President s Message from Earl James

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1 Historical Society of the Northern Territory Patron: The Hon Austin Asche AC NEWSLETTER JULY 2016 PO Box 40544, Casuarina NT 0811 Mobile: Newsletter Editor: Bev Phelts HSNT Committee President: Earl James; Vice President: Bev Phelts; Secretary: Janie Mason & Heather Sjoberg; Treasurer: Rosemary Chalmers; others - Brian Reid; Alan Powell; Judy Boland; Clayton Frederickson; Matthew James President s Message from Earl James You all will be pleased to know that the great move has finally been achieved not without its difficulties. The rental agreement with the National Trust has been terminated and everything the Society possessed has been removed to the new premises in Charlton Court. Thanks must go to Matthew James and his friend Maurie for the work they put into making it a smooth transition. Treasurer Rosemary has been given the task of making recommendations for the purchase of appropriate shelving and Vice President Bev has been given the job of disposing with the old shelving. Our master historian, Alan Powell is to make recommendations for appropriate furnishing as he is the one who consistently complained about the comfort of chairs in the various places where the Council has met over the years. Council held its first meeting in the new premises this month and I had great pleasure in welcoming our part-time Minutes Secretary Heather Sjoberg. Our Treasurer Rosemary has returned from holidays traipsing around Queensland for a couple of months. She has taken over the financial records once again and she seems to be happy with the way I handled them while she was away. Having rid myself of the job of Acting Treasurer I have now taken over the task of Membership Director. It s a job I did for a number of years some time ago but had to ask others to do when I became President. Judy Beard and Lyn Reid have done a great job during the last few years and we all thank them for their efforts. My task now is to chase up members who have not paid their 2016 subscription. At last count we had 112 financial members 10 Life Members. In addition there are about thirty others who are not up to date with their subs but remain members until they are three years in arrears during which time contact is maintained through the Newsletter.The Field trip to Maningrida is definitely happening on the Darwin Show weekend. Vice President Bev Phelts and Allan Mitchell have done a great job in organising the event. I m sure Bev will tell you more about our trip in the next Newsletter. However I will add this reminder, for those who are coming along, you must be at Cahills Crossing no later than 9.00am on Friday 22 nd July. Any later than that and you just might drown or become a great feed for a crocodile. Finally, I once again appeal for help from members to ease the burden on Councillors. Last year we had 12 Councillors. Now we have only nine. They need assistance with organising monthly lectures, selling publications at public events, helping the Secretary, the Treasurer and the Membership Director, and finding copy for the Newsletter editor. Heather Sjoberg has answered the call. When will you answer the call? 1

2 FORTHCOMING EVENTS Wednesday 6 July 2016 at 5:30pm, Northern Territory Library Book Launch Emeritus Professor Alan Powell, one of the Territory's most eminent historians, will be launching his latest book World's End: British Military Outputs in the Ring Fence Around Australia. The book is an account of imperial assertion and covers the three military posts which were founded in the Northern Territory. Alan will be autographing all sold books. Contact: Caddie Brain libraryevents@nt.gov.au Phone: Friday 29 July - National Trust & Historical Society Talk at Burnett House 5.30 for a 6pm start. The talk will be on the Larrakeyah Aboriginal Batcho family. Entry: $2 for members, $5 for non-members. Food and drinks will be available to purchase Telephone enquiries to Julie: BH, AH Members and guests are reminded that food and drink cannot be taken inside Burnett House Wednesday 3 August Launch of Dear Family: Letters from Arnhemland at NT Library, Parliament House, 5.15pm The book is a compilation of letters written by Beth in the early 60s when she was a resident at Milingimbi, Croker Island and Yirrkala. Among other activities, Beth taught school while at Yirrkala and these letters provide a rare insight into every day living and working in a remote area. In addition, the letters report on matters related to Land Rights which was emerging as an issue at Yirrkala at that time The book will be on sale for $30 (cash only) Saturday 13 August at 5.00pm in the Botanical Gardens, Holtze Lawn Book Launch Deb Bisa s book, Remember me kindly: a history of the Holtze Family in the Northern Territory will be launched on the Holtze Lawn. Maurice Holtze, and later his son, Nicholas were responsible for the establishment of the Botanical Gardens. Details on the launch will be provided in the next newsletter. 2

3 Open until 14 August Lost Darwin Photography exhibition, NT Library Featuring old Darwin photographs Saturday 15 October - History Colloquium Jot this event in your diaries. The colloquium will be held at the NT Library, Parliament House, Corner of Mitchell and Bennett Streets, Darwin The colloquium is supported by Northern Territory Library, the Professional Historians Association (NT), the Centre for Environmental History at The Australian National University and Charles Darwin University. For any inquiries, contact Dr Steven Farram, Lecturer in North Australian and Regional Studies (History), Charles Darwin University, phone: steven.farram@cdu.edu.au October 2016 Australasian Mining History Association Conference, Cobar, NSW Conference Format - The conference will encompass a mixture of activities including both oral and poster presentations, half day site visits and an optional one day field trip to Nymagee-Herra. There will be a welcome ice-breaker function, a joint evening lecture and discussion forum with the Cobar Branch of the AusIMM, Mayoral Reception and a conference dinner For more information, go to Early bird registration ends 31 July. Convict Records of Western Australia The Friends of Battye Library, Perth, are pleased to announce that the Convict Records of Western Australia has been updated and is now available to view and download from the Friends of Battye website on the home page 3

4 Federal Government Cuts to Trove Trove was launched in 2009 and since has digitised millions of records from its own collection as well as items from state and local collections, placing them online for the public to access. This includes newspapers from all around Australia. As of February 2016, this included information on over 374,419,217 books, articles, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives, datasets and more, expressing the extraordinarily rich history of Australian culture. The benefits to researchers, local and family historians, and the Australian community as a whole, is immense, resulting in over 70,000 unique visitors a day. The May budget estimates papers state that the National Library will shed 28 staff as the result of a $20 million funding cut, and collections will no longer be added to Trove. For those who have found a wealth of information on Trove, this is an appalling situation. If you wish to protest about the funding cuts, you can sign and comment on the petition below. Denman Men's Shed in Muswellbrook, NSW On 4 June, the Denman Men's Shed in Muswellbrook was officially opened along with the heritage village shed. Muswellbrook Shire mayor, Martin Rush officially opened the facility and congratulated those attending: 'The Denman shed provides an important space for men to gather, share stories, learn new skills and practice their trades in a range of activities that promote mateship,' he said. Muswellbrook Shire Council has been pleased to provide financial support in the form of land and of $55,000 in grants to the project. It is also a great pleasure to mark the occasion of the official opening of the Denman Heritage Village, which Council has been pleased to support. A number of historical items are on exhibition at the Denman and District Heritage Village Shed many of them donated by Jeff Wolfgang from his own collections for the benefit of the community. GLAM Peak Australia Federal Election Agenda What Do We want to Achieve? To assist the Australian people to create innovative, educated, resilient and connected communities that understand and celebrate our shared cultural identity through free digital access to the nation s cultural collections. How can our political representatives help? Develop a 7-point plan to enable community digital access Endorse a national strategy and framework for digital access to cultural collections Invest in digitising Indigenous collections Invest in institutions great and small to make their collections digitally accessible Invest in research across the arts and humanities 4

5 Enable seamless discoverability and reuse of digital collections through ongoing investment in a central online aggregation platform Amend the Copyright Act as proposed in the last term Build employment and training in the creative industries and digital humanities GLAM Peak Bodies represent galleries, libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and other research collections: Australian Academy of the Humanities Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) The Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities (CAARA) Council of Australasian Museum Directors (CAMD) Council of Australian Art Museum Directors (CAAMD) Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) Federation of Australian Historical Societies (FAHS) International Council of Museums (ICOM) Museums Australia (MA) National Research Collections Australia (NRCA) National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) University Art Museums Australia (UAMA) Contacts: Museums Australia, director@museumsaustralia.org.au National and State Libraries Australasia, nsla@slv.vic.gov.au Australian Library and Information Association, sue.mckerracher@alia.org.au HIGHLIGHTS OF PAST EVENTS 12 May - Celebrating International Nurses Day In May at Charles Darwin University International Nurses Day (Florence Nightingale s birthday) was celebrated with the launch of An Anzac Journey from Adelaide River to Lemnos by Professor Len Notaris. A slide show featuring photographs of memorabilia from the Nursing Museum s collections was also on display. Janie Mason, author of An Anzac Journey from Adelaide River to Lemnos Dr Len Notaras, Chief Executive Officer, Department of Health who launched the occasional paper. 5

6 Launch of Fannie Bay and Surrounds Darwin s Industrial Heartland, on 1 June This was a most successful even on the banks of beautiful Lake Alexander. A crowd of around 70 people listened to Mayor Katrina Fong Lim talk about her childhood growing up in Fannie Bay. The booklet was then launched by Michael Gunner, Member for Fannie Bay and NT Opposition Leader. The booklet is on sale for $10 by the Fannie Bay History & Heritage Society, phone: or info.fbhhs@gmail.com. Mayor Katrina Fong Lim Michael Gunner, Member for Fannie Bay Alan Mitchell & Daryl Manzies Wendy James & Brian Woodward Yvonne Forrest, Judy Beard, Austin & Val Asche & Rosemary Chalmers Grant & Sandy Tambling, David Swift 6

7 Launch of Darwin Defied: Records of my Family s Struggle to Settle in Darwin was launched at Burnett House on 17 June Dr Emma Kennedy launched her mother s new book, Darwin Defied and author, Rosemary Kennedy talked about her family s life during their time in Darwin when they lived in a Burnett House. The book is available from the Historical Society for $30. Rosemary and husband Chris on the grounds of Burnett House Members keen to buy the book Rosemary Chalmers & Bev Phelts 7