eNewsletter
Newsletter 18 April 2023
News
The History Council has issued a media release outlining its position on proposed reforms at the South Australian Museum.
Read more on our advocacy page here.
2024 HCSA Fellows lecture
This year's lecture will be held in the Hetzel Lecture Theatre, Institute Building, North Terrace at 5.30pm on Tuesday, 23 April.
This year's speakers will be the 2023 Fellow Maggi Boult, 2024 Fellow Dr Alice Neikirk, and recipient of the 2024 Highly Recommended Prize Dr Angela Gurr.
Tickets and information about the event are available at Eventbrite
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.
Further information through the HTSA
S.S. City of Singapore Ship Fire
(by Dr. David Sweet)
On Saturday April 26th 1924 a series of explosions rocked Port Adelaide, killing three firemen and injuring 13 others.
The S.S. City of Singapore, carrying a mixed cargo of cased benzine, petrol, kerosene, oils, motor cars and trucks, was docked at No. 2 Quay, also known as 'Tragedy Dock'. The steel vessel of 6,500 tons was only one-year old and was en-route for Fremantle and South Africa.
At about 7.43pm on 26th April 1924 a small explosion In No. 4 hold prompted the evacuation of the vessel. The Port Adelaide and Semaphore Fire Brigades were called and attended promptly, supported by the Fire Boat Ada. Additional crews were called in from the Adelaide Head Station and the new Dennis fire engine driven by Fireman Albert Greenman, with crew, arrived and set up hose lines to assist in quelling the deep-seated fire.
Around 10.30pm the fire appeared to have been extinguished, with the smouldering hold partly flooded. But approximately 20 minutes later a rumbling was heard from the hold and the call went out to abandon ship. Two significant explosions followed. Debris was thrown into the air, with some landing 50 metres away.
Chief Officer John Dickie was trapped onboard, but eventually managed to escape through a porthole. The firemen killed in the explosion were: Albert Greenman and James Hickey, of the Adelaide station, George Anderson, of Port Adelaide station. George Anderson and James Hickey are buried at the Cheltenham Cemetery and Albert Greenman at the West Terrace Cemetery. In June 1924, the City Coroner, Dr Ramsay Smith, concluded that their deaths were caused by Injuries sustained in an explosion of gases in the hold.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of this tragedy a special ceremony will be conducted at No 2 Quay on Friday April 26th commencing at 11am. Descendants of those killed will be in attendance, including serving Firefighters from the SA Metropolitan Fire Service and the Northern Territory Fire Service.
A plaque will be unveiled by the Honourable Joe Szakacs MP Minister for Emergency Services.
You are welcome to attend this special event.
This is a joint enterprise marking an important historic tragedy with: The Metropolitan Fire Service, Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide', Maritime Museum, Port Adelaide Historical Society and the United Firefighters’ Union.
Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act review final report and Government response released
Following an extensive review by an expert panel, the Government is adopting over 100 recommendations to make the planning system more efficient and user-friendly.
More information on the Review's March newsletter here.
Indian Diaspora in Australia collecting project
The National Library of Australia is actively looking for stories from Australians with Indian heritage to add to the national collection.
Further information on the NLA website
Make your local community collections part of Trove
Australia’s digital library Trove is inviting community-led, volunteer-run and rural and regional collecting organisations across Australia to showcase their digital content for free. These digital collections and data will become available and findable in Trove.
Find out more about how to become a part of Trove on their website
Get your book published into the National Library of Australia collection
For anyone considering self-publishing, whether your book is printed or electronic, free or for sale, you need to deposit a copy with the National Library of Australia, and with your state or territory library.
If you deposit electronically, information about your book will be available in Trove and the National Library’s catalogue within a day of deposit. For print deposits, a record will be available within 3 months of your publication being received.
For information about legal deposit, visit the NLA’s website here.
You can also read the fact sheet (pdf)
The NLA has also recently published a blog on their website which provides more general information about independent and self-publishing. You can read it here.
Encounter Celebration Organisation: sculpture fundraising drive
The Encounter Celebration Organisation Victor Harbor Inc. (ECOVHI) is a non-profit organisation, committed to fostering knowledge and understanding of the role that the navigators and explorers Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin played in our maritime history. Captain Matthew Flinders, commander of the Investigator and Captain Nicolas Baudin, commander of Le Géographe, met near Victor Harbor on 8th and 9th April, 1802, in Ramindjeri Ngarrindjeri Waters subsequently named Encounter Bay, by Matthew Flinders.
It is our intention to erect an interpretive sculpture in Victor Harbor which will tell the story of Flinders and Baudin and their part in the mapping of Australia. It will also provide an opportunity for the Ngarrindjerri people to have a platform to tell their history.
In an effort to raise the funds needed to complete this project we have been accepted by the Australian Cultural Foundation for them to receive donations on our behalf. Each donation will receive a taxation receipt. We have in principle approval to build the interpretive sculpture from The City of Victor Harbor and letters of support from, among others, History S.A., the French and British S.A. Consulates, Monument Australia, the Ngarrindjerri Aboriginal Commission.
We have received promises of in excess of $70,000 so far to complete our project, but need a roughly that amount again before we can start to build the sculpture.
To donate please visit the Australian Cultural Fund Website.
Adelaide Museum of South Australian History
The History Trust are inviting responses to a survey about a proposed new museum: the Adelaide Museum of South Australia's History.
Find out more and have your say on the proposed museum here.
Around the Country
Rameses and the Gold of the Pharaohs
This exhibition, exclusive to the Australian Museum in Sydney, features 181 priceless artefacts and relics, many of which have never left Egypt before. This wonderfully preserved collection includes sarcophagi, animal mummies, jewellery, royal masks, and ornate tomb treasures which showcase the workmanship of Egyptian artisans. Open in Sydney until May 19 2024.
Further information and ticket purchase through the museum website
Lectures, exhibitions, and events
South Australia's History Festival 2024: Power
The program for South Australia's History Festival 2024 is now available. The festival will be running throughout May with events for everyone.
View the online program on the official website
The results are now in for the first-ever survey dedicated to history activities across the state, known as the South Australian Stories Survey Initiative or SASSi!
If you want to connect with other history enthusiasts and find out more about who is doing where, how and why, come to the ‘Let’s Get SASSi’ event on 14 May 11-12:30pm, at the Drill Hall, Torrens Parade ground, when the History Advocate, Dr Kiera Lindsey, will share these first findings and stimulate a discussion about how we can work together to ‘give the past a future, now!’ 14 May 2024, 11am-12.30pm, Torrens Parade Ground.
Further information and registration through the History Festival website
Encounter Celebrations film fundraiser
The Encounter celebrations Committee will be hosting a screening of the documentary film The Navigators along with guest speakers Gillian Dooley, Professor Jean Fornaserio, and Professor John West-Sooby.
11 May, 1-2pm, Victa Cinema, Victor Harbour.
Further information and registration link here
Labour History Society SA: Geo-political tensions and conflicts in 2024
The LHS April General meeting will feature Dr. Daniel Fazio in conversation with Dr. David Faber. 21 April 2024, 2pm, Minor Works Building, 22 Stamford Ct.
Further information here (pdf flyer)
New exhibition: Disrupt, persist, invent: Australians in an ever-changing world
This exhibition, explores the many ways people have achieved social change in Australia, from noisy protest to quiet persistence. On at the State Library of South Australia, 20 April - 11 August.
Further information through the SLSA website
The Battle of Milne Bay
Join the National Archives of Australia to learn how the Allied forces brought about the decisive defeat of the Japanese forces on September 1942 at Milne Bay, against all odds.
Hear individual stories of the young South Australian servicemen who took part in the conflict through records held in the national archival collection. 23 April 2024, 12pm-1pm, State Library of South Australia.
Further information and registration through Eventbrite
Lighthouse Lore & Portside Tour: a journey through Port Adelaide's past
Join the History Trust of SA for a tour, talk, and a drink at two of Port Adelaide's iconic landmarks: the Port Admiral Hotel, and the Port Adelaide Lighthouse. 11 May 2024, 6pm - 8pm, $45 per person (includes meal and drink).
Further information and registration through Trybooking
University of Adelaide Historical and Classical Studies Research Seminar Series 2024
The schedule for semester one is now available. View the schedule here (pdf).
The next seminar will feature Dr. Gary Lit Ling Loong on 'If the sky were to fall: an intergenerational journey of trials and tribulations in Malaya during and after the wars' on 8 April.
Held in-person on Mondays at Napier 420, 12pm. Zoom links TBA.
Historical True Crime Podcast “Secrets We Keep: Nest of Traitors”
A seven episode series that follows investigative journalist Joey Watson and his search to uncover the story of an ASIO spy who was recruited by the Soviet Union. Watson’s journey through Cold War history takes him to the town of Woomera where he learns why Australia was a KGB target.
The podcast is available on LiSTNR and other streaming services.
One Day Conference: South Australian 2024 History Festival
Saturday 4th May
The recently formed South Australian Church History Network (SACHN) invites you to register for the one-day conference as part of this year’s History Festival. The theme of the day is "Paradise of Dissent Revisited." Papers of 20 minutes will be presented which open up and examine areas in which churches and Christians influenced social and public life.
Early responses indicate that the event will be full of variety and interest and draw on most SA church traditions. Papers will explore the notion of SA as a ‘Paradise of Dissent’ and encourage further research and publication.
The SACHN involves historians from several Christian denominations (currently Anglican, Baptist, Salvation Army, Uniting Church) who are concerned with the recognition of SA religious history within the broader history of SA and within the religious history of Australia as a whole. Its aims are to increase awareness of the Christian presence in and contribution to SA life and history from 1836.
Those registering for the day will receive a detailed program including timetable and topics of papers. To find out more and register contact the convenor of SACHN, Rev. Dr Dean Eland at [email protected]
Conference fee is $30 and last date for registration is Monday 29 April. The conference will be held at The Church of the Trinity, (UCA) 318 Goodwood Rd, Clarence Park 5034. Generous onsite parking is available on the northern side of the church site.
Further information and registration form (pdf).
Historical Society of South Australia 2024 program
The HSSA has announced its program for 2024 as follows:
3 May: Patricia Sumerling: A City Pub Crawl: an illustrated history.
7 June: Skye Krichauff: The South Australian Frontier and Its Legacies: A Truth-Telling project.
5 July: Benjamin Nicholls: "There are pianos everywhere": Oscar Comettant and other travel writers on South Australian music.
2 August: Robert Foster: The role of environmental factors in shaping Aboriginal/settler relations in colonial South Australia.
6 September: Elizabeth Bor: Responses to Bushfires in South Australia from the 1820s to Federation.
4 October: Martin Hamilton-Smith: Western Democracy Under Challenge: The interesting case study of South Australia.
1 November: Erin Reardon: RA&HS Archives – Walking into 185 Years of History (and Wondering What to do With It).
Australian Heritage Festival 2024: Connections
Australia's largest annual community-driven celebration of heritage will take place in South Australia from 18 April to 19 May 2024.
Event registrations are now open on their website.
Flinders University History Research Seminars semester 1 2024
The schedule for the semester one seminars is now available.
The next seminar will feature Dr Shvetal Vyas Pare (Flinders University) on ‘Vernacular Nationalism and Imagining the Political: The Development of Gujarati Identity at the Turn of the Twentieth Century’ on 26 April.
Held in-person at Humanities North Theatre 2 (Bedford Park, SA) or through Microsoft Teams, Fridays, 11.15am - 12.30pm.
See the flyer for the full schedule and Teams details here (pdf).
Book releases
Book launch: Celebrating 25 Years of the Eudunda Family Heritage Gallery
‘The First 25 Years’ is a volunteer-oriented account of the Gallery’s journey from the original idea to the wonderful repository it is now.
Further information and registration through the History Festival website
Book launch: The recollections collection: a people's history, by Karen Joyce and Colin Ball
Unabashedly The Recollections Collection is a peoples’ history of Hindmarsh in South Australia, particularly of locals who lived in the neighbourhoods of Bowden and Brompton. It conflates two modern eras by combining the long-first-half of the twentieth century, the 1890s to 1960s, with the much shorter and radically transformational times of the 1970s and 80s. 29 May, 7-9pm, Brickmakers Arms, Brompton SA.
Further information and registration through the History Festival website
Book launch: A view from the horizon: my life in politics and beyond, by Peter Duncan
Join former SA Premier Hon Lynn Arnold AO for the launch of Dunstan era Attorney-General Peter Duncan’s memoir. These two political contemporaries will turn back the clock and consider the nature of political power in SA in the 1970s and 1980s. 14 May 2024, 5.30-7.30pm, Torrens Parade Ground, Victoria Drive.
Further information through the HTSA
An insider's history of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, by Paul Blackman
This history of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra tells the story from its creation through to the world class ensemble that performs today.
Further information and ordering through Wakefield Press
Book launch: The radical Jewish tradition, by Donny Gluckstein & Janey Stone
This book details and celebrates Jewish radical struggle from the Tsarist Empire to Poland and Germany, from London to New York. The book launch will be held at Unley Community Centre, 27 April, 2-4pm.
Registration and further information through Trybooking
Calls for papers
Call for Submissions: New Thinking About Old Histories
Later this year HTAV’s journal Agora will explore the theme ‘New Thinking about Old Histories’. The Editor is seeking contributors who can discuss recent evidence or academic debates that History teachers should know about to update their knowledge and inform their teaching. Referenced articles of up to 2000 words in plain language, aligned with the History curriculum, are due in July.
Prospective contributors should contact the Editor ([email protected]) with a brief outline of their topic and how it would describe ‘new thinking’.
Extended call for contributions: Fighting Cancer and preventing smoking in the UK, its Colonies and Commonwealth, 1920s-1970s
Abstracts due April 26 2024.
Further information through H-Net
Opportunities
ASO4 History Trust of SA - Maritime Museum Manager
Applications close 24 April
Further information and application through I Work for SA
NLA Fellowships and Grants program
Applications are now open for the National Library of Australia's Community Heritage Grants program (applications closing 9 May) and 2025 Fellowships (applications closing 6 May).
Read more about the Community Heritage Grants Program here
Read more about the Fellowships here
Oral History Australia National Conference bursary
Oral History SA/NT is offering a conference bursary for a member of theirs to cover the cost of the conference. Applicants must be current financial members of Oral History SA/NT and be full financial members at the time of the conference. Applications close 30 June, 2024.
Further information through their website
Ann Curthoys Prize 2024
Applications are now OPEN for the Ann Curthoys Prize 2024. This prize is awarded for the best unpublished article-length work by an Early Career Researcher in any one or combination of the following fields in which Ann has published: Australian history; feminist history; Indigenous history; transnational/comparative/colonial history; and history and theory. The Prize is generously funded by Ann and the Australian Catholic University, the institution of the current History Australia editors. The winner will receive a cash prize, a citation in History Australia, and will be considered for publication in the journal. Applicants must be a financial member of the AHA at time of submission. Applications close 1 May 2024. For any queries concerning this prize, get in touch with History Australia Editorial Assistant Karen Downing.([email protected]).
Further information on the AHA website
The Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia
The next issue is scheduled to be published in November 2024 and they are inviting scholars from all disciplines who are researching South Australian history to submit papers, or proposals for papers, for inclusion in this, and subsequent editions. They would particularly like to encourage post-graduate student and early career researcher contributions.
For more information, visit their website here or contact the editor [email protected]
