… by Peter Hobbins One of the great joys in writing history lies in making myself perennially uncomfortable. Nowhere is this more true than when employing that vexed verb ‘imagine’. I was trained as an empiricist. I have an honours degree in science, earned by killing multitudes of small creatures. It explains why I … Read more
…  Before we talk about the best date for our national day, let’s get a better understanding of its history and what it means to all our citizens and what we want to commemorate. Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director of the Australia Institute, observed when launching the institute’s December 2017 poll on Australia Day: The national … Read more
…In this occasional series about members’ blogs, we introduce HistoryMatrix, the electronic journal of Dr Bruce Baskerville. Bruce maintains four blogs – HistoryMatrix is the ‘history’ blog; mrbbaskerville is the place he opines;  Sepia Green is a blog for reviews; and, Green Plaques is a grant project to create an archive of commemorative plaques … Read more
Thank you to all those who contributed to the PHA NSW & ACT blog in 2017. The year’s 25 posts covered: Aboriginal history surprising resources for historical use such as knitting and the Botanical Gardens issues in the practice of history, history tourism and memorialisation (this post received more comments than any other) discussions on … Read more
… by Sue Castrique, author of One Small World: The History of the Addison Road Community Centre. Some PHA members may recognise the photographs that make up this panorama. They were once identified as being in Kensington; the tall building thought to be the Old Tote Theatre. They are, however, the Addison Road army depot in … Read more
…by Stephen Gapps Recently there have been calls for historians to consider ways of writing ‘deep time’ into Australian history. These include pleas to write more interdisciplinary history, especially to work with archaeologists dealing with the long Australian human past prior to colonisation. We now have a Deep History Research Centre that ‘aims to … Read more
…by Michael Bennett The Nawi Symposium, the second National Gathering of Indigenous watercraft custodians and cultural practitioners, was held at the National Maritime Museum on 9 November. Over 70 traditional owners, researchers and community supporters gathered to hear a range of presentations about the history of Indigenous watercraft use and current projects to reinvigorate … Read more
…this post introduces PHA NSW and ACT member, Ian Willis’ blog, Camden History Notes. Camden is a town southwest of Sydney, situated on land belonging to the Dharawal (Tharawal) people. Ian’s blog presents stories about the district’s people, its history, heritage and traditions. He draws on the memories and experiences of local families, local identities, … Read more
… Anna Clark introduces her new book. As a kid I used to go down to the beach after dinner and watch my grandfather, dad and uncle spinning off the rocks or bait-fishing in the estuary. When I wanted to learn, they had me casting lures across the paddocks before I was set loose … Read more
…Emma Dortins reports on the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal History journal founded in 1977. On Friday 27 October, a birthday celebration was held at the Australian National University (ANU), where  Aboriginal History was born and has been based ever since. Ngambri-Ngunnawal elder, Matilda House, welcomed us to Country. Several founding editorial board members were … Read more