CONTENTS

1 President’s Report by June Edwards 2 Additions to the OHAA SA/NT Web Gateway 2 Vale Maggie Ragless 3 Profile David Smids 4 Words & Silences 4 lizzie Russell Grant 4 for your diaries 4 Valmai Hankel and Parkinson’s SA Inc 4 iohA Conference 5 Jim Doyle – A Shearer’s Life by Allison Murchie 6 betty’s Life Stories Transcription Service 7 ohAA SA/NT Branch Advanced Workshop 8 news from the State Library of by Tonia Eldridge 9 ohAA(SA) Digital Recorder for Hire 9 northern Territory Archives Service Report by Matthew Stephen 10 nAtional Oral History Conference Report 14 the National Library Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants oral history project update by Dr Joanna Sassoon 15 Who are we now? by Catherine Manning 17 the Times They Are a Changin’ at Andamooka by John Mannion 19 is there more to textiles than stitching?’ by Alison McDougall 19 oral History Workshop 20 l Ast Words by Kay Lawrence

The Objectives of the OHAA: 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), Catherine Manning (Secretary/Membership Secretary), Sally Stephenson (Treasurer), Alison McDougall (WOM Editor), Catherine Murphy (Handbook Distribution), Madeleine Regan, Karen George, Tonia Eldridge (Oral History Program Coordinator, State Library of South Australia)

Membership: 1 June 2012 to 31 May 2013. Individual $40; Institution $65; Household $55; Student/Unemployed/Pensioner $30

Editor: Alison McDougall Oral History Association of Australia (South Australian Branch) Inc PO Box 3113, Unley, SA 5061 ISSN 0813-1392

Contributions to Word of Mouth should reach the Branch by 31 August 2012 Please send contributions (if possible) by email via www.ohaa-sa.com.au or on disc to The Editor,Word of Mouth, at the above address.

The views expressed inWord of Mouth are not necessarily those of the Oral History Association of Australia (South Australian Branch) Inc.

Layout & cover design by David Smids, Wildfire Design, www.wildfiredesign.com.au

Images from ’Who are we now’ exhibition, courtesy Catherine Manning, Migration Museum Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 1

organisations such as universities, the SA Aviation Museum, the Royal Hospital and the President’s Report Embroiderers Guild and one of our new members, Rodney McDonald. The other workshop was by June Edwards run in Andamooka for the Andamooka Progress Association. OHAA member, John Mannion, lives The South Australian/Northern Territory almost halfway to Andamooka, so agreed to run Branch has completed a few things the workshop [see p. 17 for his report]. He visited since the AGM last September. for two days and had an interesting time with the participants. He also did some interviews which AGM have been lodged in the SLSA so he used his time David Sweet gave a wonderful talk at the AGM well. The Andamooka Progress Association has about his work relating to his PhD which he is joined the OHAA, so welcome and thank you John. doing with the University of South Australia. David commenced his PhD at the School of 2013 OHAA/History SA conference Communication in July 2006 and is researching Pie I met with History SA and the University of South Floaters, Fritz and Shoe Boxes: The Photographic Australia to look at possible venues for the 2013 Legacy of Baby Boomer. His talk conference. Professor Alan Mayne confirmed that explored: how Australian Baby Boomers have been the University would be a sponsor for the conference represented in photographs, using photography in and provide the venue for the event. Both the recording their lives, the changes in photographic OHAA and History SA are very pleased with this technology, and a person’s photographic legacy. The support. Rooms have been booked at the City West study is investigating the relationships between the Campus of the university for the weekend of 21 photographic image, nostalgia and the reconstructed September 2013 for the joint OHAA/History SA memory as prompted by the photograph. conference. A few people have expressed interest Photograph albums were passed around and there in helpimg with the conference so if you have a was a good discussion of the use and importance burning desire to join us please let me know. of interviews in his study. The audience asked lots of questions so David made an impact with his Branch events significant research. The PhD is due to be finished • The committee had a planning meeting after this year so should make interesting reading. Christmas and organised: • a Branch talk – ‘Is there more to textiles than stitching?’ by Professor Kay Lawrence, UniSA, and Kristin Phillips, Artlab, for 28 March 2012 [see report p. 19]. • How to do oral history workshop at the SLSA on 12 April 2012. • Advanced workshop for About Time: South Australia’s History Festival 2012 on 31 May [see p. 7 for details]. • Advanced workshop for 16 August on ‘the power of memory’.

Financial matters David Sweet, OHAA (SA/NT) AGM. Sally Stephenson is proving to be a much more efficient treasurer than the previous office holder Peter Donovan brought along his recently published (ie me) and has changed our account to the book: Storm - An Australian country town and NAB as they do not charge fees for associations World War I, which came out of his research into which will save the Branch over $100 annually. his family’s history in Kapunda and was inspired by She also has assessed our fee structure and family photographs. So that was a good connection. highlighted that there have been no increases in the cost of the Oral History Handbook in over Workshops six years. Inflation and increased postage costs Two workshops were run in November 2011. Our have eaten into the profit the Association makes usual Adelaide workshop at the State Library of on this publication. Therefore from 1 July 2012 South Australia (SLSA) brought together another the cost of the handbook will increase to $28 keen group of people from a diverse range of for members and $35 for non-members which 2 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 includes postage. So if you need more copies it would be best to buy them before 1 July! The OHAA National Committee is also looking Additions to the at the costs of producing the OHAA Journal as these have risen and the postage is $3 per copy. An OHAA SA/NT electronic version was discussed so each branch committee has been asked to canvas the views of Web Gateway their members on whether they would prefer to The Web Gateway www.ohaa-sa.com.au/gateway( ) maintain a hard copy of the journal or would be was launched on 5 July 2011 as the Branch’s happy with an electronic copy. I think if you could let contribution to the SA 175th anniversary. It is me know via our website the intention of the Committee to keep this a http://ohaa-sa.com/contact-us/ dynamic resource and add two further interviews if you would be happy with an electronic each year. We are now inviting OHAA SA/NT version that would be simpler. The general members to submit proposals for further interviews feeling was that a hard copy version is preferred, for inclusion, from which two will be selected. so the national committee is looking also at Members are encouraged to look at the range of how to reduce printing and postage costs. interviews that are already online. The interview needs to be one hour in length and can be a single XVII International Oral History Conference, extract from a longer interview. An existing Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2012: transcript would be desirable, but not essential. Challenges of Oral History in the 21st Century: The Committee is also considering the feasibility Diversity, Inequality and Identity Construction. of larger numbers of interviews from individual projects undertaken by organisations being Congratulations to Christeen Schoepf who has accepted for a fee which would cover the cost had her paper accepted for the International of converting digital files, providing transcripts conference and will be off to Buenos Aires in and loading the interviews to the website in September. If you are going to Argentina as a form consistent with current examples. well and would like to connect with each other Please contact Madeleine Regan at please let me know. It should be great. [email protected] or via our website at My thanks to committee members Tonia Eldridge, www.ohaa-sa.com.au with queries or submissions. Karen George, Catherine Manning, Alison McDougall, Catherine Murphy, Madeleine Regan and Sally Stephenson who all have busy lives but continue to make time to ensure the OHAA branch is productive.

Change to OHAA SA Banking details Members are advised that the Branch is now banking with NAB as they have an Vale Maggie Ragless account which does not attracted charges. It is with great sadness that we advise members Our Direct Credit details are as follows: of the unexpected death of long time OHAA member, Maggie Ragless, in late March this Account name: Oral History Association year. Maggie, aged 59, was appointed the City of Australia (SA Branch) of Mitcham’s local history officer in 1986, a role BSB: 085 436 which earned her much respect and appreciation Account number: 12931 2048 across the community. She was named Mitcham’s Bank branch: NAB Stirling Citizen of the Year on Australia Day this year. Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 3

like in reality. Similarly I use my 3D CAD skills to rofile David Smids design and produce accurate P blueprints for the creation of custom showcases for exhibits.

I was born in the township of My involvement with the Oral Schiedam in the Netherlands. History Association began about ten years ago when I Schiedam was settled around 1230 was asked to revamp Word of on the banks of the Schie river. It Mouth and to develop a website. is a city with a colourful history. Since then the OHAA SA/NT website has undergone quite a It’s famous for the production of metamorphosis and I have also jenever (gin) and for the largest had the opportunity to develop windmill in the world which stands at 33 metres tall. other promotional materials for the Twenty windmills originally surrounded the town, Association. I was particularly pleased, however, now only five remain. These were used to grind the when I was approached to incorporate actual audio grain which is one of the main ingredients in jenever. onto the website for the Web Gateway. This is People born here are commonly referred to a ‘jenever something I always felt was a natural extension for an neusen’, which roughly translates to: ‘gin noses’. association promoting the practice of oral history.

This jenever neus, after meeting his Australian Coming up with different ways for audiences wife, Karen George, on a holiday in Canada to interact with exhibits, audio and video was a and trialing each other’s country for some time, logical next step. Being married to someone who decided to migrate to Australia mid 1998. Still has quite a few interviews to her name (Karen is proudly Dutch and a permanent resident of this a Consultant Historian and teaches oral history lovely country, I now call Australia home. workshops for the OHAA SA) and being a bit of a musician myself, I have always been very interested After relinquishing my position in an office supply in the way that audio can be used to illustrate a company in Vlaardingen – another lovely Dutch concept and convey a message. It can really capture town, best known for its herrings – I was forced people’s attention. The way in which people can be to reevaluate what I was going to do with my invited to interact with imagery, audio and video career here in Australia. After looking around for is an important element in the way information is some time I decided to go back to college to study perceived. Typeface on drab, laminated sheets of graphic design and advanced multimedia. In the A4 paper bluetacked to a wall is just not as effective courses I took, there was also a strong focus on as realising a visually engaging experience which the production of 3D animation – the kind we draws people into the information you are trying to all have become familiar with in movies ranging share. This can be done in a playful manner or with from Pixar kids flicks to certain trilogic affairs. a more corporate approach, but most importantly it should make people pause and it should kindle a Although I was fascinated by the exciting possibilities sense of wonder about the story that is being told. of this (at the time) emerging medium, I found myself wondering whether or not it would lead Recently I was involved in producing a series of to a viable way of making a living. So I decided touch screens for the Pinnaroo Letterpress Printing to focus more on graphic design and its wider Museum, a project I worked on with Karen. Using applications such as creating websites. For me the a variety of techniques, we were able to interweave goal of using of 3D can often be achieved just as excerpts from interviews, sounds of machinery, effectively through the use of other means, such still images and video footage to create a visual as clever video production, image manipulation representation of the history of printing. The touch and other post production techniques. screens also look at the art of printing, the detailed workings of some of the machinery on site and My background in 3D does often come into play the roles of various people involved in the printing in my work, such as when I’m trying to visualise process. These interactive screens were created an exhibition space. Creating virtual walkthroughs not only to preserve aspects of the art of printing, can greatly aid clients to get a clearer idea of what its techniques and processes, but also to record is possible and what a concept may end up looking and share memories of the industry and elicit an 4 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 understanding of the printer’s craft. This could not have been achieved without the involvement of one phenomenal guy by the name of Rob Wilson. Lizzie Russell Grant This grant scheme aims to foster small oral Rob was an encyclopaedia on the subject and history initiatives in South Australia. The one of the few men left who was able to share his OHAA (SA/NT Branch) wishes to support, knowledge and skill in an engaging and accessible assist and help develop oral history projects in way. Unfortunately Rob passed away at the end of South Australia and the Northern Territory. 2011, not long after the exhibit was opened. His The grant scheme is funded by sales of theOral wonderful guided tours are no more, but we hope History Handbook by Beth M. Robertson. that we have helped Rob to live on in the museum by creating this exhibition through which Rob can To download our guidelines and still be heard and seen for a long time to come. application form, go to our website at www.ohaa-sa.com.au I have worked on many other projects involving oral history, both as audio and as text, but the Applications close 30 June 2012. work with Rob has perhaps been a stand out. Perhaps it is because it took me back to being a kid in the Netherlands visiting my Dad at his workplace – De Eendracht, a printing office. For your diaries: Advanced Oral History Workshop Thursday 16 August 2012 Oral history and people with dementia; Calvary Hospital North Adelaide Biography Project; History SA staff on recent collaborative Words & Silences projects with community groups. Official Journal of the International Oral History Association http://wordsandsilences.org/ Acceptance of Articles started on 1 April 2012, Valmai Hankel and submissions close 30 May 2012. Words & Silences invites oral historians from a diverse range of Parkinson’s SA Inc disciplines to submit academic and professional work Liz Burge, OHAA SA/NT member, and Valmai representing salient research and or practice from Hankel (library colleagues in late 1960s) produced their respective regions of the world. This latest issue a new series of oral history sessions in March/April builds on the success of our inaugural 2011 launch 2011. One was designed as an educative resource of Words & Silences online, aiming to broaden our for the Parkinson’s Society of SA’s website. This audience and continue to highlight quality academic valuable and candid insight into Valmai’s courageous and professional oral history work from all corners journey since her diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease of the world. Words & Silences is an electronic can be heard at http://parkinsonssa.wordpress.com/ bilingual publication in English and Spanish.

Organisation and Submission Details For preparation of manuscripts and materials, please visit our section For Authors in the journal IOHA website: http://www.iohanet.org/journal/guidelines. html Deadline for completed manuscripts: 30 Conference May 2012. Papers should follow the Author XVII International Oral History Conference Guidelines, as specified and be submitted online to will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina http://wordsandsilences.org/index.php/ws/ from 4-7 September 2012. information/authors Acceptance notifications are sent to authors by 15 July 2012. Final revised The Challenges of Oral History in papers are due by 1 August 2012. Submission the 21st Century: Diversity Inquality inquiries should be directed to the co-editors: and Identity Construction. Juan José Gutiérrez (Spanish) - [email protected] For more information go to: Helen Klaebe (English) - [email protected] http://www.baires2012.org/ Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 5

only a few stations that you could pick up and around Longreach at that time; on the portable im Doyle – A Shearer’s Life one of the best stations was a Victorian station J 3AW – for some reason it came through of a by Allison Murchie night. And of course that’s where they got the news … Of course they would get the papers out every week, because shearers always carried a fair bit of reading material too. So the level Jim Doyle, member of Australian Society of the debates were pretty good. You want to for the Study of Labour History, completed remember this was a time of the rise of fascism in Europe, the Civil War in Spain, and shearers an oral history for the State Library of South were taking a very keen interest in this. And Australia (OH 963) in 2011 and talked about there had been the revolution in Russia in 1917. his long and interesting life as a shearer and And there was a spin off in all of these things union organiser. Here is part of his story. washing over into the debates taking place in the shearing shed. So shearers were pretty well informed and on the whole had a very definite attitude. At that time it was probably the most important period in my life in my education.

Many of his fellow shearers were supporters of the ALP, including the Communists, as they thought that they were the solution to Society’s problems. They had been involved in the 1890 Shearers’ Strike and talked to him about what it was like.

... I can still remember some of these older ones, who were bitter on the outcome of the strike in the 1890. I can remember one old bloke, I’ll probably never forget him, old Allison Murchie and Jim Doyle in front of Mick Young Ted Dean, he still makes me emotional, Courtesy Allison Murchie. how bitter he was on this period of the big Jim was born in 1918 in Yeppoon, Queensland, one strike. He was in his sixties but he had been of seven children. His father was a teamster and a young man in his twenties in that period. drove a wagon of twelve to sixteen horses carting wool from Longreach stations. At the beginning of Jim joined the ALP in 1936 but resigned in 1938. the Depression the family moved back to Longreach He later rejoined and is currently still a member. from where his parents came. Jim left school at fourteen and started working on a station where he In World War Two, Jim enlisted in the army and gradually learned the skill of how to shear sheep. volunteered to be a truck driver, even though In the early years he worked all over Queensland he didn’t have a driver’s licence. He returned to and New South Wales in a large number of sheds shearing after the war and worked in Queensland, which was the main source of his education – the NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, Communists were a great source of information, maintaining his membership of the Australian being well read and well informed on world events. Workers Union (AWU) continuously from 1933, Many an evening was spent listening to short wave eventually becoming a Life Member. Fellow shearers radios and the broadcasts from London, Russia and included Mick Young, Jack Wright and Jim Dunford. Germany; including a speech by Hitler when he launched a battleship (all talks were translated). Jim Doyle was a key player in the fight to win the 40 hour week, first in Queensland and then in the The important thing about it was the conditions other key shearing states with South Australia in that period was the debate that took place in being one of the last to come on board. They the shearing sheds because the circumstances campaigned as individual groups of organised were conducive to shearers debating how shearers without the support of their union. He first things were going. Usually there would be one worked for the AWU as an organiser for six weeks shearer or another might have a little wireless, at Renmark in 1950. He, along with many others, a portable wireless in the shed. There were was banned from standing for the union ticket if 6 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 it was thought that they were Communists, no 90-100,000 kilometres a year and was hardly ever proof was required – this was in the union rules. home. Apart from state positions he was also Vice President of the national branch of the union. In 1961 Jim attended an international conference in Sophia, Bulgaria organised by the World Federation of Trade Unions, where he was the only representative from Australia. Many of the delegates invited him to visit their countries and he spent three months visiting many countries including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia and Indonesia, where he was treated as an honoured guest. In the Soviet Union he travelled extensively and visited collective farms where he taught the Russians how to shear in the more efficient Australian style.

I visited two farms, one of them was a collective farm and the other was a state farm. Personally I couldn’t say that I saw any difference between Jim Doyle still in action. Courtesy Allison Murchie them. They were more or less mixed farms but in one of them in particular – they were pretty Jim was forced to retire in 1986 as he had reached the big too – they had the biggest haystacks I have mandatory retiring age, otherwise he would probably ever seen. But the interesting thing about them still being out there organising. His passion has not was the way they were organised. They were diminished and he still continues to be very well read actually villages on the farm. They were places and keeps himself informed on world events. He of 30,000, 40,000 and 50,000 acres. In order to now organises on a smaller scale through his many farm them and grow wheat or whatever, they friends and contacts, including politicians and union had big machine stations. The theory was that officials. His commitment to bettering the life of the when it became time for ploughing they get the working class is still a driving force in Jim’s life. material from the machine station … they had libraries; they told me that they had bands, I saw the rooms with the instruments. In one library, I asked if they had any books in English about Australia and sure as eggs they went and had a look and they had them alright; it appeared to me that they had been used too.

Back in Australia he continued his shearing career. In many sheds he was elected delegate and many Betty’s Life Stories contractors became wary of employing him. Transcription Service Jim had a few breaks from shearing and worked • Life Stories, Journals in New Guinea at Bougainville Mines and • Interviews in South Australia at Moomba; he had gained a • Research papers certificate as a Boiler Maker and did some driving jobs as well, but always returned to shearing. Email me your audio and get it back as a document

He had a continuing battle with the AWU, • Under 25 MGB email me in chunks particularly Clyde Cameron who continually blocked • Larger files google documents or USB/CD his attempts to get on the union ticket for elected • File format prefer MP3/VMA/WAV positions. It was not until 1971, when the laws were changed, that he was able to be elected as a union Over 20 years legal and university administration organiser. He had that role from 1972 to 1982, experience based in Whyalla, but his area of coverage included Leigh Creek, Cooper Pedy, the West Coast, part of 0405.021.254 the Riverland and Kangaroo Island. He was a very effective organiser and managed to recruit new [email protected] members in some very difficult areas. He travelled www.bettylum.com.au Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 7

OHAA SA/NT Branch Advanced Workshop Thursday 31 May 1pm – 4.30 pm Dr Karen George and David Smids Anne and Basil Hetzel lecture theatre Institute This combined paper and multimedia presentation Building, State Library of South Australia Corner of will describe and show how historian, Karen George, North Terrace and Kintore Avenue and graphic designer, David Smids, collaborated with the Printing Museum at the Mallee Tourism and Connecting the ‘history’ in oral history Heritage Centre in Pinnaroo to develop a multimedia Spreading the word – using oral history interviews history project. Beginning with an oral history interview and linking this with text, images, audio 1pm - 2pm: Neville Clark Disk Edits and video footage accessed through touchscreen monitors, the team has created an innovative and Neville Clark is the Senior Mastering Engineer and attractive educative tool for the Museum. This Company Director for Disk-Edits in South Australia. paper will reveal how the project was developed and He has spent over 25 years in the Australian music show the exciting ways in which digital technology industry and has worked on 1000’s of CD projects can be used to interpret and present history. and sound productions. He started Disk-Edits in 1993, and his work has included award winning Catherine Manning sound designs for museums and interpretive Giving material history a voice: Oral history at the centres throughout Australia. He is a member Migration Museum. Catherine is Senior Curator of The Audio Engineering Society & ASRA. at the Migration Museum. She will discuss the Neville will talk about sound design and production role oral history can play in a museum setting, for interactive/interpretive displays such as giving a brief overview of past and current museums, interpretive centres, historical villages, practice at the Migration Museum, with a focus self guided audio tours, etc. This will also include on the ongoing Hostel Stories research project. a summary of current technical trends and equipment used to deliver these productions. Dr Susan Marsden Susan Marsden will explore the use of oral history 2pm-2.30: afternoon tea (provided by the OHAA) in commissioned books and heritage studies, and will draw on her own work to describe her approach 2.30-4.30: Panel & Discussion Session with: to and the value of oral history in particular for organisations’, local histories and biographies. Dr Sue Anderson Her relevant work includes: ‘Oral History in After many years working with Indigenous people South Australia’, in Flinders’ history of SA (1986); and communities as an archaeologist and oral biographies of JP Cartledge, S Crawford, HC Hogben, historian, Sue Anderson has finally put down and Alex Ramsay, in Australian Dictionary of roots at the David Unaipon College of Indigenous Biography (online); Business, charity and sentiment: Education and Research at the University of South the South Australian Housing Trust 1936-1986 Australia. Far from the tranquil beauty of remote (1986) and Business, charity and sentiment Part landscapes, being educated by very wise Indigenous two... 1987-2011 (2011); My home in Onkaparinga women and men, Sue now sits in a little office and (2011); and SA 175/Celebrating SA website, contemplates teaching others. More than that, she Professional Historians Association (SA), 2011. has been charged with the responsibility of writing an oral history course for the University (the first for Discussion session South Australia at this level), at the same time that she has taken on the role of Editor of the OHAA To register contact June Edwards Journal. Is she mad? We will leave it to you to judge. (08) 8293 1314 or [email protected] or [email protected]

Cost $50, Concession $30, OHAA member $30 8 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012

News from the State Library of South Australia by Tonia Eldridge

It has been a productive few months for the J.D. focused on developing new classes of optical fibres, Somerville Oral History Collection, with three new for which she received the Bragg Gold Medal for projects commencing and a further five one-off the best physics PhD in Australia. In 2006 she interviews deposited at the State Library of South was named as one of the top ten brightest young Australia. A couple of the new projects arose from minds in Australia by national science magazine, the November ‘How-to’ oral history workshop, and Cosmos, and in 2008 she was awarded the Prime it is hoped that the next workshop, in April, will Minister’s Prize for Physical Scientist of the bear similar fruit. In total, since the last edition of Year. Her work in the field of photonics enables Word of Mouth, eighteen hours of new recordings, the creation of new tools for scientific research comprising twelve and a half hours with individual and solutions for problems in areas as diverse as interviewees and five and a half hours of new information processing, surgery, health monitoring, projects, have been added to the catalogue. On military technology, agriculture and environmental top of that, a further 40 hours have been added to monitoring. Tanya is a member of the South existing oral history projects. A very big thank you Australian Premier’s Science & Research Council to all concerned, and keep up the good work! and regularly serves on a range of key national bodies in the area of science policy and evaluation. OH 984: Lady June Porter – June Donovan June Perry was born in Western Australia in 1918. OH 977: Anna Guthleben – Allison Murchie She had a private school education, then joined Anna Guthleben has had a legal career that has the Voluntary Aid Detachment when World War included appointment as the Executive Director Two broke out and worked as a nurse in the Royal of the Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission Perth Hospital. Prior to this she briefly met Robert (established to rebuild the fledgling legal system after Porter from Adelaide when he was in Perth for a the riots of 2004). She is currently a PhD candidate polo match. Commissioned as a lieutenant at the at investigating Law Reform beginning of the war, he passed through Perth Commissions in Developing Countries, particularly en route to the front and the two met again. He the Pacific Region.Anna’s legal path followed another returned briefly to Australia after having served in successful career in South Australia’s renowned New Guinea where he was mentioned in despatches, food and wine industry. After an apprenticeship at and before becoming Aide de Camp to Richard Regency Park, she worked with food luminaries such Casey (then Governor of Bengal, later Governor as Bill Sparr, Michael Simons, Cheong Liew and General of Australia), he asked June to visit him in Anne Oliver. She purchased a stall at the Adelaide Adelaide, proposed as soon as she arrived and they Market in the mid-1980s which became famous for were married within a week. She later followed him its ‘exotic’ produce and was critiqued in the New to India and has wonderful tales of the time spent York Times. This was followed by a high-end produce there during the last years of British rule. They purchasing business and an exclusive catering firm, later returned to Adelaide and a life in business. ‘Anna’s Good Eating Company’. Allison Murchie’s Robert Porter served on the Adelaide City Council interview has covered Anna’s early years, the period and as Lord Mayor from 1968 to 1971, with June of involvement with food, cooking and catering, as Lady Mayoress. Robert was later knighted with the decision to return to university and her legal the investiture taking place in London. He died in career until 2002. The pair are having a break from 1983, but Lady Porter continued as a developer recording, but it is anticipated that interviewing and patron of the Arts in Adelaide. She is now 93. about life and law since 2002, including the Solomon Islands stint, will recommence later in the year. OH 987: Professor Tanya Munro – Peter Donovan, Eminent Australians Oral History Program OH 992:Russell Porter – Melissa Juhanson After studying at the University of Sydney and Russell Porter has worked for over 30 years in the film spending time working at the University of industry as an educator, writer, director, producer, Southampton in the United Kingdom, Tanya Munro and script editor for both fiction and documentary became the inaugural Professor of Photonics – the films, with over one hundred film and television science and technology that allows the generation credits. In celebration of its 40th Anniversary, the and control of light using glass optical fibres – at the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), in in 2005. Her PhD research conjunction with the National Film and Sound Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 9

Archive, is interviewing people associated with the SAFC during its history. Russell’s involvement with the SAFC (from 1975) was to be the focus of this Northern Territory interview, but it morphed into a broader look at his distinguished career. Recently retired from the position Archives Service of Tenured Faculty member, Documentary Program, Columbia College Chicago, he is also Co-Head of the Report Documentary Department at the EICTV (International by Matthew Stephen Film and Television School) in San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba. Melissa Juhanson, of the SAFC, The Northern Territory Archives Service (NTAS) interviewed Russell when he passed through Adelaide has recently sought expressions of interest for after launching a book and new series of documentaries public members on an Oral History Advisory ‘Ser un ser humano/To be a human being’ in Bilbao. Group. The advisory group will also include representation from the National Archives of Briefly... Australia (Darwin) and the Department of Natural OH 990: Andamooka Oral History Project Resources, the Environment, Sport and The Arts. In November of 2011, OHAA SA member and The group will provide advice and guidance to experienced interviewer, John Mannion, travelled NTAS on issues related to its oral history programs. from his home in Orroroo to the northern town Its first meeting is planned for May 2012. of Andamooka to conduct a ‘how-to’ oral history workshop. Since then, interviews have been NTAS is also providing support to a Joint Northern undertaken by John and two workshop participants Territory Government/Department of Veterans with four Andamooka locals. The project is Affairs oral history project making filmed oral ongoing, and it is always gratifying to receive histories of World War Two veterans who contributions to the SLSA heritage collections experienced the Bombing of Darwin in 1942. The 70th from more remote regional South Australia. Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin (19th February 1942) attracted considerable national attention OH 994: Pepper Street Arts Project – Peter this year. It has been recognised that veterans are Hackworth now in their 80s and 90s and time is running out The Pepper Street Arts Centre supports creative to document their stories. Fifteen oral histories are endeavour and excellence, promoting arts being recorded from which Digital Stories will be appreciation and fostering social engagement across created for inclusion in Darwin’s new ‘Bombing the artistic and wider community. Formerly the of Darwin Experience’ situated on the city’s East Magill School, the Pepper Street Arts Centre is part Point. This ten million dollar facility houses of the City of Burnside’s cultural program. The oral multimedia exhibitions in which the digital stories history project celebrates sixteen years of activity from this project will be available to the public. at the Centre, interviewing people who have been involved with the building during its current use For more information about Oral History at NTAS as an arts hub, or previous uses as a school and visit teachers’ college. Thus far, Peter Hackworth has http://www.nretas.nt.gov.au/knowledge- interviewed Hans Fander, Joanna Chorney, Giska and-history/ntas/oralhist va Ree and Marjorie Molyneux about their art and artistic influences and involvement with the Pepper See and hear their online Oral History Exhibition: Street Gallery. He has also recorded Jim Colligan, Darwin and Cyclone Tracey at speaking of his artist mother, June. More recordings http://www.nretas.nt.gov.au/knowledge- will be added to the group in the near future. and-history/ntas/oralhist/exhibition

OHAA(SA) Digital Recorder for Hire Members $20 per week and $5 per day. For further details contact Catherine Manning Non-members $25 per week and $10 per day. at the Migration Museum Hirers will be required to sign a form stating they will be fully responsible for the Phone: 8207 7580 recorder while it is in their possession. Email: [email protected] 10 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012

work of university-based researchers and community National Oral History co-applicants as well as community partners and volunteers who have collected the life stories of Conference Report Montreal residents who fled large scale violence The17th National Conference of the Oral History in Rwanda, Haiti, Cambodia, and Nazi Europe. Association of Australia, Communities of Memory, Once recorded, the stories have been incorporated was very ably hosted by the Victorian Branch into online digital stories, art work, performances at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne such as bus tours and drama performances, radio from 6-9 October 2011. Some 200 hundred programmes, scholarly writing, and commemorative participants enjoyed a wide range of stimulating activities such as an annual service on the shore presentations from far and wide. What follows is a of Lake Victoria to honour Tutsi people who were snap shot of some of the sessions, kindly provided massacred and thrown into the rivers of Rwanda. by some of our South Australian members. Oral history materials have also been shaped into teaching resources for use in Canadian schools. To From Annmarie Reid: date over 450 people have been trained to undertake complex oral history interviews dealing with Keynote Address traumatic events. Every interviewer and videographer Communities of Memory in Practice: must reflect in the online forum within 48 hours of A Reflection on the Montreal Life Stories Project recording an interview and post-interview counselling Steven High, Chair in Public History and co-director is offered for all participants and researchers. of the Center for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Although his address focused on two very different teven High is the primary investigator in a communities, his inspiring work clearly reflects his collaborative research project entitled ‘Life understanding that a sense of community is embedded StoriesS of Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide in the relationships shared by its members. and Other Human Rights Violations’ and author For more information, see of several books about urban degeneration in http://storytelling.concordia.ca/high/ the post-industrial era. His plenary address drew upon material from both areas of research as Intergenerational Digital Histories Panel he reflected on the concept of community in a Lest We Forget: old memories, new media, new former paper-mill town, Sturgeon Falls, and also audiences among Rwandan refugees in Montreal. Steven’s Helen Simondson (ACMI - Australian Centre work in both communities is shaped by the belief for the Moving Image), Patricia Pollard (Dept that research participants should be partners of Planning & Community Development) and in research and not simply objects of study. Jean McAuslan (Shrine of Remembrance) n Our Words: Stories of Victorian Veterans is an In Sturgeon Falls, for example, Steven’s work inspirational project undertaken by the Victorian focused on what happens when a place is ‘unmade’ GovernmentI in partnership with school students, the and the bonds within it are broken as factories Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and close, shops shut down and people move on in the Shrine of Remembrance. Its aim is to record the search of work. When the Sturgeon Falls paper- personal stories of the wartime experiences of Victorian mill closed in 2002 and the process of dismantling veterans along with those involved in peacekeeping the mill began, Steven’s research shed light on the forces and current conflicts. The collaborative nature intricate ties which bound the workers to their of the project means that the final stories form part homes, their families, their town and to the mill of the collections of each of the agencies as well where many of them had worked for more than as being used in touring exhibitions and displayed twenty years. Oral history interviews revealed the online. Utilising new distribution platforms such existence of ‘The Mill History Binder’, a folder of as online digital story builder, Generator, means stories, photos, news clippings and memorabilia that broader audiences have been reached than collected by one former mill worker which had when static museum displays are in one site. taken on the role of a sacred text in the lives of the mill worker community as they sought to ACMI ran three day workshops where students remember in the midst of unremembering and of were ‘buddied up’ with veterans in story circles the ‘unmaking’ of their town. Steven co-produced and in the co-production of digital stories about maps of the mill with former workers and collected the veteran’s experiences. ACMI workshops are stories ignored by the company closing the plant. open to the public and its resources such as the The second part of the plenary focused on the Generator platform have been made available to Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 11 schools, along with copyright free pictures and Community memories in an art gallery music, which are also available to the public Janis Wilton, University of New England and who wish to create their own digital stories. Joseph Eisenberg, Maitland Regional Art Gallery For more information about ACMI anis Wilton, well known oral historian and resources, workshops and projects see academic, spoke about the art gallery in Maitland, http://www.acmi.net.au situatedJ in the Hunter Region west of Newcastle. The gallery has mounted a number of exhibitions Our History – now and then: a 21st century in recent times with an oral history focus or tool kit to find ways into the past connection, including River Stories, an exhibition by Jan Molloy and Mirah Lambert, Museum Victoria photographic artist Michelle Maartensz. Maartensz useum Victoria, in partnership with Monash travelled with 1233 ABC Newcastle’s Phil Ashley- University Institute for Public History, is Brown down the Hunter River, documenting developingM 21st century online learning resources their journey and the making of the radio series for use by students and teachers. Their materials of the same name through her art work while Phil include mash up tools for creating and sharing digital collected oral histories of the river and its people. histories and virtual spaces for collaboration and Janis also spoke about the work of visual artist learning support. They explained how the 50,000 Fiona Davies who interviewed 32 local Maitland objects already digitised by Museum Victoria can people about the former Maitland Museum and now be used in the creation of digital stories by TAFE College which had once occupied the gallery school students who can also ‘access’ experts such site. Their interviews were incorporated into a as academics and museum staff via a collection soundscape which formed part of an installation by of interviews which can be cut and embedded in Fiona in the art gallery. Local community members presentations or in other digital content. Jan and donated dresses, hats and materials they had made Mirah described how the resources were developed when they were students at the TAFE College by the project team and then trialled by ten schools. and a section of the installation also contained Interestingly, Jan and Mirah noted that student old museum objects such as a stuffed crocodile. materials which were uploaded back to the museum site became more complex as the pilot project For more information about Fiona progressed and as more complex editing tools Davies’ work, see: www.fionadavies.com.au became available. Student trial materials can now be For more information about the Maitland Gallery, accessed from the Student Showcase section of the see: http://mrag.org.au/ Museum Victoria Making History site at http://museumvictoria.com.au/ Testimony Software - providing engaging oral discoverycentre/websites/making-history/ histories online Bob Jansen, Turtle Lane Studios Pty Ltd. Creative Approaches to Documenting Lives ob’s presentation focused on the work of Turtle Stories of Cross-Dressing and the Body: Lane Studios in developing Testimony Software Family Memories in Fiction whichB enables the user to synchronise media, video, Ariella Van Luyn, Queensland University of sound files and written transcript to produce a digital Technology or an online presentation of oral history materials. riella is a PhD student working in the area Bob has worked with the Alaskan Historical Society of family myths, memory work and creative (http://www.alaskahistoricalsociety.org/index. fiction.A She became interested in how memories cfm) and on Project Jukebox, an initiative of the expressed in oral history interviews could inform University of Alaska (http://jukebox.uaf.edu/site/ ). her fiction writing when she realised that two Bob’s work for the Australian Centre for Oral members of a family, a mother and her daughter, History and examples of Testimony Software both told stories about encountering cross- Projects can be found at: http://www.acoh.com.au/ dressing men in the streets of Brisbane, while at the same time expressing anxiety over their own From Christeen Schoepf: body size. She found these stories of ‘the disguised body’ comling and imaginatively investigated the Community inside, community beyond: ‘possibility of symbolic resonance of memories remembering Drapchi Prison across generations’ in her own work. Ariella’s writing Angie Kahler, University of New England draws upon narrative theory and on ideas about his paper presented the complex, poignant remembering/misremembering/disremembering and perhaps incomprehensible notions of explored in works of fiction such asBeloved , a theT differing senses and layers of ‘community’, as novel by the American writer Toni Morrison. experienced, remembered and recounted by three 12 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012

Tibetan political prisoners who were confined Europeans and sheds light on the pragmatism and within the walls of Lhasa’s notorious Drapchi agency of the Narungga in this engagement. prison during the 1990s. Each interviewee had However her paper for the OHAA Conference was, been incarcerated more than a decade prior to the for her, even closer to home. Skye’s presentation interviews conducted by Angie and each had been revolved around the reminiscences of people teenage monks who had non-violently expressed she calls ‘settler descendants’ about the natural their opposition to the Chinese occupation of environment of the mid-north and southern Flinders Tibet. The interviews explored how following Ranges (i.e. Ngadjuri and Nukunu traditional arrest and placement within the general prison ‘country’ and over time, that of her own family). population, each had a sense of not ‘belonging’ In my own work with Indigenous communities, within the same spatial and mental parameters as waterholes invariably feature as sites of significance, the criminal prisoners. This resulted in loneliness, not just for their life preserving properties, but for insecurity and mental stress particularly relating religious reasons as well. They go hand-in-hand to the violence, both real and perceived, occurring with the local fauna, flora and topography. Krichauff within that space. Once removed to the section of coalesces the importance of water sources for the prison comprised only of political prisoners, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous ‘landowners’ however, feelings of sameness, connectedness with memories of flourishing past environment, and indeed hope then formed the framework for to raise awareness of the ecological devastation the mechanisms that would sustain each prisoner that has occurred in our less immediately visible until their eventual release. The voices of the landscapes. Her aim to consider ‘the “natural interviewees told of the confidence each maintained environment” as perhaps the ultimate example of their place within the wider community at large of a voiceless and powerless Being’, while a as members of families, friendships, religious controversial concept, gives food for thought. orders or race, and that they had the support of that community for both their actions and during Communicating knowledge of a community: imprisonment. More significantly, however, was second generation accounts of Italian market the revelation within the narrative of each man’s gardeners in suburban Adelaide 1920s-1970s notion of belonging to a prison community where Madeleine Regan and Linda Lacey with ideas and thoughts could be freely expressed and Johnny and Eleanora Marchioro without recourse amongst the prison population. nder the banner of ‘Migrant memories and It was within this prison community then, that identities’ project developer and coordinator each could ‘feel safer than they had expected, MadeleineU Regan, local government promoter freer than they had ever been, more hopeful Linda Lacey and active project participants Johnny than they would be in the years that followed’. and Eleonora Marchioro presented a template for successful cross-cultural ventures that reach From Sue Anderson: out to a wide audience. Beginning as a small initiative that blossomed into a rich and positive Stories of deep water-holes and abundant collaboration between Madeleine, Johnny and wildlife: advancing the rights of the Eleonora and other Veneto market gardeners of environment through oral histories Adelaide, the benefits of oral history recording Skye Krichauff, Swinburne University were strongly affirmed by this presentation. was looking forward to meeting Skye Krichauff This project demonstrates the value of oral history at the Conference for several reasons. Firstly, at its best – the collaboration of enthusiastic sheI had made contact with me some years ago participants unfolds stories that have resonance because of my research into the Ngadjuri of the for a broad audience, stories that would otherwise mid-north of South Australia, where she grew be lost to history and stories that will open the up on her family farm. Secondly, I had recently door for many more to come. The sense of joy reviewed her book, Nharungga Wargunni Bugi emanating from the collaborators was such that Buggillu: A Journey through Narungga history (2011, this presentation left me feeling elated. I imagine Wakefield Press) forTransnational Literature, Madeleine’s foray into the world of the Italian a Flinders University e-journal. Skye’s book was market gardeners of Adelaide has delivered delights produced as a result of research she conducted and outcomes she could not have expected. for her Masters thesis through the University of It was impressive that the Marchioros travelled Adelaide and I was impressed that she could generate to Melbourne to speak at the conference and a such a publication via this means. Skye gives a testimony of Madeleine’s love for the project and thoroughly researched account of early contact the positive influence it has had on all involved. between the Narungga of the York Peninsula and Linda Lacey has fully supported the project because Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 13 of Charles Sturt Council’s commitment to preserve in Australia. Her previous ARC grant resulted local history and make it relevant to the present. in Vietnamese Women: Voices and Narratives of Such a melding of aims clearly makes for an ideal the Diaspora. She explored Vietnamese women’s oral history project! Congratulations to you all for a war service through two women now living in wonderful project and the record you provide from it. Australia who fought in the Women’s Armed Forces Corps (WAFC) – a part of the war rarely Oral history: Community and memory in a acknowledged in public discourse. These women, parliamentary space: the Museum of Australian Thuy and Quy, both born in 1936, went beyond Democracy at Old Parliament House, Canberra the accepted role of women in Vietnamese society, Barry York, Museum of Australian Democracy so much so that Thuy, who kept her parachute was particularly interested to hear Barry York training secret, was beaten by her brother when discuss the Museum of Australian Democracy’s he discovered what she was doing. For both of projectI because I had worked in Old Parliament them in the long run, the army broadened their House as Assistant Private Secretary to the Leader options. Thuy became Chief of the Social Services of the Opposition as a young woman in 1974 and in the Medical Corps and shared through her oral 1975. When I was first employed I was 20 years old history the difficulties in balancing that role with – in those days too young to vote (the voting age marriage and motherhood. Quy did officer training being 21 then) – and I was completely naïve (both in the WAFC and in the United States and her politically and in a worldly sense). I had a tiny little narrative shows how people become swept up in office space (because the original building was no bigger events. She never married and was interned longer able to cater for the expansion required) in 1975 and forced to go the new economic zones. and I remember well not being paid when Supply Natalie is doing extremely valuable work which was blocked and the double dissolution, when makes us pause to reflect on how well women Gough called on us all to ‘maintain the rage’. from other cultures’ war experiences have been I was keen to hear about the people Barry had documented, including those in the Australian forces. been interviewing and the sort of information he had obtained because I was so aware of the The South Sydney Project: Oral History and colour and life the oral histories would be able New Media to bring to the formal record (Hansard etc). Jessica Tyrrell, University of Sydney However I was a little disappointed to hear that essica Tyrell, a new media artist and doctoral the people Barry has been interviewing were candidate at the Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney either Ministers, Members, Principle Private University,J gave a fascinating insight into how oral Secretaries etc, or Parliament House staff, such history interviews have been reinterpreted through as waiters, cleaners, post office workers etc. This her work at ‘the intersection of installation, audio/ left people like me out of the picture, so I was visual performance, sound, video and online and eager to put my hand up when Barry finished his locative media’. She provided an overview of how she talk to ask if he would like to interview me. The has creatively reused an existing oral history archive, answer was yes. My dear friend of nearly 40 years, namely the South Sydney Video Oral History Archive Joan Thompson, and I, are now waiting to be and explored the importance of place. This archive interviewed. I am not looking forward to being on was originally created by Dr Sue Rosen in 1993-4 the other side of the microphone, but I am looking and captured a twentieth century social history of forward to what our contribution can offer. the area, subsequently explored in the Rosen’s book This story just demonstrates one of We Never Had a Hotbed of Crime, life in twentieth- the more obscure benefits of national century South Sydney, Fortunately for Tyrell, the conferences – the sharing of stories can have original Conditions of Use form allowed for a ramifications beyond one’s imagination. subsequent project. A small sample of one re-worked interview can be seen at www.eatingmywords.net/ From Alison McDougall: There was discussion during question time about putting such material on the internet as the original Keynote Address participants would not have been aware of the Memory & Diaspora: War & internet and its accessibility. Another example of her the Vietnamese Refugee Experience work which I found particularly moving was Spaces Associate Professor Natalie Nguyen Between, where she interviewed relatives of people atalie Nguyen, from the University of with dementia, and then started erasing words, as Melbourne, was awarded an Australian happens for those with dementia. A sample of this ResearchN Council Future Fellowship for her work can be found at http://vimeo.com/jessicatyrrell project Forgotten Histories: Vietnamese Veterans 14 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012

The National Library Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants oral history project update It is two and a half years since the Prime Minister The interviews document a much more complex Kevin Rudd announced that the National Library picture of the experiences of being in care than would complete an oral history project to document has been presented in public to date. Interviewees the experiences of Forgotten Australians and have come from all walks of life, have had a wide Former Child Migrants. This announcement range of work and life experiences and have been followed two Senate inquiries which identified chosen to show the large variety of impacts of a range of social justice outcomes including a care experiences from the 1920s onwards across museum exhibition and an oral history project. 1 Australia. With careful selection of interviewees who have volunteered to be interviewed or been sought Taking a similar approach to the Bringing Them out by the project, it becomes apparent that there Home oral history project of over a decade earlier, is no single narrative of the experience of being in the National Library is building a rounded history care, nor of the lifelong impact of these experiences. of the experiences of adults who as children were in care. The project aims to document the diversity The Library has commissioned interviews with a of contexts in which care was provided and selection of people who worked in institutions, complexity of the lifelong impacts on those who or who have been welfare officers, social workers, were in care and on those around them. The project campaigners, supporters and advocates. These also includes perspectives and experiences of a interviews are providing insights into how the selection of employees and welfare professionals. systems of care operated across the country, the thinking behind the operations of and changes The Library selected 37 experienced oral history in child welfare policy and the experiences of interviewers from across Australia who were then working with children in out of home care through given training to understand the particular needs eras of policy change. Advocates and lawyers are and background of Forgotten Australians and explaining the challenges in achieving justice for Former Child Migrants. Following consultation Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants. with support organisations and some general media, the project has received around 200 formal Feedback about the project has come from all expressions of interest in being interviewed quarters. Interviewers tell project staff that from Forgotten Australians and Former conducting interviews has been both rewarding Child Migrants with many more suggestions and challenging, and in some states interviewers about people who had stories to share. have formed strong networks for information sharing and support. Interviewees have been With its national reach and in the absence of robust consistently positive noting they have found that statistics of the numbers of children in care in the experience of being interviewed has provided the 20th century, the Library built a demographic an opportunity for reflection in ways that have guide to ensure that there is representation of often been more therapeutic than formal therapy. care experiences from across the states, and styles, denominations and eras of care. Additional By the end of the project, we expect to have information gleaned from the formal expressions of completed 200 interviews. So far, 74 interviews interest has also been mapped to guide the selection are available online with permission of the process including whether people told their stories interviewees, and these can be heard by searching before in other contexts including the media, the National Library catalogue with the term submissions to inquiries and autobiographies and Forgotten Australians and Former Child whether they are members of support organisations. Migrants at http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/

Continued page 18 Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 15

I tend to think of my work as who I am, a South Australian and an Australian. ho are we now? I am someone who works for the ABC W and I have spent a lot of my life working by Catherine Manning there. The best part of three decades. Ian Henschke

28 December 2011 marked 175 years since the arrival of officials and immigrants to establish South Australia as a province of the United Kingdom. This milestone triggered Migration Museum staff to question whether there is a South Australian identity, and if so, what is it? In response we put together the exhibition Who are we now? South Australian with Vietnamese heritage. If Australians past, present and future. someone asked me who I am that’s what I would say. … I am a very community minded We wanted to gain a sense of how South person. I like to think of what other people are Australians themselves define their own up to, and I’m involved with … the neighbours identities, and whether being South Australian, and community surrounding where I live. or Australian, played a significant role in this. Tung Ngo

Where you come from in my opinion is a A feature of the exhibition is a collection of huge part of who you are. It defines you as profiles of eighteen South Australians from diverse a human. The country or town you are born backgrounds and countries including a former and raised in will determine the language you child soldier from Sudan, a Ngarrindjeri elder who speak, the accent you have and the people has been an active Aboriginal advocate for many you will know, and the younger years of years, a Persian-Australian health psychologist, your life (which is most of mine) that shapes a Vietnamese-Australian local government you into who you will be as an adult. councillor, a radio presenter with German, Irish and Max Garcia-Underwood English ancestry, a ‘10 pound pom’, and a henna artist originally from Pakistan. These profiles were Museum staff began the research for this created from a series of oral history interviews exhibition by interviewing people ‘vox pop’ and provide some very personal reflections on the style on the street. We asked ‘What factors questions Migration Museum curators posed. contribute to your identity?’ and ‘How important is being South Australian to you?’. The answers I have a whole lot of identities, we received became the general themes of and … how I put them out there this exhibition: place, family, cultural heritage, really does depend on context. membership of special groups and generational Troy Anthony-Baylis differences. We added in class and education. The exhibition also acknowledges that for some there are other factors that contribute to a sense of personal identity. We saw a number of themes emerge in the interviews we undertook, but could only fit so much into the gallery. The result is a very broad look at South Australia’s history and the people who make up our state. The exhibition is introduced by a range of identity records, and visitors are asked to reflect on their own identity, how that is defined and what they might leave behind. Throughout the exhibition Troy-Anthony Baylis with a poster from his Kylie a sense of various layers emerge with a focus Minogue collection on national, state and personal identities. 16 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012

The personal profiles are displayed in the section of the exhibition which deals with cultural heritage. We were interested both in how South Australia’s identity has changed as our cultural heritage has become more diverse and in how individual South Australian’s feel their own cultural heritage shapes who they are.

I think the thing about identity is about who Julie Capurso, far right, with friends you are, and about being proud of who you are. Another theme that was informed by the oral And also being proud history interviews was ‘generations’. Museum of where you’re from. staff had noticed a plethora of references to Catherine Mfundo baby boomers, generation X and generation Y in popular culture. However, when we started asking people about their generation in interviews it became apparent that the popular definitions were too narrow to have meaning for some interviewees, and others were very keen that they not be ‘pigeonholed’ by a definition of their generation that conflicted with their own sense of identity. Interviewees did have other suggestions for how concepts of generations played a part in their I think it [cultural heritage] plays a big role in understanding of their identities and others, and how I behave, my career choices, even things these were incorporated into the exhibition. [like] who I married, how I want to raise my children. Eugenia Flynn My generation again is very different ... because we are the generation that, when we moved While the profiles form one section of the from Iran to here, were a younger generation, exhibition, the interviews informed other somehow, and we had children to raise, and we content throughout the display. For example, left our older generation back home. We were we knew that membership of groups or the ‘meat in the sandwich’ generation, I must ‘belonging’ could be a very important element say, because we had to fulfill expectations of our in defining identity, but when we asked many previous generation ... yet, our children which of our interviewees to talk about groups they were the new generation were raised here… belong to they wanted to talk less about formal Dr Tahereh Ziaian organisations and more about how important their friends are to them. Through this dialogue The exhibition continues to raise many questions and our broader research we began to develop about identity, and we hope that the profiles a theory that there has been a shift from featured in Who are we now? along with further membership of clubs and associations through content from the oral history interviews will be invitation only, to membership through formal developed online once the Migration Museum application and then to the present practice has launched its new website later this year. where most people choose less formal ties and join groups based around common causes and Exhibition coordinated by Migration Museum interests. We also felt it was important to include Director Christine Finnimore. Curated by a section specifically about the role of friends. Elspeth Grant and Catherine Manning.

They’ve got common fibre in their life of what All photos courtesy the Migration Museum. they’re about, and what’s special to them … as you get older that list gets shorter and shorter, Who are we now? South Australians past, present but I suppose they’re the ones that stick with and future is on display at the Migration Museum, you with the good times and the bad times … 82 Kintore Avenue, Adelaide until August 2012. Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 17

The expanded in 2000. Now owned by BHP Billiton, in 2012 it is set to expand he Times They Are a again. At its peak, the open cut mine could be the T largest in the world, the size of the Adelaide CBD Changin’ at Andamooka and parklands. The mine will need a lot of workers. Even now, before the predicted major expansion, by John Mannion Roxby Downs real estate is scarce and expensive, and it’s only slightly cheaper over at Andamooka It was back in 1964 when US singer-songwriter, where real estate is booming too. ‘Shacks’ worth Bob Dylan released his album, The Times $20,000 four years ago can fetch $200,000 today. They Are a-Changin’. In hindsight the title track captured the spirit of social and political Things at Andamooka are ‘different’. There is upheaval that characterised the 1960s. no mains electricity. Andamooka powerhouse is privately owned. There is no mains water either. It is That was nearly 50 years ago, and the times – be delivered by private water trucks and pumped into they social or political – are still changing. Opal is your water tank; it doesn’t rain much up here. Thanks still being found at the small opal-mining town of to BHP, water is now piped from Roxby to a central Andamooka (population around 900), but in far standpipe at Andamooka There is also no local less quantities than it was in the past. Andamooka, government at Andamooka. Andamooka does not 600km north of Adelaide, is home to men and have a local council, so residents don’t pay council women from many nations and walks of life who rates. Governance is left up to the Andamooka live and work together. From the 1930s it was Progress and Opal Miners Association (APOMA) the lure of opal that enticed the first settlers to and the South Australian Communities Andamooka, but many came for more complex and Authority, based at . APOMA was political reasons. The free and largely ungoverned established in March 1960 and is a voluntary group lifestyle of this outback town held an attraction for of members who manage community needs and many people who were leaving war-torn Europe. is also a voice for local issues and priorities.

The landscape around the small opal mining settlement might be considered harsh by outsiders, and is often described as resembling a ‘moonscape’ or Mars on Earth. To those who live there however, it was once, and still is to a degree, the ideal place to live – uncluttered and free of bureaucracy and hassles of city life. Most of the streets are classified simply as ‘Government Road’. There are over 100 roads in Andamooka and only four are sealed. But things are changing at Andamooka too – socially and politically. The ‘Hansen brothers’ and Stefan Bilka (right)

In the mid 1980s opal rarely surfaced at Andamooka, The chairman of APOMA is Peter Allen, a However not far to the west of the township charismatic ‘ten-pound Pom’ who reckons that the the giant Western Mining Corporation began population of his adopted hometown will reach 2000 trucking copper, , gold and silver from within two years. It was Peter who realised that the the enormous Olympic Dam body Along with changing demography of the region will threaten the the South Australian government, the company multi-cultural environment that gives Andamooka its built the Roxby Downs township, a suburb in the distinctive and unique character. While Andamooka sandhills, to service the mine and its workers. has never lost its unique character, it has lost many Many Andamooka locals found jobs there and of the characters that made the place what it is today. commuted. It was good for the old town. Miners Living standards have improved over the years. were once again moving into Andamooka, but with Conditions during the 1930s depression years were, twelve hour shifts and continuous production, by modern standards, difficult but very practical, the time spent at work doesn’t schedule for with miners and opal dealers using local and recycled community spirit. Some older residents reckon materials to build their early semi-dugout homes. that that they never get to see the new townsfolk Several examples of these heritage-listed cottages can – if they’re not at work, they’re at home asleep. be seen in the Historic Reserve in the town centre. Fortunately there are still several ‘characters’ living 18 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 at Andamooka. To try and capture their stories Peter go with the simpler Mini Disc format in its early contacted Mark Shirley, Outback Communities days, ordering three units and ‘lots of discs’. They Authority Community Development Officer, who assured me that when they felt more confident in turn contacted the Oral History Association – and after lots of practice – they would hire the (SA/NT branch), who in turn contacted me to see Fostex. The group has since become a member if I would conduct an oral history workshop at of OHAA (SA/NT) and ordered several OHAA Andamooka for a handful of locals who were keen to handbooks. The group were planning to hold record the stories of their unique local characters. their second official meeting in March prior to starting interviews with Andamooka residents. The Andamooka workshop was held over two days, on the 14th and 15th November 2011, in Overall it was a great workshop. Conrad showed the APOMA office in the local community hall. It Helena and me around the town and I also was hot, but that did not deter Alison Henderson, interviewed current powerhouse operator/ Conrad Powell, Cass Rowett, Sylvia Hobbs, Jean linesman etc, Colin Lawrie, opal miner/water Lawrie, Rogie Dally, Ruby Turner, Mark Shirley carter/undertaker Stefan Bilka (who also showed and my partner Helena Hucks from attending. me around), the inventive Hansen brothers and “Tuckerbox’ Steve Smirnos. Steve established the famous Tuckerbox Restaurant, now run by his son, John, and family. These interviews have been sent to the State Library and will form the first part of the Andamooka History Project. From Andamooka we headed across to Marree, via the ‘borefield road’ where some of the locals are also interested in a local oral history project. Thanks to the OHAA (SA/ NT), APOMA, the State Library, Mark Shirley, Dukes Bottle Shop, Tuckerbox Restaurant and the people of Andamooka for a wonderful experience.

The Andamooka Oral History Project members. Back L-R: Conrad Powell and Mark Shirley. Middle: Continued from page 14 Alison Henderson, John Mannion, Cass Rowett, Sylvia Hobbs, Rogie Dally, Ruby Turner. Front: Jean Lawrie The training of interviewers involved Over the two days we discussed the theoretical providing literature relating to the impact and practical applications of oral history, including of institutionalisation in late adulthood and the variety of equipment available. The various reference to work on resilience – factors which techniques that can be used to effectively record are known to help cope with traumatic or difficult and document the town’s history through the experiences. Already, this approach is bearing fruit voices of local identities were also explained to as the project has been contacted by psychology, the enthusiastic group, whose ages ranged from social policy and restorative justice researchers sixteen to ‘middle-aged’. The group was particularly who are starting to use the interviews. interested in the digital story concept and felt it would be ideal format to put on their website. Part The project draws to a close in November 2012. of the workshop included interviewing several Dr Joanna Sassoon community members, some from within the group Project Manager itself, using the Fostex digital recorder on loan from the State Library. As an example I interviewed former 1 Senate Community Affairs References Committee. opal miner Conrad Powell who came to Andamooka Lost innocents: righting the record. Report on from South Africa in the ‘60s with his parents. child migration. 2001. Senate Community Affairs References Committee Forgotten Australians – a On the morning of day two, the group had formed report on Australians who experienced institutional a committee, come up with a project concept and or out-of-home care as children, 2004. National invited former truck driver and pioneer powerhouse Museum of Australia. Inside: life in children’s homes operator Jeff Munchenberg in to be interviewed and institutions. November 2011-February 2012 by ‘themselves’. The group was a bit wary of the http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/inside_life_ complexity of the Fostex recorder and decided to in_childrens_homes_and_institutions/home Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012 - 19

Is there more to textiles than stitching?’ On Wednesday 28 March at the Bob Hawke Prime years have been removed as souvenirs, but as they Ministerial Library, UniSA, OHAA SA members now have a life and story of their own, they were were treated to two very interesting and absorbing not reinserted. It will eventually be housed in a presentations on different aspects of textiles. proposed Museum of Democracy in Ballarat.

Firstly, OHAA member, Professor Kay Lawrence AM, who is the Director of the South Australian School of Art and Studio Head Textiles, School of Art, Architecture and Design at UniSA, spoke of her ongoing oral history project, being conducted through the National Library of Australia, with women who played key roles stitching the sixteen metre long embroidery commissioned for the Great Hall of new Parliament House of Australia in the 1980s. She is doing whole-of-life interviews with particular emphasis on the meaning of embroidery in their lives (see Last Words, p. 20). Kay won the competition to design the work and in the end some 1,000 people across Australia were involved. The embroidery was given to the Parliament as a Kristin Phillips with an image of the Eureka flag ‘work of many hands’ by the eight state and territory embroiderer’s guilds. While initially doubts were Our thanks to both speakers for their fascinating expressed about this aspect of the project, in fact it insights. has been a great success. Kay will write more on this project in the Spring edition of Word of Mouth. Alison McDougall

Oral History Workshop We are running another ‘How to do an oral history workshop’ with theory in the morning and using the Fostex digital recorders in the afternoon. Kay Lawrence When: Thursday 1 November 2012, Our second speaker was Kristin Phillips, Principal from 10am to 3pm. Conservator Textiles at Artlab. Kristin spoke of the successful tender by Artlab to conserve what Where: Anne and Basil Hetzel lecture theatre, is considered to be the original Eureka flag.The Institute Building, corner of Kintore Avenue and flag, with its design of white on blue based on North Terrace. Front doors open at 10am. the constellation of the Southern Cross, was first flown in Ballarat during the 1854 Eureka Stockade, Cost: $50 or $25 student/non-employed/ Australia’s only civil armed uprising. It is now retired. Morning tea provided but not lunch. housed in the Art Gallery of Ballarat. She talked of the issues involved in transporting the flag to Phone 08 8293 1314 Adelaide and the 600 hours (!) of conservation RSVP: June Edwards [email protected] research and work. Various sections over the 20 - Word of Mouth, Autumn 2012

L ast Words by Kay Lawrence

The Parliament House Embroidery, stitched [it] but there were at least half a dozen or by 498 women across the country, tells a more, not more than ten, who would come in human story of the settlement of Australia on [particular] days. We would ring people up by the British in a sequence of images that if Elsie couldn’t come. We would have three reveal tensions between the settler’s desire to people working some days, so that there were use the land productively and their tendency other regular helpers but it was mainly Elsie to exploit the country’s natural resources. and I who did it… Some people had no idea, so Texts running beneath the images tell other I guess, perhaps though they put a stitch in, it stories of Aboriginal dispossession and loss. was covered up by another stitch because the design allowed for that … It was quite difficult As part of this project, I interviewed Jo Fuller really with the bushfire [section] to work out (23/4/2010, TRC6138/6, National Library what was burnt trunk, what was shadow and of Australia) and Elsie Moss who were what was background because there were so responsible for stitching two images in the many lines. Somehow we managed, I suppose South Australian panel, summer and autumn. by working out which were the main pieces, and we did those by outlining the areas [with stitch]. Jo, how did it come about that you took And the other interesting thing was the colours, responsibility with Elsie for the coordination of because with the bushfire we had trouble getting those areas? the right shades of grey because there was not one black thread in it, it’s all shades of grey and I’ve been trying to think why but it was just one for the final stitches we had to get wool from of these things I guess, we were the only two left Tasmania … that was particularly interesting, (laughs). I suppose we had the time, because we I think from the colour point of view, that there were there at least three days a week and quite was no black there and yet [it appeared to often for five hours and we would go other times be] a black scene [with] a lot of black in it. too, or not if something was happening. So it was really a labour of love to be able to spend Later I asked Jo how she felt when their the time, but at that time of my life I seemed to panel was finished and what she learnt from be able to spend time doing those things …We being involved in the Embroidery project. shared [the responsibility] ... I was thinking too how it was all set up at the Guild. One of the Great relief, I think, probably, it’s done [laughs]. husbands made a frame for [the embroidery] Is it all right? Will it land safely - and of course and so the linen was put on the rollers at each it was huge, you know, the way it was packed up end … it was quite a big frame so you could sit in a special box and transported - that nothing on either side of it or at the end, and the ends would happen to it on the way to Canberra. were covered with sheeting so we could roll it as we worked it. So we did a section at a time, I think it’s fun being involved in community and it was in its own room and it was covered things and being with people doing a up at night. I know the other states were very similar thing … I like doing most of my particular about the care of it you know, they work on my own… I’m a bit of a loner were quite fussy, but it was the policy of the there, but this sort of thing is quite different [South Australian] Guild for everybody to from that, and I really enjoy doing it…a have a stitch and we think about just every community effort I suppose you’d say. member did, even country members. When they came down, they put in a stitch - or three. So what do you think you get particularly, from that community effort? How did you manage the quality control with so many people participating? I think other people’s ideas and friends … you make friends with people. I think it’s Well … they had to put on a gown, make sure all a learning process, you learn a lot about their hands were clean and just go in and do other people’s ideas of art, embroidery. Oral History Association of Australia South Australian / Northern Territory Branch

The Oral History Association is a non-profit body whose members practice and promote oral history. The aims of the Oral History Association of Australia [OHAA] 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 branch of the OHAA came to life just seven months after the national body was founded in Perth in July 1978.

Services provided by the volunteer committee of the Oral History Association of Australia to members of the SA/ NT Branch 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 the Oral History Association of 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 the OHAA 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 OHAA SA/NT Branch grant scheme of $500 to help foster small oral history initiatives in South Australia and a free workshop • Access to the branch website: www.ohaa-sa.com.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