eNewsletter
Newsletter 29 March 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.
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.
Labour History Society South Australia April Meeting
The meeting scheduled for Sunday 24 April has now been rescheduled to Saturday 30 April, 2pm, at the Reading Room of the Barr Smith Library. The meeting will be a tribute to the late Professor Stuart Macintyre AO and a Book Launch of his last book, The Party. Registration details will be forthcoming.
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. Applications due 31 March 2022.
Further information here (pdf).
The Historical Society of South Australia April meeting
The Historical Society of South Australia's speaker at the April meeting will be Peter Donovan - 'History in Glass, the men and images in South Australian war memorial windows'. Peter's talk will follow the 48th AGM where at least three nominations are sought for vacancies on Council. Visitors welcome ($5). Held 1 April, 7.30pm.
Further details on the HSSA website.
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
Vale Rob Linn
It is with great sadness that the history community received the news that renowned Adelaide historian Rob Linn passed away.
The State Library has written an obituary which can be read on their website here.
Give your election ephemera to the State Library
This Saturday 19 March South Australians headed to the polls for the state election - as the floods of promotional material in our letterboxes are eager to remind us. Did you know the State Library collects this election promotional material? Pamphlets, letters, posters, how-to-vote cards -- send it in to the State Library!
Further information here.
OT-150 Network: The Australian Overland Telegraph Line
This year marks the 150 year anniversary of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line. It was a 3,200 km (2,000 mile) telegraph line that connected Port Darwin N.T. to Port Augusta in South Australia. Completed in 1872, the Line super-charged communication between Australia and the rest of the world. It was one of the great engineering feats of 19th-century Australia and was a significant milestone in the history of the development of Australia.
The OT-150 Network is an initiative to coordinate commemoration activities for the anniversary.
Visit their website here.
Australian Midwifery History Website
The members of the Australian Midwifery History Project would like to present their new website, which outlines the history of midwifery in Australia as well as that of the Australian College of Midwives.
View their website here.
Controversy over the port proposal on Kangaroo Island: Statement of Constitutional Principles
A statement regarding the 'Vickie Chapman Kangaroo Island Controversy'. Chapman, South Australia's Deputy Premier and Attorney-General, refused a deep sea port on Kangaroo Island. It is alleged that she misled State Parliament by claiming she had no conflict of interest in making the decision.
A statement regarding the constitutional principles applicable to her actions has been prepared by former Attorney-General of South Australia, the Hon CJ Sumner AM, and Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Adelaide, Prof. Geoffrey Lindell AM.
As of 17 January 2023, the statement has been updated with an amendment.
Read the statement here (pdf).
ANU Press
Australian National University Press is celebrating 1000 open-access titles. A leader in open-access academic publishing, there is now over 1000 peer-reviewed academic titles are available for download from their website.
Visit their website here.
Lectures, exhibitions, and events
Bob Hawke: Demons and Destiny
An online event with author and journalist Troy Bramston on his latest book, Bob Hawke: Demons and Destiny. 31 March 2022, 6:00 - 7:15pm ACDT. Online.
Further information and registration through the UniSA website here.
The Spirit of Greek Antiquity
From the Greek Museum of Adelaide, this exhibition explores how the Greek Spirit inspired and continues to inspire art, history, and culture. 7 April to 5 May 2022. West Torrens Auditorium, 1 Brooker Terrace, Hilton, SA.
Royal Australian Historical Society Day Lecture - The Wardian Case: How a Simple Box Moved Plants and Changed the World
A free online event, exploring the Wardian Case - a container in which plants could be transported around the world - and the repercussions of its invention.
Further information and booking on the RAHS website here.
Routledge Companion to Global Indigenous History Book Launch and Panel Talk
31 March 2022, 6pm AEDT, ANU and online. Featuring editors Ann McGrath, Lynette Russell, and contributors to the publication.
Further information and registration via Eventbrite here.
KAURNA: Still Here
Working with the South Australian Museum's collections, and particularly the works of George French Angas, First Nations artists Peter Turner and Clem Newchurch have created an exhibition of works to celebrate continuing culture.
5 March - 8 May 2022 at the Museum of South Australia.
Further information on the Guildhouse website.
Flinders History Research Seminars: Semester 1
The schedule for this semester's Flinders History Research Seminars is now available. They will be held on Fridays from 11:15am - 12:30pm in room 149, Social Sciences South (Bedford Park) and via Microsoft Teams.
The next seminar is ‘Collecting Looerryminer’s “testimony”: the troubled politics of humanitarian witnessing and anti-slavery moments in the Bass Strait islands’ by Professor Penny Edmonds (Flinders University).
View the schedule here (pdf).
GenealogySA
If you are interested in family history and genealogy, you may be interested in one of Genealogy SA's upcoming events.
View the events calendar on their website.
National Biennial Oral History Conference
Postponed last year due to COVID, the conference has now been rescheduled for October 14-16 in Lauceston, Tasmania.
Further information on the Oral History Australia website.
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 next seminar on 31 March:
Dr. Sarah Bendall: 'Whaling, Consumer Culture, and Changing Understandings of the Natural World in Early Modern Europe.'
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 until 8 May, free entry.
Further information including opening times at the State Library website here.
Book releases
Masked Histories: Turtle Shell Masks and Torres Strait Islander People by Leah Lui-Chivizhe
Masked Histories celebrates the remarkable Torres Strait Islander turtle shell masks that were taken or traded by Europeans throughout the nineteenth century. Displayed as curiosities or art in museums and galleries around the world, the Islander knowledges they held were silenced. Delving into old stories from both Islanders and the foreigners who had travelled to the region, Lui-Chivizhe reanimates the masks with their Islander meaning and purpose and, in so doing, powerfully recreates the past. Masked Histories advances a vivid new history, uncovering the profound importance of the turtle shell masks to all Islanders and revealing much about the people who created them.
(Description from publisher's website)
Available for pre-order from Melbourne University Press through their website
The Death of Dr. Duncan by Tim Reeves
The drowning of Dr Duncan in the River Torrens in 1972 remains one of Australia's most notorious unsolved murders. His death shocked the local community and still reverberates 50 years later.
Tim Reeves is an award-winning author and the acknowledged authority on the Duncan case. He pulls together the complex strands of a police investigation, coroner's inquest, New Scotland Yard enquiry and trial. He also examines the attempts at gay law reform in the state that were triggered by Duncan's killing.
(Description taken from publisher's website)
Further information and ordering through the Wakefield Press website.
Opportunities
Position: PO4 South Australia's History Advocate (History Trust of SA) to contribute through research advice, public advocacy and outreach to South Australia's historical organisations and individual practitioners - and with the support of the History Trust, engage the wider society to promote and share our state's fascinating and unique history.
Further information and application through the I Work for SA website here.
Australian Federation of University Women SA Scholarships for women undertaking postgraduate masters or doctoral studies. applications due 31 March 2022.
Further information here (pdf).
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.
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) 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.