Taking to the Streets: The Great Strike of 1917

  ‘History is not a single story’, writes Larissa Behrendt in the recently published The Honest History Book, whose main aim is to counter what it sees as Anzackery or the inflation of the Anzac myth over other aspects of Australia’s past. Professional historians have much to contribute to uncovering the multitude of stories that … Read more

Sacrifice: Rayner Hoff and Anzac Day

  by Deborah Beck Exactly one hundred years ago, Rayner Hoff was in France, serving in the British Army in the Great War. Eighty years ago, in 1937, he died in Australia, aged 42, at the height of his career as a respected and accomplished sculptor. As the Anzac Commemoration Service takes place this year, … Read more

Introducing Tanya Evans, Director, Centre for Applied History, Macquarie University

  I teach Australian history and public history in the Department of Modern History at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia. In late 2016 I established a research Centre for Applied History in the Faculty of Arts with colleagues in Ancient History, Media, Culture and Communications and Geography and Planning.This Centre draws upon Macquarie University’s nationally … Read more

Five Minutes With…Rebecca Gross

  Rebecca is a historian of design. She works as a freelance writer specialising in architecture, design and history, preferably writing about all three together. What made you decide to pursue a career in history? I previously worked in marketing. After 12 years I needed a change. I didn’t know what that change looked like … Read more

Embracing ghosts? Local history, shared heritage and ‘dark tourism’

  by Peter Hobbins… “Where are the bodies buried?” For historians, who are not prone to excavation – or to desecrating graves – this seems an inappropriate question. Yet it’s one of the most common queries raised during the many public tours and talks that I’ve given on Sydney’s former Quarantine Station at North Head, near … Read more

Five minutes with Naomi Parry

  … a freelance historian, heritage consultant and editor who loves working on community histories. Naomi’s current area of interest is the life and milieu of Musquito, who was exiled from NSW in 1805 and hanged in Tasmania as a bushranger in 1825. What made you decide to pursue a career in history? I grew … Read more

Knitting as an historical – and activist – source

  Sue Castrique explains… Some of the surprising users of the National Library of Australia’s Trove are knitters. In 2012, Rose Holley at the NLA noticed that, while the most popular searches were for births, deaths, marriages and murders, there was a strong trend for knitting patterns. For a while, ‘knitting pattern’ and ‘knit + cast … Read more

Crown Street: Four History Lessons

  by Judith Godden … At last! After some four years’ delay, my history of Sydney’s baby factory, Crown Street Women’s Hospital, is out! Published by Allen & Unwin, Crown Street sheds light on Sydney’s social history as well as international issues in women’s health. It also has some lessons for today, though I normally … Read more

Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens: an historical source

  Ian Willis writes about Sydney’s central parklands… The Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens are some of the most important open spaces in Australia’s urban landscape. The 29 hectares of gardens are surrounded by 51 hectares of parkland including the Sydney Domain. They were officially recognised as a botanic garden in 1816, while only becoming … Read more

A hundred years of the US National Park Service

  Melbourne is abuzz in the lead-up to Christmas. The crowds are out in shops and eateries. Others have been watching 16 hours of Richard Wagner’s monumental Ring Cycle. This production by Neil Armfield accentuates the opera’s warnings about the adverse consequences, on relationships as well as on nature, of greed and material acquisition. Another … Read more