President’s Report
Steve Errington, Pam Harris, Jenny Gregory, Fran Pesich, John Viska: Photo Nick Drew
Since the last newsletter, we’ve held our AGM and History Council Annual Lecture (reported on later in this newsletter), our Ideas Forum on 13 October, have continued our advocacy efforts, and been busy organising our Historians and Truth Telling Symposium!
2018/19 Annual General Meeting
Our AGM resulted in the appointment of a full suite of fabulous members who are already hard at work on our Committee. Thanks to all those who have volunteered their time and ideas so generously.
Office Bearers: Emeritus Professor Jenny Gregory President, Associate Professor Bobbie Oliver, Vice President (Labour History Society WA), Lucy Hair Secretary, Nick Drew Treasurer (Royal WA Historical Society), Pam Harris Membership Secretary (Fremantle History Society)
Members: Dr Bruce Baskerville (Centre of WA History UWA), Dr Jean Butler, Kyra Edwards (Indigenous representative), Professor Deborah Gare (Notre Dame University), Vanessa Kirkham/Sharron Turner (History Teachers Assoc of WA), Dr Bri McKenzie, Geoff Moor, Helen Munt (Professional Historians Assoc), Dr Samantha Owen, Dr Cindy Solonec (Indigenous representative), Dr Pamela Statham Drew (Friends of Battye), John Toohey.
Ideas Forum
Ideas flowed freely at our Ideas Forum on 13 October keeping Pam Harris very busy on the white board. Committee members and I were delighted to welcome about 25 of our members representing the Army Museum of WA, City of Vincent Local History Centre, Fremantle History Society, Friends of Battye Library, Australian Garden History Society, History Teachers Association WA, Australian Society for Study of Labour History Society, Law Museum, Oral History Association WA, Professional Historians Association, Royal Western Australian Historical Society, UWA Centre for WA History and UWA Historical Society. We were especially pleased to welcome country members from the Albany History Collection and Bridgetown Historical Society. We are very grateful to RWAHS for the use of Stirling House as our venue, and to Committee members, Bobbie Oliver, Pam Harris, Pamela Statham Drew and Nick Drew, for organising afternoon tea and drinks after the event.
As well as ideas about the history sector in general, we also had a session focussing on the WA Bicentenary. Bobbie Oliver’s wonderful draft for a logo for the 200th, which she doodled during the discussions, is an indication of the breadth of our brainstorming — a host of ideas came up. Just to give you a flavour of the ideas — build an Indigenous Cultural Centre at Elizabeth Quay, cover the Mitchell Freeway between the Barracks Archway and Parliament House and plant a garden over the top that demonstrates the changing ideas over time about gardening in our sunburnt land, replace the Swan Brewery lights, develop a Community History House for all history organisations, organise a touring series of events that begin in Albany prior to 2029 and travel around the state, plant ethnic gardens along Metronet and Freeway easements, develop a statistical atlas on 200 milestones, historic sites, objects, people, events.
We are still digesting all the great ideas that were suggested and these will be fed into our strategic planning early in the new year.
Bruce Baskerville, Jill Paterson, Vanessa Kirkham, Pamela Statham-Drew. Photo Nick Drew
Advocacy
Response to the City of Perth on their Heritage Strategy
Query to the Minister for Heritage re the timeframe for the assessment of the Windsor Theatre and adjacent buildings, Nedlands
Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee’s Inquiry into nationhood, national identity and democracy
Submission to Fremantle Prison on their draft Master Plan 2020-29
We are delighted that our nomination of Helen Munt to the City of Perth’s prestigious Cultural Advisory Committee was accepted.
Next issue
A report on our Symposium on Truth Telling and Historians, co-hosted with Reconciliation WA, will be presented in our next newsletter. We have managed to attract some wonderful speakers and it is generating a lot of excitement. It was a full house at the State Library Theatre on 10 November!
Jenny Gregory