North Sydney Council’s historian, Ian Hoskins, writes about staging an exhibition of local history and cartography at the North Sydney Heritage Centre/Stanton Library, North Sydney. Custodianship of a public collection brings with it both the urge to care and cosset and the desire to display. The latter is typically driven by a fascination in the … Read more

Roslyn Burge reports on the launch on 30 October by Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Robyn Kemmis, of the City of Sydney’s Online Oral  History Collection. It’s a wonderful collection of interviews based around six themes –  Open all Hours, Shelter Shared Terrain, Belief, Art and Culture, and Our City. About 60 interviews are accessible online.  This … Read more

Emma Dortins reports on a fabulous talk by Paula Hamilton at History House in Sydney on 11 October 2013.  ‘Sensory Dissonance: The Clash of Cultures in Urban Memories’ was part of an evening seminar series organised by Nancy Cushing (University of Newcastle) and Lisa Ford (University of NSW). Paula focused on the sounds and smells … Read more

by Bruce Baskerville. PHA member Dr Lisa Murray, City Historian, recently posted on our PHA Facebook page an invitation to a public meeting hosted by Sydney City Council on Wednesday 16 October in Millers Point to discuss a proposal to shrink Millers Point and Dawes Point by formally separating parts of each locality and combining … Read more

This week’s blog by Francesca Beddie takes you beyond our shores to Havana in Cuba. The magnificent old city, founded in 1519, is fortunate to have had a professional historian, Eusebio Leal Spengler, in charge for four decades. Dr Leal is the director of the restoration program of Old Havana, listed as a UNESCO World … Read more

  by Nicole Cama APHA, Australian National Maritime Museum On 11 September 2013, the Australian National Maritime Museum hosted a series of talks in honour of History Week’s Picture This theme. Organised by myself and my colleagues Penny Hyde and Annalice Creighton, our aim was not just to foster cross-institutional collaboration. It was also to … Read more

During  History Week in NSW PHA NSW members will be presenting a range of talks, exhibitions and workshops to explore the theme ‘picture this’. Laila Ellmoos has compiled a list of events to keep you busy over the next week. Zoe Pollock, PHA NSW member and Executive Director at the History Council of NSW, has … Read more

The City of Sydney Council’s ever-expanding oral history collection has recently gone online. A new website: www.sydneyoralhistories.com.au showcases some the City’s many oral history interviews and makes them readily available to the dedicated researcher and casual browser alike. The City’s History Unit has been conducting interviews since the 1980s as a part of a vigorous … Read more