eNewsletter
Newsletter July 2026
From the President
Many of our member organisation are already starting to talk about how South Australians might want to mark the official bicentenary year of European settlement coming up in 2036. It may seem like a long way off, but a decade is really no time at all if ambitious projects are to get off the ground. It might be worth a conversation where you are, if only to jot down a timeline and a few ideas. For our part, the History Council has offered a few ideas of its own, which I was lucky enough to put together in an article in the latest Heritage Living magazine. See if you can track down a copy. And of course we’re open to suggestions from our members as well!
We’re firmly into the new financial year and that means it’s time to renew our memberships. We have a range of membership levels, from individuals all the way through to large organisations. If you would like to make sure our support for history and historians continue – prizes, advocacy and fellowships – then please head over to our website here.
I hope you can support some of the events and opportunities coming up this month. Matt
News
Advocacy News
The Australian Government is now consulting on a new National Cultural Policy, the successor to Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place. Alongside the History Councils of Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia, the HCSA is working on a joint submission to ensure that the place of history in the cultural life of the nation has a proper weighting in the new document.
Bay to Birdwood: vehicle registrations now open
The Bay to Birdwood will be held on Sunday 18 October 2026. Vehicle registrations are now open, with finish festival tickets soon to be released.
Further information and registration on the History Trust website.
SA Brewing Company archival records now available for research
More than 2000 photographs from the South Australian Brewing Company and West End Brewery are now available for research at the State Library of SA. Spanning the 1880s to the 1990s, the collection captures over a century of South Australia's brewing history.
Further information and link to online collections through the State Library website
Port Adelaide Historical Society Fundraiser
The Society is taking part in the 2026 People First Community Lottery. 100% of every $2 ticket sold through their page goes straight back to them - contributing to preserving Port Adelaide's history.
Further information and ticket purchase through their page here.
Grandparenting in Australia: a history (1945-2025)
A project team documenting the history of grandparenting in Australia is seeking oral history interviewees and/or 3-6 participants for a focus group in Adelaide/SA. It is an Australian Research Council-funded project (ARC DP250100728, Ethics Approval ANU H/2025/0115).
Participation involves a focus group lasting around 2 hours. They hope to run this before the end of July. It will be conducted in a comfortable, conversational setting. They are interested in hearing about experiences of grandparenting and being grandparented, biological and non-biological grandparenting. They are also keen to recruit several generations of the same family (provided grandchildren are over 18 years old).
Please note that participation is completely voluntary, and while no financial compensation is provided, your contribution will be invaluable to this important research.
If you’re interested in participating or would like more information about the project, the team would love to hear from you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions – they are happy to discuss the research in more detail and explain what participation would involve for you, your friends or your family.
Please contact: [email protected]
You can find out more about the project here:
ABC Radio National: The untold story of grandparenting in Australia
Swiss Researcher Seeking Letters and Diaries
Isabella Barbaric is a doctoral candidate at the University of Zurich. She is looking for letters and diaries for her research on the language of Swiss migrants to Australia 1850-2025. Isabella’s research project outline is available in German and English through the Universität Zürich website.
Isabella’s research outline also includes her email address. She would be very appreciative of assistance which HCSA members might be able to provide.
National History Challenge
A free research-based competition for Australian students. This year's theme is Voices.
Closing date 28 August 2026.
Further information on the challenge website here
Simpson Prize
The Simpson Prize is a civics-based, national research competition for Year 9 and 10 students which focuses on the service of Australians in World War One and World War Two. The question for this year’s national competition is: ‘How useful are artefacts and artwork as historical sources when researching the experience of Australians who served in either the First World War or Second World War?’
Discuss with reference to either WW1 or WW2.
Submissions due 4 November 2026.
Storage needed for John McDouall Stuart artefacts
The John McDouall Stuart Society is on the lookout for storage space for its collection. The society’s artefacts are held in ten boxes requiring about five square metres of secure storage space. The society’s display cabinets (currently dis-assembled) need an additional 10sqm of space. Ultimately, the goal is to have the collection located in a safe, secure space, open at times for general public viewing.
For further information or to assist, please contact society Co-President Tim Moore on [email protected].
Save the Queen: The Priscilla Project
A project is underway to restore the Priscilla bus from the film 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. She was discovered on a property in rural New South Wales, having survived fire, floods, and exposure to the elements. The History Trust of South Australia is seeking donations to restore the bus and display her at the National Motor Museum in Birdwood.
Lectures, exhibitions, and events
Friends of Lutheran Archives coming events July and August
Speaker: Glen Auricht : Moving Back to Country
Thursday 23 July at 7.30pm 139 Archer St, North Adelaide SA 5006
LIVESTREAM on FoLA YouTube channel here
Glen Auricht has lived and worked in Central Australia since 1973, and following the unique decision granting individual native titles to the 5 clans on Hermannsburg land, he undertook a role in providing the resources of Finke River Mission and the Government to aboriginal families as they moved back to the traditional lands that their grandparents had left in the pioneering days of the Hermannsburg Mission. It’s a story of struggles, reconciliation and survival amid great social change for the aboriginal people, the Hermannsburg Mission and the church.
The background story is presented in the FoLA publication Aboriginal land rights and self-determination at Hermannsburg 1972-1982 / Greg Marks, Paul Albrecht, Garry Stoll, 2022.
Speaker: Susan Grieger: The Plains Capital—Sedan 1870-2020
Thursday 20 August at 7.30pm 139 Archer St, North Adelaide SA 5006
LIVESTREAM on FoLA YouTube channel here
The town of Sedan on the Murray Flats was created as a private town by Johann Wilhelm Pfeiffer, and as such holds an interesting place in the South Australian narrative. He helped many of the early businesspeople establish, and with his support the town flourished. Sedan was founded in 1870 & within 15 years it had grown to be the heart of this farming area 30 kms to the east of the Barossa. Author of the latest Sedan history book, Susan Grieger, will tell us of its rich history as a town with a strong Lutheran / German nature, exploring the highs & lows of its past, what has shaped its character and what remains today.
Researching and Writing Family History: Lessons from 'Paving the Way' with Dr Samantha Battams
This month for Genealogy SA’s Twilight Talks, join Dr Samantha Battams, author of Paving the Way, for an engaging workshop exploring the process of researching, documenting and writing family history.
Tuesday 4 August at 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Free for Genealogy SA members / $20 non-members
Further information and registration through Trybooking
Getting Started with your Family History – Online Seminar
Would you like to start researching your family history, but don't know where to begin? Join us for this beginners course on how to plan, research, record and share your genealogical discoveries.
Sunday 9 August at 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
$49 Genealogy SA members / $99 non-members
Further information and registration through Trybooking
Genealogy SA Family History Awards
Join us in the Genealogy SA Library for the announcement of the 2025 South Australian Family History Awards.
Sunday 23 August at 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
$25pp (includes afternoon tea)
Further information and registration through Trybooking
DNA Painter Workshop – Online Seminar
So you want to start mapping your chromosomes – but how? Join us for this online seminar incorporating some practical exercises you will undertake to learn how to get the most out of DNA mapping.
Monday 24 August at 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm
$49 Genealogy SA members / $99 non-members
IPAN National Conference at Old Stock Exchange (Friday 24 July – Sunday 26 July)
LHS is supporting the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network’s (IPAN) 2026 National Conference and the associated national tour of Abby Martin, US journalist and film maker.
Genetic Genealogy: Beyond the Basics
Are you ready to take the next step in your DNA analysis journey? Want to prove hypotheses and solve mysteries, confirm ancestry or identify non-paternal events? Learn how to take your genetic genealogy skills to the next level with this workshop!
Sunday 19 July at 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
$89 Genealogy SA members / $139 non-members
Connect with the Past – People in the Landscape
People in the landscape is a talk on Barngarla country with Maritime Museum Curator Paul Mazourek about the amazing story of the landscape development and people’s histories in the Northern Spencer Gulf.
Cost: FREE
Where: Pt Lowly Lighthouse
When: Every Thursday in June and July 2026. All talks are from 2pm – 3pm.
Historical Society of South Australia speaker program 2026
The society have released their speaker program for the year.
View the full schedule and further information through their website
The next talk is Aug 7 Gavin Scrimgeour – Mitcham Camp and the Training of AIF Volunteers in SA, 1914-1918
Burnside City Uniting Church, 384 Portrush Road, Tusmore. Visitors are welcome but are asked for a $5 donation.
Book releases
Introduction to Whyalla Coastline
Introduction to Whyalla Coastline – written by local author / council’s Tourism Assets Officer Paul Mazourek – is now available to the community, providing an overview of the coastline from Douglas Point in the north to Murninnie Beach in the south.
The guide highlights significant coastal locations and aims to increase awareness and appreciation of the region's unique coastal environment.
Available to purchase from the Whyalla Visitor Centre
Tel: 1800 088 589 (Free); 08 8645 7900
Email: [email protected]
Cost: $16.50 (incl GST)
Further information through the Whyalla City Council website here
The sixth edition of the Oral History Handbook
Beth M Robertson has published the Sixth Edition of the Oral History Handbook: Preserving Voices and Memories for the Historical Record.
The First Edition of the Oral History Handbook was published in 1983 as an A5 booklet by the committee of South Australia’s Oral History Association, of which Beth was a member. She has authored the expansion and transformation of the title through five subsequent editions, during which it became recognised as the national standard for oral history practice in Australia.
The Oral History Handbook provides clear, concise and current information about the purpose, value, and reliability of oral history; the ethical and legal foundations of best practice; how to plan and manage an oral history project or whole-of-life interview; adaptable interview structures; the technology and practices required to achieve high-quality recordings; the skills needed to conduct effective interviews; and undertaking accurate transcription in an AI environment.
It summarises cutting edge scholarship about memory and remembering and, in a departure from previous editions, focuses on ways in which interviewers, project managers and researchers can support the ethical use of oral histories. This is presented through three lenses: ways of evaluating the reliability and validity of interviews, preparing archive-ready descriptive metadata and interview summaries, and editing oral histories. The new book also includes a comprehensive index.
The book is self-published under the auspices of Oral History Australia and is available via the sales website. RRP: $40.00 plus postage ($8.50 for single orders).
Nooks and Crannies, by the History Council of South Australia
South Australian historical groups and museums keen to boost their income are invited to order copies of the History Council of South Australia’s new publication Nooks and Crannies at wholesale price from publisher Wakefield Press.
Nooks and Crannies: Stories of South Australia is an eclectic collection of short essays on South Australian inventions, migration, industry, heritage, museums and associations, both new and old, Indigenous and settler. RRP: $39.95.
For more information or to order, contact Michael Bollen at Wakefield Press at [email protected]
Please note: wholesale is 40% off the RRP (or $23.97) with free delivery for orders over $100!
Calls for papers
Call for Submissions: ’Technologies that Changed History’
Agora, the professional journal of the History Teachers’ Association of Victoria, is seeking submissions for an issue on the theme ’Technologies that Changed History’. Articles should focus on topics that can be taught as part of History studies in school.
Submissions of up to 2000 words (plus footnotes) are required by August. Please pitch submission ideas, including their applicably to the History curriculum, to the Editor at [email protected].
Call for Papers: Current Debates - Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History
Subject Fields:
British History / Studies, Colonial and Post-Colonial History / Studies, Contemporary History, Criticism and Theory, Political History / Studies
In January 2025 The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History launched a section devoted to opinion and commentary. Here is published shorter pieces (1,000-4,000 words) on topical issues or debates broadly construed within the field of the British Empire and Commonwealth, or imperialism and colonialism more generally. In order to address current affairs in a timely manner and to retain the integrity of the opinion piece essays/discussion pieces published in this Current Debates section are not subject to peer-review.
Opportunities
Deane Miller Fellowship
A new initiative supporting the research and development of new work inspired by the State Library of South Australia's collections. Open to artists, writers, researchers, and creatives working across disciplines.
Applications close 31 July 2026, 5pm.
