Federation of Australian Historical Societies

FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETIES INC

NEWSLETTER

No. 35 – May 2012

Hon Editor, Esther V. Davies

From the President

Obituary: Emeritus Professor A.G.L. Shaw OA

Feature article: Website development - Royal Historical Society of Queensland

Good news stories from historical societies

….Warracknabeal and District Historical Society’s Wheatland Warehouse (Vic)

….Coalfield Heritage Group, Kurri Kurri, Edgeworth David Museum (NSW) - Roll of Honour

News from our constituent organisations

…. Canberra and District Historical Society - Canberra Day Oration - with Stanley Melbourne Bruce

…. Historical Society of the Northern Territory - John McDouall Stuart 150^th Anniversary

…. History South Australia - Bravest of the Brave: South Australians awarded the Victoria Cross

…. Royal Australian Historical Society - Dr. Lesley Muir OAM appointed Fellow of the RAHS

…. Royal Historical Society of Victoria - two new exhibitions, and 85th birthday celebration for Hugh Anderson

…. Royal Western Australian Historical Society - Angove Street festival, and annual secondhand booksale

Historical Society Odd Spot - Logos and mottoes

Nominations for FAHS Merit Awards 2012

A gentle reminder - about forwarding to your members

A final quote - from Cicero

FROM THE PRESIDENT

FAHS President Don Garden

One of the pleasures of working with the FAHS is the stream of ‘good news stories’ that I encounter about the work and successes of our historical and heritage societies and museums across Australia. These include various grants and awards, publications, exhibitions, campaigns to save heritage places, societies that are building membership and activities, and societies that are using the special skills of their members and volunteers. If you have a ‘good news story’ please send it to us to share.

Skilled volunteers is an important theme these days, and it is a situation that opens enormous opportunities for societies. We hear much about the ageing population and how bad it is for the country, at least in financial terms. Rather, I believe, that the retirement of people with many years of experience frees them to devote their skills and capacities for community benefit through volunteering. That can be seen already in the work being undertaken by our societies.

But retirees are not the only source available to us. I am sure that we all know people who have skills that we can employ, from grandchildren who might be thrilled at the opportunity to set up and run a website, to middle-aged individuals with a bit of time on their hands once their children have left home. Many are only too happy to help out if they are asked, and as we noted in our e-Bulletin no. 98, 14 April 2012, others make themselves available through websites such as SEEK Volunteer - bringing volunteers and organisations seeking them together www.volunteer.com.au/ and in Victoria there is Victoria’s Volunteering Portal www.volunteer.vic.gov.au/.

As was also remarked in that e-Bulletin, we estimate that the value of the volunteer contribution already being made to our cultural heritage exceeds $50 million per annum.

In other respects the Heritage situation is not so rosy, at least at the Commonwealth level. As we have mentioned before, the Commonwealth has cut the FAHS operating grant and those to other heritage organizations. This has caused a curtailment of FAHS activities and will bite even more deeply in the coming year. Together with the deep cuts to the Heritage Division and a general slowing of heritage matters at the Commonwealth level, this has made us ponder the commitment of the current government to Australia’s cultural and built heritage.

In accord with our policy of rotating our AGM to different parts of the country, the FAHS Committee will be meeting in Darwin in 2012. Committee members normally contribute a significant part of their own costs, but because of the cuts in the FAHS budget they will all have to take on most of the expense this year – and likely into the future. I thank them for their work and selfless contribution.

As mentioned above, the FAHS has now published 99 e-Bulletins and we are approaching our centenary issue. These have been edited by Dr Ruth Kerr and we owe her a great debt for her efforts. We also congratulate Ruth on recently taking up her role as Adjunct Professor of History in the School of History Philosophy Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland.

OBITUARY: Emeritus Professor A.G.L. Shaw OA

(photograph supplied by Professor Peter Lewis Yule)

One of Australia’s most distinguished historians, Alan George Lewers (nearly always known as ‘A G L’) Shaw, died on 5 April 2012. The first Fellow of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies (1998), he was also an Officer of the Order of Australia and held Fellowships of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Royal Australian Historical Society, and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

Born in Melbourne on 3 February 1916, he was educated at Melbourne Grammar School, the University of Melbourne, and Christ Church (Oxford). He held positions at the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney and Monash University, where he was Professor of History from 1964 until 1981.

An active supporter of community history, Shaw chaired many important boards and committees. Among them were the History and Literature Committee for the 150^th Anniversary Celebrations in Victoria, the Library Council of Victoria, and the Public Records Advisory Council in Victoria. He was President of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Historical Association, and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. He served on the Royal Australian Historical Society Council and edited the Society’s journal.

Shaw’s numerous publications include books that are still widely used. Perhaps the most significant are Convicts and the Colonies (1966), Sir George Arthur 1784-1854 (1980), Gipps – La Trobe Correspondence 1839-1846 (1989), and A History of the Port Phillip District (1996).

Like so many other Australian secondary school students of my generation, I first became aware of Shaw when, in 1964, my History class used his excellent textbook An Introduction to Australian History (1959). We both later participated in Federation of Australian Historical Societies meetings during the early 1990s. He engaged constructively and courteously in these meetings, bringing to them the benefits of his wide-ranging experience and knowledge.

On 15 November last year, the Royal Historical Society of Victoria held a celebration to mark Shaw’s 95^th birthday. Dr Peter Yule, Emeritus Professor Weston Bate, Emeritus Professor Graeme Davison, Dr Dianne Reilly, Professor Richard Broome and Susan Priestley all spoke. As Yule noted, their combined accolades stressed ‘the variety and depth’ of Shaw’s ‘activities in the different communities he has served and of which he has been part’. He was a ‘valued colleague and mentor’.

David Carment

FEATURE ARTICLE –Website development- Royal Historical Society of Queensland

The Royal Historical Society of Queensland (RHSQ) is working to refresh and overhaul its website with the aim of making it more targeted and effective. The website has been valuable but, over time, the Society received feedback encouraging us to upgrade it so that key information on events and activities could be more readily accessed.

RHSQ is very fortunate in having enthusiastic younger members who work in Information Management and Graphic Art roles and who are providing skills, drive, and enthusiasm. The Website and Technology Committee is being chaired by web and software savvy member, Nick Wall.

Aims for the new RHSQ Website are

To build the influence of the Society (beyond the real resources of the society)
promote and assert our role as “Queensland’s Peak History Body” having been established in 1913 and having been publishing Queensland history since then and promoting history to its membership throughout Australia
Making this the “go to” website for the History Community in Queensland.
Become an effective communication vehicle for RHSQ members and the wider history community.

Website Development

We agreed on some basic design principles:

The need for the front page to be visually driven as opposed to content driven
The need for a product that has clearly been ‘designed’ as opposed to ‘put together by a committee’.
The need for effective use of white space as a critical design element

On Nick’s recommendation we adopted the Joomla Content Management System (CMS). Joomla is an Open Source CMS that is installed on a web server and manages all aspects of the website from an interface within a web browser. Joomla is the program used by numerous not for profit and corporate entities to manage websites.

The Joomla extensions directory hosts a collection of thousands of plug-ins that extend Joomla’s functionality where traditionally extensive web development resources would have been required. http://extensions.joomla.org/ As part of our redevelopment we anticipate creating a members’ area and integrating Word Press to create a blog. http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-edition/blog-integration/6659

To design the shell template, we propose utilising Artisteer program. (www.artisteer.com/) It allows full customisation of core aspects of a “template” for popular content management systems.

We’ve identified that the addition of video is desirable and have selected a host that offers scalable plans providing disc space and bandwidth to meet anticipated future requirements.

It is anticipated our refreshed site will be ready in about three months. The Society looks forward to unveiling it and trusts that our experience assists other Historical Societies.

Social Media

The use of Social Media Sites is also essential in building organizational awareness. While Facebook is the best known and most powerful site, others such as YouTube, Twitter and TripAdvisor can be very valuable in building awareness. www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g255068-d578612-Reviews-Commissariat_Store-Brisbane_Queensland.html

Valuable Websites of assistance:

http://hsp.org/ (History Society of Pennsylvania) – layout and functionality

www.anmm.gov.au (National Maritime Museum) – functional home page layout

Article: Bill Elliott

Contributions: Ruth Kerr, Nick Wall

GOOD NEWS STORIES FROM HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

Warracknabeal and District Historical Society’s Wheatland Warehouse (Vic)

Editor's note: While many historical societies raise much needed revenue through sales of second-hand books and other items, at least one Victorian historical society has taken this a step further.. The Warracknabeal and District Historical Society in north-western Victoria has, for the past 13 years, operated a large second-hand store - the Wheatlands Warehouse. The text below is taken from a recently published article in the Warracknabeal Herald newspaper.

NB The editor has to confess a special interest in this item as she grew up in Warracknabeal.

Warracknabeal's Wheatlands Warehouse volunteers (from left) Geoff Lovel, Wendy Lovel and Robin McCullough believe the popular store is more than a second hand business, it's also a meeting point.

For visitors to Warracknabeal, Wheatlands Warehouse on the corner of Scott and Phillips Streets is more than just an eye catching pit-stop in their journey, it’s also a time warp of sorts.
“Volunteers see cars and caravans approach the main street, slow down and have a look at the warehouse, then five minutes later they’re back,” said volunteer Geoff Lovel. “Visitors often come in and say they only have a few minutes to look, but two hours later they’re still there”.
The brainchild of Wheatlands Museum and Warrracknabeal Historical Society’s Robin McCullough, the warehouse opened on October 16, 1998, with just three trestles of items for sale. “The museum had a surplus of brought objects so we decided to sell them, with the view to only opening the store for six weeks,” Mr McCullough said. “However, members brought in more and more items and we ended up becoming commission agents,” he said. Renting more space in the building in the early days, the museum and historical society eventually purchased the building, some 12-18 months after opening. Starting with 1000 vendors, the Warehouse now sells items from 1500 vendors, covering half an acre of the one acre block, including everything from books and crockery to furniture, tools, toys and more. “The only things we don’t sell are electrical items because they need to be tested and we just can’t do it,” Mr McCullough said.

The Wheatlands shop is a tribute to the museum, with all commissions from the sale of items going toward works at both the museum and the Warehouse. With visitors coming from all over Australia and overseas, the Warehouse also has several regular visitors. “A lot of visitors hear about the Warehouse through word-of-mouth from caravan parks across Australia,” Mr Lovel said. “So, when they pass through Warracknabeal, they recognise the name and call in for a look,” he said. “Volunteers are able to give them a bit of a spiel on the town and attractions. Many visitors actually decide to stay overnight or longer, rather than just pass through the town.”

Open seven days a week, the warehouse also serves as a meeting place, with volunteers catching up with friends they may not have seen for many years when the tourists visit the shop. Comments from visitors in the Warracknabeal guestbook include “amazing”, “friendly”, “fantastic”, “so many treasures”, “keep it up” and “interesting”.

Mr Lovel said with the volunteers all advancing in years, he was unsure of the future of the Warehouse but said he hoped to see it continue for many years to come.

Coalfield Heritage Group, Kurri Kurri (NSW) Edgeworth David Museum

With the recent Anzac Day celebrations still fresh in our minds, it is a good time to acknowledge that much of our heritage associated with Australia’s involvement in war owes its preservation to local historical societies and museums. This superb framed parchment is held by the Coalfield Heritage Group’s Edgeworth David Museum located in the grounds of Kurri Kurri High School. The inscription accompanying the parchment is set out below the photograph

Independent Order – Oddfellows
Manchester Unity
Roll of Honor
Pro Rex et Patria

Loyal Kurri Kurri Lodge

We hereby place on record the names of the
members of the Kurri-Kurri Branch Nr 245
who, for love of their country and a just cause
Enlisted for Active Service during the Great
War against Germany and her Allies, which
began on the 4th of August 1914, and we hereby
express on behalf of our Order the high esteem
in which we hold them for their gallantry and
heroism.

+ Denotes Killed in Action
Presented by Bro. G. M. Telfer N. G. March 18, 1918

NEWS FROM OUR CONSTITUENT ORGANISATIONS

Editor's note: A quick trawl through the journals of our constituent members has revealed a treasure trove of interesting and exciting events. A small selection has been chosen to illustrate the diversity of activities happening in historical societies around the nation.

Canberra and District Historical Society

Canberra Day Oration – with Stanley Melbourne Bruce, 12 March 2012

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

(Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia)

Imagine the sense of anticipation as a representative gathering met at the National Library on the Canberra Day Holiday at the appointed hour of high noon, to commemorate Canberra’s 99^th Birthday and to hear the words of our esteemed and late Prime Minister, Lord Stanley Melbourne Bruce (aka, Roland Manderson). His very presence, suitably attired (albeit ‘sans spats’) gave a certain gravitas to the occasion as he launched into his presentation.

What would he think as he observed this city? We reflected upon his words delivered at various speeches at events such as the opening of Civic Centre on 3 December 1927, or the opening of the Albert Hall on 10 March 1928? Would the new city ‘radiate the liberalizing movements of national significance’ or would ‘all great national organizations of art, science, and industry select Canberra as the location of their deliberations, because here above all places, they would be able to visualize the national problems in a truly national spirit?’

We were left with little time to contemplate such matters as the captivating presence of Siobhan Heanue of ABC News introduced members of the representative Canberra panel of architect Alastair Swayn, Professor Don Aitkin and Canberra Times editor Jack Waterford to present their own views of how the city has changed since the perhaps euphoric days of SM Bruce. Each of the panel gave a truly considered summary of the architectural, design and other influences in the development of the city. What have been the effects of group housing for newly arrived students from Asia and the like? What would the people of Goodooga think about a national identity expressed in a city such as Canberra? Were most of the citizens of the new city going to create a new Melbourne or Sydney, or perhaps some other identity as yet undetermined?

Questions from the audience left no doubt that they were truly engaged in this discussion. What were the environmental concerns? What planning procedures decided the areas of the city dedicated to various roles and functions? What about the ASIO Building: were there any environmental concerns included in the mix—and what about the original inhabitants?

These questions received considered responses from the panel, by now warming to the task and enjoying the audience involvement. Meanwhile, the guest-of-honour lapsed into periods of quiet reverie, or even slumber - due perhaps to the effects of time travel and, hopefully, not upon the content of our earnest deliberations.

At the end of proceedings Siobhan Heanue expressed her heartfelt thanks on behalf of all those present to SM Bruce and the panel, as we pondered the notion that perhaps Canberra was indeed very much ‘a work in progress.’

Roland Manderson…… and Stanley Melbourne Bruce for a day

This article is reprinted courtesy of the Canberra and District Society newsletter and its editor Patricia Frei.

Historical Society of the Northern Territory

John McDouall Stuart 150^th Anniversary

The Historical Society of the Northern Territory is hosting a program of events to celebrate the arrival of Stuart and his party at the northern sea in 1862.

Location: Darwin, NT

Dates: July 23 - 26

Monday 23 July, 5.40 pm: National Trust talk on the south to north expedition undertaken by Stuart and his party. To be held in the National Trust Myilly Point houses. Bar will be open and a sausage sizzle will follow the talk.

Tuesday 24 July: Day trip to Pt. Stuart to mark the day and time that Stuart arrived (11am). Re-enactment of flag-raising and speech will accompany champagne toasts.

Wednesday 25 July: Darwin City Council Commemorative Event in Raintree Park, The Mall, around the statue of Stuart. The event will include a range of speakers and re-enactments. A morning tea will be held for the public.

Wednesday 25 July, 6 pm: Dinner sunset cruise on Darwin Harbour in an old pearling lugger. Cost p/p approx $70 food. Drinks extra.

Thursday 26 July: Parliament House; Sunset drinks and nibbles in conjunction with Art Exhibition highlighting Stephen King’s sketches.

John McDouall Stuart 1815 - 1866

Explorer and Surveyor of Australia. Born in Dysart (Fife) and educated in Edinburgh. He went to Australia in 1839 and became the first to cross that country from South to North, and back again! Mount Stuart is named after him, as is the Stuart Highway which connects Darwin with Adelaide. He was awarded their Gold Medal by the Royal Geographical Society (1861). He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery (London). His birthplace is now a museum.

History South Australia

On Friday 20 April 2012 the Hon Jack Snelling MP, State Government Treasurer and Minister for Veterans' Affairs launched the travelling exhibition, Bravest of the Brave: South Australians awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War. This project was a partnership between Veterans SA and History SA, and the first of many in Australia that will commemorate the centenary of the ANZAC campaign 2014-18.

The exhibition tells the story of eight South Australian men who were awarded the Victoria Cross for their heroic deeds during the First World War. Some were born or educated in South Australia, some enlisted here, while others lived here either before or after the war. The men selected by Veteran SA’s ANZAC Centenary committee are Arthur Seaforth Blackburn, Phillip Davey, Reginald Roy Inwood, Jørgen Christian Jensen, John Leak, Arthur Percy Sullivan, James Park Woods, Lawrence Carthage Weathers.

The exhibition consists of seven double-sided pop up banners and four wooden crates which double up as plinths to display the framed citations and replica medals belonging to the eight men. Curated by History SA’s Community History Officer Pauline Cockrill, the exhibition aims for an informative but emotive display regarding the men’s bravery and sacrifice, as well as contextualising South Australia’s part in the conflict. It also explains the history and manufacture of the Victoria Cross, the British and Commonwealth’s armed forces’ most coveted award, their supreme decoration for gallantry, under enemy fire.

The exhibition is available to travel to schools, RSL clubs, museums, libraries, aged care facilities, community centres etc. There is also a schools resources kit in production.

Bravest of the Brave launch

Julie Hill beside the panel telling the story of her grandfather Arthur Blackburn VC

(Photograph courtesy of Community History SA)

Royal Historical Society of Australia

Dr Lesley Muir OAM: A community history leader

Earlier this year the Royal Australian Historical Society Council appointed Dr Lesley Muir as a Fellow of the Society, the highest honour that it can bestow. The award recognised many years of devoted and outstanding service to the community history movement.

A professional librarian, Lesley also has Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Historical Geography from the University of Sydney. Her 1994 doctoral thesis was on the role of politicians and developers in the design of Sydney’s public transport system between 1873 and 1895. Since the late 1980s she has authored many publications. These cover New South Wales colonial politics, New South Wales architectural history and Sydney local history, especially of the Canterbury area where she lives.

The historical societies in which she is active include the Canterbury and District Historical Society, the Horbury Hunt Club and the Australian Society for the History of Engineering and Technology. Her involvement goes well beyond membership and research. It has included leadership positions and the organisation of local, interstate and overseas historical tours.

Lesley has served on the RAHS Council for the past decade. She has been a Vice-President since 2008. Perhaps her greatest service is as Chair of the Affiliated Societies Committee since 2002. She spends much time in supporting affiliated societies. The RAHS’s successful 2011 conference and the doubling of its state government funding for Cultural Grants over the next three years owe much to her efforts. Lesley steps down from the RAHS Council in May 2012 but is keen to remain active in the Society.

In 2001 she was awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal for service to the community through the Canterbury and District Historical Society. In 2007 she received the Order of Australia Medal for service to recording and preserving local history, particularly in the Canterbury district.

David Carment

Royal Historical Society of Victoria

RHSV Headquarters - former Australian Army Medical Corps building by architect George Hallendal 1938

RHSV Activities

The RHSV has conducted a number of events over the past few months. In addition to the regular monthly lectures, there have been other celebrations including a birthday celebration for prolific Australian historian Hugh Anderson in mid-February (see the following article). We are also looking forward to a new exhibition on the coming of cinema on Melbourne theatres and to our AGM and the accompanying lecture.

A beautiful exhibition in our main room, Spirit of the Time, has just ended. It brought from our stores some of the most treasured examples of the early collections of the RHSV and showed how the founding members of the society donated letters, images, books and maps that they felt told the story of their settlement of Victoria. For many, this is the only place where they will find themselves recorded in history.

A new exhibition, Melbourne Theatres in Transition: The Impact of Screen on Stage, opens on 15 May. The theatre scene in Melbourne just the before the outbreak of World War I was vibrant. There were ‘crowded houses’ for the stage shows in Melbourne’s ‘Theatreland’ of Spring and Bourke Streets as well as small venues such as St George’s Hall, the Athenaeum Hall and the old waxworks hall. Musicals, opera, drama, melodrama, farce, vaudeville and reviews were popular with theatre-goers. But the stage was being challenged by the screen. There was something about the black and white flickering ‘moving pictures’ that attracted large audiences in the CBD and in the suburbs to existing theatres and local halls. Soon there were plans for new purpose built ‘picture theatres’ and for adapting the old halls exclusively for the cinema. Many of the new theatres were built in a distinctive ‘Moderne’ style of architecture now known as Art Deco. This exhibition looks at Melbourne theatres and the changes that occurred after the introduction of cinema.

The Society, in partnership with the Public Record Office of Victoria, is once again conducting the annual Victorian Community History Awards. Entries open on 1 May and close in August. Prizes ranging from $1000 to $5000 are available in a number of categories. The RHSV provides the judging panel for these prestigious awards.

The Annual General Meeting of the RHSV will be held on 15 May, followed by a lecture by Dr Peter Yule, FRHSV, on The Controversial and Mysterious Life of W.L. Baillieu. This draws on Peter’s recently published biographical study. One of 14 children of a Queenscliff boatman and his child bride, W.L. Baillieu rose from humble beginnings to found one of Australia’s great family dynasties. Leaving school at the age of 13 to work for the Bank of Victoria, he became a successful auctioneer during Melbourne’s feverish land boom of the 1880s. The fortune he built was lost in the crash of the early 1890s and controversy still continues around the secret composition he made with his creditors. During the dark days of the 1890s depression, he built a new fortune based initially on share trading, gold mining and newspapers, but later diversifying into base metals mining and processing, manufacturing, brewing, real estate, banking and agriculture. The business empire he built, widely known as the Collins House group, dominated the Australian economy for much of the 20th century.

The first of the Society’s biannual journals for 2012 will be published in June. It includes articles on the evolution of Victorian defences, Janet Lady Clarke’s role in the closure of the Women’s Hospital for two weeks in 1902, and the uses of Buchan marble in iconic Melbourne buildings, among other topics.

Judith Smart

Hugh's Do

A birthday celebration for historian Hugh Anderson

(photograph courtesy of the National Library of Australia)

One of the happiest events to take place in the headquarters of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, in Melbourne, was a birthday celebration for the prolific Australian historian Hugh Anderson in mid-February. A crowd of seventy family, friends and admirers of all ages packed into our exhibition gallery to hear songs, ballads, recitations and some speechifying in honour of Hugh's recent 85^th birthday. Billed as ‘The Hugh Anderson Event’, it was immediately and suitably dubbed ‘Hugh’s Do’, in good Australian tradition. Instead of birthday cake and champagne, we served at Hugh’s request sandwiches and beer, enjoyed by all.

Hugh’s contribution to Australian history may be less well known in other states than in his native Victoria, but it is of national significance. Late in his career he has received several honours. Last year the Australian Academy of the Humanities made him an honorary Fellow, not long after the University of Melbourne had awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters, describing him as ‘an historian of prodigious productivity and a distinguished scholar of folklore and folksong in Australia. He has made outstanding contributions to the fields of Australian folklore studies, literary history, bibliography and local history. His international reputation in Australian folklore scholarship is unrivalled.’

The citation from the Academy summarises that prodigious output which, apart from several major historical works, includes collections of primary sources, bibliographies, entries for the ADB and school text books – and he published the works of others through his own imprint, Red Rooster Press. He chaired the 1986 federal Commission of Inquiry into Folklife in Australia. And the small print is that ‘most of this was undertaken while he worked as a schoolteacher’ – indeed as a state primary school principal and raising a family. At times in his career he served on many voluntary organisations, not least as a council member and vice president of the RHSV. He is a Fellow of the RHSV.

This was a rare opportunity to mark a lifetime of achievement, and Hugh is still at work. Appropriately, the Do featured excerpts from brilliantly remastered recordings made by Hugh back in the 1960s, keeping alive the bush stories and songs sung by an old Creswick identity Simon McDonald. Hugh’s Do became the opportunity to launch Hugh’s new edition of the McDonald story, Two Axe Mac.

Four folklore legends in their own right asked to part of the event, and it was a historic moment to have them performing at A’Beckett Street together. The singers were Danny Spooner, Dave de Hugard, and David and Lynne Lumsden, remembered from the palmy nights of Frank Traynor’s Jazz Club. David could be modestly prompted to recall singing with Pete Seeger, but it was the Australian folk song, and those imported by pioneer Australians, that were centre stage.

It was a simple reminder for us at the RHSV, and maybe of interest to other societies, that there is much to be gained in inspiration and goodwill in taking the time to celebrate the work of historians and contributors to our history, the amateurs and the professionals, the academics and the self-taught, whose work sometimes enters a period of neglect. We had a great day at the RHSV and signed up some new members too.

Andrew Lemon

Royal Western Australian Historical Society

Creative exhibition

Creative Spaces (the exhibition installation and design company that installed the Royal Western Australian Historical Society’s Lotterywest funded permanent museum displays) approached the Society’s museum volunteers to invite them to work in collaboration to create a temporary ‘pop up’ exhibition at the annual Angove Street Festival in North Perth. The Society was delighted to accept the invitation since the Museum Committee, endorsed by Council, has plans to promote Museum’s collections at various public venues in metropolitan and regional districts.

The Angove Street Festival focusses on inclusivity and celebrates all that is North Perth - the award winning cafés, restaurants, fashion retailers and cultural diversity that creates the unique community around Angove and Fitzgerald Street. It also showcases the exciting talent and diversity of Perth's musicians, artists and designers. the Angove Street Festival was overwhelmingly successful attracting over 20,000 people.

The exhibition developed in partnership with the RWAHS was on display from 1-15 April, 2012 in the shop front window of the Future Shelter Store in the trendy North Perth coffee shop area. Using some of the Society’s museum collection, Creative Spaces designed the installation with the interpretive theme ‘Afternoon Tea’. Unfortunately, statistics do not appear to be available on the numbers attending the 2012 Festival but last year over 20,000 enjoyed the experience. The organisers were hoping to increase that figure.

Successful booksale

The Royal Western Australian Historical Society held its annual secondhand booksale on Saturday 31 March 2012 in the Society’s carpark and garden. A small team of volunteers worked for many months to sort and price the books, ephemera, videos, dvds etc.; about 10,000 items were donated. On the day, about 50 volunteers set-up, attended the stalls and acted as cashiers. Fortunately, the weather was kind and selling was brisk for most of the day. The takings for the day were in the vicinity of $20,000; by far the most successful sale the Society has held.

Helen Henderson

HISTORICAL SOCIETY ODD SPOT

Logos and mottoes

Following on from the selection of historical crests or coats of arms in the last newsletter, we are once again featuring some attractive logos and also some interesting mottoes. See examples below.

Launceston Historical Society Inc.

Bringing together people with an interest in history

Sand Lake Historical Society, New York State

The Editor’s Choice:

While in favour of society mottoes which reflect the purpose of the organisation (as demonstrated in the selections above) the Editor feels that the motto which would most entice her to join an historical society belongs to the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, Colorado. Their motto is Ludo Fore Putavimus ("We thought it would be fun").

NOMINATIONS FOR FAHS MERIT AWARDS 2012

Nominations for the FAHS Merit Awards for 2012 close on 30 June 2012.

Information about the awards (including a list of previous recipients) is available on the FAHS website.

The guidelines (in PDF format) and nomination form (in PDF and DOC format) can be downloaded from the website.

Please consider nominating a member of your society – successful nominations help raise the profile of all volunteers in local history.

A GENTLE REMINDER

Are you passing this FAHS Newsletter (and its sister publication, the FAHS e-Bulletin) on to those within your historical society who may be interested in them?

The FAHS tries to send the e-mails to the current President or Secretary, but it is not always easy to keep up with changes in office-bearers which may have taken place. If you are not the most appropriate person for us to be sending them to, we would be grateful if you would let us know of an alternative, so that the publications can reach as many of your members as possible.

A FINAL QUOTE

History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life and brings us tidings of antiquity.

Cicero, Pro Publio Sestio