… Christine de Matos discusses the work involved in editing a volume of essays. The year 2015 marked the centenary of Gallipoli, seen as the most important for Australia in a range of Great War centenaries that fall between 2014 and 2018. Less noticeably, 2015 also marked 70 years since the end of that … Read more
… Penny Edwell reviews a play in The Rocks. Set in an 1858 sandstone warehouse in The Rocks, this interactive theatrical experience focuses on the inhabitants of a boarding house on the day in 1935 when beloved aviator Charles Kingsford-Smith was pronounced missing. The breaking news of Smithy’s disappearance is woven through the performance … Read more
… introducing PHA NSW & ACT member, Katrina Kittel, whose interest in history was re-ignited when she started investigating her father’s wartime experiences. What made me pursue history? Three decades ago I completed my first tertiary qualification, a degree in history. I changed direction with studies in other disciplines and entered a career within … Read more
… by Catherine Bishop In late September 2015 Kelly O’Dwyer was appointed Minister for Small Business as part of new Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull’s Cabinet reshuffle. The appointment of a woman in this position is both significant and appropriate. Recent statistics show that one third of new small businesses are started by women, while … Read more
…the newly elected chair of the PHA NSW & ACT What is your current position? As with so many of our members I am involved in a range of projects. I was privileged to have been elected Chair of the PHA NSW& ACT at the last annual general meeting and am currently a member … Read more
… Virginia Macleod PHA (NSW & ACT) introduces a new book by Roslyn Burge, Callan Park: compassion and conflict in the asylum, Friends of Callan Park, Rozelle, 2015 When Professor Paula Hamilton, President of Oral History NSW launched this book in August she reflected on what Callan Park means: it is more than an assemblage of … Read more
…by Laila Ellmoos For almost 200 years, NSW has had a government-appointed architect to oversee the design and construction of public buildings in Sydney and across NSW. Emancipist convict Francis Howard Greenway was the first, appointed by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1816. Although later censured for his excessive spending on public works, Macquarie’s decision … Read more
… by Patricia Curthoys Between September 2012 and June 2013, I worked as a research officer for Dr Tanya Evans, of the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University. One outcome of that project is Tanya’s recently published monograph – Fractured Families: Life on the margins in colonial New South Wales … Read more
…Lisa Murray’s launch speech (17 June 2015)… Fractured Families: Life on the margins in colonial New South Wales by Tanya Evans was supported through the City of Sydney Council’s History Publication Sponsorship Program. Over the years, the program has helped authors and publishers bring to the public over a dozen books about Sydney’s history. … Read more
by Katherine Knight … In the past three months, I have had the opportunity to reflect on two museum experiences. Memberships of the Australian Museum were family Christmas gifts this year, with the primary intention of introducing two little preschoolers to some of the wonders of science, nature and culture. The museum is Australia’s oldest, … Read more