Members Work
Dec
5
6:30 PM18:30

Members Work

It's time to celebrate and reflect on your work this year with other PHA (Vic & Tas) members!

Take this opportunity to:

  • tell other historians about your work or show us what you've accomplished

  • meet and chat with other members about what they've been up to

  • learn from each other’s experiences and debrief on difficult challenges the year has thrown at us all

  • talk to members of our Committee about your ideas for PHA (Vic & Tas).

This event is a relaxed and supportive way to round out your professional work for the year!

WHEN: Thursday, 5 December from 6.30 pm

WHERE: The Kathleen Syme Library, 251 Faraday Street, Carlton

COST: $20 (members only)

Please register for catering purposes.

Attendance at this event awards you 20 Professional Development Points.

View Event →

Emerging Historians: A Word in Time
Oct
22
5:30 PM17:30

Emerging Historians: A Word in Time

This annual event is held in collaboration with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria to showcase the work of emerging historians. Join Andrew Lemon and Sophie Couchman for an evening of words and influences of three of our members.

Hannah Viney: Telling a Story: Word Choice, Tone, and Intent in Oral Histories

Mia Martin Hobbs: Little Stories Everywhere

Alexander Potocnik: A remark made way back then…

DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, 22 October, 5.30 - 7.00 pm

Fee: $10 ($20 for non-members)

This event is available in person at RHSV in A’Beckett Street or via Zoom.

Register through RHSV and for more information.

View Event →
Online Skills Sharing Sessions for Members
Oct
17
6:30 PM18:30

Online Skills Sharing Sessions for Members

Every two months, on the third Thursday of the month, a PHA (Vic & Tas) member will share their skills and knowledge in a particular area of historical expertise. This is an opportunity for members to learn from each other, including understanding the nitty gritty of making history in the real world.

Register Now

Once you have registered you will receive an automated reminder the day before each online session will run.

Session 3: Planning, archives and the fun (importance) of networking

With Deb Lee-Talbot 

Date: Thursday, 17 October

Time: 6.30 pm - 7.30 pm

Venue: Online (register for the Zoom link)

About this session:

What are the best social channels for a historian to share their work on? How can this time-sucking activity be streamlined? Should we share research in progress or only the polished end product? Above all, what's better for networking, in-person meetings or online gatherings? Join professional historian, Dr Deborah Lee-Talbot, for this PHA online skills sharing session she walks you through the process of planning to share your archive finds online to network with a range of audiences.  

About Deb: Deb is a professional and academic historian fascinated by materiality, religion, gender, archives, libraries and community engagement.

View Event →
AGM and Dinner
Aug
15
6:00 PM18:00

AGM and Dinner

Save the date to join President Sophie Couchman, the PHA (Vic & Tas) Committee and members for an evening of collegial discussion and dinner at our Annual General Meeting and Dinner.

Date: Thursday, 15 August
Time: 6 pm - 9 pm
Venue: Naughtons Hotel, Parkville
Cost: $65 for dinner and dessert

Dr Jill Barnard will be speaking on "Fringe Benefits" - Reflections on the Intangible Rewards of Professional History.

Jill has been a PHA (Vic & Tas) member since 1991. She has pursued a career in professional history predominantly as a consultant in the Living Histories partnership with Sonia Jennings, Mary Sheehan and Karen Twigg. In 2024 she was awarded a PhD from Monash University for her thesis entitled ‘The Family Lives of Forgotten Australians’.

Places are limited so register now to avoid disappointment.

Can’t make it to Naughton’s? Register to attend via Zoom.

View Event →
Marketing Yourself: Masterclass and Photo Session
Jul
6
9:30 AM09:30

Marketing Yourself: Masterclass and Photo Session

Do you want to plan a personal marketing strategy that reflects your career goals? Are you:

  • just starting out building a history consultancy?

  • an established historian seeking to shift into a new area?

  • seeking to establish yourself as an authority on your subject matter?

  • wanting to maintain an online presence for your work?

  • seeking more public recognition or business opportunities?

  • seeking to showcase new skills you have acquired?

If the answer is ‘yes’ to any of the questions, then the ‘Marketing Yourself’ masterclass is for you!

The workshop will be conducted by Trevor Young, an excellent trainer who ‘enjoys working with true professionals who are passionate about their work.’ 

For this Masterclass, Trevor has put together a half-day session focused on professional profile building. You will learn the best ways to promote yourself through owned media, social media and earned media, including where to put your ‘flags in the ground’. The session will be very interactive with time for exercises, discussions and questions. By the end of the session, you will be able to move ahead with clarity and confidence.

PHOTO SESSION

For the second half of the day, we have secured the services of professional photographer, Francine Schaepper. This is a one-off opportunity to have some excellent portrait photos taken to enhance your online presence and personal portfolio.

REGISTRATION FEES

$290 for masterclass and photos

$190 for masterclass only

$120 for photos only

BURSARIES AVAILABLE - Please indicate your interest in receiving one during the registration process.

REGISTRATION LINK: PHA (Vic & Tas) - Marketing Yourself Masterclass and Photo Session (wildapricot.org)

View Event →
Wilson History Oration with Dr Rachel Buchanan
Jun
13
6:00 PM18:00

Wilson History Oration with Dr Rachel Buchanan

OUT OF THE STRAIGHT JACKET: THE ART OF ANTI-COLONIAL HISTORY

As Dr Rachel Buchanan researched the wild, globetrotting journey of five magnificent 17th century carvings made by ancestors in Taranaki, she also received an education in the art of anti-colonial history. From swamp to chateau to the House of Lords, through wānanga and discussions with the Hon. Mahara Okeroa and other mentors, Rachel will tell how she escaped the straight-jacket of historical facts to write a story that is closer to the truth of ongoing tino rangatiratanga - or sovereignty - for Taranaki.

This event is free to all. Please register to receive the Zoom link.

About Rachel

Dr Rachel Buchanan (Taranaki, Te Ātiawa) is a Māori historian who lives on Bunurong land in the western suburbs of Naarm/Melbourne. Rachel’s most recent book, Te Motunui Epa (2022) was a co-winner of the 2023 Ernest Scott Prize for History for distinguished historical writing that contributes to the history of Australia or New Zealand and the 2023 W.H. Oliver Prize for the best book on any aspect of New Zealand history.  Rachel was also a finalist in the inaugural Māori Literature Trust’s Keri Hulme Award and in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards (illustrated non-fiction). Rachel has been a member of the Professional Historians Association for more than 15 years.

About the Wilson History Oration

The Wilson History Oration was established in memory of Dr Bill Wilson OAM (1942-2021). After retiring from a career in law enforcement, Bill forged a new career as a historian with an unwavering commitment to the PHA. Every year, PHA invite an eminent historian in their field to present the Wilson History Oration to PHA members across Australia.

View Event →
Australian Queer Archives Tour
May
23
6:30 PM18:30

Australian Queer Archives Tour

Explore and revel in Australia's largest repository of historical materials about the LGBTIQ experience in Australia. 

From its humble origins in a filing cabinet in 1978, the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA) collects, preserves and celebrates material from the lives and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer, Brotherboy and Sistergirl (LGBTIQ+) Australians.

Hosted by volunteers from the Australian Queer Archives, join us for a tour of this fascinating and unique collection.

ON: Thursday, 23 May at 6.30 pm

COST: $10 to contribute to a donation to the Archives. You are welcome to make an additional donation to the Archive during your visit.

REGISTRATION: Let us know you’re coming.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND PARKING: Information on travelling and parking near the Pride Centre. 

PLEASE NOTE: This tour is of the Archive, not the Pride Centre. The Pride Centre does run its own tours. Check here for more information.

DINNER: A casual post-event dinner can be arranged.

View Event →
Monthly Coffee Catchup
May
10
10:00 AM10:00

Monthly Coffee Catchup

On the second Friday of every month at 10 am, why not take a short break and meet other PHA (Vic & Tas) members for coffee?

In May, we are running three Coffee Catchups:

In Balaclava, Coffee with Sophie Couchman at the Levanter Café (back room), 298 Carlisle Street, Balaclava

In Bendigo, Coffee with Jill Bomford at the Bendigo Art Gallery Cafe, 42 View Street, Bendigo

In Croydon, Coffee with Kim Meagher at Miss Lacey Café and Wine Bar, 50 Main Street, Croydon

Register to let us know you’re coming and receive a reminder email.

If you’d like to host a catchup in your area on the same day and time, let us know! Drop us an email with your preferred location and we’ll promote it for you.

View Event →
Building Aboriginal Cultural Competency at the Koorie Heritage Trust (in-person)
Apr
26
9:30 AM09:30

Building Aboriginal Cultural Competency at the Koorie Heritage Trust (in-person)

Answer the Aboriginal people's call for allies by attending the Koorie Heritage Trust’s Building Aboriginal Cultural Competency Workshop.

This half-day workshop is designed to help you develop and implement awareness of Aboriginal culture and identity in to your historical research and writing. This includes understanding the impact of colonisation and past policy on Aboriginal people today.

Aboriginal history is complex. We encourage all our members to think of cultural competency as an ongoing development process that requires constant refreshment and engagement.  

To reflect our ongoing commitment to the truth-telling process, PHA (Vic & Tas) is pleased to subsidise the fees for this Workshop for members. 

Members Only registration

This event is eligible for our Pay it Forward program. If you wish to apply, please read the Terms and Conditions, fill out the application form and send to Hayley Webster.

View Event →
Monthly Coffee Catchup
Apr
12
10:00 AM10:00

Monthly Coffee Catchup

On the second Friday of every month at 10 am, why not take a short break and meet other PHA (Vic & Tas) members for coffee?

In April, we are running three Coffee Catchups:

In Balaclava, Coffee with Sophie Couchman at the Levanter Café (back room), 298 Carlisle Street, Balaclava

In Bendigo, Coffee with Janette Bomford at the Bendigo Art Gallery Cafe, 42 View Street, Bendigo

In Croydon, Coffee with Kim Meagher at Miss Lacey Café and Wine Bar, 50 Main Street, Croydon

Register to receive a reminder email.

If you’d like to host a catchup in your area on the same day and time, let us know! Drop us an email with your preferred location and we’ll promote it for you.

View Event →
Golden Dragon Museum Tour
Mar
17
10:50 AM10:50

Golden Dragon Museum Tour

This month join PHA (Vic & Tas) in sunny Bendigo for a personalised tour of the Golden Dragon Museum. After the tour we will chat Chinese history and heritage over a cooked meal at the Emperors Dragon restaurant.

The Museum holds artefacts that reflect the history of Chinese in Australia from the 1850s gold-rushes to today. Chinese have continued to be a significant part of Australia, constituting one of the largest non-British migrant groups in both the 1850s and today. This presence has had a large impact on Australia, from our immigration polices to our diplomatic relations in Asia. Bendigo plays a crucial part in this history having drawn migrants over with the promise of gold, to the annual Chinese dragon procession at the Easter Fair - the longest running in Australia!

The Golden Museum aims to tell this diverse history through a large collection of over 30,000 objects, documents, photographs and oral histories. As our own President Sophie Couchman stated in her significance assessment of the museum collection, "the real strength of the collection is the deep insight it provides into the Bendigo Chinese community as a whole. No other single collection in Australia is able to provide the depth of insight into the Chinese community as large as Bendigo's."

The ticket covers the cost of museum entry and a set meal at the Emperors Dragon restaurant. Register here!

View Event →
Monthly Coffee Catchups
Mar
8
10:00 AM10:00

Monthly Coffee Catchups

On the second Friday of every month at 10 am, why not take a short break and meet other PHA (Vic & Tas) members for coffee?

In April, we are running three Coffee Catchups:

In Balaclava, Coffee with Sophie Couchman at the Levanter Café (back room), 298 Carlisle Street, Balaclava

In Croydon, Coffee with Kim Meagher at Miss Lacey Café and Wine Bar, 50 Main Street, Croydon

If you’d like to host a catchup in your area on the same day and time, let us know! Drop us an email with your preferred location and we’ll promote it for you.

View Event →
GLAM New Year Picnic
Jan
13
12:00 PM12:00

GLAM New Year Picnic

Join newCardigan and friends from ALIA Vic, ASA Vic, AMaGA Vic and Professional Historians Australia Tas & Vic for the re-scheduled annual GLAM Victoria Picnic! No RSVPs necessary, just come and enjoy the company of people in our sector.

newCardigan is a social and professional group for people who work in galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM), other cultural and memory workers, and people who are interested in these professions.

For further details please see newCardigan’s event listing here.

View Event →
Member's Work!
Nov
30
6:30 PM18:30

Member's Work!

Join us for a drinks and nibbles at the Kathleen Syme Library to celebrate and reflect on your week this year with other PHA (Vic & Tas) members. This is a chance to reflect on our work in a supportive environment with fellow historians. It is an opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and debrief on any difficult challenges we have faced in 2023. Make sure you don't miss out on this valuable members-only event! 

Register here

Image: Jordan Allen, 1970, State Library of Victoria, filename: jo000337-005

View Event →
Diving Deep into Victorian Land Research Masterclass
Oct
28
10:15 AM10:15

Diving Deep into Victorian Land Research Masterclass

There is more to researching the history of Victorian land than rate books, parish plans and Torrens titles. Sometimes even these aren’t helpful and can be frustrating, especially if time is of the essence.

Sue Walter will share some of her tricks of the trade and knowledge gained from decades of experience in working in land history. Many of tools for research Victorian land history can be found from the comfort of your own home, some for free!

This is a hands-on workshop drawing on real examples, and by the end of the session we hope you will be able to expedite your projects and have expanded your research skills.

Attendees will be asked to complete a brief pre-session questionnaire to assist Susan provide a session that suits your level of experience and expertise. Wifi internet will be available but participants will need to bring their own laptop. Please contact PHA (Vic & Tas) if you have trouble accessing a laptop. Printed workshop notes will be provided on the day.

This is a PHA (Vic & Tas) members only Masterclass. It is worth 20 PD points.

More information coming soon!

Image: Department of Crown Lands Survey. (1916). Bendigo. Courtesy State Library of Victoria.

View Event →
Emerging Historians: the Element of Surprise in Historical Research
Oct
17
5:30 PM17:30

Emerging Historians: the Element of Surprise in Historical Research

  • Royal Historical Society Victoria (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

As part of History Month, we partner with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria to host an event where three historians talk about a moment of amazing coincidence or serendipity in their research – it could be coming across a vital piece of information or finding just the right contact or network, seemingly by chance. It is always a great night to hear from young historians who research a remarkably wide range of subjects.

The hosts for the evening are Andrew Lemon for the RHSV and Sophie Couchman for PHA.

Speaking will be:

Kylie Andrews: Searching for the ABC’s ‘lost’ women producers

Nicole Davis: In Arcadia: Finding the Owners of Nineteenth-Century Arcades in Australia

Miranda Francis: Footscray High School creche - oral histories and archives

Visit the Royal Historical Society of Victoria’s events page to register your attendance.

View Event →
PHA Conference 2023 Other Histories: Other Audiences
Sep
16
to Sep 17

PHA Conference 2023 Other Histories: Other Audiences

  • Adelaide, South Australia Australia (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join us in Adelaide, where professional historians from across Australia will be discussing, sharing and celebrating our work as professional historians.

PHA’s 2023 National Conference, Other Histories: Other Audiences is hosted by PHA (South Australia) and will be a hybrid conference, held both in person and streamed online.

Conference Program

Click here to see the Draft Conference Program. Registration details coming soon!

Bursaries

PHA has a number of $300 bursaries for PHA members to attend the PHA conference in Adelaide in September 2023.

Funds are available to ALL current financial members of PHA and can be put towards any conference-related expenses (such as travel, registration or accommodation).

We also have a number of $300 bursaries generously donated by Honest History. These are specifically for early career PHA members.

Many of our local associations are also matching funds donated by PHA, or have some money available to support their members to attend the conference in person. These funds are available IN ADDITION to the PHA bursaries.

So if you would like to attend the PHA Conference in Adelaide in person, please apply today!

Application process:

- email admin@historians.org.au

- tell us if you are an early career historian and would like the Honest History bursary, or if you are an established member and would like a PHA bursary

In the event that we have more applications than bursaries to distribute, bursaries will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis with the PHA national committee making any final decisions.

View Event →
CANCELLED: Online Skill Sharing: Historic Time Capsules with Michelle Matthews
Sep
7
6:30 PM18:30

CANCELLED: Online Skill Sharing: Historic Time Capsules with Michelle Matthews

*** Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control we have had to cancel this online skill sharing event. ***

Dr Michele Matthews on Historic Time Capsules: 19th century petitions, letters and report held at the Bendigo Regional Archives Centre (BRAC)

Celebrating forty years in 2023, since she commenced working as an Historian, Dr. Michele Matthews describes herself as a passionate social Historian, who loves nothing more than to delve into the stories encapsulated in primary source documents.  Michele has cultivated a long-term passion for the Petitions, letters and reports, now part of VPRS 16936 City of Sandhurst/Bendigo Council Inwards Correspondence, which she first met in 1983, while undertaking research for her Honours thesis. 

Twenty-five years after that first encounter, Michele was appointed the Archives Officer at the newly-created BRAC, a position she held from 2008-2018.  In a wonderful arc of serendipity, she cared for, continued to catalogue, and educate researchers and the public about that same correspondence series.

When Michele was seeking a project that would both showcase and preserve an aspect of the BRAC collection, she turned to the hundreds of Petitions held within VPRS 16936.  A successful Community History grant application enabled the purchase of a state-of-the-art digital camera.  Armed with this, and a team of dedicated volunteers, Michele (and co-staffer Marg) set up a system for identifying, transcribing and digitising over 500 Petitions.  Issues covered in these primary source “time capsules” included Infrastructure (roads, footpaths, bridges), Lighting, Women’s concerns, occupations, parks and gardens, nuisances, and staff.

Michele will discuss examples from these Petitions, as well as from letters and reports.  Light will be shed on fascinating stories of individuals’ lives, the issues locals were passionate about, the success, or not, of united people power, personal appeals to the Council, and the day-to-day workings of a nineteenth century regional Council.  Reports by Council staff, penned between the 1870s-1890s, span topics as diverse as industries, health, parks and gardens, bye laws, street trees, and racism.

To register for the event, visit our website here.

View Event →
Libraries Tasmania Talk: Impact of Colonialism on Health: Lutriwita and Palestine compared
Sep
7
1:00 PM13:00

Libraries Tasmania Talk: Impact of Colonialism on Health: Lutriwita and Palestine compared

  • Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Dr Adel Yousif and the Impact of Colonialism on Health: Lutriwita and Palestine Compared

This presentation highlights the effect of colonisation on indigenous peoples human rights and access to food, health, shelter and personal safety. We estimate the effect of colonisation on the size of Tasmania’s palawa population in 1800. We detail the ways in which the colonisation of lutruwita impacted upon palawa society and summarise the lessons that can be gleaned from this. We end by illustrating the ongoing effects of colonisation by comparing contemporary health outcomes for First Nation and Palestinian populations living in the state of Israel, Gaza and the occupied west bank of Palestine. 

Dr. Adel Yousif is the first in his extended family to have a nationality/passport "Australian" received in 1995. His father was born in Haifa, Palestine. His family were farmers growing their olives and tending their land and livestock as they had done for generations. In April and May 1948, Zionist militia attacked his father’s village “Ayn Gazal” and members of his father’s family were killed and evicted from the area which is now part of Israel. They have been refugees ever since. His father and grandfather both died without a passport or nationality. He is now married, living in Hobart and working as an academic.

Hamish Maxwell-Stewart is a professor of heritage and digital humanities at the University of New England and CEO of Digital History Tasmania. He specialises in using big data to explore the impacts of colonisation and forced labour on health and social inequality.

Jointly sponsored by the State Library and Archive Service of Tasmania and the Professional Historians Association Vic & Tas, the Libraries Tasmania Talks are a series of monthly public lectures held at the Hobart Library. They can be attended free at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts or viewed online via the Webinar.

Professor Greg Lehman is an art historian, an award-winning curator and writer, and a well-known public commentator on Indigenous history, identity and place. In 2017, Greg led the development of First Tasmanians, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery’s first permanent Indigenous gallery. Together with Tim Bonyhady, he also co-curated The National Picture: the Art of Tasmania’s Black War for the National Gallery of Australia, which won the 2019 Museums and Galleries Australia Award for Travelling Exhibitions. 

To register for the event visit the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can listen to all previous lectures on their Soundcloud website.

View Event →
2023 Annual General Meeting and Dinner
Aug
24
6:00 PM18:00

2023 Annual General Meeting and Dinner

PHA (Vic & Tas) Inc warmly invites members and their guests to attend the 2023 Annual General Meeting and dinner.

The evening will commence with the AGM, followed by dinner and a guest speech by joint 2023 Ernest Scott Prize winner and professional historian, Dr Rachel Buchanan.

If you are unable to attend in person, join us online to see the AGM broadcast via Zoom.

View Event →
Libraries Tasmania Talk: Uninnocent Landscapes: following George Augustus Robinson’s Big River Mission
Aug
3
1:00 PM13:00

Libraries Tasmania Talk: Uninnocent Landscapes: following George Augustus Robinson’s Big River Mission

  • Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Ian Terry: Uninnocent Landscapes: following George Augustus Robinson’s Big River Mission

For more than two years Ian Terry followed the route of George Augustus Robinson’s 1831 Big River Mission, which was credited with ending frontier violence in Van Diemen’s Land. Accompanied by 13 Aboriginal envoys Robinson spent two months walking around central Tasmania before meeting 26 survivors of the Lairmerrener and Paredarerme people west of Lake Echo promising them that if they stopped resisting invasion and agreed to exile they would later be able to return to their Country. They accompanied Robinson to Hobart and after meeting with Governor Arthur were transferred to Flinders Island. They never returned to Country. Ian’s project was to photograph the landscapes the Big River Mission passed through as an act of documentation of change and truth-telling about colonisation and dispossession.

Ian Terry has worked as an outdoor tour guide, heritage officer at the Parks and Wildlife Service, freelance historian and heritage consultant, and, most recently Senior Curator of Cultural Heritage at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Among the many exhibitions he curated at the museum was Our Land: Parrawa, Parrawa! Go Away! which examined the history of frontier conflict in Tasmania.

Jointly sponsored by the State Library and Archive Service of Tasmania and the Professional Historians Association Vic & Tas, the Libraries Tasmania Talks are a series of monthly public lectures held at the Hobart Library. They can be attended free at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts or viewed online via the Webinar.

To register for the event visit the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can listen to all previous lectures on their Soundcloud website.

View Event →
Winter Social Event
Jul
20
6:00 PM18:00

Winter Social Event

Spice up your winter and catch up with fellow PHA (Vic & Tas) members! 

Join us for a social event at the Transport Hotel.  Please pay for your own drinks and snacks, and catch up with fellow members, or maybe meet someone new!

Tables are reserved inside from 6pm, however there is plenty of space for those arriving a little early or for anyone wanting to kick on!

Register your attendance here.

View Event →
Libraries Tasmania Talk: The noble savage in the Antipodes: Tasmanian Aborigines in the European Imagination
Jul
6
1:00 PM13:00

Libraries Tasmania Talk: The noble savage in the Antipodes: Tasmanian Aborigines in the European Imagination

  • Allport Library and Muesum of FIne Arts (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Greg Lehman: The noble savage in the Antipodes: Tasmanian Aborigines in the European Imagination

Since the beginnings of Western historical and ideological traditions in Classical Antiquity, Europeans have defined themselves by mythologising people and places existing just beyond the boundaries of empire and understanding. The idea of the Noble Savage in Australia is often attributed to the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his influence on the thinking of French navigators who visited Van Diemen’s Land between 1772 and 1802. However, the idea of the Noble Savage has a deeper history and broader implications for how we understand our history and the place of Aboriginal people in it.

Professor Greg Lehman is an art historian, an award-winning curator and writer, and a well-known public commentator on Indigenous history, identity and place. In 2017, Greg led the development of First Tasmanians, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery’s first permanent Indigenous gallery. Together with Tim Bonyhady, he also co-curated The National Picture: the Art of Tasmania’s Black War for the National Gallery of Australia, which won the 2019 Museums and Galleries Australia Award for Travelling Exhibitions. 

Jointly sponsored by the State Library and Archive Service of Tasmania and the Professional Historians Association Vic & Tas, the Libraries Tasmania Talks are a series of monthly public lectures held at the Hobart Library. They can be attended free at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts or viewed online via the Webinar.

To register for the event visit the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can listen to all previous lectures on their Soundcloud website.

View Event →
Wilson History Oration: 'Inundated' by Dr Margaret Cook
Jun
8
5:30 PM17:30

Wilson History Oration: 'Inundated' by Dr Margaret Cook

At the second annual Wilson History Oration, ‘Inundated: Floods, History and High Water’, eminent environmental historian Dr Margaret Cook will explore the ways historians can engage with the public, the media, other professions, and policy makers. In discussing her work on floods, she will highlight how her role and training as a public historian shapes her scholarship and historical practice. Join us for this online event, as we consider these themes during one of our greatest crises in history: the climate emergency.

Dr Margaret Cook is one of Australia’s experts on the history of water, rivers and ‘natural’ disasters. Her recent books include the acclaimed A River with a City Problem: a history of Brisbane floods; a co-edited collection Disasters in Australia and New Zealand, and a co-authored book Cities in a Sunburnt Country.

Margaret is a Research Fellow in the Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University and at La Trobe University and is currently undertaking work on histories of the Murray Darling Basin, while continuing to work on floods. She is a long-standing member of the Professional Historians Association (Qld).

Find more information on our website, and register for the event here.

View Event →
Libraries Tasmania Talk: Thomas and Mary Moore, Re-writing lives with objects
Jun
1
1:00 PM13:00

Libraries Tasmania Talk: Thomas and Mary Moore, Re-writing lives with objects

  • Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Kirstie Ross: Thomas and Mary Moore: Re-writing lives with objects

 On 13 January 1889, five days after their marriage, Tom and Mary Moore arrived at their newly constructed cottage west of Strahan. The town’s residents quickly offered Mary ‘a hearty welcome’, hoping that she would be ‘pleased with [their] beautiful bay’ and would ‘enjoy many years of wedded happiness in her new home’. But Tom’s aversion to settled life meant that these good wishes came to nothing. By the time the couple marked their third wedding anniversary, Tom had resumed the track-cutting and prospecting of his bachelor days, which took him away from his family for months at a time. By 1913, Mary had shifted permanently to Hobart without her husband. Tom’s biographers portray Mary as a victim of her husband’s emotional shortcomings. However, this talk will present another version of Mary, as well as the social milieu rejected by Tom. By contextualising two silver napkin rings owned by the couple within genteel practices of gift-giving, dining, and housework, it will highlight domesticity and respectability in the late 19th century. In doing so, this talk will also demonstrate the utility of objects for writing about women whose lives have been overshadowed by accounts of their pioneering husbands.

Jointly sponsored by the State Library and Archive Service of Tasmania and the Professional Historians Association Vic & Tas, the Libraries Tasmania Talks are a series of monthly public lectures held at the Hobart Library. They can be attended free at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts or viewed online via the Webinar.

To register for the event visit the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can listen to all previous lectures on their Soundcloud website.

View Event →
Online Skill Sharing: Heritage with Brian Tseng
May
18
6:30 PM18:30

Online Skill Sharing: Heritage with Brian Tseng

Brian Tseng is a historian and heritage consultant who has worked in the built heritage industry for more than a decade. Utilising his history degree, Brian set a course to develop his knowledge and skills within the built heritage field. He started by researching the history of heritage properties then moved into other roles, including managing heritage projects and providing design advice to architects and property owners. Currently Brian works at Heritage Victoria and assesses properties of state-level heritage significance.  

In this Online Skill Sharing session Brian will walk us through working in Heritage - including his own professional journey, advice on how to get into the industry, and what skills are necessary.

Please bring any and all questions!

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86355993538?pwd=TUQ4YW9KSHFwbkJLU3RESlEvemNyZz09

Meeting ID: 863 5599 3538
Passcode: 849785

View Event →
Libraries Tasmania Talk: Deep Mapping Colonial Hobart
May
4
1:00 PM13:00

Libraries Tasmania Talk: Deep Mapping Colonial Hobart

  • Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Philippa Moore: "Make a map, not a tracing": Searching for Maria Lord in colonial and modern-day Hobart

Between 1811 and 1814, a house was built on Hobart’s Macquarie Street which, over 200 years later, is still standing and has the distinction of being the oldest extant town house and four-storey residence in Australia. Known as Ingle Hall since the late 1890s, it was the residence of Edward and Maria Lord from roughly 1816 to 1823. Mydoctoral research, the result of which will be a creative work based on the life of Maria Lord, is primarily concerned with how to write about historically obscure women in creative and provocative ways, that go some way to restoring their rightful place in the public narrative. I have developed a unique methodological approach which incorporates elements of deep mapping, where I've used place/space as a conduit for biographical revelation and connection with my subject. In this presentation, I will use Ingle Hall as the primary illustrative example of my approach and demonstrate how it has enabled me to explore and recreate an historically overlooked life in colonial Australia. I argue that place, when engaged with, can be a valuable tool for biographical revelation, even if one cannot make the same truth claim as a traditional biography. Deep mapping is just one of the many tools we have at our disposal in this exciting new era of research and historiography where we can think about and explore the past, and lesser-documented lives, in different, inclusive and creative ways. 

Jointly sponsored by the State Library and Archive Service of Tasmania and the Professional Historians Association Vic & Tas, the Libraries Tasmania Talks are a series of monthly public lectures held at the Hobart Library. They can be attended free at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts or viewed online via the Webinar.

To register for the event visit the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can listen to all previous lectures on their Soundcloud website.

View Event →
The Craft of Writing History Creatively Masterclass
Apr
29
10:15 AM10:15

The Craft of Writing History Creatively Masterclass

  • Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Acclaimed journalist and author Gideon Haigh will inspire and enliven our writing through the consideration of excellent writers and discussion of methods to make people, places and events leap off the page. The masterclass will feature interactive sessions about approaches and techniques for writing history creatively. Gideon will also appraise a short written example of each masterclass attendee’s work of up to 1,000 words to be submitted by 19 April. Participants should bring their preferred writing tools and have a task in mind they'd like to work on.

Cost is $250 and includes lunch

This event is available exclusively to PHA (Vic & Tas) members. It is worth 20 PD points.

Register here.

View Event →
Libraries Tasmania Talk: Colonisation - The Palestinian and Tasmanian Aboriginal Experience Compared
Apr
6
1:00 PM13:00

Libraries Tasmania Talk: Colonisation - The Palestinian and Tasmanian Aboriginal Experience Compared

  • Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Adel Yousif & Hamish Maxwell Stewart: Colonisation - The Palestinian and Tasmanian Aboriginal Experience Compared

This presentation compares the impact of colonisation on Tasmania and Palestine. It starts by exploring the implications of the latest pre-contact population estimates for Tasmania. While historians have emphasised the role played by direct violence in population decline, these new estimates reveal the extent to which malnutrition and the other consequences of loss of access to land and resources are likely to have been much greater. In the second half of the presentation we expand upon this theme by exploring the long run impacts of colonisation in Palestine on health, inequality and incarceration rates using NGO reports. Many of the differences between Israeli and Palestinian outcomes are similar to those for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. We conclude by arguing that an emphasis on violence can let the coloniser off the hook.

Jointly sponsored by the State Library and Archive Service of Tasmania and the Professional Historians Association Vic & Tas, the Libraries Tasmania Talks are a series of monthly public lectures held at the Hobart Library. They can be attended free at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts or viewed online via the Webinar.

To register for the event visit the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can listen to all previous lectures on their Soundcloud website.

View Event →
Libraries Tasmania Talk: “Everything that a flower should have”: Maggs Brothers and the facsimile trade
Mar
2
1:00 PM13:00

Libraries Tasmania Talk: “Everything that a flower should have”: Maggs Brothers and the facsimile trade

  • Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Ian Morrison: “Everything that a flower should have”: Maggs Brothers and the facsimile trade

The oldest book in the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts is The Description of a Voyage made by Certaine Ships of Holland into the East Indies (London, 1598). It is interesting for many reasons, including as the first English-language account of the voyage that led to the establishment of the Dutch East India Company. It isn’t completely authentic though: several pages are “supplied in facsimile”. Researching what this actually means – forgery? not exactly … – opened up larger questions about the practice of “completing” imperfect books, and the choice between a complete text and an authentic artefact.

Ian Morrison is currently Acting Manager Collection Development at Libraries Tasmania. In January 2020 he received a research grant to look at the records of the London bookseller Maggs Brothers, which are held in the British Library. This talk is about the vicissitudes of an international research project in the time of Covid, and the outcomes of the eventual visit to London when travel became possible.

Jointly sponsored by the State Library and Archive Service of Tasmania and the Professional Historians Association Vic & Tas, the Libraries Tasmania Talks are a series of monthly public lectures held at the Hobart Library. They can be attended free at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts or viewed online via the Webinar.

To register for the event visit the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can listen to all previous lectures on their Soundcloud website.

View Event →