Introducing Mark Dunn

  …the newly elected chair of the PHA NSW & ACT  What is your current position? As with so many of our members I am involved in a range of projects. I was privileged to  have been elected Chair of the PHA NSW& ACT at the last annual general meeting and am currently a member … Read more

Callan Park: compassion and conflict in the asylum

  … Virginia Macleod PHA (NSW & ACT) introduces a new book by Roslyn Burge, Callan Park: compassion and conflict in the asylum, Friends of Callan Park, Rozelle, 2015 When Professor Paula Hamilton, President of Oral History NSW launched this book in August she reflected on what Callan Park means: it is more than an assemblage of … Read more

Sydney’s sandstone heritage at risk

  …by Laila Ellmoos For almost 200 years, NSW has had a government-appointed architect to oversee the design and construction of public buildings in Sydney and across NSW. Emancipist convict Francis Howard Greenway was the first, appointed by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1816. Although later censured for his excessive spending on public works, Macquarie’s decision … Read more

Working with family historians

  … by Patricia Curthoys Between September 2012 and June 2013, I worked as a research officer for Dr Tanya Evans, of the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University. One outcome of that project is Tanya’s recently published monograph – Fractured Families: Life on the margins in colonial New South Wales … Read more

Fractured Families

  …Lisa Murray’s launch speech (17 June 2015)… Fractured Families: Life on the margins in colonial New South Wales by Tanya Evans was supported through the City of Sydney Council’s History Publication Sponsorship Program. Over the years, the program has helped authors and publishers bring to the public over a dozen books about Sydney’s history. … Read more

A Reflection on Two Museums

  by Katherine Knight … In the past three months, I have had the opportunity to reflect on two museum experiences. Memberships of the Australian Museum were family Christmas gifts this year, with the primary intention of introducing two little preschoolers to some of the wonders of science, nature and culture. The museum is Australia’s oldest, … Read more

Member profile: Jennifer Debenham

  Dr Jennifer Debenham is Senior Research Assistant, Centre for the History of Violence and Sessional Academic, History – School of Humanities and Social Science; and the English Language and Foundation Studies Program, University of Newcastle. Her current area of research is examining the ways in which Aboriginal Australians have been represented on documentary film … Read more

PUBLIC STATEMENT

  … in support of Adam Goodes by the Committee of PHA NSW & ACT Just a few days ago, members of the Professional Historians Association of NSW & ACT (PHA NSW & ACT) were warmly and generously welcomed to country by Sydney Indigenous woman Donna Ingram before we began our annual mid-winter awards and … Read more

2014 Public History Prize Winner: Nathan Fallon

  The Public History Prize was established in 2008 to encourage students enrolled in undergraduate history courses to research, write and present accessible and engaging histories, and to consider a career as a professional historian operating in the public history field. The 2014 Public History Prize was awarded to Nathan Fallon (centre), for his essay: … Read more

The PHA (NSW +ACT) celebrates its 30th year and has a pearler in the process

  Ian Hoskins reports on History in July… I suspect the dining room of 133 Macquarie Street, ‘History House’, saw rather more oysters than pearls during its years as the premises of the Reform Club hosting the colony’s Alpha Males (politicians, pastoralists and the occasional vice-regal type) – at least before the Club and probably … Read more