eNewsletter
Newsletter 30 January 2025
News
The 2025 History Council of South Australia Fellow has been announced
David Reilly for his project Date Palm History of South Australia, which will trace the introduction and cultivation of date palms in the state.
Read more about him and his project here
The 2025 History Council of South Australia Historian Awards are now open for nominations
This year we have seven categories:
- Historian of the Year
- Emerging Historian
- Life Long Historian
- Digital Technologies Award
- Regional History Award
- Community History Award
- Oral History Excellence
Become a Member of the History Council of South Australia
The HCSA is the state’s peak history body, providing a representative voice on historical issues and celebrating and raising the profile of history across South Australia.
The bigger our membership base, the stronger our collective voice for history.
We invite current members to renew their membership (If you have not already done so), and our newsletter friends to consider joining the Council.
By becoming a member you help support:
- Funding for the HCSA Fellowship
- The Historian Awards and Wakefield Press Essay Prize
- The annual HCSA Regional Lecture
- The HCSA fortnightly newsletter
- Strong, non-partisan advocacy on issues related to history in South Australia.
For more information, please visit the HCSA membership page here.
Subscriptions can be paid via credit card, EFT, cheque or bank transfer, or you can choose to generate an invoice for payment.
You may also like to consider making a tax deductible donation to the HCSA, which can be done when you join, or separately by following this link.
We thank you again for your support.
Burnside Historical Society Annual Journal
The Society's 2024 journal is now available, featuring seven articles of local interest and the society's activities over the year.
Read it here (pdf download).
Eat the Invaders
This new television program hosted by Tony Armstrong used the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia library for a portion of filming earlier this year. This series attempts to 'turn our unwanted ecological trash into desirable culinary gold.'
Further information on ABC iView
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
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
Pompeii: inside a lost city
An immersive experience on life in the ancient city. Combines soundscapes and surrounding projections with over 90 objects including frescoes, jewellery, sculptures, and pottery. Coming to the National Museum of Australia, Canberra.
From 13 December 2024.
Further information and tickets through the National Museum website
State Library NSW Fellows announced
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of their prestigious awards program, the NSW State Library has unveiled its largest-ever cohort of fellows.
Read more on the library's website here
Lectures, exhibitions, and events
Genealogy SA Mad March Book Sale
There will be hundreds of books from just $5, including family histories, local histories, general history books, and more.
15 March, 10am - 2pm, 201 Unley Road, Unley SA
Further information through Facebook
Genealogy SA: Getting started with your family history
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. The course will include practical examples of family history research, information about how to access records and tips to avoid common pitfalls. All participants will receive a range of handouts to support the course material. At the end of the session, the library will remain open for participants to use its resources.
$50 members / $95 non-members
23 March, 10am - 3pm, Genealogy SA Library, 201 Unley Road, Unley.
Further information amd registration through Trybooking
Snapshots from the past: then and now
A captivating journey through the intriguing stories of Australia's past, showcased through the rich imagery found in the national archival collection.
25 February 2025, 1pm, at the State Library of South Australia
Further information and registration through Eventbrite
Women in chess
Join writer and academic Katerina Bryant for a talk on her archival research at the State Library of SA, focusing on her upcoming book about women in chess.
11 February, 12 - 1pm, Hetzel Lecture Theatre, Institute Building.
Further information and registration through the SLSA website
Modernism and the everyday: a South Australian perspective
A symposium held at the University of South Australia's Architecture Museum.
Join us for an inspiring day of talks uncovering the South Australian experience of modern architecture and design with presentations by respected professionals, academics and emerging scholars.
21 February 2025, 9.30am - 4.30pm. Pridham Hall, University of South Australia City West Campus, 213 Hindley Street.
Further information and program here (pdf)
Treasures of the Viking Age: The Galloway Hoard
The Galloway Hoard is the richest find of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever made in the UK. Buried around AD 900 and only discovered in 2014 in southwest Scotland, the Hoard contains a stunning variety of rare and beautiful objects and illustrates the rich history of Viking trade that stretched from Scandinavia and the Atlantic across into the Middle East and Asia.
At the South Australian Museum 8 February - 27 July 2025.
Further information and tickets through the SA Museum website
Workshop: An introduction to oral history techniques and practice
This workshop introduces oral history practice, focusing on research, ethics, equipment, interviewing techniques and will include a discussion on podcasting and the local oral history collection. It is suitable for community volunteers, family historians, students or anyone with an interest in recording oral histories, creating podcasts or interviewing for family history projects.
Friday 14 February 2025, 10am - 3.30pm. State Library of South Australia.
Further information and registration through the Oral History SA/NT website
Registration through Humanitix here
Royal Australian Historical Society Evening event: A Legacy in Print
Celebrate the storied past of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, an essential outlet for Australian history since 1906. This event will be chaired by Dr. Samuel White and provide a platform for engaging discussions with some of its past contributors.
In Sydney and online via Zoom. 25 February 2025.
Further information and registration through their website here.
Radical Textiles
This exhibition celebrates the cutting-edge innovations, enduring traditions, and bodies of shared knowledge that have been folded into fabric and cloth over the past 150 years.
At the Art Gallery of South Australia, 23 November 2024 - 30 March 2025.
Tickets start at $15.
Further information through the AGSA website
Book releases
Agora: New thinking about old histories
The latest edition of Agora explores new evidence and academic debates that are reshaping our understanding of pivotal historical events. In this issue, published by the History Teachers’ Association of Victoria, historians explain the latest scholarship on a range of topics including:
- the Russian, American, French and Industrial revolutions
- Australia’s frontier wars
- China’s engagement with the West under Mao
- parallels between the fall of the Roman Republic and democratic tensions in the USA today
- an extraordinary debate about Egypt’s pharaohs
- new thinking about teaching History.
Agora can be purchased as a digital download for $10 from htavshop.com.au.
*Agora is currently seeking submissions for an edition on the theme ‘Animals in History’. Contact [email protected] to pitch a story idea targeted at the Victorian History curriculum.
Calls for papers
Call for Papers
The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History has launched a new 'Current Debates' section, edited by Dr Jonas Fossli Gjersø! If you are interested in contributing, please see the CfP for more information.
More information on H-Net
Opportunities
Expressions of interest: Aboriginal Reference Group
Set up in 2022, the Aboriginal Reference Group works with the State Records of SA and the State Library of SA to improve the availability of archival material and services relating to Aboriginal peoples and culture, and to provide advice and feedback on programs and activities relating to Aboriginal people and culture.
Nominations are now open and close 31 March 2025.
Further information on the SLSA website here.
Friends of South Australia's Archives Jack Cross Fellowships
The Friends are announcing two small Fellowships of $250, named after their former president, Jack Cross AM. These fellowships are awarded annually 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 close 31 March 2025
Further information here (pdf).
