By Dr Katharine Blake, PHA Blog Editor Public history — history for the general public — is a ‘broad church.’ Diagrammatically it looks like a tree: with its roots in academic history, growing and branching out in many directions. It encompasses various styles; it caters to different audiences; and it’s created by different practitioners in … Read more
By Dr Katharine Blake In my first post as the new Blog Editor, I pay tribute to its former Editor, Francesca Beddie. Many of you know Francesca from her years in PHA NSW or because she’s now a member of the Committee. You may also have seen her at PHA gatherings, discovering a prospective guest … Read more
…by Francesca Beddie Whatever comes the way of the professional historian it’s important to stick to your principles. This was a recurring message during a forum, Challenging Histories, organised by PHA Victoria and Tasmania and held on 27 July at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart. The event was made particularly special by … Read more
by Patricia Curthoys… Your experience of large, multi-stream conferences can only ever be partial and peculiar to you. What follows was my experience of the 2019 AHA Conference, which began with the Green Stream (Australian and New Zealand Environment History Network) Keynote, #CoalMustFall: Revisiting Newcastle’s Coal Monument in the Anthropocene, given by Nancy Cushing, of … Read more
…by Minna Muhlen-Schulte In the Antipodes Christmas in July has become a mid-year winter tradition to indulge the food and booze we normally enjoy at the end of the year. What is the historical lineage behind turkeys, puddings, mince pies and mulled wine? In her new book Christmas Food and Feasting PHA NSW member Dr … Read more
… by Michael Bennett I really should have had a haircut! After being asked half way through last year to appear on the Casey Donovan episode of SBS’s Who Do You Think You Are, I naturally began thinking about how TV shows are made. I imagined rocking up to the set to be greeted by … Read more
…by Dr Marc Rerceretnam, principal researcher, Yesteryear Heritage Researchers The year 2019 is historically significant in Singapore. It marks the bicentenary of the founding of a modern trading outpost on the island. Although evidence of strong commercial activity goes back as far as the 14th century, by 1819 the island had reverted to a … Read more
…by Pauline Curby Rosemary Kerr’s long-awaited road trip book was launched at Gleebooks on Glebe Point Road on the evening of 17 May. Chaired with competent professionalism by friend and colleague Dr Emma Dortins, this launch marked the culmination of years of research and writing, leading to a PhD thesis and finally to this … Read more
…Ian Willis is preparing papers for two conferences: the 2019 Australian Historical Association conference and the 2019 Redefining Australia and New Zealand at the University of Warsaw Thousands of young single Australian-born women travelled to London and beyond from the mid-to-late 19th century. This pilgrimage, as historian Angela Woollacott has called it, was a … Read more
… by Francesca Beddie What could be more apt after the four years of WWI commemoration than the question posed at Professional Historians New Zealand’s fifth conference in its twenty-five-year history — After the war: what’s next? And the answer: well, yes, more war history but also more diversity in whose stories are told … Read more