HISTORY COUNCIL OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA INC. PO Box 6809 Halifax St Adelaide SA 5000 alison.mackinnon@unisa.edu.au (temporary) Issue no. 7 President s Letter 26.8.2005 Dear Colleagues Welcome Who can doubt that history is alive and well after the activities of the last few months? History week in South Australia in May was a triumph with over 163 activities and events involving approximately 130 organizations. Congratulations to the History Trust for the organization of the State History Conference and History Week and to the Messenger Press which actively sponsored and promoted History Week. The History Council sponsored a poster display of post graduate work in history in the three Adelaide Universities. Historians from around the world also gathered in Sydney in July for the first International Congress of Historical Sciences held in the southern hemisphere (July 3 to 9). For a week historians of every hue (Australian historians, historians of education, of women s history, of military history of economic history, demographic historians, even historians of the Cold War, to name but a few) debated in their varied strands the state of play in their field. In Adelaide we watched with interest the new Heritage Act which passed through Parliament last month and is expected to take effect from October 1. The act will usher in a new more strategic heritage council. On behalf of the Council and on the advice of our heritage working party I have written to Minister Hill, asking for a representative from the Department of Environment and Heritage to speak to a seminar on the topic of cultural heritage protection and the impact of the changes to the Heritage and Development Acts. On an associated matter of concern I have written on the Council s behalf to Minister Michael Wright, Minister for Administrative Services, concerning a possible revision of the State Records Act of 1997. The Council is concerned that current provisions in the State Records Act 1997 do not guarantee that records are publicly available once they reach a certain age. This issue was brought to light by a recent incident where a researcher (Dr Cameron Raynes) was denied access to records previously available to the public. This issue of accessibility of records is vital to historians and we seek to represent you in that regard where records appear to be either at risk of being destroyed or removed, or made inaccessible. The History Council executive has had further changes. Alison Houghton resigned as Secretary in order to focus on further study and other projects. I would like to acknowledge with gratitude her work for the Council for several months. Annette Mills has acted from time to time as assistant secretary and has offered to fill the secretary s position until the AGM. Please note the new, temporary, e-mail address above while we work to establish an independent HCSA website, a project currently underway. Helen Cooke has moved to Canberra and has resigned from the Council and the executive. We wish her well in Canberra and thank her for her work. Nigel Ridgeway has been co-opted to fill Helen s place on the executive. Thus we currently have the three people heading up our three working parties (on communication, on public liability insurance issues and on heritage matters) on 1
the executive. While these enthusiasts are keeping our History Council going well we do urgently need more hands on board as we are all volunteers with little spare time. Nomination forms have gone out to you all so please consider nominating someone or being nominated yourself - to play an active role in HCSA council or executive. You may prefer to work with one of our working parties. Please let us know. All contributions and expertise will be very gladly accepted. If you have items of interest for HCSA members, please contact Annette Mills, our Secretary, or myself and we will inform our network as we can. We welcome your ideas. We also seek to inform you of interesting forthcoming events. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Annual HCSA Public lecture on September 14 and /or at the AGM on October 25th. I am delighted to announce that our second HCSA lecturer will be Emeritus Professor Jill Roe, Vice-President of the History Council of NSW and chair of the editorial board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Jill will speak on the topic I danced for the Queen : Exuberance and otherwise in regional history since the 1950s. Alison Mackinnon Current Executive and Council members Executive President Alison Mackinnon, Hawke Research Institute University of SA Vice President Bernie O Neil, Professional Historians Association Secretary* Annette Mills, State Library of South Australia Treasurer Beth Robertson, Professional Historians Association Members* Nigel Ridgeway, Engineers Australia * = Co-optees Karen Agutter, Individual member Council (14 members) June Edwards Australian Society of Archivists (SA Branch) Samantha Farnsworth State Records of South Australia Graham Hawker National Archives of Australia Annette Mills State Library of South Australia Gordon Oates Civil Aviation Historical Society of SA Nigel Ridgway Engineers Australia Kate Walsh History Trust of South Australia Simon Kelly History Teachers Association of South Australia Greg Slattery* Rocky River Historic and Arts Society Kay Merry* History Department, Flinders University Hugh Magarey* Coromandel and Districts Branch, National Trust of SA Robert Swarbrick* Barossa Goldfields Historical Society Kevin Kaeding* Heritage Preservation Association Ruth Carter* Individual * = Co-optees Contact details Alison Mackinnon alison.mackinnon@unisa.edu.au (08) 8302 4370 Bernie O Neil bernard.oneil@adelaide.edu.au (08) 8261 0077 2
Annette Mills Beth Robertson beemar@ozemail.com.au (08) 8278 4045 Nigel Ridgeway Karen Agutter Karen.Agutter@flinders.edu.au Annual Public Lecture on September 14 th Emeritus Professor Jill Roe, Vice-President of the History Council of NSW and chair of the editorial board of the Australian Dictionary of Biography will give the second HCSA public lecture. Jill will speak on the topic I danced for the Queen : Exuberance and otherwise in regional history since the 1950s. The lecture is sponsored by the State Library of South Australia and will be held in the Library Lecture theatre on the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue. We welcome you all and your members and friends to the lecture and to light refreshments afterwards. Notes from the NAA s Consultative Forum (Adelaide) meeting (Supplied from the official summary notes prepared by Diane List (NAA) on 21 July 2005) Fourteen members of the National Archives of Australia s Consultative Forum for its Adelaide Office met on 20 July and discussed a broad range of issues based on the work and activities of the NAA s Adelaide Office. Adrian Cunningham (Director Standards & Initiatives, Digital Government Branch, NAA [Canberra]) attended to lead a discussion session. The meetings, chaired by Graham Hawker (Director of the Adelaide Office), are conducted on a semi-formal basis about every four months. Bernie O Neil is the HCSA s delegate. Matters raised at the latest meeting are noted below and in the News section. National Archives community promotion Enid Woodley highlighted recent promotions by the NAA (Adelaide Office) such as: student visits (Flinders University Archaeology and TAFE library studies) for a talk and tour; the regional tour of lower Eyre Peninsula and workshop/trade display with the History Teachers Association of SA in late April early May, which covered more than 2000 km and visited eight towns and presented talks to more than 120 people; the May seminar Tasty Treasures which continued the joint seminar series of the NAA and the State Library of South Australia; the State History Conference and associated trade display in Whyalla; participated in the Indigenous Family History Records Expo in July a celebration of NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week (the NAA is a joint organiser and sponsor with the State Library and State Records of South Australia and SA Link-Up); and participated in SA Link-Up Service Providers Forum in July and gave a presentation about National Archives records and services for Indigenous researchers, Nunkuwarrin Yunti. Enid indicated some future events and activities: 30 July: Presentation at Riverland Mini Family History Conference; 15 16 August: Public Libraries SA annual conference. Joint trade display with State Records; 3
20 August: Seminar Motors, wings, keels and things Archival records of transport (continuing the joint seminar series; 22 August: Workshop on migrant records for Flinders University language students. 4 6 October: History Teachers Association of Australia annual conference. Two NAA speakers Beatrice Barnett ( Vrroom ) and Enid Woodley ( A need for more than tea and sugar... investigating life along the Trans Australian Railway line using primary sources ); and 15 October: SA Family History Fair, comprising exhibits from 29 organisations and a program of 25 seminars (the NAA is the major organiser and joint sponsor with SA Genealogy and Heraldry Society). Venue: Pulteney Grammar School, Adelaide. Graham Hawker briefly discussed 3 new NAA publications: Copies of Russian Anzacs in Australian History by Dr Elena Govor and Chinese- Australian Journeys: Records on Travel, Migration and Settlement, 1980-1975 by Dr Paul Jones were circulated. The Life and Death of Harold Holt by Dr Tom Frame is to be released in August. Railway plans at Islington Graham Hawker had previously reported that the 180 000 South Australian and Commonwealth Railway plans remaining at Islington are in the hands of a private contractor (see <http://www.inprotrans.com>). Discussions continue on the future of the plans. DOTARS has agreed to fund the plan room for another 12 months from July 2005 so that it will remain open to the public and industry. The meeting s theme Graham Hawker invited the guest speaker, Adrian Cunningham, to address the meeting on the NAA s latest record review process Macro-appraisal. Adrian provided an overview of the background and project progress, with the main points as follows: Two branches of NAA are responsible for appraisal the Digital Government Branch and the Collection Development Branch. The aim of consultation on the macro-appraisal project is to let people know what NAA is doing and to encourage feedback on work in progress. Past tradition was appraisal of groups of records resulting in defined disposal authorities with classes. From the mid 1990s NAA broadened its role by promoting good practice recordkeeping through a more active involvement with agencies in records creation and systems. NAA s 2000 publication, Why Records are Kept Directions in Appraisal, listed five criteria to determine archival value. The criteria are broad and there is a need to provide additional, more detailed guidance to help appraisal decision making. On their own the broader criteria run the risk of creating inconsistencies due to varying interpretations. The macro-appraisal approach is to determine the needs for records creation and disposal at a broad level. Macro-appraisal looks forward and backwards at functions to ensure important current and future records are made and kept for the benefit of current and future generations. Functions determine needs for records. NAA has identified 300 Australian Government functions prioritised by importance. Time slice analyses identify which functions have experienced variations in significance over time (back to the 1970s) 4
Current thinking is a review of the significance of functions every 5 years to ensure future functions are continually assessed, and provide the opportunity to incorporate lessons learnt. Most prominent macro models are Canada, South Africa and the Netherlands. Australia has used to advantage the work done by Canada and the Netherlands in developing the macro-appraisal methodology. Views on the project can be forwarded to NAA via <recordkeeping@naa.gov.au>. Next meeting The next meeting of the NAA s Adelaide Consultative Forum will be on Wednesday, 16 November 2005. The theme of the meeting will be Planning for the future promoting interest in history, archives and records management as professions. University of SA From the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library 3rd National Biennial Conference, Adelaide, 28 30 September 2005 Simply the Best: Women s collections in galleries, libraries, archives and museums Registration is now open on the website: <http://www.hawkecentre. unisa.edu.au/library>. The keynote speaker for the conference is Dr Katie Holmes (La Trobe University), author of Spaces in her Day: Australian Women s Diaries of the 1920s and 1930s. State Library Over 19 700 images from the Searcy photographic collection are now on line. This comprises mainly South Australian photographs from 1900 to 1925. The Library would be grateful for any assistance in enhancing descriptions of many of the photographs. New Members of the History Council Membership of the HCSA stands at 44 organisations and 21 individuals. Recruits to the HCSA since December 2004 are as follows. The contact person in the organisation is provided for the information of financial and resubscribing members. Angaston & Penrice Historical Society Coober Pedy Historical Society East Torrens Historical Society David Sedorkin Bill Gransbury, Chairperson Anne Johnson, President Mrs L Richards, Secretary Individual Forthcoming Executive and Council meetings Meetings of the History Council are held in the State Library at 5.30 p.m., generally on the first Tuesday of the month (any changes to the dates, venues or times will be advised): 5
Executive 4 October Council 6 September AGM 25 October Please remember to recruit new members to the History Council. And your organisation needs to be a financial member of the HCSA in order to participate in HCSA activities. 6
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