eNewsletter
Newsletter 15 February 2022
Members News
HCSA Fellowship Free Lecture Night
Come and join us for a free lecture night on Wednesday 30 March from 5:30pm-7:00pm, delivered by our two Fellows, Dr Rebecca Jones (2021 Fellow) and Dr Heidi Ing (2022 Fellow). The two presentations will explore their research projects, which both focus on key aspects of South Australian history and heritage.
Please reserve your seats at the eventbrite page here
Dr. Rebecca Jones (2021 Fellow)
Dr Jones is based in rural Victoria and was unable to travel to Adelaide during 2021 to consult the sources at the State Library. We are very pleased to be able to welcome her in March 2022 and to hear the progress of her research.
Dr. Jones is investigating how people in settler societies have learnt from the emotional and physical challenges of weather extremes in the past and how this information can contribute to our responses to climate change in the present, using diaries and letters written by nurses working for the Australian Inland Mission in Oodnadatta, Innamincka and Beltana 1900-1920. These sources, held in the State Library of South Australia, provide rich insights into the experiences of people living and working in remote arid areas in the early twentieth century and the many ways that they adapted (or didn’t) to drought, dust, heat and flood.
Title: Settler-Colonial Land Speculation: Investors in South Australia’s ‘Town Acres’.
As the 2022 Fellow, Heidi Ing’s presentation will focus on aims and ambitions rather than already achieved outcomes. The planned project will involve Kaurna land in Tarntanya, which was divided in early 1837 into one-thousand and forty-two ‘town acres’. In March 1837, through either preliminary land-order or purchase at auction, just over 200 individuals were allocated this appropriated land. This prosopographical project will aim to produce short biographical sketches for these men and women, and to collect microdata into a useful format for future social network analysis. It is expected that connections may be uncovered to link South Australian investors to other settler-colonial endeavours. This presentation will provide an overview of the questions which may be answered through this fellowship project, as well as the potential for geospatial visualisation of the data.
Rev Dr. Erich Renner
Rev Dr Erich Renner died on 31 December 2021 aged 99.
Dr Renner was awarded Life Membership of Friends of Lutheran Archives in recognition of his intimate knowledge of the Lutheran Church of Australia (and its preceding synods). His willingness to share his vast knowledge of the origins of the LCA, and his quick wit will be missed by many, including current students of the Australian Lutheran College, where he continued to be a regular visitor to the library, actively engaging in his own learning until recently.
Ordained to the Lutheran Ministry in 1944 he served as a parish pastor prior to taking on a teaching role at Immanuel College in 1949. He obtained his doctorate at Heidelberg University, Germany, and returned to Immanuel Seminary in 1959, where he lectured in the Old Testament until his official retirement in 1991.
Dr Renner continued to provide pastoral care to Adelaide’s German-speaking Lutherans, as well as preaching for the Adelaide German congregation at Bethlehem Lutheran Church until three years ago. He also served on inter-denominational and inter-faith panels, enriching them with his historical insights.
Vale - Jack Cross AM
16 Dec 1930 - 20 Jan 2022
Jack Cross was born into an impoverished family at Stone Hut. Educated at Lutheran schools in the lower Flinders Ranges, he finished his secondary education at Immanuel College. He entered Adelaide University with an Education Department cadetship and studied history under Professor Douglas Pike. However, he was unable to do an Honours Degree immediately, as the Education Department demanded that he pay off his bond, and he was sent to Darwin to teach. Jack researched his Honours thesis in Darwin studying the interface of sociology in a social history of Darwin between the 1960s and 1970s. More than thirty-five years later in Adelaide he wrote his magnum opus, Great Central State: the foundation of the Northern Territory (2011). For twenty years he was Head of Studies in Education at the Western Teachers College, which became part of the University of South Australia. During this time, he wrote Schooling: the Conflict of Belief [1975] and For Arts Sake?: a strategic approach to teaching art in schools [1977]. He moved on to help set up Tauondi, the Aboriginal Community College at Port Adelaide and also the Anangu Teacher Education Program at Ernabella.
Between 1978-1979, Jack went to Stanford University, California, where he found the ‘history of ideas’, which became the basis of his philosophy, leading to a role as teacher in the History of Ideas in the Art History & Theory department at Adelaide Central School of Art. Since semi-retirement, Jack has been awarded Life Membership of the WEA and the University of the Third Age Adelaide for his contribution to adult education.
In 2012, he was awarded the Chief Ministers Award, Darwin, for Great Central State; in the 2013 New Years Honours, he received an Order of Australia (AM); and in 2015, he was awarded a national Distinguish Teaching Award for teaching excellence, especially for teaching Art and Design students.
Jack also wrote Four Milnes of Forfar (1987), Labour & Learning: one hundred years of the WEA of South Australia (2013) and Two Crosses: Ephraim and Jack – a Proletarian History (2016). His final role was as President of the Friends of South Australia’s Archives. Jack remained mentally active till the end.
9 Feb 2022
Historical Society of South Australia Inc.
Join the HSSA 4 March at 7.30pm with guest speaker Bill Othams with the topic "Coromandelians - a one-ship study of early European settlers in South Australia"
Brian Stace and Bill Othams co-authored Coromandelians: South Australian Pioneers of the Coromandel. They both had ancestors who arrived in South Australia on the Coromandel in January 1837, sparking their interest in the ship and its passengers. The publication of the book was the outcome of over 10 years of research. The Coromandel was the first vessel to carry out free-passage emigrants who were not required to have contracts of employment before they left England. The book and this talk are the story of all those free agents, and how they fared. All welcome - non members $5 entry.
Visit the HSSA on Facebook
Visit their website here
Statement and Petition Regarding the Veto of Literary Studies ARC Grants
Excerpt taken from the statement:
"The decision by the acting Federal Minister for Education, Stuart Robert, to exercise his veto against four literary studies grants recommended to him by the Australian Research Council constitutes an attack on literary studies and literary culture in Australia. The only public justification that Robert provided for the apparently arbitrary process that led to this decision is that the projects “do not demonstrate value for taxpayers’ money nor contribute to the national interest.” That two-thirds of the six censored grants should be in literary studies demonstrates a dismissive attitude to the value of the imagination and creativity."
View the full statement and add your name here (google form).
The 2022 Historian Awards
The HCSA Historian Awards seek to recognise the outstanding achievements of an individual or group who have made a major contribution in the field of history in South Australia. These achievements can include, but are not limited to, history teaching, historical research and scholarship, raising community awareness of our history and heritage (for example through presentations, exhibitions, traditional and digital publications), and strengthening the profile of history.
The awards may be awarded in the following categories: Historian of the Year; Emerging Historian; Life Long Historian; Digital Technologies Award; and Contribution to Regional or Community History (Individual or Group); Oral History Excellence.
View our HCSA Historian Awards page here.
Friends of South Australia's Archives Annual Jack Cross Fellowships 2022
Awarded to small history projects or to support students of South Australian history who are pursuing a dedicated program of historical research in archives and history, with a focus in the use of South Australian archival resources.
Further information here (pdf).
SA Medical Heritage Society February Meeting
Featuring Associate Professor Paul Sendziuk speaking on Australia's response to HIV/AIDS. Thursday 24 February 2022, 6pm.
Further information here (pdf).
The Friends of South Australia's Archives Inc.
The latest newsletter from the FSAA has been released. This issue updates the situation regarding the relocation of South Australian archival material to Canberra and the planned digitisation hub, as well as other news items.
View the newsletter here (pdf).
Labour History Society SA News and General Meeting
The Summer 2021/22 edition of Labour News is available here (pdf link).
The inaugural general meeting will take place at the Box Factory, 2.00pm on Sunday 20th February. There will be a panel discussion on 'The Uses of History'. All are welcome and attendance is free of charge, but attendees must wear masks and have received two COVID-19 vaccinations.
The Historical Society of South Australia is pleased to announce resumption of its Grants Scheme in 2022 for research, publication or promotion of South Australian history.
Further criteria and application and acquittal forms are available from the society’s website [link here] or by email from the secretary at [email protected]
The closing date for applications is Monday 28th March 2022. Successful applicants will be announced at the lecture meeting during the annual History Festival on Friday 6 May and all applicants will receive notification by Monday 15 May 2022. Payment of the monies awarded in grants will happen in June 2022.
Applications should be addressed to:
The Convenor
HSSA Annual Grants Scheme
PO Box 519
Kent Town SA 5071
Wakefield Press Essay Prize
Applications for the 2022 Wakefield Press Essay Prize Award are now open. The prize is for the best essay on a topic relating to the history of South Australia. Submissions are due 1 April 2022.
The prize is open to anyone who during the year 2021 has written or published an essay dealing substantially with some aspect of South Australian history. The word length should be between 2,000 and 10,000 (including footnotes/endnotes)
Further information here.
News
A Celebration of the Aboriginal Flag
Harold Thomas, the first Aboriginal person employed at the South Australian Museum and the designer of the Aboriginal flag, has recently announced that he has assigned copyright of the Aboriginal flag to the Federal Government. This historical agreement allows the flag to be freely used by all Australians as a celebration and symbol of pride and unity.
Read an article Thomas wrote for the Brisbane Times here.
Australia Day Honours
The Australia Day awards 2022 saw two South Australians awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for history.
Lois Beverley Zweck
Author of many books, including 'Zweck: A family history', and 'Fritz Moeller & Sophie Luck: Migrants from Mecklenberg'. Lois was Chair of the Friends of the Lutheran Archives from 1995 to 2014, acting as a volunteer, translator, and research assistant at the Lutheran Archives from 1992, and was made a Board Member in 1998.
In 2017 she was awarded the Lifelong History Achievement Award by the History Council of South Australia.
June 'Monty' Smith
This Georgetown-based historian and author received the OAM in recognition of her service to the community through history preservation organisations. Monty has authored two books: 'Their Duty Nobly Done: Remembering the WWI Veterans of the townships of Georgetown, Gladstone, Glundare, Huddleston and Narridy', and 'A Jam Tin of Mosquitoes: a biographical reference to the men and women of South Australia who volunteered to serve in the South African Boer War 1899 to 1902'.
She currently also sits as the chair on the South Australian Boer War Committee and is the inaugural president of the Strathalbyn Legacy Widows Club.
Tiati Wangkanthi Kumangka (Truth-telling Together) - Project of Influence 2021 Best in Heritage Award Winner
Co-curated by Senior Kaurna Elder Lynette Crocker and City of Holdfast Bay Curator Julia Garnaut, Titai explores the history of South Australian colonisation through our shared histories. This collaboration has been titled the 2021 'Project of Influence' by The Best in Heritage.
Watch an interview with the curators here on Youtube.
Watch a virtual tour of the exhibition here on Youtube.
Lectures, exhibitions, and events
Australian Architecture: A History with Davina Jackson
An online event with Jackson exploring the evolution of architecture in Australia, as detailed in her most recent book: Australian Architecture: A History. Free and online via Zoom.
Further information and registration on the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts website.
Dr. Joanne McEwan, 'Gender Through the Ages': Curtin University Gender Research Network (GRN) Seminar Series
In this WebEx, Dr. Joanne McEwan will chart Western ideas about gender from the medieval period through to the nineteenth century. Prompted by the question of where the idea of 'gender as binary' originated. 17 February 2022, 2-3pm AWST. Email [email protected] to RSVP.
Further information on Curtin University's website.
Libby Robin: '"World-mindedness" and the local: National Parks for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics'
Part of the Historians on Planetary Futures 2022 Seminar Series. This seminar looks at ideas about landscape management from the 1950s and a conservative conservation movement surrounding the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. This story suggests ways for modern environmental activism in the 21st century to become less polarized, more inclusive, and more effective.
22 February 2022, 10am AEDT, via Zoom.
Further information on Eventbrite.
ANU Centre for Environmental History: Environmental Exchanges
A new seminar series dedicated to showcasing and discussing the new research that engages with key themes in environmental history. Seminars will be held approximately once a month on Thursdays, with all in 2022 being held via Zoom as well as in-person at the ANU's Acton campus.
Further information on the ANU School of history website here.
The first series is on the topic of Oceans, with the first seminar on 17 February:
Professor Coll Thrush (University of British Columbia) 'Wakes: Maritime Violence, Colonial Origin Stories, and Unfinished Business on the Northwest Coast.' Registration and further information here.
Virtual Seminar: Historians on Planetary Futures
Presented by New Earth Histories and the Laureate Centre for History and Population, UNSW. Held Tuesdays in February to April 2022.
Further information on Eventbrite
Lust for Lifestyle: Modern Adelaide Homes 1950-1965
A new exhibition in the State Library Gallery on the architecture of the post-World War II boom. Open until 5 June 2022.
Further information on the State library website.
South Australia illustrated: the Art of George French Angas
Featuring the beautiful colour images of artist George French Angas, which are some of the earliest views of South Australia by a European.
On now, free entry.
Further information including opening times at the State Library website here.
Book releases
Biographical Register of South Australian Surveyors 1836 to 1936 by Andrew G Peake
Attempts to provide some basic information on birth and death, and the surveying achievements of over 460 surveyors who operated in South Australia.
Further information here (pdf).
Four Years in a Red Coat: The Loveday Internment Camp Diary of Miyakatsu Koike by Miyakatsu Koike, Hiroko Cockerill, Peter Monteath, Yuriko Nagata
The publication of Miyakatsu Koike's personal diaries he kept as an internee of four years at Loveday internment Camp.
Further information through Wakefield Press here.
Opportunities
AMaGA CHART
The Culture, Heritage and Arts Regional Tourism (CHART) Program is a $3 million Australian Government program that aims to support community cultural, heritage, and arts organisations in regional Australia as they recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Applications are open until funding allocation has been expended or on 29 April 2022.
Further information on the AMaGA website.
Historian (multiple positions), Historical Publications Section, DFAT
Positions are ongoing, full time.
Applications due 11.30pm, 23 February 2022.
Further information via the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.
Public Environmental History Prize awarded by the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand History Network. Applications due 1 February 2021.
Further information on their website here.
Trove trial
Thanks to Commonwealth government funding, Trove is offering a free trial to Australian galleries, archives, museums, and historical societies that would like to reach a vast audience and see their collection in a national context. The trial period ends 30 June 2022.
Further information here.
Calls for papers
History of Education Review (HER)
HER is an international journal committed to the publication of high quality peer-reviewed research and theoretical papers on the history of education.
Further information on the Emerald Publishing website.
Urgent Histories: The 39th Australian Historical Association (AHA) Conference on the uses and usefulness of the past in pressing contemporary public debates, disputes, and narratives. Abstracts due 28 February 2022.
Further information on the Deakin University website.
Ngā Pūtahitanga/Crossings is a joint conference between the Society of Architectural Historians, Australian and New Zealand, and the Australasian Urban History/Planning History Group. They are seeking papers that examine historical moments of overlap, collaboration, tension, or dispute between built environment disciplines. Abstracts due 28 February 2022.
Further information on their website here.