December 3, 2013
Fifty years ago a team of public servants endured freezing night time temperatures and water rations to accurately survey the southern Simpson Desert. An exhibition on at the Mortlock Library commemorates their journey. In July 1963 an eleven man survey team from the South Australian Department of Lands left Adelaide to undertake the first comprehensive […]
Keep readingNovember 11, 2013
The 2013 Community Heritage Grants have been announced and South Australian organisations have done very well, picking up almost $61,000 of the $425,684 allocated this year. The Community Heritage Grant program is administered through the National Library of Australia and provides grants to assist with the preservation of locally owned, but nationally significant collections that […]
Keep readingNovember 6, 2013
My first stop was Moonta National Trust museum where I met up with Linda, Ursula and Stephen to hear about some projects they’re thinking of and to see the new storage building. Created within a new large shed, so far a smaller shed has been built within it, lined and insulated, to provide a fairly […]
Keep readingOctober 25, 2013
You may wonder what this blog post is all about. But both dental floss and pool noodles are relatively cheap materials possibly lying around your house that could prove very useful when you’re caring for your collections. That’s what I learnt last week when I was in the Clare Valley with Artlab Australia conservators Anne […]
Keep readingOctober 16, 2013
21 community groups and individual authors and researchers have been granted funding through History SA’s annual South Australian History Fund (SAHF). Each year the SAHF supports a wide range of projects on a great diversity of historical topics. Topics included in grants this year include Aboriginal history in Campbelltown, politician Tom Price, mapping tuberculosis mortality […]
Keep readingOctober 9, 2013
City of Charles Sturt’s upgraded Pennington Gardens Reserve was officially launched yesterday (8 October). The park is dedicated to the thousands of migrants who passed through the Finsbury/Pennington Migrant Hostel which occupied 40 acres of land along Grand Junction Road, including this site, for nearly four decades until 1985. Former hostel residents, staff, and their […]
Keep readingOctober 9, 2013
History SA/Veterans SA’s travelling exhibition Bravest of the Brave, which tells the moving stories of the eight South Australians awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War, is now on the Yorke Peninsula for the first time. Trevor and Lyn Clerke from the Port Vincent RSL collected the display, affectionately known as BoB from […]
Keep readingOctober 3, 2013
South Australia is ready to get involved with the Australian Dress Register (ADR) following a workshop held at Ayers House Museum. On Friday 20 September an enthusiastic group of people met at Ayers House to find out about the ADR and how to include items from their collections on it. The Powerhouse Museum’s Lindie Ward […]
Keep readingSeptember 20, 2013
The voyage has just begun of the world’s only surviving purpose-built sailing ship and the oldest clipper ship to bring migrants from Europe to Australia, the City of Adelaide. It will end an extraordinary 14-year-campaign by the City of Adelaide Preservation Trust, a committed group of engineers, maritime historians, ship enthusiasts, descendants of the ship’s […]
Keep readingAugust 27, 2013
Recently I headed for the village of Prospect Hill in the Adelaide Hills, for a special plaque unveiling ceremony commemorating a unique historical event, near to the hearts of this small, close-knit community. Sunday 25 August marked the 170th anniversary of the discovery of the remains of young Scottish migrant Sarah McHarg in the dense […]
Keep readingAugust 23, 2013
History SA/Veterans SA’s travelling exhibition Bravest of the Brave, which tells the moving stories of the eight South Australians awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War, is now at Renmark Paringa Community & Civic Centre in the Riverland until 17 September. It is hosted by Renmark RSL and displayed in the Exhibition Room […]
Keep readingAugust 16, 2013
Last weekend, over a coffee and some welcome winter sun at the historic North Adelaide Lion Hotel, I took part in an informal repatriation of some of the earliest photographic images of named indigenous Australians. Copies of two photographs that have been in a UK collection for well over a century, depicting James Wanganeen, formerly […]
Keep readingJuly 31, 2013
I took a break from enquiries in the last week of the South Australian History Fund grant round and headed up to Port Pirie and Whyalla to visit three museums registered in the Community Museums Program. It’s been a few years since I last visited Port Pirie National Trust Museum in their lovely old railway […]
Keep readingJuly 23, 2013
I have recently been sent some images of the work in progress for Axel Stenross Maritime Museum’s new collection store. With space at a bit of a premium the museum devised an innovative way to make storage space – by creating a room in the walkway space between two buildings. So with lots of planning, […]
Keep readingJuly 5, 2013
It was a great pleasure to return to Port Lincoln recently during the About Time History Festival to attend a very special launch that saw a part solving of the Mission Photo mystery that had begun almost two years ago. To recap, I visited Mill Cottage Museum for the first time in November 2011 and […]
Keep readingJune 7, 2013
History SA/Veterans SA’s travelling exhibition Bravest of the Brave, which tells the moving stories of the eight South Australians awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War, is now at the City of Salisbury’s John Harvey Gallery until 3 July. Hosted by Salisbury RSL, the display was officially launched on Wednesday by the Mayor of […]
Keep readingJune 6, 2013
The South Australian History Fund (SAHF) is History SA’s annual grant fund supporting community groups to undertake small South Australian history projects. Funding up to $2,000 for projects, $3,000 for publications and $5,000 for research projects is available. In previous years the SAHF has funded oral history, archiving, digitisation, conservation and interpretation projects, along with […]
Keep readingMay 30, 2013
Fifty years ago, the PS Marion became a static museum in the Randell Dry Dock at Mannum cementing the small township as the birthplace of the paddle steamer in Australia. The Governor of South Australia, His Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce AC CSC RANR, and Mrs Scarce will be attending the 50th anniversary celebrations and […]
Keep readingMay 28, 2013
As part of the About Time South Australia’s History Festival program, Community History Programs hosted an information session on common pests affecting historical collections. What Bug is That? focused on identifying pests and simple ways to keep them at bay. Led by Anne Dineen, Senior Preventive Conservator from Artlab Australia, the information session looked at basic […]
Keep readingMay 28, 2013
Last weekend I attended the official handover ceremony at the South Australian Aviation Museum (SAAM) in Port Adelaide, of a retired F-111 jet bomber aircraft from the Australian Defence Department. It’s not every day that a museum receives such a significant item which literally dominates a collection. The 25 ton jet fighter with its iconic […]
Keep readingMay 27, 2013
The Australian Dress Register (ADR) is a collaborative online project initiated by the Powerhouse Museum to document significant and well provenanced men’s, women’s and children’s garments. The ADR was established in 2007 and was originally restricted to clothing relating to NSW. However, recently it has been opened up to include items of costume (dress) from […]
Keep readingMay 22, 2013
As part of the About Time History Festival I went to visit the Strathalbyn & District Heritage Centre who held a well-attended opening for their latest exhibition Industrial Old Strathalbyn. The event was part of the extensive 2013 About Time History Festival program. Once again the museum chose to work with designer Richard Browning to […]
Keep readingMay 9, 2013
Last week I was invited to be a part of the official opening party for the Gawler Museum’s new collection store and workroom. I think the turnout of about 70 people is testimony to the wide community support which the museum receives. I’d had a sneak peak a few weeks ago when the collection store and […]
Keep readingMay 8, 2013
History SA/Veterans SA’s travelling exhibition Bravest of the Brave, which tells the moving stories of the eight South Australians awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War, is now at the Vietnam Veterans’ Federation SA Branch’s Club Rooms in Warradale. Affectionately known as BOB, the exhibition consists of seven double-sided pop up banners and […]
Keep readingMay 7, 2013
A crowd of around 70 guests filled the Richardson Hall Woodchester on Monday 6 May for an evening film event held as part of the About Time History Festival. The night featured five short films produced as stage one of a two-year digital storytelling project to record some ‘lost’ aspects of history or to tell […]
Keep readingMay 7, 2013
The St John Ambulance Museum has now moved into its new home on the corner of Edmund Avenue and Rugby Street, Unley. It was officially opened on Sunday 5 May by Professor John Pearn, Priory Librarian St John Australia. Pearn is also the Emeritus, School of Medicine, University of Queensland and Senior Paediatrician of the […]
Keep readingMay 7, 2013
A week or so ago I was pleased to be invited back to Glenbarr, an historic property and museum at Strathalbyn, to help review the Friends of Glenbarr Inc’s strategic plan. The Friends of Glenbarr look after the day to day management of the extensive site, which is a popular group campsite and function venue, […]
Keep readingMay 2, 2013
In May 2013 Adelaide will host two events that showcase the Australian Memory of the World register, a UNESCO program that works to preserve and promote documentary heritage in Australia. Come along to a workshop led by Roslyn Russell, Chair of the International Advisory Committee of Memory of the World and find out what the […]
Keep readingApril 23, 2013
The recent news story posted on our website about Allison Reynolds’ search for the oldest Anzac biscuit recipe, resulted in many old cookbooks coming out of the kitchen drawer. Since then this Adelaide Hills’ culinary historian’s hunt has been radio broadcast on ABC891 and FIVEaa Adelaide as well as printed in the Advertiser and the Hills […]
Keep readingApril 23, 2013
Last week I was lucky to attend the second annual Museums Australia Victoria branch conference, held at the National Wool Museum in Geelong. I was most interested to see the museum, given that the theme is similar to the Sheep’s Back Museum at Naracoorte. The museum is divided into two main exhibition sections – one […]
Keep readingApril 3, 2013
The History Council of Australia has announced a call for nominations for the 2013 South Australian Historian of the Year Awards. These annual awards honour the achievements of South Australian historians. Three awards and an essay prize recognise individuals for outstanding research and scholarship and acknowledge their broader contribution through teaching, leadership, mentoring and community involvement. […]
Keep readingMarch 26, 2013
The South Australian Heritage Council, in partnership with Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) and the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at the University of South Australia are again holding the SA Heritage Heroes Awards in 2013. The SA Heritage Heroes 2013 Awards will recognise those individuals and groups who have made an outstanding contribution to […]
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