Hon Karl Hampton MP, 29 November 2010)

 

7) Heritage assessment of West Kimberley

 

The Federal Environment Minister, Hon Tony Burke MP, has announced he is delaying a decision on the heritage assessment of the west Kimberley region to 30 June 2011. His stated reason is that there is a great deal of public interest in the decision and he requires the time to consider all the submitted material.

 

(Source: Australian Financial Review 9 November 2010 p.12)

 

8) Consider joining the online Australian Historical Societies Support Group

 

The online Australian Historical Societies Support Group, through an arrangement between the Federation of Australian Historical Societies (FAHS) and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, is one of the My Connected Community (mc2) groups initiated and funded by the Victorian Government’s Connecting Communities policy. 

 

The Australian Historical Societies Support Group offers participating historical societies, like-minded bodies and their members a variety of free, easy to use Web-based services which they can use to communicate with each other across the nation and the world on any topic that is of interest or concern to their organisations.  

 

The mc2 website provides easy access to online technologies now available for communicating between group members. Features of mc2 include a forum, an events list, space for sharing files, space for sharing photos, a links page and a chat room.

 

Details on how to join the Group are available at the FAHS website at www.history.org.au.  Follow the "Support" and "Support Group" links from the home page.

 

(Source: FAHS Council)