HCNSW Podcast series: Recent Episodes
Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon conducts a Q&A with Sean Scalmer, Christina Twomey and Paul Irish
This series of podcasts are of speaker events produced by the History Council of New South Wales.Creative Commons licence: CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike)
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Australian migration stories have tended to represent specific experiences of coming to Australia over our relatively short national history. But what does rethinking stories about mobility to, from, and within Australia offer historians and fellow story tellers? Leading historians Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson, Dr Yves Rees, and Dr Peter Hobbins will discuss overlooked narratives to challenge traditional views of what migration means for Australian history. By connecting past and present, the diversity of migration stories and their implications for understanding identities, place, and belonging will offer fresh perspectives for nuanced research and storying of our collective past.
The History Council of New South Wales is supported by the NSW Government via a grant from Create NSW.
Music credit: 'The Path to Innovation' by Airae, licensed through Canva.
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Now, more than ever before, we seem more willing to acknowledge difficult histories in our family trees. At the same time, historians are increasingly writing about colonial violence and challenging long-held myths.
What impact is this having on how we see Australia’s past, as well as our own?
John Maynard, Mark Dunn, Stephen Gapps, and Kate Grenville speak with Julie McIntyre about their experiences of encountering dark moments in their research and how they've dealt with them in their work.
The History Council of New South Wales is supported by the NSW Government via a grant from Create NSW.
Music credit: 'Only Ashes Remain' by Blackout Memories (Epidemic Sound), licensed through Canva.
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The 2024 History Council of New South Wales Annual History Lecture was given by Professor Frank Bongiorno, professor of history at Australian National University. First held in 1996, the Annual History Lecture was inaugurated by the HCNSW to underline the importance of history to current issues and concerns. The lectures are original works that constitute a significant contribution to historical knowledge.
The title of the 2024 lecture is
Making Their Political Mark:
How have Australians remembered politics?
2024’s Annual History Lecture was held at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney University on the 10th of September. It was recorded by Zoom, with post production by the HCNSW team using Canva Pro.
The photographs featured are by Tim Harris Photography. https://twhphotography.com.au/
HCNSW Cultural Partners:
City of Sydney
Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts
Museums of History NSW
National Archives of Australia
Placemaking NSW
Reserve Bank of Australia
State Library of New South Wales
University of New England
University of Newcastle, School of HCISS
University of New South Wales, School of History & Philosophy
University of Technology Sydney, Australian Centre for Public History
The History Council of NSW is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
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5 Years on from COVID-19: lessons from past health crises and the future of global healthJoin an engaging discussion with our distinguished panel of public health and virology experts, who explore enduring infectious diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, and mpox, five years after the discovery of COVID-19. This episode highlights how pandemics have historically reshaped our world and demonstrates the transformative impact of cross-disciplinary collaboration in addressing global health challenges. The panelists confront the stigma and misinformation surrounding mpox, HIV and Covid-19, advocating for empathy and transparent communication to build trust. They dissect the role of public values in shaping policy decisions and reveal how political rhetoric affects scientific communities during health crises. Tackling the persistent threat of diseases like tuberculosis and the growing danger of antimicrobial resistance, the discussion underscores the global inequities laid bare by COVID-19 and outlines a vision for improving responses to future health emergencies.
Many thanks to our panel:
- Edward Holmes, Professor of Virology, University of Sydney, and NHMRC Leadership Fellow
- Claire Hooker, Associate Professor in Health and Medical Humanities, University of Sydney, and President of the Arts Health Network NSW/ACT
- Julie Leask, Professor of Public Health, University of Sydney, and Visiting Professorial Fellow, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance
- Brent Mackie, Director Policy, Strategy and Research at ACON
- Bernadette Saunders, Associate Professor in Life Sciences (Cellular Immonology) and Tuberculosis & Respiratory Diseases Group Head, University of Technology Sydney
- Susana Vaz Nery, Professor at Kirby Institute UNSW, and Neglected Tropical Diseases research group lead
- Jane Williams, Research Fellow (public health ethics), University of Wollongong
- Facilitated by Philippa Nicole Barr, ANU and Western Sydney University
This History Council of NSW event is supported by the Australia New Zealand Society for the History of Medicine (NSW) and the Australian Health and Medical Humanities Network. Our event venue partner is the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts (SMSA).
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Lorena Allam, Dirk Moses and Ümit Kurt reflect on what can be learned from histories of genocide, and locate their discussion between journalism, history and processes of truth-telling.This History Now session, chaired by Associate Professor Nancy Cushing, is a compelling exploration of truth-telling and genocide, featuring insights from award-winning journalist Lorena Allam, and renowned genocide scholars Dr Umut Kurt and Professor Dirk Moses. What responsibilities do historians have in addressing the harsh realities of genocide and colonisation, and how does this impact First Nations people in Australia and other global communities? We tackle these challenging questions and more, examining the interconnectedness of past atrocities with current conflicts, such as the ongoing violence in Palestine, through diverse perspectives.
Lorena Allam is a multiple Walkley award winning journalist, descended from the Gamilaraay and Yawalaraay nations of north west NSW . Lorena is the Guardian's Indigenous affairs editor.
She was awarded a 2023 Churchill fellow to investigate the role of the media in Indigenous truth telling.
Professor Dirk Moses teaches international relations at the City College of New York. He is the author and editor of books on genocide and memory. Two anthologies appearing this year are The Holocaust Museum and Human Rights: Transnational Perspectives on Contemporary Memorials (University of Pennsylvania Press) and The Russian Invasion of Ukraine Victims Perpetrators Justice and the Question of Genocide (Routledge). He edits the Journal of Genocide Research.
Dr. Ümit Kurt is an historian and award-winning researcher at the University of Newcastle, digging into hidden stories to better understand the transformations of imperial structures in the Modern Middle East and late Ottoman Empire – and their role in constituting the republican regime. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he is the author of The Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide in an Ottoman Province (Harvard University Press) and coauthor of The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide (Berghahn).
Chair: Associate Professor Nancy Cushing
Nancy Cushing is Associate Professor in History, Director of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Deputy President of Academic Senate (Research) at the University of Newcastle on Awabakal and Worimi country. An environmental historian whose interests range from coal mining to human-other animal relations, she is co-editor of Animals Count: How Population Size Matters in Animal-Human Relations (Routledge 2018) and author of A History of Crime in Australia: Australian Underworlds. Current projects are a New History of Australia in 15 Animals (for Bloomsbury) and a history of humans and other animals in the urban area of Sydney, Australia funded by the Coral Thomas Fellowship (2024 - 25) at the State Library of New South Wales. Nancy is on the executives of the Australian Aotearoa NZ Environmental History Network and the Australian Historical Association and on the NSW Working Party for the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
This session of History Now **was produced as an online special event, by the History Council of NSW in partnership with the Centre for the Study of Violence, University of Newcastle.
History Now 2024 is programmed by Dr Jesse Adams Stein** (Vice President of HCNSW / Member of ACPH).
Recorded on 31 July 2024.
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Can crime narratives truly be told without causing harm or voyeurism? Join us for a compelling discussion as we bring together the insights of Dr. Meg Foster and Dr. Rachel Franks, led by chair, Nerida Campbell. With their extensive expertise in crime-related history and collections, we navigate the ethical tightrope historians must walk when recounting crime stories. Learn how these experts balance the need for intellectual integrity with the empathy and respect owed to those whose stories they tell. What does the selective heroism historically granted to figures like Ned Kelly, and not to Sam Poo ('Australia's Only Chinese Bushranger') tell us about Australian crime history?
What are the ethical implications of the ubiquitous presence of crime in media? And what about the implications of histories that exclude crime? There's much to learn and to think with in crime history, as Meg, Rachel and Nerida will explore.
Nerida Campbell is a curator with over 20 years experience working in collections, sites and stories related to crime, policing and the courts. She has a particular interest in the historical experience of female criminals within the New South Wales justice system. Campbell is currently working with the Harbour Trust on a series of interpretation projects for Cockatoo Island, which, as we know, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has a complex past that includes convict, juvenile justice and prison histories.
Meg Foster is a historian of banditry, settler colonial, and public history. She is a Chancellor's Research Fellow at the University of Technology in Sydney and was recently an ABC Top 5 Media resident for the humanities and previously a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Meg has a passion for connecting academia with the contemporary world and has appeared in diverse outlets such as ABC, BBC and SBS, as well as Mianjin, Overland and the Australian Book Review. Her latest book, published by New South, is Boundary Crossers: the Hidden History of Australia's Other Bush Rangers.
Rachel Franks is the coordinator of scholarship at the State Library of New South Wales. She holds PhDs in Australian crime fiction and in true crime texts. A qualified educator and librarian, her extensive work on crime fiction, true crime, popular culture and information science has been presented at numerous conferences, as well as on radio and television. An award-winning writer, her research can be found in a wide variety of books, journals, magazines and online resources. She is the author of An Uncommon Hangman: the Life and Deaths of Robert Nosey Bob Howard, published in 2022.
History Now seminars explore current and compelling issues affecting the practice of contemporary history. It is a long-running series of public talks and discussions, bringing new perspectives to all aspects of historical practice.
This year History Now is a collaboration between the History Council of NSW (HCNSW), the State Library of NSW and the Australian Centre for Public History (ACPH) at UTS.
History Now 2024 is programmed by Jesse Adams Stein (Vice President of HCNSW / Member of ACPH).
History Now is short and sweet. The tone is conversational and the format is two speakers, each talking for 15-20 minutes, followed by a Q&A facilitated by a chairperson.
hcnsw #historynow #truecrimehistories #historytalks
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In this episode of History Now, Emily O’Gorman and Taylor Coyne reflect on how history can be understood and written from more-than-human perspectives.
History Now seminars explore current and compelling issues affecting the practice of contemporary history. It is a long-running series of public talks and discussions, bringing new perspectives to all aspects of historical practice. This year History Now is a collaboration between the History Council of NSW (HCNSW), the State Library of NSW and the Australian Centre for Public History (ACPH) at UTS. History Now 2024 is programmed by Jesse Adams Stein (Vice President of HCNSW / Member of ACPH).
Associate Professor Emily O’Gorman is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow based at the Department of History and Archaeology at Macquarie University, Sydney. Her research is situated within environmental history and the interdisciplinary environmental humanities, and is primarily concerned with contested knowledges within broader cultural framings of authority, expertise, and landscapes with a focus on rivers and wetlands. She is the author of Flood Country: An Environmental History of the Murray-Darling Basin (CSIRO Publishing, 2012) and Wetlands in a Dry Land: More-than-human Histories of Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin (University of Washington Press, 2021; MUP 2024).
Taylor Coyne is a PhD Candidate in urban and historical geography at UNSW, Sydney. He is also a Project Officer in the Connection with Country design team at the Sydney-based practice Yerrabingin. Taylor works in the space of creating meaningful, community-centric, culturally inclusive water sensitive urban design through ecologically and historically contextual storytelling. Taylor’s research focus is on the history, politics and design of eastern Sydney’s urban stormwater infrastructure. In particular, asking how and why Sydney’s waterscapes came to be the way they are today, and whose knowledges and experiences have been included and excluded in the way these spaces have been designed, planned, managed, and governed. All of Taylor’s research interests are threaded together by the overarching aim to address matters that are important to marginalised communities in Sydney, with a particular focus on bringing First Nations knowledges and histories to the fore. Taylor is working towards addressing how landscape architecture and environmental history might come together to incorporate Sydney’s swampy more-than-human histories.
Professor Warwick Anderson is the Janet Dora Hine Professor of Politics, Governance and Ethics in the Discipline of Health and leader of the Politics, Governance and Ethics Theme with the Charles Perkins Centre. From 2012-17 he was ARC Laureate Fellow in the Department of History and the Center for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine. Additionally, he has an affiliation with History and Philosophy of Science at Sydney and is a Professorial Fellow of the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. As an historian of science, medicine and public health, focusing on Australasia, the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the United States, Anderson is especially interested in ideas about race, human difference, and citizenship in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In recent years, his research has focussed on the conceptual development of disease ecology and planetary health, i.e., the population health impacts of climate change.
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In this episode of History Now, Livia Rezende and Isabel Rousset explore the ways in which international exchange and transcultural connections inform design and visual histories.
History Now seminars explore current and compelling issues affecting the practice of contemporary history. It is a long-running series of public talks and discussions, bringing new perspectives to all aspects of historical practice. This year History Now is a collaboration between the History Council of NSW (HCNSW), the State Library of NSW and the Australian Centre for Public History (ACPH) at UTS. History Now 2024 is programmed by Jesse Adams Stein (Vice President of HCNSW / Member of ACPH).
Dr Isabel Rousset is an architectural historian and a Research Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Her research explores historical cross-sections between art, architecture, and politics. Her book The Architecture of Social Reform: Housing, Tradition and German Modernism was recently published by Manchester University Press and explores how the past was used to shape debates on housing design in modern Germany. Her current research project at UTS explores the experiences and impact of Central European migrant architects in Australia.
Dr Livia Rezende, SFHEA, has a PhD in History of Design, is Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Research Coordinator at UNSW Art & Design, Sydney. Her current research project examines the formation of transnational networks that led to the institutionalisation of modern design in Latin America during the Cold War. Her previous research discussed national identity formation and raw material displays in nineteenth-century International Exhibitions, Expositions Universelles and World’s Fairs. Dr Rezende’s work have been published in Design & Displacement (Routledge, 2023), Building-Object(2022), Schools of Departure (Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, 2022), and various academic journals. She serves as Book Series Editor for the Manchester University Press and Editor for the Journal of Design History.
Dr Jesse Adams Stein is a Senior Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow at UTS School of Design. She is an interdisciplinary design researcher whose work explores less popular and hidden sides of design, such as industrial craft, repair, small-scale manufacturing and human labour, in both historical and contemporary contexts. Stein is the author of Hot Metal (Manchester 2016) and Industrial Craft in Australia (Palgrave 2021). With Dr Chantel Carr, Stein was founder and organiser of the interdisciplinary 2023 symposium All Hands on Deck, which led to the development of two scholarly book collections (edited with Carr), Designing through Planetary Breakdown and Working through Planetary Breakdown (both Routledge, forthcoming). Stein is deeply involved in the Australian history sector, as an oral historian, as Vice President of the History Council of NSW, and as 2024 Program Director of the history talk series, History Now.
Recording date: 7 August 2024.
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This lecture is the first online offering of the 2024 First Nations Stories Series, facilitated by the History Council of New South Wales' Project Officer for First Nations' Histories. For more information about the HCNSW First Nations programs, please see our website: https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/abou...
"History and Memory: Oral Histories and the Science of the Dreaming
The power of recall in oral societies is phenomenal … but many scientists have only just started to understand this and think about its implications. In Australia, some of the stories that have been told longest are about ocean rise after the last ice age and the effects of volcanic eruptions, both topics which are covered in this talk.
Geologist and climate scientist, Patrick Nunn, Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, has written extensively about how many ‘myths and legends’ are not fictions but culturally-filtered memories."
Many thanks for Patrick for sharing his work and his insights. For more information about Patrick's work, see his website: https://patricknunn.org/
Credits:
- Music by licence with Canva: Ecg, Blackout Memories.
- Red dirt background by licence with Canva.
- All images and text in lecture slides supplied by Patrick Nunn.
HCNSW Cultural Partners:
City of Sydney
Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts
Museums of History NSW
National Archives of Australia
Placemaking NSW
Reserve Bank of Australia
State Library of New South Wales
University of New England
University of Newcastle, School of HCISS
University of New South Wales, School of History & Philosophy
University of Technology Sydney, Australian Centre for Public History
The History Council of NSW is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
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In this panel, staged by the History Council of NSW at the 2024 Sydney Writers Festival, three award-winning Australian historians discuss the dual art of crafting histories and captivating narratives for diverse audiences.
Our authors, Dr Margaret Cook, Dr Shannyn Palmer and Nicole Cama, explore the dynamics of writing and presenting histories that respond to questions and ideas with relevance to national or local interest, as well as seeking to tell stories that resonate with larger audiences. Chaired by A/Prof Jan Láníček, the authors delve into the nuanced artistry required to bridge the gap between academic excellence and accessibility.
Our esteemed panelists share insights into their approaches, discussing the challenges of balancing scholarly integrity with storytelling prowess. They explore strategies for making complex historical contexts accessible without oversimplification and maintaining authenticity while appealing to diverse reader interests.
Panelists:
Dr. Margaret Cook
As an historian, Margaret Cook is fascinated by water and its interaction with humans, animals and the environment over time. She writes about climate-related disasters with a particular focus on rivers and floods and is the author of A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods. Margaret is a Research Fellow at the Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University and La Trobe University.
Dr. Shannyn Palmer
Shannyn Palmer is a community-engaged practitioner, cultural consultant and award-winning writer. She works with cultural institutions and communities to facilitate ethical community engaged practice and enable meaningful intercultural collaborations. She is particularly interested in community engaged practice as a methodology for disrupting settler colonial systems and knowledge. She has a PhD in History from the Australian National University and her first book, Unmaking Angas Downs: Myth and History on a Central Australian Pastoral Station, won the 2023 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Australian History and the 2023 Northern Territory Chief Minister’s History Book Award.
Nicole Cama
Nicole Cama is an historian with the City of Sydney Council with experience in museums, heritage and public history. Her work has been published across a range of platforms including radio, websites, print publications, social media, mobile applications and exhibition displays. In 2023, she was awarded the History Council of NSW’s Macquarie University-PHA Applied History Award for her work, ‘Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst’, a digital history project mapping the people and places of the street from the 1840s to the 1940s using the City of Sydney Archives, produced for the Australian Centre for Public History, University of Technology Sydney.
Chair: Associate Professor Jan Láníček
Jan Láníček is Associate Professor in Modern European and Jewish History at UNSW Sydney. He received a PhD from the University of Southampton in Britain in 2011 and has published widely on the history of the Holocaust and Central Europe. He is currently completing a study of post-Holocaust judicial retribution in Czechoslovakia and also researches Jewish migration to Australia before World War II. Jan is also a member of the General Council of the History Council of New South Wales.
*Thanks to the Sydney Writers Festival for enabling our participation in the festival, the State Library of NSW for providing the venue and audio recording services, and the NSW Government, through Create NSW for their funding support.
Music: Inspiring Classical by PineAppleMusic. License purchased from AudioJungle.*
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Historians Professor Catharine Coleborne and Dr James Dunk discuss the depth of historical writing about mental illness in Australia and reflect on its resonance in the present moment; how can we write the history of mental health now?
Chair: Dr Effie Karageorgos
This event is held in partnership with the University of Newcastle’s Future of Madness Network.
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Reflecting on the enduring spirit of Aboriginal activism, today's episode is an homage to both the ancestors who fought for justice and the scholars like Emeritus Professor Lyndall Ryan who have chronicled their struggles. Coordinated by Jessie Adam-Stein and chaired by Dr. Cara Cross, this panel event from the History Now 2024 series, co-hosted with the History Council of New South Wales and the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS, dives into the depths of Aboriginal political histories. We pay our respects to the traditional landowners and explore how their political contributions have shaped our understanding of Australia's past and present, with a special acknowledgment of Emeritus Professor John Maynard's pioneering work.
The heart of our discussion beats to the rhythm of early 20th-century Aboriginal activism, where a gathering in Kempsey marked a turning point in the fight for equality. The voices of over 700 Aboriginal people and the manifesto of the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association (AAPA) resonate through time, as we recount their brave stance against oppression and the lasting impact of their actions—even through the Great Depression. Stories of personal sacrifice, like that of my grandfather, intertwine with these historical narratives, painting a rich tapestry of Aboriginal resilience and unyielding quest for justice.
As we close, the focus shifts to the fragmented journey of land restitution and the growth of Indigenous resistance that has radically influenced Australian politics. We remember the warriors like Windradyne and the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, leading up to the historic Aboriginal Land Rights Act Northern Territory of 1976, as milestones in the fight for Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. These stories are not just history; they are the foundation upon which our ongoing struggle for rights and recognition is built, and they continue to inspire action and reflection in our shared journey towards a just future.
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Featuring Dr Hannah Forsyth & Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson.
Chair: Dr Mike Beggs. Series curated by Dr Jesse Adams Stein.
Hannah Forsyth and Sophie Loy-Wilson discuss the ways in which historicising capitalism is changing our approach to history in Australia.
History Now seminars explore current and compelling issues affecting the practice of contemporary history. It is a long-running series of public talks and discussions, bringing new perspectives to all aspects of historical practice. This year History Now is a collaboration between the History Council of NSW (HCNSW), the State Library of NSW and the Australian Centre for Public History (ACPH) at UTS.
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Professor Alison Bashford and Dr Jarrod Hore,
Chair: Dr Frances Flanagan
Alison Bashford and Jarrod Hore reflect on New Earth Histories and how the history of geosciences and different world cosmologies can be brought together.
History Now seminars explore current and compelling issues affecting the practice of contemporary history. It is a long-running series of public talks and discussions, bringing new perspectives to all aspects of historical practice.
In 2024, the series, curated and directed by Dr Jesse Adams Stein, is a partnership event between the History Council of NSW, the Australian Centre for Public History (UTS) and the State Library of NSW.
The History Council of NSW is supported by the NSW Government via a grant from Create NSW.
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Welcome to the recorded version of the History Council of New South Wales’ ‘Writing Histories’ panel, recorded via zoom on the 9th of November 2023.
History isn't just about dusty old books and dates, it's about sharing the tales of our past with the world. But how do historians make sure their stories reach a wide audience? How do we pen our words for different readers? The HCNSW called on some of the brightest minds in history to share about how they've shared their research with a variety of audiences, inspired by their recently published books. Our panel will chat about both classic and cutting-edge ways to spread the word about historical events, people and themes, while also dishing out advice for other writers who want to carve their own paths.The History Council of New South Wales extends sincere thanks to Dr. Leah Lui-Chivizhe, Dr. Kiera Lindsey, and Professor Kate Fullagar for their time and expertise. Thanks to the many people who attended, for your questions, and to the many more who have just tuned in now. The History Council is supported by funding from Create New South Wales, and by our members. Find out more about becoming a member of the History Council of New South Wales on our website, historycouncilnsw.org.au . We also thank our cultural partners:
- City of Sydney
- Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts
- Museums of History NSW
- National Archives of Australia
- Placemaking NSW
- Reserve Bank of Australia
- State Library of New South Wales
- University of New England
- University of Newcastle, School of HCISS
- University of New South Wales, School of History & Philosophy
- University of Technology Sydney, Australian Centre for Public History
The HCNSW acknowledges Aboriginal nations and Torres Strait Islanders as the First Peoples of Australia. We thank them for their custodianship of these lands and waters and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
Music credit: Ecg by Blackout Memories, licensed via Canva, 2023.
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The Annual History Lecture is an event produced & presented by the History Council of New South Wales every year, which aims to engage and educate the community about the vitality, diversity and meaning of history and its practice through the eyes of historians and others prominent in public history.
In 2023, the Annual History Lecture was be presented by Thomas Mayo, Uluru Statement from the Heart signatory and Voice to Parliament campaigner.
At the current moment in history, a Voice for First Nations peoples is front and centre for all Australians in a referendum that will be held later in the year.
Our theme for History Week 2023, ‘Voices from the Past’, invited History Council members to explore how we listen for voices in the historical record and amplify the voices of storytellers.
In the Annual History Lecture, following this theme, Thomas discussed the history and significance of the Voice to Parliament. Thomas spoke about the long journey to this constitutional moment today, when all Australians will face a unique opportunity to answer the invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
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Winners of the 2022 NSW Premier’s History Awards gather to reveal how they make history, their inspirations, and the impact they hope their work will have. Despite distinct subjects, mediums and methods, these winners are united in their histories telling Australian communities and cultures have been shaped by colonisation. Following their presentations, there will be an opportunity for the audience to pose questions. Chaired by Emeritus Professor Grace Karskens, UNSW.
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In this fascinating talk, Professor Bruce Pascoe interrogates the idea of Australian history pre-contact. Mary McLean from the Orange Aboriginal Land Council gives the Welcome to Country while Professor Stephen Gapps provides introductions. This event was recorded in Orange, Wiradjuri Country on the 28th October for the History Council of NSW's Annual History Lecture series.
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Sydney Writers' Festival and the History Council of NSW present this panel discussion where three winners of the 2021 NSW Premier's History Awards - Laurence Billiet, Matthew Colloff and Luke Keogh, gather in person to reveal how they make history, their inspirations and the impact they hope their work will have. Hosted by Dr Matthew Allen, HCNSW Councillor, this event includes a short Q&A at the conclusion of the session.
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Sydney Writers' Festival and the History Council of NSW present this panel discussion where three winners of the 2021 NSW Premier's History Awards - Laurence Billiet, Matthew Colloff and Luke Keogh, gather in person to reveal how they make history, their inspirations and the impact they hope their work will have. Hosted by Dr Matthew Allen, HCNSW Councillor, this event includes a short Q&A at the conclusion of the session.
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Sydney Writers' Festival and the History Council of NSW present this panel discussion where three winners of the 2021 NSW Premier's History Awards - Laurence Billiet, Matthew Colloff and Luke Keogh, gather in person to reveal how they make history, their inspirations and the impact they hope their work will have. Hosted by Dr Matthew Allen, HCNSW Councillor, this event includes a short Q&A at the conclusion of the session.
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Born in a French military family, Pierre-Jacques Ober broke with family traditions by preferring philosophy to war. In the last 25 years, he has thrown himself into numerous adventures as an independent filmmaker. Working in partnership with photographer Jules Ober, he now focuses on the creation of books using a unique story-telling device – photographs of figurines in miniature sets.
THE GOOD SON
A Story from the First World War, Told in Miniature.
A young WWI soldier’s unauthorized visit home has dire consequences in a haunting story reimagined in miniature tableaux.
Illustrated by Felicity Coonan and Jules Ober.
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Kiera Lindsey is an award-winning historian based at UTS where she is a Senior Research Fellow conducting an ARC DECRA on speculative biography and historical craft.Callum Clayton-Dixon is an Aboriginal linguist and historian whose people come from the southern end of the New England Tableland, New South Wales, around Walcha, Woolbrook, and the Ingleba Aboriginal Reserve—Ambēyang country.
SURVIVING NEW ENGLAND
A History of Aboriginal Resistance and Resilience Through the First Forty Years of the Colonial Apocalypse.
Surviving New England tells the history of how the first people had thrived on the so-called New England Tableland since the first sunrise.
It is their story which this book sets out to reclaim, co-opting the colonial archive and subverting the colonial narrative, deconstructing their story in order to uncover our own.
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Noëlle Janaczewska is a playwright, poet, essayist and the author of The Book of Thistles (UWA Publishing)—part environmental history, part poetry, part unconventional memoir. She is the recipient of multiple awards, fellowships and residencies, including the 2020 NSW Premier’s Digital History Prize, a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, the Griffin Award, ten AWGIE (Australian Writers’ Guild Industry Excellence) Awards and a Windham-Campbell Prize from Yale University for her body of work as a dramatist.
EXPERIENCE ST
Have you ever wondered what life in early Sydney was really like? Writer Noëlle Janaczewska visits Experiment Street in the harbour suburb of Pyrmont where she delves into the Sydney City Archives.
Albeit there numerous mentions of ‘Experience St’, Noëlle introduces you to seamstress Lizzie Absalom, a fictional resident of Experiment Street in the early 1900s, where she adds her colourful recollections to the ‘official’ records.
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DR KIERA LINDSEY CONDUCTS A Q&A WITH NOËLLE JANACZEWSKA, DR JAMES DUNK, PROFESSOR KATE FULLAGAR, CALLUM CLAYTON-DIXON AND PIERRE-JACQUES OBER.
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James Dunk lives and writes in Wangal country in Sydney’s inner west.
He works as a historian at the University of Sydney, where he lectures in Australian history and the history of medicine, and he is a conjoint fellow at the University of Newcastle.
His research has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Rethinking History, History Australia, and Health and History and his literary reviews and essays have appeared in various magazines and journals.
BEDLAM AT BOTANY
His first book, Bedlam at Botany Bay, won the Australian History Prize at the New South Wales Premier’s History Awards 2020 and was also shortlisted for the University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award, Ernest Scott Prize and the Kay Daniels Award.
Stories of madness are woven together into a narrative about freedom and possibilities, unravelling and collapse. Bedlam at Botany Bay looks at people who found themselves not only at the edge of the world but at the edge of sanity. It shows their worlds colliding.
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Kate Fullagar is a Professor of History at the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University.
She is also an honorary professor of history at Macquarie University and currently co-editor of the Australian Historical Association’s journal, History Australia. Kate specializes in the history of the eighteenth-century world, particularly the British Empire and the many indigenous societies it encountered.
THE WARRIOR, THE VOYAGER, AND THE ARTIST
Three interconnected eighteenth-century lives offer a fresh account of the British empire and its intrusion into Indigenous societies. This engaging history brings together the stories of Joshua Reynolds and two Indigenous men, the Cherokee Ostenaco and the Ra‘iatean Mai.
She delves into the story of Mai, examining his confrontation with conquest and displacement, his voyage to London on Cook’s imperial expedition, and his return home with a burning ambition to right past wrongs.
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Is there such a thing as a career in history?
The world of the past is broken down into numerous fields, from archivists, librarians and curators to archaeologists, historians and heritage consultants.
Join Dr Kiera Lindsey as she hosts a session with early-career historians, Alinde Bierhuizen, Social History Curator at Fairfield City Museum & Gallery.
Dr Lindsey asks the question: what was the magic that got you into history, what’s been your journey to date, and where do you imagine it will take you?
This is a joint online event between the History Council of NSW & the Professional Historians Association of NSW/ACT.
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Is there such a thing as a career in history?
The world of the past is broken down into numerous fields, from archivists, librarians and curators to archaeologists, historians and heritage consultants.
Join Dr Kiera Lindsey as she hosts Part 2 of a Careers in History session with early-career historian, Bonnie Wildie, Archivist in Engagement and Access Services at NSW State Archives.
Dr Lindsey asks the question: what was the magic that got you into history, what’s been your journey to date, and where do you imagine it will take you?
This is a joint online event between the History Council of NSW & the Professional Historians Association of NSW/ACT.
Support the show (https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/support-us/)
Australia’s colonial history is largely told from the settler perspective, centred around the arrival of James Cook and the Endeavour almost 250 years ago.
But one chapter of our shared history tells of a number of Aboriginal Australians making their way to Britain, from the late 18th century through to the 21st century.
“Counter currents: Aboriginal men and women at the Heart of Empire” presented by Professor of Indigenous History at the University of Newcastle, John Maynard.
Duration: 1hr
Broadcast: Sun 3 Nov 2019, 9:00pm. ABC Radio National (Speaking Out)
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The impulse to memorialise people and events has led to the establishment of a range of monuments in urban landscapes. Increasingly, monuments have been verbally or physically attacked and, in some cases, removed. This masterclass focuses on the ongoing histories of monuments, testing the implications of preservation and removal, and how memorials can be revived, reinterpreted or replaced. The three speakers address Captain Cook, counter-memorials and the ‘statue wars’; the memorial to the band on the Titanic in Broken Hill; and the coal monument in Newcastle.
Join the History Council of NSW with Richard Neville hosting guest speakers A/Prof Nancy Cushing (University of Newcastle), Dr Stephen Gapps (Australian National Maritime Museum) and Dr Tamson Pietsch (Australian Centre for Public History, UTS) as they share their skills and experience and discuss this timely and somewhat controversial topic.
Support the show (https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/support-us/)
The impulse to memorialise people and events has led to the establishment of a range of monuments in urban landscapes. Increasingly, monuments have been verbally or physically attacked and, in some cases, removed. This masterclass will focus on the ongoing histories of monuments, testing the implications of preservation and removal, and how memorials can be revived, reinterpreted or replaced. The three speakers will address Captain Cook, counter-memorials and the ‘statue wars’; the memorial to the band on the Titanic in Broken Hill; and the coal monument in Newcastle.
Join the History Council of NSW with Richard Neville hosting guest speakers A/Prof Nancy Cushing (University of Newcastle), Dr Stephen Gapps (Australian National Maritime Museum) and Dr Tamson Pietsch (Australian Centre for Public History, UTS) as they share their skills and experience and discuss this timely and somewhat controversial topic.
Support the show (https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/support-us/)
The impulse to memorialise people and events has led to the establishment of a range of monuments in urban landscapes. Increasingly, monuments have been verbally or physically attacked and, in some cases, removed. This masterclass will focus on the ongoing histories of monuments, testing the implications of preservation and removal, and how memorials can be revived, reinterpreted or replaced. The three speakers will address Captain Cook, counter-memorials and the ‘statue wars’; the memorial to the band on the Titanic in Broken Hill; and the coal monument in Newcastle.
Join the History Council of NSW with Richard Neville hosting guest speakers A/Prof Nancy Cushing (University of Newcastle), Dr Stephen Gapps (Australian National Maritime Museum) and Dr Tamson Pietsch (Australian Centre for Public History, UTS) as they share their skills and experience and discuss this timely and somewhat controversial topic.
Support the show (https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/support-us/)
On 4 September 2018, Dr Lisa Murray (City Historian, City of Sydney) delivered the History Council of NSW’s Annual History Lecture as part of History Week. Cemeteries preserve our history and form part of our national heritage. But to truly understand the Australian way of death we must consider the social and economic history of funeral practices. This was recorded by the ABC’s Big Ideas program and broadcast nationally on 21 November 2018.
Support the show (https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/support-us/)
The impulse to memorialise people and events has led to the establishment of a range of monuments in urban landscapes. Increasingly, monuments have been verbally or physically attacked and, in some cases, removed. This masterclass will focus on the ongoing histories of monuments, testing the implications of preservation and removal, and how memorials can be revived, reinterpreted or replaced. The three speakers will address Captain Cook, counter-memorials and the ‘statue wars’; the memorial to the band on the Titanic in Broken Hill; and the coal monument in Newcastle.
Join the History Council of NSW with Richard Neville hosting guest speakers A/Prof Nancy Cushing (University of Newcastle), Dr Stephen Gapps (Australian National Maritime Museum) and Dr Tamson Pietsch (Australian Centre for Public History, UTS) as they share their skills and experience and discuss this timely and somewhat controversial topic.
Support the show (https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/support-us/)
In this episode, Caroline Butler-Bowdon conducts a Q&A with Sean Scalmer, Christina Twomey and Paul Irish about their research and writing processes and challenges. The audience is then invited to ask questions as well.
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Associate Professor Sean Scalmer speaks about his book, On the Stump: Campaign Oratory and Democracy in the United States, Britain and Australia for which he won the NSW Premiers History Awards General History Prize in 2018.
Sean Scalmer is an Associate Professor with the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne is the author and editor of several books on the history of social movements including Dissent Events, Activist Wisdom (with Sarah Maddison), The Little History of Australian Unionism, Gandhi in the West: The Mahatma and the Rise of Radical Protest.
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Professor Christina Twomey speaks about the research process of writing her most recent book, The Battle Within: POWs in Postwar Australia won the Australian History Prize at 2018 NSW Premiers Awards.
Christina Twomey is a Professor of History at Monash University. She is the author of four books, including Australia’s Forgotten Prisoners: Civilians Interned by the Japanese in World War Two and A History of Australia (with co-author Mark Peel).
Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon is the Director of Strategy & Engagement at Sydney Living Museums. She is the Chair of this session.
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Dr Paul Irish speaks about his 2017 book Hidden In Plain View: The Aboriginal People of Coastal Sydney (NewSouth Publishing), which won the NSW Premier’s History Award for Community and Regional History in 2018.
Dr Irish is a historian and archaeologist and director of Coast History & Heritage. For over ten years he has been piecing together the Aboriginal history of coastal Sydney with researchers from the La Perouse Aboriginal community, including the 2015 NSW History Fellowship exhibition This Is Where They Travelled: Historical Aboriginal Lives in Sydney.
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