Word of MouthSpring 2016 No. 71
The state of the State Library A house on wheels Colour bar Boat and ship construction
Newsletter of the South Australian/ Northern Territory Association of Oral History Australia Inc. CONTENTS
1 President’s AGM Report 2015/2016 by June Edwards 4 treasurer’s Report 2015-2016 by Sally Stephenson 6 Member Profile Christeen Schoepf 7 like us on Facebook 8 the state of our State Library by Alison McDougall 9 northern Territory Archives Service online oral history search 10 Advanced Oral HIstory workshop 12 COLOUR BAR: Remembering and Forgetting Northern Territory Football, 1916 to 1955 by Matthew Stephen 15 ohA SA/NT’s 2016 Nominees for the History Council of South Australia’s Awards 17 oral History Workshop, 16 November 2016 18 A house on wheels by David Sweet 23 lizzie Russell Oral History Grant report by Pat Brooksby 24 lizzie Russell Oral History Grant Scheme 2016 24 ohA SA/NT Digital Recorder for Hire 25 oral History Project of Boat and Ship Construction in Port Adelaide Phase One 2013 by Sharon Holmes 26 the Boat Builders Port Adelaide Oral History Art Project Phase Two 2016 by Sharon Holmes 28 lAst Words
The objectives of Oral History Australia Inc.: To promote the practice and methods of oral history; to educate in the use of oral history methods; to encourage discussion on all aspects of oral history; and to foster the preservation of oral history records in Australia.
Committee: June Edwards (President), Madeleine Regan (Secretary), Sally Stephenson (Treasurer), Christeen Schoepf (Membership Secretary), Alison McDougall (WOM Editor), Catherine Murphy (Handbooks), Tonia Bradstreet (State Library), Karen George, Annmarie Reid, Peter Hackworth
Membership: 1 June 2016 to 31 May 2017. Individual $40; Institution $65; Household $55; Student/Unemployed/Pensioner $30
Editor: Alison McDougall Oral History Australia Inc (SA/NT Association) PO Box 3113, Unley, SA 5061 ISSN 0813-1392
Contributions to Word of Mouth should reach the Branch by 31 March 2017
The views expressed in Word of Mouth are not necessarily those of Oral History Australia (SA/NT Association) Inc.
Layout & cover design by David Smids, Wildfire Design, www.wildfiredesign.com.au
Cover: Clockwise from top left - former Labour MPs Chris Sumner and Anne Levy with Allison Murchie, centre; Brian Samuels, historian and heritage activist; Keith Conlon, centre, broadcaster and presenter of ‘Postcards’; Adelaide Day Centre members. Photographs: Alison Murchie Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 1
Mandy Paul and Louise Bird were kind hosts and Louise gave an excellent explanation of the themes President’s AGM of the exhibition and the decision-making behind its curation. Louise is an historian who specialises Report 2015/2016 in the history of the built environment. She is a PhD June Edwards candidate at UniSA and her thesis is a planning history that examines the provision of open spaces The AGM for Oral History Australia (SA/ in metropolitan Adelaide. Some of her past research NT) was held on 13August 2015 at the projects have included the gardens of Elsie Cornish, State Library of South Australia children’s playgrounds, the domestic architecture of Russell Ellis and Soldiers Memorial Gardens. The new committee Oral history excerpts were used in the exhibition President: June Edwards including those from Madeleine Regan’s Italian Treasurer: Sally Stephenson market gardeners project. Louise also interviewed Secretary: Madeleine Regan two market gardeners from Virginia and is keen Membership secretary: Christeen Schoepf. for someone to capture the history of Vietnamese (Leeston McNab retired from this position) market gardeners in South Australia.
Committee members: A guide to oral history: A resource for history Tonia Eldridge (Bradstreet) – SLSA groups in South Australia and the Northern Karen George Territory Peter Hackworth The Guide was finalised and is on the SA/NT website Alison McDougall on the publications page. John Mannion Thanks to all members of the committee for their Catherine Murphy efforts in finalising this useful guide.
OHA National Committee Meeting with the new Director of History SA David Sweet continues as National Secretary and A very positive meeting was held with the new Chief Sue Anderson President so still a South Australian Executive Officer at History SA, Greg Mackie, to concern which is wonderful. introduce Sue Anderson President of OHA as well as members of the local committee and explore Life Membership possibilities for future collaboration. Allison Murchie was made a life member of the OHA SA/NT, a well-deserved nomination which pleased Nominations for SA History Council Awards 2016 us all. OHA SA/NT nominated Karen George for the SA Historian of the year and Rob Linn for the Life Long Presentation History Achievement awards, both hardworking and Liz Harfull, award winning journalist, author and committed oral historians. Churchill Fellow gave a talk about the different methods she has used to research, interview her Lizzie Russell Grant Scheme subjects and write her books, The Blue Ribbon There were a few enquiries about the grant but no Cookbook, Women of the Land and Almost an Island: applications were forthcoming so no grants were the story of Robe. given out this year.
The presentation provided a great insight into the Social media process of recording the history of a community I asked for a volunteer to manage social media for and place from the perspective of a journalist. It was OHA SA/NT but met with no response so the issue informative, engaging and practical and well received will remain on the agenda. by those present. Word of Mouth indexing Visit to the Migration Museum exhibition Losing Allison Murchie updated the index to the Word of the Plot: food gardening in South Australia. Mouth newsletters which was a time consuming job. On 25 February a dozen of us visited the Migration The index will be included on our website with the Museum to view their exhibition, ‘Losing the plot: example issues of WOM. food gardening in South Australia’, which was Many thanks to Allison for her efforts, and to Alison curated by Louise Bird. McDougall for her oversight of this project. 2 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
OHA SA/NT website in addition to the price of the handbook. Sally Stephenson needs thanks for her Membership contribution to updating the website and Christeen Schoepf has taken on her role as suggestions for better management of the site. membership officer with enthusiasm and has made David Smids has provided advice and has worked efforts to encourage people to join in country areas. on updating the site after problems arose with the The membership renewals for 2016 are still coming section that includes the interviews. He is now in. Many thanks to Christeen for her efforts. working on finalising the glitches. Many thanks to Dave for his ongoing commitment to OHA SA/NT. Secretarial Thanks to Catherine Murphy for monitoring the Many thanks must go to Madeleine for her OHA SA/NT email enquiries on the website. excellent work as secretary. She continues with her systematic approach to our operations Planning for 2016/17: so that the committee runs smoothly. Sally Stephenson prepared three papers on the current financial status of the Association, Word of Mouth future workshops and the recording Alison McDougall produced two excellent issues of equipment managed by the Association. Word of Mouth which received excellent praise. Many After discussion the committee agreed: thanks to Alison for her creative work as editor. • to increase the cost of hiring the Fostex recorder to $35.00 per week and $100.00 per month; a As postage costs are increasing the committee student fee will be negotiable; and there is a need agreed that next year the Association needs for advertising the recorder more widely. to look at publishing future issues of WoM • to run the following workshops: as a pdf and eventually provide access via a 2016: ‘How to do oral workshop’, on 16th members’ page on the website. Hard copies November An advanced workshop on 27 October, will be posted to those without email. ‘Create audio and visual presentations with your oral history recordings’, which has been organised Workshops by Sally Stephenson and Peter Hackworth. Fifteen people attended the How to do oral 2017: Two ‘How to do oral history’ workshops history workshop in November 2015 from diverse Two advanced workshops: Running community backgrounds such as Tea Tree Gully Library and oral history projects including the use of the circus (Cirkidz). Karen ran a lively session photographs for oral history and a master class and her updated workshop powerpoint was in the afternoon for participants to discuss their a great success. Also we said a sad farewell to projects. Use of video and oral history. Silver Moon who ran her last digital recorder • to new costs for workshops: workshop for the Association before she, Shirley, How to do oral history’ workshops will two dogs and one cat drove to Tasmania. cost $75.00 and $50.00 for concession from the November workshop this year. Six people attended the workshop in History month Advanced workshops will cost in May 2016 which was smaller than in previous $90.00 and $60.00 concession. years but it made for a more personal event. Peter Kolomitsev ran the digital recorder session and he Committee activities: produced a new guide – The Five Golden Rules for Financial matters Perfect Oral History Recordings. His presentation Sally Stephenson continues to be an was a lot more hands-on and very well received. excellent financial manager which is much appreciated. The Treasurer’s report will be Many thanks to Karen for her efforts in presented separately. Many thanks. running these useful workshops.
Handbooks State Library of South Australia Catherine Murphy has continued to manage Many thanks to Tonia for her support especially the handbook orders from Kangaroo Island with workshops as the OHA SA/NT benefits greatly which the OHA greatly appreciates. Although from its relationship with the State Library. sales have slowed slightly this financial year they still keep Catherine busy. Country contributions As postage costs have risen this cost is now Thanks to Christeen, John and Peter for their ongoing support of the committee, Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 3 their excellent ideas and contributions Presentation – guest speaker, Emma to workshops and membership. Beech, creator and performer Digital recorder. Members enjoyed Emma’s presentation on artistic Catherine Manning continues to manage the perspective on oral history. She spoke about organisation’s digital recorder and there have her work with the Australian Bureau of Worthiness, been a few more people borrowing it this year. through which she creates residency-made It is good of Catherine to manage this aspect performance works. The Bureau was recently for OHA SA/NT on top of her busy job. featured in the 50 Creatives Exhibition celebrating the contribution of Flinders University Thanks to the whole of the committee for to enriching the cultural life of South Australia. their continued good work which benefits the oral history profession in South Emma outlined the range of work she undertakes Australia and the Northern Territory. with collaborators that include installation theatre companies Carte Blanche and Group 38, Update from the AGM, 7 August 2016 in Denmark, and Last Tuesday Society, Real John Mannion has tended his resignation from TV, Patch, Monkey Baa, Playwriting Australia, the Committee and we thank him sincerely for all Open Space Contemporary Arts and his contributions and wish him all the best with Vitalstatistix, in Australia. his future ventures. All other Office Bearers and Committee are continuing for the coming year.
Emma Beech Photograph: David Sweet, 2016 Some members of the OHA SA/NT Committee. Front (L-R) Annmarie Reid, Christeen Schoepf, She explained the processes involved in developing June Edwards; Back (L-R) Alison McDougall, Sally a forthcoming show, ‘Life is short and long’ Stephenson, Madeleine Regan that will feature stories about people in Barcelona, Photograph: David Sweet, 2016 Wirrabara and Port Adelaide. OHA SA/NT members might be interested to attend a performance in October this year.
Emma’s wonderful presentation inspired lots of questions from those present.
For more information about Emma: http://www.emmabeech.com/home/ 4 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
Treasurer’s Report 2015-2016 After a challenging financial year, Oral History Workshops Australia SA/NT has once again ended the year on This year the Association ran two introductory a sound financial footing, with a modest profit of $2 workshops in Adelaide and no advanced workshops. 385. Disappointingly, the number of people attending the workshops was less than in previous years, and net Overall, income decreased by $1 486 compared income from workshops was only $846, the smallest with the previous year, and expenses decreased by amount for at least the last five years. The committee a similar amount, $1 609, although there remains is discussing ways to promote the workshops more an outstanding payment of approximately $800 for widely to ensure better attendance, and to develop a national capitation. series of new advanced workshops to attract a wider range of participants. Membership Membership income continued a worrying trend, Bank accounts decreasing a further 22% from last year’s already In spite of a reduction in interest rates, the reduced membership income. To put this in context, Association’s accounts still produced an income of the income of $1 975 covered approximately 80% $214 in interest. of the cost of producing the members’ newsletter, Word Of Mouth. Other This category includes the cost of auditing the Word of Mouth publication accounts, new memory cards for the Association’s Two issues of Word of Mouth were produced this Fostex recorder, and website costs (including domain year, however $817 in production costs of one of name registration, website hosting, and website last year’s issues were invoiced this financial year. maintenance). This year the Association awarded a Consequently, costs appear to have increased more Lizzie Russell Grant of $500 to the Parndana Soldier than is the case. The cost of posting the publication Settlement Museum, which is also included in the has however increased dramatically with the rise ‘Other’ category. in postage rates this year, and the committee has decided that future issues will only be produced Audit electronically. The financial statements have been audited by Frances Magill Financial Strategists and deemed to Oral History Handbook present a true and fair view of the revenue collected Handbook sales were roughly similar this year to and expenses paid by Oral History Australia SA/NT. last, but still down on sales two and three years ago. Nevertheless, the Association earned $4 494. Sally Stephenson Together with postage costs, it meant a net income Treasurer this year from Handbook sales of $3 784. The 28 July 2016 Association has until now not charged extra to post copies of the Handbook. However with the huge increase in postal charges, the committee has decided that an additional charge will be made to cover postage costs. This should cause a substantial improvement in net income from Handbook sales next financial year. Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 5
ORAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA (SA BRANCH) INC Receipts and Payments 1.6.15 - 31.05.16 GENERAL ACCOUNT Bank Balance as at 31 May 2015 15,957.88 plus cash at hand as at 31 May 2015 0.00 less unpresented cheques as at 31 May 2015 0.00 Cashbook balance as at 31 may 2015 15,957.88
RECEIPTS Membership 1,975.00 Handbooks 4,494.50 Newsletters 0.00 Workshops 1,978.00 Events 0.00 Bank Interest 214.45 Other 0.00 Hire Equipment 140.00 8,801.95
PAYMENTS Secretarial 267.80 Word of Mouth 3,213.09 Bank Charges 0.00 Events 37.62 Workshops 1,132.51 Capitation (National) 0.00 Handbooks (Royalties, Printing, Loans) 0.00 Handbooks Postage 710.99 Other 1,054.94 6,416.95
Opening Balance 15,957.88 Plus Receipts 8,801.95 Less Payments 6,416.95 Cash Book Balance 18,342.88 less cash at hand 0.00 plus unpresented cheques as at 31 May 2016 0.00 Bank Balance 18,342.88 Profit (loss) 2,385.00
ORAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA (SA BRANCH) INC Income and Expenses for past four financial years
GENERAL ACCOUNT 2015-2016 2014-2015 2013-2014 2012-2013 Opening cashbook balance 15,957.88 13,695.91 15,710.03 7,264.76
RECEIPTS Membership 1,975.00 2,540.00 2,694.00 2,602.55 Handbooks 4,494.50 4,853.00 5,28.00 5,303.00 Newsletters 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Workshops 1,978.00 2,426.00 2,270.00 3,290.00 Events 0.00 0.00 3,033.00 4,000 Bank Interest 214.45 308.59 209.16 0.00 Other 0.00 140.00 2.00 245.45 Hire Equipment 140.00 20.00 65.00 20.00 Total Receipts 8,801.95 10,287.59 13,701.16 15,461.00 PAYMENTS Secretarial 267.80 332.11 208.65 153.00 Word of Mouth 3,213,09 1,637.90 2,605.13 2,603.26 Bank Charges 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Events 37.62 33.92 5,377.55 0.00 Workshops 1,132.51 974.40 520.00 1,399.91 Capitation (National) 0.00 825.00 975.00 885.00 Handbooks (Royalties, 0.00 2,000.00 5,236.00 0.00 Printing, Loans) Handbooks Postage 710.99 270.73 262.95 833.66 Other 1,054.94 1,951.56 530.00 1,140.90 Total Payments 6,416.95 8,025.62 15,715.28 7,015.73 Cash Book Balance 18,342.88 15,957.88 13,695.91 15,710.03 Profit (loss) for the year 2,385.00 $2,261.97 -$2,014.12 $8,445.27 Profit (loss), adjusting for conference sponsorship $1,985.88 $4,445.27 received in 2012-2013 and spent in 2013-2014 6 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
Member Profile Christeen Schoepf Christeen is a Historical Archaeologist What does all of this have to do with oral history you who lives on the hills face of the southern might ask? As a Historical Archaeologist, I believe Flinders Ranges overlooking Spencer Gulf that it is the relationship that exists between people and the cities of Port Pirie and Whyalla. and objects – as designers and inventors, creators, While born in Adelaide, she grew up in Port Augusta users and discarders – that has in turn given these and has spent most of her adult life in the mid-north. same objects lives and life courses in the same She was the History Council of South Australia’s manner as people, and I now use the notion of object Emerging Historian of 2014 and speaks all over biography as my methodology in my wider research Australia and overseas on her work. Christeen has which has examined such things as cemeteries and been a member of OHA SA/NT for some years other funerary architecture and furniture, buildings and last year became Membership Secretary and landscapes, street signs, chairs, and some smaller more personal and discreet items. Object biography While working as the Project Manager of the Veteran is cross disciplinary and therefore makes use of any and Community Shed in Peterborough over a source that might allow more of the story to be told. decade ago, I met an amazing man (and OHA SA/ This is where oral history has been most useful. NT member), named John Mannion. He introduced Context is the one significant status that needs to me to his plethora of local history projects including be ascertained in any archaeological investigation Relaying their Tracks, a project that recorded the oral and oral history has been able to provide this for histories of some of the men who had worked on many of my studies. Oral history has given a voice the railways that had played such an integral part in to some of my objects such as the Mayoral Chair the success of the small town. One of the roles of the and the Cheer-Up Roll of Honor and put flesh on Shed was to assist with projects such as John’s, and their stories. Other people’s oral history projects so several of the members, including myself, began have given greater depth and added a further human to transcribe some of his recorded interviews. For element to other objects of the Cheer-Up Society. me, this began a journey that would see me become For example, those of Beth Robertson’s own Honours a part-time distance university student undertaking research have provided first hand narratives of the a Diploma in Local, Family and Applied History work of women who worked there and in contrast, (UNE), where I would study Oral History with Janis the emotions of some who did not. Madeleine Wilton, a woman who is a treasure of experience Reagan’s interview with Daynea Hill has added some and knowledge. Having a thirst for all things history, additional layers to the story with her recounting I then enrolled in a Bachelor of Archaeology and of her work for the society during the Second Paleo-anthropology where I would deviate into the World War. The Cheer-Up Hut is now a Travelling study of things that people had created, used and Roadshow and a vehicle through which the State left behind and the social and cultural behaviours of Government is collecting the stories of the South humanity. I then melded history and archaeology for Australian experience of the wars of the twentieth my honours degree that examined the life course of century through the Cheer-Up Hut Club. To date, the Mayoral Chair of Port Pirie, from an acorn, oak over one hundred stories have been recorded and tree and ship built in Stralsund that had travelled the there are still several more years of touring to come. world, only to end up burning in the harbour of Port Pirie, South Australia (see Word of Mouth, Autumn Later in the year, my book, A Home From Home, 2011, p.15). The ongoing project called ‘What the telling of the significant work of the Cheer-Up Chair has Heard’, will culminate in a web-based Society during the First World War will be available, history of Port Pirie as told by the Mayoral Chair and and ongoing research into the lives of the women some who have sat on it or worked in association recorded on the Cheer-Up Roll of Honor will be with the council. I am now coming to the end of my published during 2017. I am also working on the PhD which has used the objects that were created production of a book with the Wistow community by the Cheer-Up Society of South Australia during who have previously recorded oral histories of the First World War as sources to assist with the local people, many of whom descend from the reconstruction of the broader story and significant original settlers of the area. These interviews have war time contribution of these thousands of women. been valuable in the construction of a history of this small area of the Adelaide hills that many Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 7
Like us on Facebook people drive through but know little of. Some tell of pioneering stories, while others recall school days, land use, or the building of the Wistow Hall, which was built by the community and remains the focal point for all community events.
In my spare time I am active within the ex-service community and specifically volunteer with Legacy to support the war widows in my local area. I am a member of the Port Pirie District Family History Group and am currently the editor of the newsletter. This has further led to me representing the area on the History Council of South Australia. My membership of OHA SA/ Thanks to David Sweet we now have an OHA SA/NT NT has brought me new friends and experiences Facebook page. Do let us know if there is anything and in October I will be presenting a paper relevant, topical etc that David can upload. at the New Zealand Oral History conference in Christchurch reflecting on the oral history https://www.facebook.com/oralhistorysouthaustralia work of Beth Robertson and the contribution it has made to my own research. Thanks John!
Christeen at the Cheer Up Hut, Willunga, May 2015 Used with permission. 8 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
THE STATE OF OUR STATE LIBRARY compiled by Alison McDougall
Tammy Franks MLC and Robert Simms, centre, As most would now be aware, there have been supporting the State Library of South Australia and savage cuts made to the budget of the State its staff Photograph: Allison Murchie Library of South Australia which we believe will severely compromise how it can fulfil its function as our premier reference library. The There was a PSA rally in support of the State State Library has been a strong supporter of Library staff and library on Friday 2 September. oral history for many years, providing venues Those attending included members of staff and recording equipment, advice, and long from the SLSA, Tammy Franks (Greens) MLC term storage of the many valuable oral histories and former Senator for South Australia, Robert done by OHA SA/NT members and others. Simms, and members of the public who were And many of us have used its collections in representative of the wide range of people who our research. Instead of our usual report on value, use and need the services it provides. additions to the J.D. Somerville Collection, below are various items that have been in the On Wednesday 21 September, Tammy Franks MLC media, actions by politicians and importantly, presented a motion to the Legislative Council: actions that you can take in support. That this council— 1. Expresses support for the State Library and State Library of South Australia to shed 20 notes the unique cultural, historical, educational full time jobs due to ‘$6 million budget cut’ and social benefits that the State Library http://tiny.cc/budget-cuts brings to the state of South Australia; and 2. Notes that the proposed Weatherill Labor Our libraries need more, not less, money government cuts to the funding of the State http://tiny.cc/more-not-less Library of South Australia will result in job losses and the diminution of access to a wide collection Why the State Library has to make changes of services to a diverse range of communities. http://tiny.cc/SLSA-changes The full transcript of her accompanying speech may be found online at http://tiny.cc/SLSA-speech Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 9
Action: If you haven’t already done so, please sign the following petitions Minister for Arts Jack Snelling Northern Territory http://tiny.cc/stop-cuts Archives Service Your letters are important too. Please write to the following: online oral
Minister for the Arts – Hon. Jack Snelling history search Phone: 8463 6270 More than 2000 oral history interviews of Post: GPO Box 2555 Adelaide 5001 Territorians can now be searched online Email: [email protected] with computer and mobile devices.
Premier – Hon. Jay Weatherill Oral History Search allows for online searching Phone: 8463 3166 which formerly could only be done by visiting the Post: GPO Box 2343 Adelaide 5001 NTAS. Email: [email protected] Having the service available over the internet makes this unique collection available to a global audience. John Gardner – Opposition The Oral History Search allows advanced search spokesman for the Arts functions and has links to further information about Ph: 8365 4224 the interviews. Post: 163 Bernards Road, Rostrevor 5073 Email: [email protected] Oral history interviews in full can be accessed and listened to, through the Reading Rooms Alan Smith – Director of the State Library of the NTAS in Darwin and Alice Springs. Phone: 8207 7250 Post: State Library of South Australia Email [email protected], with your request. North Terrace Adelaide 5000 Email: [email protected] To access the new Oral History Search go to http://tiny.cc/nt-oh-search Advertiser – letters to the Editor Post: GPO Box 339, Adelaide 5001 For more information and help with using SMS: 0409 786 329 the online Oral History Search visit our Email: [email protected] website http://tiny.cc/nt-oh-search-help Phone: 8206 2767 Fax: 8206 3646 For more information about the Oral History Unit visit the Northern Territory Archives Service website http://tiny.cc/oral-history-unit
(Edited version of Media Release, Northern Territory Government, Department of the Arts and Museums, 25 August 2016) 10 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
ADVANCED ORAL HISTORY WORKSHOP Create audio and visual presentations with your oral history recordings
Are your oral history recordings sitting in an archive, not being used? Have you ever wanted to make use of the recordings for displays or presentations? If so, this workshop is for you. This hands-on workshop will teach you how to: use audio editing software to edit your interviews, create audio clips with added sound effects for use in a range of settings, such as displays in a community centre, library or museum, and use audio clips and photographs to create a visual presentation.
WHEN 27 October, 2016 10 am - 4 pm
WHERE Hetzel Lecture Theatre, Institute Building, State Library of SA, corner of Kintore Avenue and North Terrace, Adelaide
COST Non-members: $90 Members/students/concession card holders: $60 Workshop payments must be made in advance to secure your place. Please see website for payment options. Students in financial difficulty should approach the Association for possible financial assistance. Further information overleaf Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 11
ADVANCED ORAL HISTORY WORKSHOP Create audio and visual presentations with your oral history recordings
WHAT TO BRING Computer with Audacity and Powerpoint software installed. Audacity is free software for editing audio files. Please see the OHA SA/NT website for information about how to install Audacity on your computer. Audacity is available for Mac, Windows and Linux computers. Please let us know if you do not have Powerpoint software, and we will let you know of a free alternative. Headphones that plug in to your computer. Power cable for your computer. Audio file of an oral history interview, together with some photos relevant to the interview. Make sure these files are in a readily accessible folder on your computer. Participants may also choose to bring short video clips relevant to the interview, but these are not required. If possible, some sound effects relevant to the interview (e.g. sound of a train if the interview is with a train driver). Make sure these audio files are saved on your computer. Lunch. (Morning tea will be provided.) Two people from the same organisation attending the workshop may choose to work together on one computer. Please let us know if you will have difficulty accessing a computer for the workshop. We do not want you to miss out!
ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE Participants should be familiar with basic computer functions e.g. opening files, copying and pasting, and locating files on their computer.
THIS WORKSHOP IS SUITABLE FOR Members of community groups and history groups Local and community historians Students Anyone wanting to create a product with oral history interviews http://oralhistoryaustraliasant.org.au/ 12 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
always been a powerful catalyst for change and the Darwin oval was contested political terrain. The COLOUR BAR: oval became a ‘theatre of dreams’ where social, political and ideological battles were played out Remembering and weekly.3 These battles emphasised sport’s paradoxical nature by both connecting and disconnecting Forgetting Northern socio-cultural groups within Darwin. Football played a critical role in developing cross-cultural Territory Football, allegiances that forged a multi-racial identity that 1916 to 1955 is central to the Northern Territory identity today. by Matthew Stephen It is difficult to gauge how important football is to Northern Territory history. One measure would be to Oh, we played football, … But football those ask any Australian to name a Northern Territorian. days, was different football to what it is now. … My guess is that the reply would be a sportsman, and we played with a vengeance because it was the more than likely a footballer. Sean Gorman’s Legends; black man against the white man.... It was war The AFL Indigenous Team of the Century,includes when we got on that field.1 seven Territory players, Bill Dempsey, Maurice Rioli, Michael McLean, Michael Long, Daryl White, Val McGinness speaks of Darwin in the 1920s and Andrew McLeod and David Kantilla.4 What their 1930s when every game of football was a fight against profiles have in common is the importance of family racism and a fight for the right to play. It is a time and past and present, community and the opportunity place that few people know, a time when Darwin and football gave them to express themselves. the Northern Territory rarely entered the Australian consciousness. It is a story I think all Australian’s It is no coincidence that Northern Territory should know. Colour Bar explores the first 40 years footballers have been at the heart of the fight of Northern Territory football and why football is against ongoing racism in the sport. The image of such an important part of our social history. Here I Nicky Winmar raising his guernsey and pointing will briefly outline why Northern Territory football to his skin in a defiant gesture towards sections of history is important to Australian social history and Collingwood’s crowd who had racially vilified him some of the concepts that underpin Colour Bar. in 1994 is now one of Australia’s most recognisable sporting images. Many overlook Gilbert McAdam’s role in the game and his pact with Winmar in the face of racial abuse from Collingwood supporters that began prior to the game. ‘We have got to make a statement. We will show this mob ... we have to make them quiet’. McAdam, who was born in Alice Springs and had won a Magarey medal with Central Districts in the South Australian National Football League in 1989, kicked five goals in a best on ground performance. It was St Kilda’s first win at Victoria Park in twenty years. McAdam likened Winmar’s gesture to Tommie Smith’s black Robyn Aitken and her daughter, Georga, with power salute at the 1968 Olympics, ‘We are black Matthew Stephen at the launch of Colour Bar. and we are proud of being black’.5 In an act of Photograph: History Society of the Northern reconciliation the event was the catalyst for the Territory, 2015. first Aboriginal All-Star game in Darwin in 1994. Australian Football, AFL, or football as I will call it, evokes passions like no other sport in Darwin In 1995, racism in football was again brought into and the Northern Territory. Darwin and the focus when Michael Long took a complaint of racial Northern Territory is not alone in its passion for abuse against Collingwood’s Damien Monkhurst to football. Football in its many forms is played the the AFL administration. The resultant public debate world over and wherever it is played it is the site forced the AFL to introduce a racial vilification rule. of struggle. The values invested in it, why it is Greg Gardiner argues that the AFL’s codification played, who plays it and who controls it, reveals a of racial vilification rules is an important marker great deal about society.2 In Darwin’s multi-racial in Australian race relations and ‘In speaking back community, sport, and in particular football, has they [Aboriginal footballers] have therefore created Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 13 a contested space, and this arena of contest relates Darwin’s Esplanade oval and other football grounds to and feeds into a broader contest of ideas about were sites of continuous social contest, memory country and history, identity and ownership.’6 and meaning.8 Regardless of any documentary McAdam and Long’s actions are recent examples evidence that I uncovered it became obvious that of the continuing fight for rights that began in it made no difference to local people’s unshakable Darwin in 1916. Colour Bar explores the foundations faith that they already knew the history of the upon which this continuing legacy is built and why game and would be forever deeply suspicious Territory footballers are so often at the forefront. of someone like myself who thought that there may be multiple versions of history. Throughout Oral history is at the heart of understanding Colour Bar I returned to the theme of the ‘often Northern Territory football. It is almost impossible told story’, the oral histories commonly told and to interview someone about their experiences repeated about football in Darwin and the Northern in the Northern Territory between World War Territory. It is only when these stories are placed in Two to Cyclone Tracy without football featuring context that the ‘untold story’, the stories that have in some way. Northern Territory football is rare been forgotten can be told and a more complete, when compared to other Australian states in that and I believe, richer history can be revealed. its history has been created and sustained by oral testimony not written history. Stories have been told Darwin is unique when compared with other and retold, passed down through families and clubs Australian capitals in that its physical heritage and with only occasional attempts to document them. archival record have experienced two catastrophic events: World War Two and Cyclone Tracy. There are five distinct periods in the Northern Consequently significant segments of the historical Territory’s football history between 1916 and record have been completely destroyed, severely 1955. The origins of football in World War One to damaged, dispersed or greatly diminished. In 1926, the 1926/27 to 1929/30 Colour Bar, the post addition to the archival record being disrupted Colour Bar reconciliation to 1939, World War Two the physical sites of Darwin’s heritage have and the post-World War Two period to 1955. experienced change and transformation beyond any other Australian capital city. Although there While all of these periods have their own dynamic are a scattering of colonial and pre-World War space does not allow even a brief summary of them Two heritage buildings, the physical landscape of here. The pivotal period is the 1926/27 to 1929/30 Darwin has undergone enormous change. Such Colour Bar when Aboriginal and other ‘Coloured’ change places greater emphasis on the records footballers of mixed race backgrounds were expelled that remain and perhaps, most interestingly, from the Northern Territory Football League. creates a space where oral history and the It is the most controversial period in Northern community’s social memory, take on a greater Territory Football history. Racial prejudice and role and significance than it might elsewhere. politics resulted in the disruption of three Darwin football seasons. The Northern Australian Football In writing Colour Bar it became apparent that oral League, which administered the game, rewrote its histories about football were not so much about what constitution to exclude non-European players. The happened but why football was, and remains, so controversy split the Darwin community and pitted important. At first this was somewhat disconcerting Whites against ‘Coloured’, locals against outsiders, because oral history accounts often diverged from, and Silvertails against workers. When it ended or contradicted, the documentary record but as in late 1929 it was really only a cease fire because the layers were peeled back this became so much the racism and discrimination did not. This only more interesting than the events themselves. As the ended in the 1950s when ‘Full-blood’ Aboriginals research progressed and the more I discussed my were finally admitted to Darwin football, but you findings with people in the community the greater will have to read Colour Bar for the full story. the obligation I felt to keep an open mind and create space for their stories. I was continually drawn into a Daniel Nathan’s concept of narrative physics is fascinating evidential confluence of archival sources, perfectly suited to the history of Northern Territory oral histories, memory, photography and storytelling. Football and the narrative framework for Colour Bar. Alessandro Portelli’s, The Death of Luigi Trastulli ‘the untold story tends to stay untold, whereas an and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral often told story tends to be repeated.’7 History, was an important in inspiration for Colour Bar. Portelli’s approach resonated with me because if you exchange ‘Luigi Trastulli’s 14 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 death’ with ‘Northern Territory football’ Endnotes we seem to follow a very similar path. 1 Val McGinness, Oral history interview,Tape 2, p.9. I was attracted to the stories of Luigi Trastulli’s 2 Vasili, The First Black Footballer, Arthur Wharton death because their imaginative errors expressed 1865–1930: An Absence of Memory, Frank Cass, the shared subjective dreams, desires, and myths of London, 1998, p.96. the narrators. But the first step I took when I began 3 Grant Farred, “‘Theatre of Dreams”: Mimicry and to study those stories was to check the archival and Difference in Cape Flats Township Football’, in printed records, and to attempt as faithful and Sport and Postcolonialism, (eds.) John Bale and minute a reconstruction as possible of what actually Mike Cronin, Berg, Oxford, 2003, p.125. happened. This reconstruction, however, was not an 4 Sean Gorman, Legends: The AFL Indigenous end in itself, but a step toward the reconstruction Team of the Century, Aboriginal Studies Press, of the subjective truths implicit in the tales and the Canberra, 2011. creative “errors” they contained.9 5 http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/ ex-st-kilda-player-gilbert-mcadam-details-ugly- My checking of the archival and historical record catalyst-to-nicky-winmars-victoria-park-afl- and the reconstruction of Northern Territory gesture/story-e6frf3e3-1226083 sport history took the form of a research database 6 Gardiner, Greg, ‘“Black” Bodies–“White” documenting Northern Territory sports and Codes: Indigenous Footballers, Racism and the leisure newspapers references from 1869 to 1955.10 Australian Football League’s Racial and Religious Begun in the pre-Trove era I documented every Vilification Code.’, inSport and Postcolonialism, name in every newspaper sports and leisure item I p. 43. could find.11 The database now has over 2 million 7 Daniel A. Nathan, Saying It's So: A Cultural entries.12 While I admit this reveals an obsessive History of the Black Sox Scandal, University of character, like Portelli, it was not an end in itself. Illinois Press Chicago, 2003, p.217. I simply had to know what the story was before 8 Ibid, p.221. I could begin to understand and interpret it. 9 Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral While Portelli’s method struck a chord with me History, State University of New York Press , so too did his assertion that the importance of Albany, p.ix. Luigi Trastulli’s death ‘lies, rather, in the fact that it 10 Matthew Stephen, Northern Territory Sport and became the ground upon which collective memory Leisure Research Database, 2014. and imagination built a cluster of tales, symbols, 11 The National Library of Australia search engine legends and imaginary reconstructions.’13 I became http://trove.nla.gov.au/ much more interested in why the stories of Northern 12 144631 individual records with 15 fields. Territory football were told rather than whether they 13 Portelli, Death of Luigi Trastulli, p.1. were accurate or not. It was the omissions, ambiguity and contradictions that became the fascination. Matthew Stephen has lived in Australia’s Northern Territory since 1987. Until 2001 he worked largely in For those with an interest in Northern Territory the field of Aboriginal tertiary education. Since 2007 history Colour Bar provides a new insight into he has been the Manager of the Northern Territory its social history and the racial dynamics of the Archives Service Oral History Unit. He completed early to mid-twentieth century. For those who his PhD at Darwin’s Charles Darwin University in know little of Northern Territory social history 2009. His thesis is entitled ‘Contact Zones: Sport Colour Bar will give you a taste of what makes the and Race in The Northern Territory, 1869–1953’. Territory what it is today. Throughout you will A revised version of his thesis with the same title hear the voices of those who lived this history. was published by Charles Darwin University Press in 2010. In 2011 he undertook museum studies in Colour Bar is available for $40.00 at the conservation of photographs and photographs http://www.historicalsocietynt.org.au/services.htm in the museum environment. Since January 2015 Matthew has split his time between the Northern Territory Archives Service and working as a freelance historian. He continues his research into Northern Territory history with a particular interest in oral history and photography and why some stories are ‘often told’ while others are ‘forgotten’. Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 15
OHA SA/NT’s 2016 Nominees for the History Council of South Australia’s Awards From 1993 to 2001 Karen worked as an Oral Historian for the Corporation of the City of Adelaide, making extensive use of their archives, interviewing a wide range of people connected to the City and producing a guide and index to the collection, City Memory (1999).
Since 1995 Karen has been the proprietor of Historically Speaking and has offered research, oral history and writing services to individuals, businesses, government agencies, institutions and organisations. Major projects have included the Loxton War Service Land Settlement Project (1995-1999) which resulted in her acclaimed book published by Wakefield Press, A Place of their own: the men and women of War Service Land Settlement at Loxton after World War II (1999); research and interviews with former staff of Balfours (2002-2003); research and development of a historical display for Diabetes SA (2002-2004); oral history interviews with the founders of the Professional Historians Association SA Inc. (2003-2004); consultant Dr Karen George receiving her acknowledgement historian and writer for the National Trust of South certificate from the Governor of South Australia, His Australia on the Loveday Interment Camp and for Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC records held at Collingrove Homestead, Angaston Photograph: Richard Venus (HCSA) (2008-2010); development of a museum-based multimedia touchscreen for the Mallee Tourism DR KAREN GEORGE and Heritage Centre, Pinnaroo about printing Nomination for 2016 South Australian processes and their printing equipment (2010). Historian of the Year Karen has undertaken numerous interviews for the Dr Karen George is a consultant historian who State Library of South Australia and the National has spent much of her working life bringing the Library under the auspices of their Eminent lives, issues and concerns of the disadvantaged, Australians Oral History Project, a nationwide Apple the forgotten and overlooked to public and Pear Oral History Project, Honoured Women’s attention and in doing so has provided much and Friends of the State Library Oral History recognition and support for these people, and projects, and other interviews as commissioned. never more so than in the past few years. Through working in a culturally sensitive manner, Karen has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours History) from Karen has established strong links with Indigenous the University Adelaide, a Master of Arts (History) Australians. She has undertaken archival research from the Australian National University and was and oral history for Native Title Claims and awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (History) from the worked with the National Library of Australia on University of Adelaide in 1994. She is a member of the Bringing Them Home Oral History Project the Professional Historians Association (SA) Inc, (1999-2002) which focussed on the separation and is a current and long term committee member of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and past president of Oral History Australia (SA/ from their families. She then went on to work for NT). For many years she has taught oral history SA Link-up (Nunkuwarrin Yunti of SA Inc) which and research practice and ethics for OHA (SA/ led to the development and writing of Finding NT) and other organisations, thus facilitating your own way: a guide to record of children’s and disseminating a high standard of practice homes in South Australia (2005) which in turn throughout communities and organisations. became the basis for the South Australian section 16 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 of the Find & Connect web resource. Over the past few years, she has again been engaged by Nunkuwarrin Yunti of SA and has undertaken 30 oral history interviews with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff with a view to writing the history of this Aboriginal Community Centre.
In 2005, Karen was appointed as Research Historian and writer for the Government of South Australia’s Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry. For three years she worked in this sensitive area within a multidisciplinary team, including Commissioner Ted Mullighan, providing archival research, writing and advice. Her experience in this area gave her deep insights into working with vulnerable people, and she was a much valued interviewer and contributor to the National Library’s Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants Oral History Project (2009-2012) which was set up as a result of recommendations in two Senate Community Affairs References Committee reports Lost Innocents: Righting the Record - Report on Child Migration Rob Linn (L) with Ian Doyle at a Rural Media (August 2001) and Forgotten Australians - A report presentation for his book, Sharing the good earth, on Australians who experienced institutional 2014 Used with permission or out-of-home care as children (August 2004). Karen became a Research Fellow (SA/NT: 2011- 2014) for the Find & Connect Web Resource ROB LINN developed by the Australian Catholic University Nomination for South Australian in conjunction with the EScholarhip Research Life-long History Achievement Award Centre, University of Melbourne. She worked in a cross disciplinary collaborative team, researching Rob Linn has been a Director of Historical and writing histories of Homes for children and Consultants Pty Ltd since 1984, a company the history of child welfare in SA/NT; locating and he established with his wife, Jane. describing archival and other records; working Rob has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Master with the Online Heritage Resource Management of Arts in History from the University of Adelaide. relational database; engaging and liaising with He has taught Australian History at Adelaide stakeholders and providing advocacy and support. University, Flinders University, the University of South Australia, and the Regency College of Karen has continued as a Consultant Research TAFE. He is a Visiting Research Fellow in the Officer/Historian in this field, exploring the role School of History and Politics, and the School of of genealogical research and family tracing in the Health Sciences at the University of Adelaide. process of healing for Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants (University of Melbourne: He is a member of the Professional Historians Routes to the Past – ARC Seeding Grant) and Association, Executive Councillor of the working with clients and staff of Relationships Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of Australia (SA)’s Elm Place and Link-Up SA. South Australia, and member of Oral History Australia, Rural Media South Australia and A recent significant achievement which highlights the Historical Society of South Australia. her commitment to and advocacy for those who Rob is a committed historian and oral historian and have not had a voice was her mentoring of and has published over 50 books, many articles, heritage assistance given to a Care Leaver in the development surveys and major reports relating to universities, of a Memorial for Children who have died while corporations, local government, state and federal in State Care. This moving Memorial was unveiled government agencies, and personal histories. He has at West Terrace Cemetery on 17 June, 2015. written the histories of many well-known and lesser Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 17 known companies and organisations: Yalumba Wine winemaking and marketing to the restaurant. Company, R.M. Williams, Sola Optical, Frontier Rob believes that history should be active, engaging Services, Adelaide Benevolent Society, the University and entertaining. His consultancy has created of Adelaide, National Library of Australia, Coopers exciting history trails, listening posts and signage Brewery, Mallee Family Care, the City of Adelaide, for cultural tourism projects. E-books, touchscreen the City of Victor Harbor, the City of Onkaparinga, technology, DVD and CD production and other Australian Society of CPAs, the Adelaide Club, interactive technologies are all part of his work. the Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of One feature of the work of the consultancy has South Australia, the Australian and New Zealand been the major sponsorship it has received for Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, projects. Nature’s Pilgrim: the Life and Journeys ABC Rural, and the Sisters of Mercy. In particular, of Captain S. A. White, Naturalist, Author and Rob is committed to exploring the history of Conservationist and the work on the S.A. White rural Australia and in 2014 he published Sharing Collection, particularly an exhibition at the South the good earth: 175 years of influence and vision: Australian Museum, for example, were funded by Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of South a grant from a New South Wales foundation. Frail Australia Incorporated which has met with high Flesh & Blood, the book which traced the health of acclaim. The publication was based on archives and South Australians from earliest times was funded by a large oral history project undertaken by Rob. a major grant administered by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Research Foundation. Both these projects Rob has won many literary awards. In 2001 have been successful in making the public aware his history of the University of Adelaide North of parts of the story of the nation which were Terrace Campus won the Mander Jones Award previously unknown or only partly researched. of the Australian Society of Archivists. He won the Australian Water Association Literary Award 2004 for Murray Water is Thicker than Blood: the stories of the families who made the River Murray’s locks and barrages. He won the National Book Council’s inaugural Lysbeth Cohen Award for biography for his Nature’s Pilgrim at the National Council’s 1990 Banjo awards. His Bungaree: Land, Oral History stock and people won the Family History of the Year award in 1993. The Judges’ commented: ‘This Workshop, is an outstanding work of family history … the reader’s attention is engrossed from beginning to 16 November 2016 end … As a record to be used by other historians, Workshops introduce participants to the practice Bungaree is again exemplary … The research has and methods of doing an oral history interview and been impeccable … this is a fine piece of history provide equipment training on digital recorders. and one which has been beautifully presented.’ Rob also saw that the large archive relating to Bungaree Time: 10am – 3.30pm station was transferred to the State Library of Venue: Anne and Basil Hetzel lecture theatre, South Australia to ensure its preservation. Institute Building, Rob is an interviewer for the National Library State Library of South Australia, of Australia's oral history program and has been cnr Kintore Ave and North Terrace, Adelaide. a consultant to ABC Radio National’s Social Cost: $75 per person per day or $50 for History Unit, the J.D.Somerville Oral History concession/pension/student/OHA member. Collection at the State Library of South Australia, Payment required in advance the Keith Murdoch Sound Archive and the Morning tea is provided but not lunch. Australian War Memorial. Rob undertook the largest oral history project of its type in the world Bookings are essential. for the Australian wine industry – 213 hours. For payment details and to book, go to Assisted by the National Wine Foundation and http://tiny.cc/oh-workshops the Winemakers Federation of Australia, the oral For further details, contact June Edwards history interviews captured all aspects of Australian OHA SA/NT via the above link wine in living memory – from cellar, through or phone the State Library on (08) 8207 7260 18 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
top of each other – the list of mistakes is almost endless. Furthermore, I did not write on the micro A house on wheels cassette at the time and did nothing with the voice by David Sweet recording or the information it contained. I have no recollection of playing it back in its entirety. I had all that photos and information till I moved and then it got lost. How much it cost for this and During the next twenty years I shifted houses a that, and a loaf of bread. I had all those photographs number of times, lived in Perth (WA) for eleven – I don’t know where they are now.1 years before returning to Adelaide, and my mother and two older sisters had died. Moving homes is Listening to this rather sorrowing comment from often an excuse to get rid of that accumulated junk an interview with my mother sent me on a quest and rubbish that was put aside in case it might be to see if the photographs she mentioned could be needed in the future. Similarly when someone dies found. I realised how much more valuable and their collections of ‘stuff’ are often relegated to the informative this recording would be if there were recycle bin. However, there is always that box, put photographs to support the narrative. Oral stories away, to search through later. I had a couple of these and those passed from generation to generation in boxes and whilst I was searching for something the family are described as explaining what people else I came across the old microcassette recorder did, their dreams, their beliefs and with the passage and a number of tapes. Without much thought, of time an understanding of their past.2 My parents’ I discarded it and the tapes. However, later that photographs from the historic trip, towing a ‘house evening I retrieved it from the rubbish bin and with on wheels’3, from Adelaide to Sydney in 1933, were, some new batteries I went through the tapes. Most according to my mother’s recollections, lost. were voice memos and nothing that interested me.
I grew up in a home that was a meeting place. My Then I discovered the recoding of my mother maternal grandmother lived with my parents so most from 1994 – I had completely forgotten about of her ten children and numerous grandchildren it. It is the only record of her voice in existence. were regular visitors. Also my parents were involved I listened intently and although the quality was with a number of community activities and that poor I felt that I was back in her lounge room brought more people in to our house. This was and she was sitting opposite me, telling stories in the 1950s when, in Adelaide, neighbours just like she so often did. However, it was the lament dropped in for a chat. Often my father with other I sensed from my mother’s voice as she spoke of ‘dads’ in the street would sit around our wooden lost photographs and the ‘house on wheels’ trip kitchen table and drink glasses of Southwark beer to Sydney in 1933 that caught my attention. poured from long-necked bottles and talk. Their stories kept me enthralled. I would bunker down on This tape recording brought back my own early the wood-box next to the old wood stove, hoping memories. Unfortunately as a child rummaging I would not be noticed and be sent off to bed, and through my parents’ photographs, or later as an listened to the big people chatter. One of those adult, I never saw any pictures or documents of stories that was often told, in varying forms, was this unique holiday. I could recall that, as a child, I my parents’ holiday with the house on wheels. As a tried to imagine how these caravans and cars may child, to hear about this epic journey to a mysterious have looked and being gripped by the stories of place called Sydney was riveting. According to my my parents’ and my eldest sister’s (Marie’s) unique parents this was the first time caravans had been experiences. In the tape recording my mother said: towed from Adelaide to the east coast and back. We travelled to Sydney, there were eight of us, six By the time I reached my mid-teens I had left home, adults and two children; Marie [my sister] was only some of those early visitors had died, others moved four years old then. The other family, the ‘Lamberts’, away and these stories I heard in my childhood had built two caravans. Dad (my father) he helped drifted to the recesses of my memory. In January Len with one of them and we drove across the Hay 1994 I purchased a Sony microcassette recorder to Plains. We wanted to see the new bridge.4 use for my employment. A few days later I visited my mother and on a whim decided to test my Some weeks after listening to my mother’s voice a new ‘toy’. I placed the recorder on a table between passing comment from my 93-year-old brother-in- us and we talked. However, I made almost every law (my sister, Marie’s husband) renewed my search. basic error in recording an interview possible – With a little luck and a number of phone calls, the ill prepared, background noise, talking over the stories I heard as a child were verified. In early 2014 Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 19 one photograph of that trip was found and my sister parents, Harold and Pearl Sweet, were friends of had written a phone number on the back of the print. the Lambert family and Len and my father had That led me to the only surviving member of that constructed our Californian bungalow home in journey with the ‘house on wheels’. More than eighty Tallala Terrace, Myrtle Bank in the mid-1920s. years after that adventure, Lois Clarke (née Lambert) The three families were planning a road trip to now lives in Canberra. In May 2014 Lois recalled: Sydney, to see the new harbour bridge that was then under construction. Sometime between 1931 I had my fifth birthday in Sydney and when we were and late 1932 the three men built a second house in Canberra we had a photo taken with the caravans on wheels. These two caravans were compact, in front of Parliament House.5 timber framed, clad in plywood and painted. Len
The two ‘houses on wheels’ in front of the former Lambert and his father were quite innovative and Parliament House, Canberra, April 1933. developed a mechanical means of winding the Used with permission. roof of the caravans up for living and down for travelling – a forerunner of today’s ‘pop tops’. This highlights one interesting and somewhat different example that demonstrates how families In March 1933 the six-week journey began. I and individuals have the opportunity to curate have not been able to establish the exact route their oral histories using family photographic they took, although it appears on the outward collections. Whether these collections are personal journey they travelled through the Riverland in or inherited they provide added value to their South Australia, in to western Victoria, along legacies and the family’s history. Lois sent me three the River Murray and to Wellington, New South photographs and an undated clipping from an Wales and then across the Hay Plains to Canberra. unnamed newspaper. These photographs corroborate The roads were unsealed, often no more than my parents’ narratives and the associated oral wagon tracks, rocky, sandy and when it rained history encapsulate the essence of family history almost impossible to traverse. Lois recalls10: and underline how easily that history can be lost.6 Lois’s only child, her son, is dead.7 Now through Often I remember me and Marie and our mothers fortuitous events, this slice of history will survive having to get out and walk up the hills. There were as a part of a photo-autoethnographic8 narrative. no real roads at times, just tracks.
Based on the short interview with my mother At night this small convoy would pull over on to the in 1994, my memory of the stories told when side of the road to camp. On average a good day of I was a child and then a telephone interview traveling was about 100 miles (160 km). There were with Lois Clark in 2014, following is my no caravan parks or places where amenities were understanding of this historic journey. provided. The only luxury, my mother recalled, was sleeping in a bed at night. All the cooking was done Len and Mary Lambert lived in Fisher Street over campfires, but the meals for the six adults and Fullarton. Len was a house-builder and manufacturer two children were often quite special and always – he also manufactured clotheslines (Toyne Hoists9) filling. Apparently the three wives had spent the similar to the iconic ‘Hills Hoists’. Len’s father, months before starting the journey making jams, Alex Lambert, built a house on wheels – what preserving fruit, pickles and any other foods that we now call a caravan – in the back yard of the they could store for the trip. Every possible space family home and took a number of trips around in the ‘caravans’ and the two vehicles was packed country South Australia in the late 1920s. My with preserved food and extra petrol and oil. There 20 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 was no refrigeration and using ice was not always thousand mile driving holiday. My father was a practicable as it melted quickly and replenishing green grocer and bookkeeper prior to the Second it was quite difficult. Fresh food was similarly a World War and he kept detailed records of all the problem and in each town they drove through they expenditure, food, entertainment, petrol and oil stopped and bought meat, vegetables and fruit. purchased throughout the trip. Unfortunately, as my mother stated in my interview with her, Mary (Lambert) and I did some shopping. They had all those records had been thrown out. a lot more money than we got. And then coming out of the shop, she picked up ten-shillings in the gutter. The photograph and newspaper clipping of the She was always lucky like that. And every town we convoy is interesting. While the actual location is went through, going through to Sydney, oh…there unknown, looking at it you can get a sense of the were crowds of people around. We were the first makeup of the rigs, or as one newspaper journalist caravan who ever went through. And people crowded called it, ‘road tram’.14 The caravans are quite small around to see these ‘houses on wheels’! We had to and the entrance to them was at the rear. However, wind them up and show them these caravans.11 the formality of the dress for travelling is significant.
Home made ‘caravans’ constructed by the Lambert family, towed to Sydney and return in 1933. L to R: Harold Sweet, Alex Lambert, Mary Lambert, Pearl Sweet, Nellie Lambert; Children, Lois Lambert, 5 years and Marie Sweet, 4 years. April 1933. Used with permission.
Both my parents also told stories of when they The men wore jackets and ties and the women, camped for a few nights at a nice spot, the three even the two young girls, wore hats. Similarly, men would go rabbiting. My father had steel rabbit for the three women, stockings were a must and traps and with the plague proportions of rabbits none of them wore slacks when they travelled almost ninety years ago, fresh ‘underground through towns. The two younger women, my mutton’12 for rabbit stew, baked rabbit, and roasted mother and Mary Lambert were always fashionably rabbit were regular meals. Lois celebrated her fifth attired and wore different outfits each day. birthday – April 6, 1933 – whilst on the trip and having a birthday cake is a special memory for her. When the group arrived in Sydney, the caravans She also recalls that when they got to Gundagai, were parked in the back yard of friends of my in New South Wales, the roads were so steep parents. Two particular memories that Lois spoke and rough that the smaller car, the Armstrong about were crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Siddeley struggled with the weight in the caravan: visiting the Zoo. At the zoo all she can remember of that visit was the monkeys, they made a significant At times we had to get out of the cars and walk when impression on her. It appears, Lois claims: ‘that we went up steep hills at Gundagai.13 when we crossed the bridge the toll was for each person, so us two girls (Marie and Lois) we hid The other vehicle driven in this trip was an on the back floor of the car and we were covered Italian manufactured soft-top tourer called a with a blanket.’ My mother claimed that the two Bianchi and it was probably manufactured in the caravans they were towing were the first to cross late 1920s. Apparently neither of the two cars the bridge. Whether this was correct is conjecture, had any mechanical problems during the two Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 21 but the media certainly found it newsworthy. The return trip was via Melbourne and the south east of South Australia. My mother referred to it as ‘a jolly When we got to Liverpool Road, and all the news good holiday’. However, travelling from Melbourne people were out, to meet us out there, I had all those to Mount Gambia when the convoy stopped for one photographs, but I don’t know where they are now. of the nights, the group went mushroom hunting And they photographed us in the caravan and on in the adjacent paddocks. While clambering over the steps. There was a great how do you do about a barbed-wire fence my mother cut her leg. it! Well they were new. They took lots of pictures; they were the first caravans to go through.15 The mushrooms, beautiful pink mushrooms, we travelled in pyjamas, pyjama suits. The This was not the only time that the media reported mushrooms … yea I got caught on the fence on on this trip. The copy of the undated and unknown my pyjama pants and hurt my leg. And anyway, newspaper article provided by Lois is another we had mushrooms and that. By the time I got link to the narrative of this journey. Thankfully, to Mount Gambier on the way home, I had a bad using the ‘Trove’ digitised newspaper records I leg. Dad had rubbed some liniment on it and I established that this photograph was published got dermatitis. By the time I got home, I couldn’t in the Wellington Times (NSW) on Monday 10 walk and I finished up in the Adelaide Hospital.16 April 1933, page 6. According to the caption accompanying the photographs, the roadside camp An oral history can never be taken in isolation. This was located between Sydney and Liverpool and narrative interlinks with other events, different by then they had been travelling for twelve days. memories and new stories, which have been told and retold in my family for more than eight decades. My mother’s admission to the Adelaide Hospital closes this epic journey, but it was the beginning of a life-long friendship with a young woman, Nancy Adams, who was a patient in the next bed. Nancy, or Aunty Nancy as I would come to call her, practised tasseomancy, the art of fortune telling with tea leaves.17 A decade later Nancy Adams read the tea leaves in my mother’s cup and announced my pending arrival – and that event was still four years in the future – another story for another time.
This copy of the newspaper article has been held by Lois Clark since 1933. 22 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
David has completed his PhD thesis and is awaiting Endnotes conferral later this year. He holds a degree in Mass 1 An extract from an interview I conducted with Communication and a Masters in Communications my mother, Pearl Sweet, aged 90, in January 1994. and has spent the past decade as a lecturer and tutor 2 Portelli, A., ‘What makes oral history at the University of South Australia. On leaving high different’,2006, p. 36, in R. Perks & A. Thomson school he spent three and a half years at the Police (eds), The Oral History Reader, vol. 2, Routledge, Academy, Fort Largs and then served as a Police London, pp. 32-42. Constable in South Australia. In the late 1960s he 3 An extract from an interview I conducted with joined the Royal Papuan New Guinea Constabulary my mother, Pearl Sweet, aged 90, in January 1994. returning to Adelaide in 1972. A change of career 4 Ibid saw David as a member of the Metropolitan Fire 5 Telephone interview with Lois Clark née Service for thirteen years, where he established the Lambert 24 April 2014. Service’s first medial liaison and public relations 6 Walmsley, J, ‘Life history interviews with people function. David spent the next twenty-five years with learning disabilities’, 2006, p. 193, in R. Perks working in corporate communication in public & A. Thomson (eds),The Oral History Reader, transport and energy, both in Adelaide and Perth. 2nd edn, Routledge, New York, pp. 184-197. He commenced his academic career at the Edith 7 Christopher Bridgeland grew up in Fullarton Cowan University (WA) in 1997. David is currently South Australia. He and I were childhood National Secretary of Oral History Australia. friends. As a young adult Christopher moved to Canberra. 8 Holman-Jones, S, Adams, TE & Ellis, C (eds), Handbook of autoethnography, Left Coast Press Inc, Walnut Creek, 2013. 9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Toyne 10 Telephone interview with Lois Clark née Lambert 24 April 2014 11 An extract from an interview I conducted with my mother, Pearl Sweet, aged 90, in January 1994. 12 Ibid 13 Telephone interview with Lois Clark née Lambert 24 April 2014. 14 Wellington Times (newspaper), 10 April, 1933, page 6. 15 An extract from an interview I conducted with my mother, Pearl Sweet, aged 90, in January 1994. 16 Ibid 17 Tasseomancy is accomplished by reading the shapes the dregs of the tealeaves have settled into at the bottom and the walls of the teacup, as cited in Ennis, H. & Hurley, F., Man with a camera: Frank Hurley overseas, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2002p. 313. Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 23
a large tree fell across the dozer he was driving and how he refused to allow the machine to be Lizzie Russell Oral driven by anyone else until a cage had been built around the driver. He was responsible for keeping History Grant report the machinery going to work the land but that Parndana Soldier Settlement day realised that safety had been neglected. Museum talks to its settlers by Pat Brooksby The interviewees are all keen to tell their version of a now familiar story but as we go on we realise The Parndana Soldier Settlement Museum was that each one has an angle of their own. The woman started in 2001 to tell the story of the young whose husband died in bed and she and her fourteen soldiers and their families who came to Kangaroo year old son took over the farm. The neighbour Island after World War Two. They cleared the who cut posts with an axe to sell to the scheme as mostly virgin scrub to establish their farms and fenceposts for the new farms; that money enabled communities. The town of Parndana was only set them to survive on their own farm. The ones I love up in 1956, some seven years after the first settlers hearing are those about setting up the community had moved into rows of tin huts that were rebuilt – building the local hall, the dances and balls from the Loveday prisoner of war camp buildings. that gave them a social outing and raised money About 40 families at a time lived in the camp as well. Even the ones who faced eviction when until they were allocated a farm and moved out, they could not meet the government department making way for the next family to move in to the demands were willing to explain that difficult time. system. In the last year we have realised how fragile our surviving settlers are (average age 90 plus) The next stage is to interview children of the and attempted to record some of their stories. settlers – some who are in their seventies – to hear their recollections of the scheme and also We received one of the Oral History grants and their view of the life they led in the 50s and are using that to interview settlers, those around 60s as their parents established their farms. the scheme and the children of settlers. So far two settlers’ wives, one neighbour and a mechanic in the So what will we do with all this? scheme have been videoed this year and fifteen were done last year. It all helps to build our knowledge of When the museum was first established a video was how the War Service Settlement Scheme operated put together from original photos and film footage. and how the various people contributed to its Our hope is to insert segments of the personal success. The neighbour spoke of the need to make stories within that video so that we add the voices do as many of the usual aspects of life in the 1950s and faces to what is a fairly dry presentation. We were absent. There was no telephone or electricity would continue to use the original short video and the settlers had to establish communities of as an introduction for tourists who have no idea their own in the sparely populated districts. The about the scheme but would have a longer, more mechanic told us how he had cheated death when personal version for sale. The video specialist who made the first video is keen to be involved again. I now need to document each video and to identify segments that can be used. I continue to be amazed at how articulate and cooperative the interviewees are and how moved I am by each session; but after all, it is also my story as both my parents, and those of my husband, were part of this amazing scheme.
Thelma Sugars, one of the original Soldier settlers in the Scheme on KI with her daughter Pat, and son Neville who has taken over the family farm Photograph: S. Sugars 24 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
Russian Ethnic Representative Council of South Australia update After requesting a variation in how the Lizzie Lizzie Russell Oral Russell Grant would be used, Madeleine Regan was commissioned to interview Dieter Hauptmann History Grant (a German balalaika maker and musician with a devotion to Russian music). She conducted the Scheme 2017 interview in March this year, and the interview This grant scheme aims to foster small oral history has been lodged in the J.D. Somerville Collection, initiatives in South Australia. Oral History Australia State Library of South Australia (OH 1114/1). South Australia/Northern Territory wishes to support, assist and help develop oral history projects There were no applications for this year’s in this State. The grant scheme is funded by sales of award, so do spread the word and think the Oral History Handbook by Beth M. Robertson. about whether you have a project that would benefit from this funding. We hope that the scheme fills a gap left by the closure of many federal and state funding options and helps revive an important means of recording South Australia’s history. We encourage all prospective oral historians to join our Association so that we can help fulfil these objectives.
Further information and an application form may be found at http://oralhistoryaustraliasant.org.au
Please submit by 30 June, 2017. If emailing submissions please send to the SA/NT Association’s email address [email protected] attention June Edwards.
OHA SA/NT Digital Recorder for Hire Members $35 per week and $100 per month. Non-members $45 per week and $125 per month. Hirers will be required to sign a form stating they will be fully responsible for the recorder while it is in their possession.
For more information go to: http://tiny.cc/equipment-hire Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 25
Oral History Project of Boat and Ship Construction in Port Adelaide Phase One 2013 Port of Adelaide National Trust Branch (PoANT), was successful in gaining a Community Heritage Grant and a Community Development Grant from the Port Adelaide Enfield Council to undertake an oral history project during 2013 about the boat and ship construction in Port Adelaide: A visit to the opposite bank: Stories of boat and ship construction in Port Adelaide, South Australia.
The boat building and repair yards of the Port Adelaide inner harbour are an important part of South Australia’s maritime history and heritage. Boatyards operated in this area from 1851 and by the 1860s there were at least six yards, all of Jetty, Searles Boatyard looking across to Hart’s Mill, which were family owned businesses. This was 2009 a pattern that was to remain largely unchanged Photograph: Sandra Elms throughout much of the twentieth century.
The workforce of the boatyards during the twentieth century was a multicultural one which led to productive relationships as well as occasionally confusion and conflict Portside( Messenger 8 September 2010). With the Newport Quays development, the boatyards were demolished McFarlane and Sons, demolished November 2008 prematurely. Before the demolition, many people Photograph: Sandra Elms visited the sheds to view the boat building 26 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 activities carried out there and experience the atmosphere of the working sheds. The project tells the story of the boatyards through The Boat Builders recording and publicly disseminating oral histories that focussed on several themes. Port Adelaide Oral
Hearing the voices and listening to the stories are History Art Project likely to be of interest to Australian communities because they incorporate themes relevant to Phase Two 2016 Australian historical narratives. As an island Earlier in 2016, Jane Marr (Arts and Cultural nation Australia’s history is inextricably linked to Development Officer, Port Adelaide Enfield maritime endeavour. The ship building and repair Council) contacted PoANT to find out if we yards situated around Australia were a crucial would be interested in an art project using aspect of the continued trade and colonisation of the oral history recordings for the History SA the continent. The boatyards at Port Adelaide were Festival. Our committee was very keen and I extremely important for their role in constructing volunteered to be part of the selection panel. The and servicing a range of vessels operating in inter- applications we received were outstanding but and intra-colonial industry and trade, including with a limited budget of $5000 (from the PAE fishing vessels, fleets of ketches and steam ships as Council), the panel could choose only one. well as recreational boats and yachts. They were also the site of repair of many international vessels. Therese Williams and Christopher Williams were commissioned to create several temporary The stories of the Port Adelaide boatyards public art works featuring video animations, have been explored and recorded by members inspired by oral histories recorded by PoANT, of PoANT, two Year 10 high school students of people associated with the boat-building from Le Fevre High School and June Edwards and fishing industries of Port Adelaide. and Madeleine Regan, who also conducted workshops and mentored the students. Sitting in the intimate mini-cinema in the Port Adelaide Library, watching the mesmerising The stories, drawn from the memories of many animations of boats being built and listening to the interviewees, are rich in the voices of the men telling history of Port Adelaide. They their stories of their work are informative, interesting, on the Port River was a humorous and nostalgic with memorable experience the voices evoking precious (I’m probably biased). memories of times past. Therese’s drawings come Lament for the busy, bustling, to life as the boats are lively days of the Port is created with such clever expressed but not forgotten strokes along with the as comparisons are made seamless recordings with here and now. We thank of several voices of the following interviewees the interviewees that for their time and their Christopher has edited stories: Alan Beswick, Neil so well. There were other Cormack, Kingsley Haskett, venues in Port Adelaide Donald Lucas, Andrew that presented this project McFarlane, Bryan Mellor, Bill including the South Porter, Daphne Robertson, Australian Maritime Wayne Rosenzweig Museum (SAMM). After and Lee Salvemini. the History Festival SA has finished, SAMM ‘Anyndah’ on the slip, Searles will continue to show Boatyard, 2009 this unique piece of Photograph: Sandra Elms our maritime history. Word of Mouth, Spring 2016 - 27
The stories of working life in the boatyards are of historic and cultural relevance to the local community because they were a major employer and a source of local identity and pride. The strength of community feeling about this industry and its role in Port Adelaide over the past 150 years extends beyond those men and women directly involved in the daily operations of the yards, to their family and friends. The relevance of the stories of the boatyards to the local community is demonstrated by the activities of local organisations and individuals. The stories associated with this industry remain an important part of the cultural heritage of the local community in Port Adelaide.
Sharon Holmes (on behalf of the PoANT)
Searles Boatyard, demolished June 2009 Photograph: Sandra Elms 28 - Word of Mouth, Spring 2016
Last Words In 2011 OHA SA/NT launched its 175 Oral (Lianne laughing) and er, so well I had to go History Web Gateway. In case you haven’t on pulling it up and it got it up to within about, visited it lately here is an excerpt. oh, I would think 10 to 15 feet from the surface and he came straight up and had Lianne Gould interviewed Bryan Wiseman in another go at it. And when I saw him October 2008 about his life as a professional coming, I just slid down the mast and sat fisherman at Cowell from the 1940s to the 1970s. down. (Mr. Wiseman and Lianne laugh) He had plenty of fishing and shark stories. Anyway, I got the anchor up and I headed for home and I, well I was about 5 miles To hear Bryan recount this and more out I suppose, and I got back into the entrance, go to our OHA SA/NT website well just inside the entrance when I http://tiny.cc/oh-interviews met Frank Stocker and Leon Jackson just going out fishing and I told them what had It may also be found in the J.D. Somerville Collection happened and, well, Stocker said to me, at the State Library of South Australia, OH 889/2 as soon as he saw me, he said, what’s wrong with you, you’re as white as a sheep? Mr. Wiseman: OOh, sharks! Yes, well, well (Lianne and Mr. Wiseman laugh). And I one day I went out and em, well Frank thought I would’ve got my colour back by Stocker had been to this ground and he’d then, but anyway, I said, well there’s a caught 450 pound of snapper, and I said to school out there but I said the sharks are too him, well, are you going out in the morning, good for me, so he said, what about the do a morning trip? And he said, no I three of us go back there again? Well, I wasn’t think I just about caught all that was there, very happy about it, but I did, but and so I said alright, well I’ll go. So I got up at I went back there again and the first fish I some ungodly hour and got out there at daylight hooked the shark took that. (Mr. Wiseman in the morning, and there was fish to and Lianne laugh) So we only caught 2 fish burn there, they were. But there were sharks between the three of us, and the sharks there too, and I’d lost 20 fish to catch got so bad that we gave it away, you just 11. I had 11 in my well, and I’d lost just couldn’t, couldn’t land one. And that was about all my gear, hooks and sinkers, they when the, obviously I didn’t know at the were breaking the lines and I was just standing time, but that was when the shark had there rigging a line when this shark opened his jaws on the bilge of my boat and came to the surface and started circling left 3 teeth, (Lianne laughing) that were, around the boat, and, next thing he went well they were virtually sticking through the around the boat and came in underneath planks. The planks were an inch thick, the well, and ohh, gave it a bump. And I and they’d just lifted the timber a bit on thought, oh yeah, he’s miscued a bit there, the inside, and broke it off level. so, he came out the other side and went around and came back and did the same Lianne: So when did you find that? thing again, and I thought, oh yeah, well I think it’s time to go Bryan, so I started the Mr. Wiseman: I didn’t find that until I put my motor up and just idled up on the anchor boat up on the bank to paint it and scrub and started pulling the anchor up and got the it (Lianne laughing) and that’s when I found anchor up about, aw, I reckon about 10 them, and I couldn’t believe, look I just feet off the bottom when he hit it the first time couldn’t believe it….. and I was standing there pulling it, and of course, nearly dived me over the bow Oral History Australia Inc South Australian/Northern Territory Association
Oral History Australia Inc is a non-profit body whose members practice and promote oral history. The aims of Oral History Australia [OHA] are:
• to promote the practice and methods of oral history • to educate in the use of oral history methods • to encourage discussions on all aspects of oral history • to foster the preservation of oral history records
The South Australian Association of OHA came to life just seven months after the national body was founded in Perth in July 1978.
Services provided by the volunteer committee of Oral History Australia to members of the SA/NT Association include:
• Word of Mouth Branch newsletter which is published twice a year and includes articles about work being done in South Australia • Annual Journal of Oral History Australia which contains papers given at the biennial conference or other papers considered of particular topical interest • Hire of Fostex digital recording equipment at a membership discount • Various publications including the Oral History Handbook by Beth Robertson which have a membership discount • Biennial conference of OHA which has a membership discount • Regular oral history training workshops. These full day workshops introduce participants to the practice and methods of oral history and provide equipment training on the Fostex digital recorders • Advanced oral history workshops covering a range of issues including ethics, memory and technological advances in the use of oral histories • Access to the annual OHA SA/NT Association grant scheme of $500 to help foster small oral history initiatives in South Australia and a free workshop • Access to the branch website: www.oralhistoryaustraliasant.org.au • Participation in events which often coincide with the AGM and Christmas eg tours of the Migration Museum and the State Library of South Australia focusing on the audio visual aspects of these organisations; a New Year get together over afternoon tea; talk by Peter Kolomitsev at the State Library on digital technology and equipment; seminars during the Family History Fair and History Week; and exhibitions during History Week