President's Report
‘The past is not dead,’ I frequently remind my undergraduate students. In the face of rapid change and profound disruption, it is more important than ever to discern the long reach of history and the unfinished business of our past.
In 2021 the History Council has been actively engaged with some of the most critical issues facing history and heritage in Western Australia. One of these was the release of the ‘Functional Efficiency Review of the National Archives of Australia’—otherwise known as the Tune Report—to which Australian history councils jointly responded.
The report’s significance was nearly missed, despite FOI requests and parliamentary scrutiny. Following its recent public release, we now know that the NAA is ‘struggling…to secure, preserve and make public, the archival resources of the Commonwealth’. Indeed, the NAA ‘could be in breach of legal requirements’, declared the Guardian in March. Recommendations to secure the future of the archives include proposals to centralise records, raising the possibility that access for Western Australian researchers will become more difficult. So, too, does the acceptance that some Commonwealth records just won’t—or can’t—be kept.
Like the rest of us, collecting institutions are facing immense changes that require readiness for new technologies, the preservation of cultural, visual and other heritage, and the coming to terms with new forms of historically significant materials.
In the coming weeks the History Council will therefore continue its engagement with the future of our past. We will continue to lobby for the reform of heritage protection in the state, respond to the state’s proposed water development plan for the Martuwarra-Fitzroy River (a site of significant indigenous heritage), and work with partners and allies to plan strategically for the looming 1829 anniversary.
We will also be celebrating the best of historical practice in Western Australia, with the launch of our History Awards in June. Please keep a close eye out for that special opportunity.
Thank you for the support that you provide the History Council with your membership.