FNBAC June 2020 Newsletter
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FRIENDS OF THE NOEL BUTLIN ARCHIVES CENTRE INC. NEWSLETTER No. 46, June 2020 ISSN 1834-0555 Contents John Weaver, On Michael Saclier ……….p.2 and Bob Sharman. Michael directed the relocation of the and Acton Underhill Archives from the Coombs Building to Acton Underhill, FNBAC Officers & Committee Members 2020…p.2 updated its administrative arrangements, including the Bruce Scates, Report to FNBAC AGM ……….p.2 introduction of digital tools, and initiated the renaming Kathryn Dan, Noel Butlin Archives of the Archives in honour of Noel Butlin. Over his time Centre 2019 Annual Report ……….p.4 as Archives Officer, Michael oversaw the expansion of Debra Leigo, N380: Maritime the Archives’ holdings from 1,200 to 13,000 shelf Industry Australia Limited deposit ……….p.6 metres to accommodate records of the Australian trade John Myrtle, Raymond O’Dea and union movement and companies such as Dalgety, CSR the Journalists’ Work-Value Case ……….p.7 and Tooth & Co. Amidst these activities, Michael would routinely preside over genial and sometimes earnest discussions at morning and afternoon teas, enjoyed and appreciated by staff, readers and visitors to the Archives. Occasionally, when a member of staff brewed a particularly fine pot of coffee, Michael would pronounce, ‘Free her!’( or him, as the case may be). Associate Professor Bobbie Oliver (UWA) wrote to the Friends: I remember Michael well and the wonderful atmosphere at the archives at Acton Underhill. As a doctoral student in the latter 1980s, I felt very much at home and enjoyed times in the tearoom with staff and other scholars. It was a warm, welcoming and nicely informal place compared with other archives around the country (where there were locked doors, glass partitions etc). Professor John Weaver has also written a tribute to Michael, recalling the atmosphere Michael created at the Archives, which is printed below. Michael was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian Society of Archivists and was its first President from 1975 to 1977. He was respected by his staff, readers, depositors and his archival colleagues, who awarded him life membership of the ASA in recognition of his unique contribution to the profession. Michael Saclier in the manner of a big game hunter, packing Michael’s passing will be mourned by his colleagues, archives of the Builders Labourers’ Federation, Federal former staff and the users, friends and supporters of the Office, Melbourne, 1990. NBAC. We wish to convey our deepest sympathy and Dear Friends, condolences to his wife, Wendy, and family. Sadly, Michael Saclier, the longest serving NBAC A commemoration and celebration of Michael’s life Archives Officer, passed away on 3 April, aged 82, a will be held at a future date. casualty of the corona virus (COVID19). Ewan Maidment, Michael was the fourth NBAC Archives Officer, FNBAC Secretary 1972-1997, following Bruce Shields, John Joseph Jones Friends of the Noel Butlin Archives Centre Newsletter, June 2020 On Michael Saclier and Acton Underhill That first day at Acton Underhill altered my career John Weaver, Professor of History, and more. A decade later, McGill-Queen’s University Press published The Great Land Rush and the Making of McMaster University, Ontario, Canada the Modern World. Michael’s nudge, pride in holdings, In 1991, Michael and the cordial staff at Acton Underhill changed more than he or I could have imagined. A not only changed the course of my academic career but belated thank you. formed the happiest of memories. My initial goal in coming as a visiting scholar to ANU had been to study FNBAC Officers & Committee Members 2020 housing history, more precisely home ownership and The following officers and Committee members were mortgage finance, subjects that I had covered for elected at the AGM on 3 December 2019: Canada. Pat Troy hosted my visit of June-August, Patron: Professor Stuart Macintyre setting me up in the Research School of Social Sciences. Chair: Professor Bruce Scates One morning over the obligatory RSSS tea break, Pat Deputy Chair: Anne Piggott suggested that I investigate the holdings of Noel Butlin Secretary: Ewan Maidment Archives. My notes from that period remark that on 8 Treasurer: Maggie Shapley July ‘I shifted my research from the law library to the Committee members: John Myrtle, Carol McNally, ANU Archives of Business and Labour. I was met by a Colleen McEwen and Debra Leigo Helen C. [Creagh] who introduced me to a Michael S. Ex officio: Kathryn Dan (ANU Archivist) who described the extensive collection of urban and Public Officer: Colleen McEwen pastoral (very large) mortgage lending firms. The Conservation Fund Committee: – Associate Professor archives are in a spacious and weird location, Mark Wilson and Associate Professor Keturah Whitford, underground in a bunker-like former garage.’ both from the ANU College of Business and Economics, ‘9 July: Good material on land speculation in the ABL Colleen McEwen (Convenor), Maggie Shapley and bunker.’ Carol McNally. ‘10 July: Joan and I went for lunch in Queanbeyan with Many thanks are due to Eileen Boyldew and Shirley former McMaster Professor Hans Mol. Got back to the Sullivan who retired from the committee at the AGM ABL at 4:30 and took a ribbing from MS about the long after many years of committed support for the Friends. lunch.’ I thought that I was merely following local custom. Chairperson’s report to FNBAC AGM, Michael nudged me to spend time with the pastoral 3 December 2019 companies. I did. Something clicked and, aware of the Professor Bruce Scates Mabo decision, I began to think about land, property FNBAC Chairperson rights, native title, squatting, and colonization. The next year I pursued the colonization topic in Canadian The Chair’s report for 2018 noted that the ANU archives but returned to Acton Underhill in October- Archives faced a ‘difficult period of transition’, with November 1993 and plunged into the bank and ‘major change’ to the staff (including the retirement of bankruptcy records of the Melbourne boom and bust, University Archivist Maggie Shapley and long serving assisted by a fine Canberra research assistant Janine archivists, Margaret Avard and Christine Bryan). As Bush. Thanks to Michael, Maureen Purtell, Ewan 2019 draws to a close, it is apparent that the Archives Maidment, Pennie Pemberton and other staff members, I have dealt with the challenges of transition exceedingly had serious but also humorous educational sessions well. Kathryn Dan, Sarah Lethbridge and their during tea breaks and joined their Melbourne Cup pool colleagues have processed a large number of valuable where I learned the wisdom of backing the Irish horse. new acquisitions, the digitisation and conservation During that period, I was introduced to more Australian program has ensured the preservation and accessibility history by an energetic, clever, economic geographer, of key archival holdings and both the Archives’ Peter Griggs who was working on a history of the sugar exhibitions and its Reading Rooms have attracted high industry in Australia. We struck up a friendship that rates of visitation. Of particular note is the success of the continues. Peter’s magisterial Global History, Local Archives’ public outreach program, profiling the Innovation: The History of Cane Sugar in Australia, University’s outstanding holdings both within Canberra 1820-1995 is a model of business history informed by and beyond. This includes the showcasing of the Tooth the riches he discovered ‘in the countless boxes of CSR and Company material - Catherine Ziegler featuring on records from the tunnel.’ Coming to Canberra in the several radio interviews and preparing a special coldest months (where was the heating in Acton presentation for the ACT Heritage Festival in the former Underhill?), we were warmed by a cuppa and cordiality. Hotel Ainslie. In the following years, I would occasionally receive The FNBAC faced significant challenges of our own. an e-mail from Michael. ‘Where are you? How are you?’ We were deeply saddened by the loss of long time member and supporter, Elaine Eccleston in February. In 2 Friends of the Noel Butlin Archives Centre Newsletter, June 2020 October, Victor Isaacs, a stalwart member of our of the latter was especially appreciated, given that NAA committee, long serving Public Officer and a past is keeper of ‘The Palace Papers’, the subject of Jenny President of the Canberra Branch of the Australian Hocking’s spirited address. An account of the lecture is Society for the Study of Labour History, also passed included in the last newsletter (No 45, December 2019). away. In both cases, the Friends sent messages of Of particular note is the Archives and Friends success in consolation to friends and family. There was also attracting enough of an audience to match the venue, the considerable change in Committee Membership. On the capacious lecture theatre of the Australian Centre for retirement of Michael Piggott at the AGM in 2017, China in the World and that audience has been further Ewan Maidment capably took on the role of Chair. He extended by featuring the lecture on line. The publicity vacated this position when I was appointed Chair in campaign and informal communications worked well, December last year but has continued to serve on the aided by the Australian Society of Archivists, the executive, both as an energetic secretary and a mentor to Canberra Labour History Society, the Department of me in a very new role. I record my appreciation to Ewan History (CASS, ANU), the National Library of for all his encouragement and advice. I am equally Australia, the Australian War Memorial and the NAA. grateful to Anne Piggott, who took on the post of Having said that, the Theatre offered a far less ‘intimate’ Deputy Chair in February 2019 and who played a key space than previous venues and several attendees role during my absence (on University business) reported problems with the sound system.