History and identity - News and events

Events | Featured projects | Call for entries | Announcements

Events

The National Maritime Museum's Family Endeavour Adventure - Sydney

7 November 2009

A family evening event at the museum's wharf aboard an 18th century tall ship, a full-scale replica of Captain Cook's HMB Endeavour. 18th century sailors' dress is encouraged. Able seaman Antonio Ponto (one of two Italians in Cook's original crew) will lead a guided tour of the ship, above deck and below. Darling Harbour.

Seminar: The Exhibition as Spectacle: Research, Exhibitions and Community Engagement - Melbourne

10 November 2009

Organised by Museums Australia (Victoria), this seminar asks, 'As community engagement drives museum practice, what is the impact on research, exhibitions and the role of the exhibition team?' Speakers include Dr David Hansen, Dr Tony Birch, Annette Welkamp, Kate Phillips, and David Demant. Centre for Contemporary Photography.

Remembrance Day - national

11 November 2009

Originally called Armistice Day, Remembrance Day commemorates the end of the First World War and the signing of the armistice. This occurred on 11 November 1918—the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Armistice Day was observed by the Allies as a way of remembering those who died, especially soldiers with 'no known grave'. On the first anniversary of the armistice, in 1919, one minute's silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony. In London, in 1920, the commemoration was given added significance with the return of the remains of an unknown soldier from the battlefields of the Western Front. A national ceremony will take place at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Sidney Nolan: The Gallipoli Series - Canberra

6 August – 18 November 2009

Australian artist Sidney Nolan spent 20 years working on a series of paintings that were inspired by the Gallipoli campaign and underpinned by personal tragedy. The Australian War Memorial opened a special exhibition featuring 81 of these striking works that provide new insights into Australia's military history and identity. One of Australia's most complex, innovative and prolific artists, Nolan was born two years after the Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1915, and said the events of the First World War permeated his life as he grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne. Australian War Memorial.

Barks, Birds & Billabongs: The American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land 1948 Remembered - Canberra

16–20 November 2009

In 2009 the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia will commemorate this anniversary by hosting the Barks, Birds & Billabongs symposium that will investigate the expedition's significant, and often controversial legacy around three core themes: histories, legacies, and methodologies. National Museum of Australia.

Strike a Pose ... with Lee Lin Chin - Melbourne, Wollongong

Melbourne 16 September – 22 November 2009; Wollongong 28 November 2009 – 28 February 2010

Strike a Pose ... with Lee Lin Chin features 89 images taken by Australian Government photographers during the 1960s and 70s to promote the burgeoning Australian fashion industry. With fashion icon and broadcaster Lee Lin Chin as guest curator, the exhibition developed by the National Archives of Australia celebrates the emerging local fashion industry of the time, along with its personalities, trends and influences.

Women Transported - Life in Australia's convict female factories exhibition - Moreton Bay, Queensland

6 October 2009 – 17 January 2010

These gritty factory women endured 18th and early 19th century British poverty, left family behind, survived the high seas, translocation to an unfamiliar place and an often harsh penal system to become the farmers, business women, tradeswomen and 'mothers' of the nation. This exhibition, toured by the Parramatta Heritage Centre and supported by Visions of Australia, includes rarely accessible objects from the early colony, art from significant colonial artists and is drawn from national, state and regional public and private collections. Redcliffe Museum.

George Lambert: Gallipoli and Palestine landscapes - touring Adelaide, Geraldton

11 November 2009 – 29 January 2010; 05 March – 02 May 2010

This exhibition traces George Lambert's work through his first journey to Palestine and the Sinai in 1918 and includes paintings he completed during the Australian Historical Mission to Gallipoli in 1919. In just over 18 months, Lambert produced 99 small panel paintings and hundreds of drawings and sketches of Gallipoli and Palestine. A blog was developed to discuss the exhibition. Australian War Memorial travelling exhibition. Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia. Geraldton Regional Art Gallery.

Max Dupain on Assignment - Cairns, Queensland

5 March – 16 May 2010

Max Dupain on Assignment features striking images of rural and urban Australia, architecture, industry and culture from the 1940s to the 1970s. Many have never been on public display. Cairns Regional Gallery.

Featured projects

Power for the People - Canberra

October 2009

Power for the People is a permanent and online exhibition that celebrates 60 years of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme - an engineering wonder of the modern world. The display uses original documents, photographs from the Archives' collection and is accompanied by audio resources and a publication, Power for the People, by author Siobhan McHugh. National Archives of Australia.

Craig Collie and Hajime Marutani, The Path of Infinite Sorrow - the Japanese on the Kokoda Track

October 2009

The story of the bloody Kokoda campaign, told for the first time through the personal experiences of the Japanese soldiers. 'We were all skin and bone, as if our stomachs were stuck to the inside wall of our back.' Two armies, Japanese and Australian, each in turn pushing the other back along a muddy, precipitous track over the mountainous spine of New Guinea. Few prisoners were taken, most were shot. This was the Kokoda campaign of 1942. The Path of Infinite Sorrow tells for the first time the story of the campaign from the Japanese point of view. Craig Collie and Hajime Marutani worked on the production of Beyond Kokoda, the award-winning documentary series screened on The History Channel. Published by Allen and Unwin.

Rosalind Hearder, Keep the Men Alive: Australian POW doctors in Japanese captivity

September 2009

The moving and remarkable stories of the 106 Australian doctors who were prisoners of war under the Japanese in World War II. During World War II, 22 000 Australian military personnel became prisoners of war under the Japanese military. Over three and a half years, 8000 died in captivity, in desperate conditions of forced labour, disease and starvation. Many of those who returned home after the war attributed their survival to the 106 Australian medical officers imprisoned alongside them. These doctors varied in age, background and experience, but they were united in their unfailing dedication to keeping as many of the men alive as possible. Published by Allen and Unwin.

The Career of William Thompson, Convict

September 2009

This narrative covers the life story of William Thompson—who was sentenced to life for breaking into commercial premises and stealing—from his arrival in Van Diemen's Land in 1841 to his departure from the convict system almost 12 years later. Tasmanian photographer John Watt Beattie transcribed Thompson's reminiscences in 1900, and the book reproduces these notes in full, supplemented by extensive explanatory footnotes and introductory material. The book is the product of a partnership between the State Library of Tasmania and the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority.

Thomas Keneally, Australians Vol. 1: Origins To Eureka

31 August 2009

Launched by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the National Library, Thomas Keneally's first volume of a multi-volume history, Australians, is a unique history of Australia where people are always centre stage. Keneally has woven a vibrant history of convicts and Aborigines, settlers and soldiers, patriots and reformers, bushrangers and gold seekers to tell a rich and colourful tale of our unique national character. This first volume has been described as 'fluent, engaging and undemanding without being patronising .... skilfully propelled by character and story' (Stephen Wilks, The Canberra Times, 29 August 2009). Published by Allen and Unwin.

The Making of Modern Australia

August 2009

The Making of Modern Australia is a project that compiles various histories of Australians from 1945 onwards. The website allows audiences to explore each other's histories, in addition to leaving their own. It will eventually be made into a documentary airing on the ABC, blurring the lines between different mediums and boosting the multiplatform piece.

Call for entries

Country Viewpoint - national

Ongoing

Country Viewpoint is a site for anyone who lives outside our capital cities, or perhaps has a connection to rural or regional Australia, who wants to share an experience, place or idea that is close to their hearts. Country Viewpoint has been airing on ABC Radio National's Bush Telegraph program for almost a decade, but has now expanded to the greater community via the internet. Country Viewpoint invites the expressions of views about anything funny, serious, topical or trivial in your backyard.

Announcements

CMC funding of Collections Council of Australia to cease in 2010

12 October 2009

The Cultural Ministers Council (CMC) considered the review of the Collections Council of Australia at its annual meeting in October.  The Collections Council has publicly announced the cessation of its funding by CMC.  The Collections Council of Australia was established by the CMC in 2004, and the Collections Council has worked to bring the collections sector—archives, galleries, libraries and museums—together.

Online edition of Significance 2.0

October 2009

The Collections Council of Australia materials in the publication Significance define the meanings and values of a cultural heritage item or collection through research and analysis, and by assessment against a standard set of criteria. The website allows for contributions of comments, and access to the full version of 'Part 6 – Significance in action – applications'.

Australia becomes a party to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions

23 September 2009

The announcement was made by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. The Convention recognises the value of cultural goods, services and activities as carriers of meaning and identity, and promotes international cooperation in protecting endangered cultural expressions. Australia will report every four years to the Intergovernmental Committee on measures taken nationally and internationally to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions.

Heritage investment helps create jobs

October 2009

Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, announced federal funding for a raft of heritage conservation projects around Australia, including in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory and the ACT.

Biologist Elizabeth Blackburn wins Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

5 October 2009

Biologist Dr Elizabeth Blackburn, 60, a Hobart-born graduate of Melbourne University who has worked in the US for many years, has won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Her discovery of telomeres, caps on the ends of chromosomes which protect genetic information, has opened up new lines of inquiry into growth, ageing and disease. Her work with psychologists on telomeres, stress and meditation seems to prove a mind-body connection.

National memorial for Boer War casualties on 110th anniversary

October 2009

Around 16,000 Australians volunteered to fight for Britain against the Dutch-Afrikaner (Boer) settlers in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. This remains Australia's third-worst conflict in terms of casualties. The Boer War is the only major war not to be commemorated on Anzac Parade. The Government has tasked the Boer War Memorial Project committee to establish a national memorial and is relying mainly on donations to do so.

Breaksea Island Lighthouse Restoration - Albany/Hopetoun/Ravensthorpe, Western Australia

12 October 2009

The Breaksea Island Heritage Restoration project will receive over $1.3 million to restore the 1858 lighthouse and jetty, the 1889 extensions to the lighthouse, and the two lighthouse keeper's cottages. The Breaksea Island lighthouse and associated buildings appear on both the State and National Registers of Heritage Places and are considered 'rare' as a complex of structures.

Collections Council of Australia launches the Now and Then wiki

15 September 2009

The Now and Then website uses wiki technology to enable communities to share information about their cultural heritage. The Collections Council of Australia has worked in partnership with the Mallala and Districts Historical Committee in regional South Australia to develop this community heritage wiki. Learn about the places, people, events, organisations and things that represent Mallala's history and heritage. You can also add your own information, including memories of Mallala.

Kerry Stokes to lend rare charts to the National Library of Australia

August 2009

Visitors to the National Library of Australia will have the opportunity to view four rare Dutch navigational charts, thanks to a generous loan from businessman Mr Kerry Stokes. The charts, circa 1725–1740, were issued with other charts and instruments to voyages bound for the East Indies. Two of them show part of Western Australia.

New television series and new additions for Australia's national treasures

4 August 2009

Over the next 10 weeks Australians will be able to visit some of our nation's most important heritage places and objects, guided by the Chaser's Chris Taylor—and all without leaving their living rooms. Australia's Heritage: National Treasures is a 10 week series that will screen from 6 August on ABC1. Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, today launched the series of mini-documentaries. Mr Garrett also announced four new additions to the National Heritage List: Elizabeth Springs, Witjira-Dalhousie Springs, Porongurup National Park and Cascades Female Factory Yard 4 North.

Key online resources

• Australian History (Project Gutenberg of Australia)
• Australian Literary and Historical Texts Online
• Mitchell Library Online
• Digital Resource Finder - educational videos
• Convict Creations

Collection resources

• Australian War Memorial
• Australian National Maritime Museum
• Documenting a Democracy: Australia's Story
• Collections Australia Network
• Collections Council of Australia
• Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
• Picture Australia
• Picture Queensland
• George Raper Collection

Institutions and government organisations

• Australia's Heritage
• Australian Cultural History research links
• History Council of NSW
• History Council of Victoria
• History Council of South Australia
• History Council of Western Australia

Peak bodies and associations

• The History Teachers' Association of Australia

People

• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
• The Dictionary of Australian Biography (Project Gutenberg of Australia)
• South Land to New Holland
• Joie de vivre!
• Ben Hall
• The Macarthurs and the Merino sheep
• Ned Kelly
• Charles 'Moth' Eaton

Featured websites/projects

• eGold: Electronic Encyclopedia of Gold in Australia
• Despatches from Gallipoli - Scenes from a Remote War
• Gallipoli: The First Day (ABC)
• Treasures of the State Library of Victoria
• South Seas: Voyaging and cross-cultural encounters in the Pacific (1760-1800)
• Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me?
• Now and Then