Author: Alice Beale

Are you thinking about applying for a grant through the South Australian History Fund? To help you with your applications we have asked some of our previous grant assessors to think about what makes a good grant application. Whether this is your first time applying or you’re a regular, read on for some tips and tricks that will help make your application stand out.

 

Your Pitch

Think carefully about how you pitch your project and provide clear, succinct information that will help the assessors know what it is you are seeking funding for. Don’t assume the grant assessors know the ins and outs of your project, collection or research topic.

• Do you want to conserve a significant item in your collection? Tell the assessors why the item is significant.
• Do you want to digitise your collection? Be clear about how you are going to run the project.
• Do you want to publish a book on an aspect of SA History? Demonstrate the need for this publication -what gap does it fill?

Consider the reach of your project and expand it if possible. If you are putting on an exhibition perhaps you can have an online component that will make it accessible to people who can’t physically attend. Are you delivering a workshop? Can you record it and make it available to others in the broader community?

Finally, when it comes to your pitch think outside the box. Projects that provide a fresh perspective or are innovative always stand out.

Is your project feasible

Be careful to not bite off more than you can chew. Assessors want projects to succeed and a project that overpromises will raise alarm bells. If your project is particularly big consider breaking it up into stages to be delivered over a number of grant applications. For example, if you are planning to rehouse your entire collection, perhaps you can split it up into distinct groups of work like starting with the costume items or purchasing boxes for your badge collections

Demonstrate your credibility…

…and the credibility of the people you are working with.

In addition to making sure a project is feasible our assessors will also look for projects that either meet or strive for best practice. This can mean hiring a professional conservator, historian or designer. This is a legitimate cost to put in your grant application however, like asking you to fully explain your project, don’t assume our assessors know the person you are proposing to consult with. Have your consultant provide you with their CV and attach it as a supporting document. The assessors will want to check that the consultant is qualified for the job.

Whether you are hiring a consultant or not (and it is certainly not a requirement) make sure your application demonstrates that you have investigated, and intend to follow, best practice. While assessors get excited when they see an innovative project, they still need to ensure that the results will be achieved to an appropriate standard. For example, scanning a photo at the right resolution or using archival standard materials. The Community Engagement team at the History Trust of South Australia is particularly good at making industry standards achievable and they would be delighted to support you in this task.

Budget horrors

Nobody likes preparing budgets, but a well-prepared budget is a good way to demonstrate you know what you’re talking about, and you have thought your project through. Seek quotes for any expenses and be clear about which expenses the grant will cover. Make sure your budget adds up and ask someone not associated with the project to double check it for you.

Consultation

Consultation with First Nations or other communities, where relevant, is an important part of any project. If your project needs consultation make sure you include a consultation plan in your application and factor in the need to pay people for their time and knowledge. If you are unsure if your project requires consultation, the Community Engagement team at the History Trust are happy to assist.

Support Acts

More and more we see the need for the History Network to band together to create a more dynamic and resilient history community. So why not think about this with your project? Think about partnership opportunities with other community heritage groups – could you ask a consultant to run a workshop? Is there space to include other attendees from nearby history groups? Are you wanting to digitise your collection, and could you collaborate with another group to share equipment?

Dot your i’s and cross your t’s

Don’t underestimate the benefit of having someone unconnected with your grant to read through your application. By the time you submit your grant you will have read it so many times you will no longer be able to see it clearly. A fresh set of eyes will be able to advise if its clear and more easily see the odd typo.

Don’t be afraid to shout

And by shout we mean reach out to the Community Engagement team at the History Trust of South Australia. All History Trust grants are assessed by external assessors which means we can help you with everything from framing your project through to checking your budget. We love nothing more than hearing what people in the South Australian History Network are up to and finding innovative ways to support you.

Just email us at Community@history.sa.gov.au

Each year the History Trust of South Australia awards grants that support the preservation and promotion of South Australian history. Our goal is to make important local South Australian stories accessible to all. One such project that we funded through our Museums and Collections (MaC) grant program was the conservation of Helena Dinsdale’s dress from the Bay Discovery Centre Collection.

Helena Dinsdale, known as Ellena, arrived in South Australia as a domestic servant in 1874 before marrying John Crimp. After John died Ellena married his cousin Edward Dinsdale which allowed her to keep her house and lifestyle. Ellena’s dress, which dates to the 1880s and was manufactured in Paris, passed to her brother and his family upon her death in 1935. Remarkably the dress was preserved by generations of Ellena’s family before finally being donated to the Bay Discovery Centre.

While the dress was in a fair condition for its age, some of the deterioration had meant that it was not safe to display. To undertake the essential conservation work recommended by textile conservators at Artlab Australia, the Bay Discovery Centre sought a MaC project grant. The awarding of this grant meant the dress could be stabilised and displayed for visitors to enjoy in the 2023 Sand Castles exhibition. Ellena’s dress came to us in a state of disrepair having been passed down through generations of women who modified the waist to suit and stored it in all sorts of locations. Despite its condition, we all immediately fell in love with the fine craftmanship of the piece and the way in which it brought Ellena to life in front of us. We are incredibly grateful to be able to access grant funding through the Museums and Collections program. The program makes projects like the stabilisation of Ellena’s dress possible for our small organisation, which ultimately allows us to care for the piece and ensure access for our community into the future.”

Julia Garnaut, Curator – History and Exhibitions, City of Holdfast Bay

If you would like to know more about our grants programs head over to our grants page Grants | History Trust of South Australia.

Ellena’s dress on display in Sand Castles exhibition

Each year the History Trust of South Australia supports the publication of history books through the South Australian History Fund. The books that are successful are those that increase our knowledge of South Australian history and make these fascinating stories accessible to all. The South Australian History fund strives to represent a diversity of voice and stories and the list of publications in 2024 continues this rich tradition. We are sharing just a few of them here. Happy reading!

Telling the story of South Australia’s favourite department store. This sumptuous publication by Paul Flavel features hundreds of rarely seen photographs and is the first book to chronicle the more than 130-year history of John Martin’s.

 

Drawn from Dorothy Campbell’s diaries Her Great Adventure: Dorothy ‘Puss’ Campbell WW2 Army Nursing Sister – is an account of Campbell’s war time experience as a nurse in the Australian Army Nursing Service. Enriched by Campbell’s own photography Scarfe details friendships made, sightseeing escapades and Campbell’s working life while serving in England, the Middle East and Papua New Guinea.

 

Harry Hodgetts is a figure who, until recently, had disappeared from the historical record. That is until former History, Australian Studies and Theory of Knowledge teacher John Davis came along. Davis has brought the story of Harry Hodgetts to life, his rise as a prominent Adelaide stockbroker, his commitment to sporting codes, education and the Royal Institute of the Blind, the role he played in bringing Don Bradman to South Australia and his eventual fall from grace that saw him incarcerated.

 

Stones of Fire is the autobiographical story of Minnie Berrington, thought to be the first female opal miner. Originally published in 1958 this work was republished in 2024 with a forward by Minnie’s grand-niece Rachel Berrington and introduction by Stuart Wattison. The re-release of Stones of Fire again allows the world to know the story of English immigrant Minnie Berrington who set off for Coober Pedy in search of Australian opal.

 

On the 19^th of July 1916 South Australian and Western Australian soldiers of the 32^nd Battalion took part in the unmitigated disaster that was the Battle of Fromelles. In A Veritable Hell Scrimgeour uses the words and reminisces of the Australian soldiers who took part in this offensive. From the home front Scrimgeour exposes the desperation of families searching and the anguish that comes from not knowing.

In September the Community Engagement team at the History Trust of South Australia was pleased to welcome the Burra History Group as its 100th Museums and Collections (MaC) member. Since 2019 the MaC program has been supporting communities to develop, care for and share the stories of their collections, which represent significant pieces of South Australia’s history. It is wonderful that after five years the network of MaC membership is growing and continuing to represent the diversity of community history organisations throughout our state.

Members of the Burra History Group at the Burra Railway Station

To mark this important milestone, representatives from the History Trust of South Australia journeyed to Burra to meet our new members. We were keen to learn about their collections, the South Australian stories they are custodians of, and the plans they have for the future of their organisation.

They took the team on a tour of the Burra Town Hall and Railway Station followed by the township itself. There was also a very special trip to the Burra Library to see the Ian Auhl collection. This significant collection is the record for the research produced by Auhl in his lifetime including The Story of The ‘Monster Mine’; The Burra Burra mine and its Townships 1845-1877.

It is an exciting time for Burra and its heritage, and it was a delight to see that the Burra History Group are just as passionate and committed to their history as the other MaC members in the network.

If you would like to know more about the MaC program and our members you can visit our website here: MaC Program | History Trust of South Australia

To learn more about the Burra History Group you visit their website: Burra History

History Trust of South Australia, Artlab Australia and South Australian Fire and Emergency Services win South Australian Resilient Australia Award

A South Australian Resilient Australia Government Award has recently been won by the History Trust of South Australia, Artlab Australia and South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission for the Strengthening Disaster Resilience Training for South Australian Community Museums project.

This project sought to improve disaster resilience within community museums in both metropolitan and regional areas. A training program developed by Artlab Australia and History Trust of South Australia and funded by SAFECOM was delivered to five Museums and Collections members. Hahndorf Academy, St Johns Ambulance Museum, Port Lincoln History Group, Axel Stenross Maritime Museum and Clare National Trust.

The disaster resilience training program equipped the participants and their museums with the essential skills needed to undertake disaster preparedness, risk assessments and emergency protocols. In addition, the project fostered collaboration between emergency management and emergency services stakeholders with cultural heritage organisations in South Australia.

The History Trust of South Australia would like to congratulate everyone involved in this important program and thank the community groups who got on board and made it a success.

The History Trust of South Australia is pleased to introduce Alice Beale our new Senior Curator – Community Engagement.

Alice has been associated with the South Australian GLAM sector for more than a decade in her role as Senior Collection Manager – Humanities and World Cultures at the South Australian Museum (SAM). In that time, she has managed major collection projects, developed, and participated in public programs and curated exhibitions. Prior to returning to South Australia Alice worked as a Curator in the Anthropology and Archaeology Department at the Western Australian Museum.

Some recent highlights from Alice’s work at SAM have been the 2020 Story Necklace exhibition, featuring a 50-metre necklace from Ikuntji Artists, and in 2022, she created a public program centred on conserving SAM’s tapa cloth collection in collaboration with Artlab Australia textile conservators, where the public could view the conservation work in the Pacific Cultures Gallery.

Alice has published widely on collection management practices and teaches collection management to post graduate students at the University of Adelaide. Additionally, Alice served on the Australian Museums and Galleries South Australian Branch committee for seven years.

Alice is passionate about collection care and making collections accessible in ways that benefit local communities and is excited to be supporting South Australian history organisations and community collections.

“I am thrilled to have Alice Beale join the curatorial team. She is a fantastically skilled and thorough curator and collection manager, who brings a fresh set of eyes and enthusiasm to our community programs, and I know she is excited to support history and museum projects across South Australia and also meet the communities that we serve through our grants and outreach programs.”

Dr Adam Paterson, Manager Curatorial.

Please join us in welcoming Alice to the South Australian History Network.