eNewsletter
Newsletter 16 October 2025
From the President
The last week has certainly been one of our busiest for a while. Alongside other members and HCSA friends, I was very pleased to be able to attend the HCSA Regional Lecture in Renmark last Thursday. On the banks of the River Murray interested individuals and history-related bodies from metropolitan Adelaide and the Riverland had the chance to come together to listen to one another, inform each other about their projects and plan how they might assist one another. Not only the presentations but the conversations over morning tea, lunch and dinner showed just how important such events are for bolstering urban and rural cooperation in the service of history. Special thanks also go to our sterling keynote speaker Craig Westell, who set the scene perfectly with his talk about the Riverland’s deeper Indigenous history.
A few short days later, the HCSA AGM was held at the Historian pub in Adelaide. At this our long serving Vice President David Sweet, our Immediate Past President Gillian Dooley and our Media Officer Andrew Buxton all formally completed their current terms on the Executive Committee. Once again I’d like to offer my effusive thanks for their service and assistance. Happily, Gillian will continue on as a member of the General Committee, while Andrew will continue to maintain our Facebook presence. Congratulations to Dr Lainie Anderson, who has stepped into the role of Vice President for 2025-2027.
Please don’t forget that applications for our HCSA Fellowship, run in conjunction with the State Library of SA, are now open. You can find further information about that on our website here.
Matt
News
The Mortlock Chamber has reopened
After a temporary closure from June, the chamber has had its carpet replaced and reopened to the public from 3 October.
CHASS Calls for a National Approach to support for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences in Australian universities
The Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) has issued a media release about the national crisis in humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS) in Australian Universities.
Read it on their website here
Seeking information and leads on Italian Internees sent to the NT
Fred Marrone is seeking information for a project on the history of Italians in the NT. He is seeking the names and occupations of Italians who were sent to work or migrated to the NT from 1845 to 1995, and the work they were involved in.
If you are able to help, please contact him on 0408 508 819 or via email: [email protected]
Dublin Dispatch
The September - October edition of the Dublin History Group's newsletter is now available.
Read it on their website here.
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
Around the country
Online exhibition: 1975
This exhibition at the National Library of Australia is open until 9 March 2026, and available to explore virtually online.
Explore the music, fashion, politics, literature, news, film and more from the era that shaped Australian life and transformed the way we saw the world.
View the online exhibition through the National Library website
Lectures, exhibitions, and events
Remembering the sacking of the Whitlam Government, 50 years on
Labour History Society invites you to hear first-hand recollections and to discuss the significance of the historic dismissal of a Prime Minister by a Governor-General on 11 November 1975 from Dr Richie Gun, who as the Labor Member for Kingston was in Canberra that day, and former Senator Chris Schacht who was a Labor Party official working in Adelaide on the day this ground breaking event unfolded.
This is a free event. A QandA will follow their presentations.
Sunday 16 November 2025, 2.00pm to 4.00pm. Box Factory Community Centre, 59 Regent St South, Adelaide
Old Gum Tree: a Contentious Heritage
Dr Susan Marsden's speech at the next Heritage Forum will be based on the final chapter of her latest book 'Mr Hill's history painting: unpacking the histories in Charles Hill's The proclamation of South Australia 1836.'
21 November 2025, 5pm. Drill Hall, Torrens Training Depot.
$5 entry fee, if you pay $10 you also are entitled to a drink.
David Hanna via Email: [email protected] or phone 8429 8469 by Monday 17th November 2025.
A Landscape of Irishness
Historian Susan Arthure will be speaking on her research and discoveries about Irishness in Bakers Flat in Kapunda.
17 November, 6.30 - 7.30pm.
Marion Cultural Centre, 287 Diagonal Road, Oaklands Park.
Further information and registration through Eventbrite
Political Parties and Democracy: the Early Development of South Australia's Party System
This lecture by Professor Alan Reid will cover South Australia's political life from 1901 to 1914. In particular it will examine the gradual shift to a dominant two-party political system and the ongoing battle to expand the franchise for the Legislative Council.
18 November, 2025. 6 - 8pm. Braggs Building, Room G60, University of Adelaide.
Further information and registration through Trybooking
Our Story: Aboriginal-Chinese people in Australia
An exhibition at the National Museum of Australia which sheds light on the little-known history of Aboriginal and Chinese relations in colonial Australia.
Until 27 January 2026.
Further information through the museum website
Y2K - Parallel Shift
This exhibition at the Unley Museum features works created by artists in the year 2000 - exploring that moment of change.
Open until the end of October, 2025.
Further information on their website
Professional Historians Association (SA) History at the Historian program 2025
An opportunity to engage with experts in the field, ask questions, and enjoy a stimulating discussion in a relaxed pub setting.
All are held at 5.45pm, at the Historian Hotel, 18 Coromandel Place, Adelaide.
Details of each event will be shared on the PHA's Facebook page
Monday 20 October: Unearthing Research Gems at State Records of SA
Presenter: State Records of South Australia
Historical Society of South Australia Speaker Program 2025
First Friday of the month, 7.30 pm, Burnside City Uniting Church, Fisher Street, Tusmore.
7 November - Paul Flavel: John Martin’s. the story of South Australia’s beloved department store
Further details on each month’s History Talk are provided in the History SA newsletter and on the Society’s website.
Check out their website here
Book releases
The Other Kavels: Brandenburg to the Barossa, by John Schubert
With the story of August Fiedler, pioneer of the Barossa wine industry. Through the lives of Pastor August Kavel’s parents, siblings and wives, John Schubert tells a new story of the Prussian Lutherans who emigrated to SA in 1838, established settlements at Klemzig, Hahndorf and Langmeil, founded a Lutheran church in Australia, and impacted the life of the colony.
Published by Friends of the Lutheran Archives, The Other Kavels will be launched by John Angas at Langmeil Church, Tanunda, on Saturday 25 October at 2pm. Meet the author, enjoy Barossa hospitality, and take a tour of the historic church and cemetery. The Other Kavels costs $35 and is available at Lutheran Archives or FoLA events. To order on-line at $35 + $11.10 post & packaging, email [email protected] (please include your postal address).
Book release: 'I buy this piece of ground here’: An Italian market-gardener community in Adelaide, 1920s - 1970s, by Madeleine Regan
The book is a group biography that examines the lives and work of a group of Italian migrant families from the Veneto region. The group arrived in Australia in the 1920s and formed a new community and identity as market gardeners in outer suburban Adelaide during the 1930s. It considers the impact of the Depression, fascism, World War II, the White Australia environment that excluded southern Europeans, and, finally, the suburbanisation that overtook their community. The book investigates settlement processes in a period of Australian migration history often overlooked in favour of post-World War II studies of mass migration and multiculturalism.
The monograph is adapted from Madeleine’s PhD and makes extensive use of a collection of 65 oral histories recorded over 17 years with the sons and daughters and grandchildren of the first generation of Veneto migrants and others closely connected to the market gardens.
The book is available for purchase or free download thorough ANU Press
The Royal Sappers and Miners in South Australia 1839 to 1860: Its role in the Survey of South Australia, by Anthony Frank Harris and Andrew Peake OAM
In 1839 the newly established Province of South Australia was in disarray, facing bankruptcy, following the resignation of Colonel William Light as Surveyor General. Following his resignation, several of his fellow surveyors also resigned and the survey of South Australia virtually ceased, meaning that land was not available for sale, which would fund the migration scheme to bring colonists to the colony.
The solution was found in arranging for a team of fifteen Royal Sappers and Miners, led by a Royal Engineering officer, to come to South Australia in 1839. They became the back-bone of the Survey Office for the next twenty-one years, and their commanding officer became the Colony’s Surveyor-General.
This publication traces the lives of the forty men of the Royal Sappers and Miners who served in South Australia between 1839 and 1860. Most of these men married and settled in South Australia following their discharge.
Further information and purchase details here (pdf flyer)
Book release: Murder on North Terrace, by Lainie Anderson
In Murder on North Terrace the indomitable Miss Cocks and Ethel Bromley return for Book Two in the bestselling and charmingly cosy Petticoat Police Mystery Series, inspired by one of Australia's first policewomen.
Further information and purchase through Hachette
Opportunities
Applications for the 2026 HCSA fellowship are now open
The HCSA Fellowship provides support for all Australians researching and writing about South Australian history. The Fellowship is an annual prize of $2,000.
In addition to the prize, the State Library of South Australia will provide space in the library for the Fellowship winner to conduct their research, as well as the use of a computer and up to 10 hours of research support.
Further information on our website here.
Murder on North Terrace, by Lainie Anderson
In Murder on North Terrace the indomitable Miss Cocks and Ethel Bromley return for Book Two in the bestselling and charmingly cosy Petticoat Police Mystery Series, inspired by one of Australia's first policewomen.
Further information and purchase through Hatchette
History Teacher's Association of South Australia Competitions
During the remainder of this year HTASA is actively supporting the National History Challenge, the Simpson Prize, the Premier’s Anzac Spirit Prize and the Governor’s Civics Awards.
The Simpson Prize. This year’s question involves using primary sources for evidence of contrasting perspectives on World War One or Two.
Further details and relevant sources are available from the website here.
The closing date for entries is Wednesday, November 5th.
