The remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre 6 -Despair and then rebirth

Graham Wilson OAM. Both University Archivist Gerry Purkis and Graham as Director of the New England Historical Resources Centre resigned over the failure of the networked University of New England to properly address the organisation of regional records.

This is the sixth and final in a short series on the remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre and Regional Archives. 

By 1980 both the Armidale College of Advanced Education with its Museum of Education and New England Historical Resources Centre and the University of New England were providing valuable services to staff, students and the Northern NSW community.

Both institutions had experienced significant growth over the previous decade. Some problems were already apparent, but the future still seemed secure.

Nine years later, both had vanished into the maws of that mess called the networked University of New England, an uncomfortable amalgam of the Armidale College of Advanced Education, the University of New England and the Northern Rivers College of Education. Orange Agricultural College was added a little later.

I will tell you a little of those turbulent years in my next series of columns. It’s a story of Armidale’s rise, fall and then slow recovery. It’s also a story of the way hubris, loss of vision, political divides and complacency reduced the capacity of institutions and community to respond to external threats.

For the moment, the merger of the Armidale College of Advanced Education and University left open the question of what should be done with the Archives, Historical Resources Centre and Museum of Education.

In August 1989, Graham Wilson as Director of the Historical Resources Centre and Gerry Purkis as University Archivist wrote a joint report on future directions. They proposed that the University Archives, the Family History Collection and the Historical Resources Centre should be gathered together at the Mossman Street Campus.

The networked university was already struggling with the integration of ACAE staff and activities into the new institution, as well as broader integration questions across the whole network. In these circumstances, the future of these historical resources was not seen as a high priority.

Gerry Purkis resigned as archivist. His position would remain vacant for three years.

At the end of 1992, a frustrated Graham Wilson also resigned as Director of the Historical Resources Centre. He had been working on a volunteer basis with no relief from teaching load available to accommodate Centre management.  

The entire range of regional archival and support services that had been provided since the 1940s was now in effective suspension. One result was a sharp drop in research and publications focused on regional interests including history. A second was loss of community support for the university.

The network university was abolished in 1994 leading to re-establishment of a separate if much diminished independent UNE.

As had been recommended in 1989, UNE now finally decided to use C.B Newling Library building as a central site for the management of U.N.E. Archives, the Historical Resources Centre and the Museum of Education. The Heritage Centre as we know it today had been born.

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020, here 2021.

The remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre 5 - Lionel Gilbert and the foundation of the New England Historical Resources Centre

Lionel Gilbert played a critical role in the promotion of local and regional history.

This is the fifth in a short series on the remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre and Regional Archives. 

Both Armidale and the broader North have been lucky in the people who have fought to build and preserve our institutions, including those concerned with the preservation of our history and culture. Lionel Gilbert was one such man.

Lionel Gilbert was born at Burwood in Sydney on 8 December 1924. After graduating from Sydney Teachers” College in 1942, Gilbert served in the Royal Australian Airforce, returning to teaching in 1946.

As a teacher, Gilbert taught at Nabiac Central School, Wauchope Primary School and then Rocky River Primary School. At Nabiac, he met and married Margaret Roberts. Daughter Anne was born in 1960.

In 1955, Gilbert enrolled as an external student in the first class of the University of New England’s new external studies program, the first of its type in Australia. In 1963 he graduated with first class honours His honours thesis covered the history of botanical knowledge of the eastern seaboard of Australia 1788–1815.

In 1961, Gilbert was appointed by UNE as a Research and Information Officer in the Department of External Studies. In this capacity, Gilbert taught weekend classes on the methodology of local history for the university's adult education department throughout inland New England.

In many ways, the 1960s and 1970s marked the peak of UNE’s extension efforts across Northern NSW and indeed beyond, a focus that would later be lost in constant institutional change. The current NERAM exhibition on the UNE summer schools provides a partial picture of the period.

In July 1963, Gilbert accepted an appointment as lecturer in applied history and curator with the Armidale Teachers' College (later College of Advanced Education) Museum of Education.

The focus of the ATC and later from 1971 the Armidale College of Advanced Education was on hands on learning. By 1973, more than a 1,000 school students each year were visiting the Armidale Folk Museum to learn about the exhibits and their connection with local history.

The new NSW Junior Secondary History Syllabus based on ‘enquiry’ and ‘problem solving’ provided an opportunity for Gilbert to extend outreach because the need for students to match the new curriculum with primary and secondary resources was not being met by traditional museums. A new type of hands on repository was required.

In December 1974, Gilbert obtained funding to establish a new Regional Historical Resources Centre. This involved collection of new material along with the copying of archival and other resources to make them accessible to teachers and students.

Although the cataloguing and collecting of material was on-going, sufficient progress had been made to enable an official opening of the new Centre on 20 February 1976.

The Historical Resources Centre was an immediate success, welcomed by teachers, students and historical societies across Northern NSW. However, events were now to occur that would threaten the survival of both the Centre and UNE’s own regional archive.

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020, here 2021.

The remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre 4 - UNE only institution interested in preserving the records of the North

David Drummond in later years. Australian National Librarian Harold White wanted the Drummond papers to come to the National Library as a collection of national importance. To White's annoyance. Drummond insisted that they go to the University of New England Archives.

This is the fourth in a short series on the remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre and Regional Archives. 

Writing in the Australian Library Journal in March 1963, University of New England Archivist R J McDonald commented that the distinctive feature of the UNE case was the absence of any other intuitions interested in the records of the North.

If  "the University had not begun collecting records in this area they would not have been collected at all", McDonald wrote.

By now, the holdings had begun to expand rapidly, a process continued under the second archivist Alan Wilkes. Wilkes was determined to collect and preserve as many records as he could and would go to considerable lengths to do so, including collecting remote records by horse!

The 1960s marked the start of a period of great change.

Many smaller organizations such as dairy and banana cooperatives were closing. Long standing pastoral families who held records dating back to the foundation of the first runs were making hard choices about the retention or destruction of property and family records. Newspapers were deciding what to do with their records and past editions.

Under Wilkes’s vigorous collection policies these records started to flow to the UNE archives from across Northern NSW, a process aided by the loyalty felt by many to UNE and the North.

The transfer of the Drummond papers in the early 1960s is one example.

National Librarian Harold White, a good friend of David Drummond, had expected the collection to go to the National Library as a collection of national importance. He was not pleased when Drummond chose to pass them to the UNE Archives.

Drummond would not be budged. To his mind, the papers belonged with the University he had helped found.

The rapid rise in the collection saved many records that would have been lost, in so doing creating an archival collection of national importance. However, Alan’s vigorous approach also created a difficulty, the need to document the collection and to create finding aids that would allow easy access. This remains a problem today.

While the UNE archives were expanding, another move was taking place in a sister institution that would form the third important leg in the future New England Heritage Centre and Regional Archives.

From its foundation in 1928, the Armidale Teachers’ College focused on the practical craft of teaching as compared to the more academic approach followed at Sydney Teachers’ College.

One outcome was the work of Eric Dunlop on building museums including Armidale’s Folk and Education Museums, a second the creation of the Historical Resources Centre by Lionel Gilbert.

Now these moves would come together with the UNE Archives, creating the Heritage Centre and Regional Archives that we know today. 

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020 

The remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre 3 - creation of a professional archive

UNE Chancellor P A Wright with Honorary archivist, Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Lane-Poole. Sir Richard began the process of consolidating and documenting the growing regional archival collections, continuing the process of community involvement with UNE and what would become the UNE Heritage Centre. 

This is the third in a short series on the remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre and Regional Archives. 

The University of New England became autonomous in 1954. In that year, Robert Madgwick, now Vice Chancellor, issued a further call for the public to donate records to the University to support the University’s research plan.

 “This work”, Madgwick said, “can only be done with the sympathetic support and encouragement of the people of the region and I appeal to all those who have family papers and records of any sort to get in touch with the University.”

 The public responded, but Madgwick faced a problem. How should the new holdings be stored and accessed?

The University Library was still in Booloominbah where limited space and poor storage conditions were damaging book holdings. New facilities were needed, but cash was tight.

In May 1956, Frank Rogers, was appointed as Librarian, while work began on the construction of a temporary library on the east of the campus, later the Marshall Building.  

Rogers was a training archivist as well as librarian. In May 1957 space was allocated in the basement of the new building as a dedicated archives repository, while Rogers also recruited an able volunteer in retired Vice Admiral Sir Richard Lane-Poole to be the university archivist under Roger’s guidance.

Sir Richard proved an inspired choice because of his intelligence, energy and local connection, both building and helping document the collection.

In 1959 consideration began on what would become the NSW State Archives Act 1960, Madgwick and Rogers lobbied the Government asking that UNE be recognized in this legislation as a regional repository for the State Archives.

In the end, UNE was satisfied with Rogers being given a seat on the Board created under the Act to manage the state’s archives. The appointment recognized Roger’s specific skills, as well as UNE’s growing archival role.

 Rogers now appointed UNE’s first full time archivist, R J McDonald. In now familiar words, he directed McDonald in now familiar words to: 

Collect all research material likely to be of value in throwing light on the historical, economic and social development of Northern New South Wales from the earliest European settlement until recent times.

The focus on the period since European settlement reflects the times. The Centre’s relevance to Aboriginal history emerged later.

 The stage was now set for the next chapter in the story of the UNE Heritage Centre and Regional Archives, a period of significant expansion. 

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020 

The remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre 2 - Cumpston and Madgwick combine to make official records available to regional students

Working in conjunction with History lecturer Mary Cumpston, Sir Robert Madgwick's actions in 1947 established the principle that official records could be held regionally to facilitate local access. This is the second in a short series on the remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre and Regional Archives. 

1947 marked a critical stage in the evolution of what we now know as the University of New England Heritage Centre and Regional Archives.

Ina Mary Cumpston, normally called Mary, had a problem, one that she was determined to solve.

Mary was an interesting woman, a pioneer in an academic environment still dominated by men.

Both her parents were community activists with a love of learning.

Her father, J H L Cumpston, was Commonwealth Director General of Health. His pioneering history of small pox in Australia (1918) is still a basic text. Her mother,

Mother Gladys Maeva Cumpston nee Walpole, was very interested in gardening, botany and native plants. Later, she would become actively involved in the braille movement.

 In 1936, Mary won a scholarship to study Arts at Sydney University. At university she was a member of the Sydney University ski team.

Upon completion of her studies, Mary came to the New England University College (NEUC) as a lecturer in history. There she found that historical records held in the Armidale Court House could not be accessed locally. Instead, the records would need to be transferred to the Mitchell Library in Sydney to allow access, requiring students and staff to travel to Sydney to see them.

This made no sense to Mary. She wrote to NEUC Warden Robert Madgwick in mid 1947seeking his support to try to fix the problem, 

Madgwick had arrived as Warden earlier that year, replacing Jim Belshaw who had been acting Warden as well as Head of History and Economics since Edgar Booth’s departure in 1945.

Madgwick would prove to be an inspired choice as Warden and later first Vice Chancellor. He was committed to the development of NEUC and saw adult education and community engagement as central to that development. He was also a capable negotiator.

Madgwick wrote to the Under Secretary of Justice of NSW complaining about lack of regional access. “This (the current position) was all very silly,” Madgwick told the Under Secretary. In July 1947, the Armidale Court Records were transferred to NEUC custody.

In that same month, Mary sailed for England to study at Oxford on a postgraduate scholarship and vanishes from our story. However, the episode had established the principle that regional archival records could be held locally for better access.

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020 

 

The remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre 1 - beginnings

Dr J P Belshaw, October 1940. As head of history and economics at the newly established New England University College, Belshaw needed archival records for student use and to allow the College to fulfil its role in the promotion of economic, social and cultural development across Northern NSW. This is the first in a short series on the remarkable story of the University of New England's Heritage Centre and Regional Archives. 

Back in October 1919 I wrote on the economic, cultural and social benefits of family, local and regional history:

• Web of history revealed
• Connecting to our past
• Maximising value from local and regional history - the case of mining history

Achievement of these benefits depends upon a network of historical societies, family history groups, museums and archives spread across Northern NSW. Within that network, the University of New England’s Heritage Centre occupies a very particular place.

The Centre’s history is a remarkable one. I will share a little of that history with you over the next few columns

In 1938, the still small staff at the newly established New England University College faced considerable challenges. The College was founded to become the Sydney University of the North. It was expected to contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of the North. It was expected to provide a high quality university education to its new students.

 Staff took these responsibilities seriously, but lacked access to books and other resources necessary to support teaching, research and extension activities. An effort began to build local resources that students could use and that would also support research. This extended from history and economics into other disciplines including geology and geography.

 Initially progress was slow, but momentum did build. The first Master of Economic on New England’s history appeared in 1940, followed by Desmond Long’s BA Honours thesis, the History of New England 1832-1861.  With time, these theses in history and other disciplines would become a critical resource.

 Long went onto a Master’s thesis on the history of colonial New England, in so doing building up descriptions of source resources in various locations. He also wrote on the professional issues involved in the writing of regional history.

 In 1946, the Northern Daily Leader and other papers reporting on Long’s work carried an appeal for old records from any area of Northern NSW to be supplied to the History Department. The appeal noted that such records were often stacked away in homesteads, often brought out only to be destroyed.

In 1943, Jim Belshaw (Head History & Economics) and Alan Voisey (Head Geology & Geography) had attempted to establish a NEUC Research Bureau. This failed because of lack of money, but with the ending of the war, funding became available to fund a series of research monographs focused especially on the history of mining.

Writing in 1951 in the NEUC Regional Research Report, Belshaw described the area of geographic coverage as the Tablelands, North Coast, Upper Hunter and Western Slopes and Plains. This remains the formal coverage of the Heritage Centre today.

Belshaw also expressed the hope that, with time, the NEUC might be able to make some contribution to the welfare of Northern New South Wales. 

Note to readers: This post was prepared as a column for the on-line edition of the Armidale Express. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020 

Local history groups hold keys to uncovering the past

Speedy Purchase, Quick Return: The small settlement of Kookabookra lay south east of Glen Innes, one of many now vanished country settlements.The records of the Kookabookra Court of Perry Sessions are just one of the records held at the New England Archives and Heritage Centre,

I hope that you had a happy Christmas. May the New Year be peaceful, successful, wet and fire free!

I published my first Express column in December 2009. Since then I have written 474 columns. This year, I hope to take you still deeper into the remarkable tapestry that is our history.

Last year, I wrote a short series on the cultural, social and economic importance of family, local and regional history. This post focuses on some of the historical resources available in Armidale. Later, I will deal with resources outside Armidale.

Armidale has a number of historical societies. The peak societies are the Armidale Family History Group and the Armidale and District Historical Society.

The Family History Group focuses on family history, but can provide broader information to provide an historical context. The Historical Society focuses on history, but can also provide information relevant to particular families. The two societies work closely together, with many common members.

Both maintain growing collections of historical material. Both have reading rooms open to the general public manned by volunteers who can provide advice on the topics you are interested in or direct you to other sources of information.

The Armidale and District Historical Society is located at 114 Faulkner Street, the old Dumaresq Shire Council Chambers. It’s open Monday to Friday, 10.00 to 16.00.

The Family History Group reading rooms in the Kentucky Street museum precinct at the Dangar Street end are open Monday 14.00 to 17.00, Wednesday 10.00 to 16.00, other times by appointment.

Just across the road from the Family History Group in the Newling library building lies the University of New England Archives & Heritage Centre, the jewel in Armidale’s historical resources crown.

The Centre has a large collection of primary and secondary materials relevant to New England’s history and is a great resource for students, locals and family and regional historians. The Centre is open Monday to Friday 9.00-17.00.

Down Kentucky Street from the Heritage Centre you will find the New England Regional Art Museum (open Tuesday-Sunday 10.00-16.00) and the Aboriginal Cultural Centre & Keeping Place (open Monday to Friday 9.00-16.00, Saturday 10.00-14.00).

Two other resources are the Armidale City Library (Rusden Street) and the Dixson Library at the University. Apart from its general material, the City Library has a small local reference section upstairs, while the Dixson is a major library that Includes a specialist collection covering New England.

This post provides just a taste of local resources. Later this year, we hope to release a full resource guide for use by students, teachers, locals and visitors.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 8 January 2020. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020 

Maximising value from local and regional history - the case of mining history

Historical nugget: Jubilee Gold Mining Company, Rocky River, is part of our rich mining history, yet few outside the New England know of the scale of the mining province.This is third in a three part series on the economic, social and cultural value of family, local and regional history within the broader New England.

So far in this series, I have spoken of the growing interest in family, local and regional history. This comes partly from current locals, but far more from those outside the North who have lived there or have family connections to the area.

There are two further groups we need to consider.

The first is visitors who come to a particular location, often for a day or less to visit a particular attraction or just to see a place. This group drops into the local information centre, historical society or museum as part of their visit. They may have an interest in local history, but this is often peripheral to their visit. 

The second group covers those who have a particular interest from architecture to mining to Aboriginal history to bushrangers to Italian POWs. The range is quite enormous.

The first group is actually quite well catered too. The second is not.

Localism is the curse of the North. It is driven by locals who see their town as the centre of the universe, by councils who see their role as promoting and serving the areas covered by their shifting boundaries often in competition with other areas.

The term zero sum game is used to describe the situation where the pie is fixed, where one participant can only gain of someone else loses an equivalent amount. Tourism promotion and history’s role in tourism promotion is often treated as though it were a zero sun game.

This may sound extreme, but consider this case.

A week back, I had dinner with friends to meet his parents. They love mining and told me many fascinating stories about Lightning Ridge.

As part of their love of mining and of ghost towns, they regularly attend the Nundle gold/Chinese festival. They visit Glen Innes to fossick. But they had no idea that the western slopes of the Tablelands had once been the greatest tin province in the world.

They had no idea that Tingha had been a major mining center with a large Chinese population and its own China town. Driving through, they had noticed the Wing Hong Ling Museum, but it didn’t mean anything to them.

This struck me as a failure in information and promotion.

History is about stories. This is where we local and regional historians, amateur and professional, come in.

If we don’t get our mind above the local, if we don’t look for broader linkages and patterns, if we don’t tell a textured story, then those who depend upon us will be less effective.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 23 October 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019    

Connecting to our past

Anniversary: Armidale Demonstration School (Armidale City Public) turns 150. Three alumni, Jim Belshaw, Rob Richardson and Paul Barratt. Paul was in the process of returning to the New England, I came much later, both drawn back by the sense of connection. This is the second in a three part series on the economic, social and cultural value of family, local and regional history within the broader New England.

In my first column in this brief series on the economic and cultural importance of history to Northern NSW, the broader New England, I spoke of the rise in interest in family and local history. This draws people to the various towns and localities across New England, re-establishing links and creating new opportunities.

The New England diaspora, those no longer living in the North but who were born here or have some form of family connection, now exceed the local resident population by more than three to one.

Not all these people are interested in family, local or regional history, but many are.

To give you one rough indication of scale, the Armidale Families’ Facebook page has well over 2,000 members who no longer live in Armidale but retain their connection.

Each year, there are hundreds of family reunions or centenaries or other special events that bring people back to the North. They all spend money, adding to local economic activity. To my mind, this is an underutilized resource.

In 2011, I found out almost by accident about the Armidale Demonstration School 150 year celebrations.

Older residents or ex-residents still call the school Armidale Dem. I do wonder why it was renamed when North Sydney still proudly uses the name demonstration.

You can understand why the school focused on current students and Armidale residents, but this ignored the rest of us (the majority) who live outside Armidale.

We started to organise. In the end, nine of us came back. It could have been many times that number if the celebrations had focused on the broader ex-student body, if support on things like bookings had been there.

I must emphasize that I am not being critical of the organizers. They did a wonderful job in bringing together so much memorabilia, in organizing an event to remember. But it was a missed opportunity.

So far, I have focused on family and local history with a special focus on locals or those with New England connections. But this is still only part of our story.

Across the North there are hundreds of museums and local historical societies that preserve and promote the culture and history of their localities.

Supported by councils and maintained by volunteers with a small number of paid staff, they form an integral part of our tourism infrastructure. They provide part of the experience that locals and visitors alike appreciate. They are a valuable asset.

And yet, despite council support and all the efforts of volunteers, we are not maximising the value they offer.  

In my last column in this short series I will explain why, suggesting what needs to be done to address the situation. 

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 16 October 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019    

Web of history revealed

Ancestry: West Armidale (now Drummond Memorial) Primary School 1960. Across the North there are probably a thousand history-related Facebook pages where people exchange stories and images such as this. This is the first in a three part series on the economic, social and cultural value of family, local and regional history within the broader New England. 

I will start this week’s column with a few blunt statements. History is worth money. I suspect too few people recognize this.

I also suspect that most people are not aware of the range of historical resources available across the broader New England that can enrich lives and also bring cash!

I suspect, too, that those who do recognize this tend to think of it in terms just of their attraction, accommodation or local area. This minimizes opportunities.

It would take a detailed economic study to start to quantify the value of history to the North. However, we can get something of a feel for it if we ask the question who is interested in the history of the North?

We can start here with the growing field of family history.

The disruption of Aboriginal life following European occupation led to many deaths. Then came forced relocations that merged different groups. Records of all this including births and deaths are scanty.

Not surprisingly, Aboriginal people now are seeking to trace their ancestry as best they can, to find out about the history not just of their families but the clans and language groups from which their ancestors came.

With 591 members, Armidale historian Caroline Chapman’s Facebook group, Discussion Group for Aboriginal History of New England, has become a major source of information and discussion for those seeking to find out about their ancestry in this area.

Callum Clayton Dixon’s Anaiwan Language Revival Program seeks to both revive the language and to document the story of the Anaiwan people. The Friends of Anaiwan Language Revival FB group has 130 members.

The settlers who came after British occupation, mainly British but including other groups such as Germans and Chinese, are just as interested in family history. This interest extends into local history, the stories of the areas in which their ancestors lived.

To give you an indication of scale, the Armidale Families past and present FB group has 3,116 members, the Uralla Memories FB group 2,245 members, Glen Innes and Surrounds Family History Memories 539 members and the Armidale Family History Group 340 members.

I have given you local FB examples because FB has become the main communication mechanism. I have only done a partial audit, the task is too big for a single individual, by my best guestimate is that across the North there are probably a thousand history related FB pages or groups, as well as blogs and web sites connected with localities, families, societies and museums. 

It is hard to estimate the total number of people involved but it must run into many tens of thousands.

These are not small numbers, but this is only part of the story of history in the North.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 9 October 2019. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019    

Managing the pressures of the long distance student

This post began as a draft response to a plea for help on the History at UNE Facebook page. It became so long that I decided that I should run it as a full post here and then cross-reference it on the FB page.

Under pressure because of family and job circumstances, Jennifer G asked for hints about study techniques that might help her manage more effectively. It was interesting to see how many of her experiences were shared by others, nice that people were so supportive. I thought that I should add my tuppence worth.

Learning and working styles vary greatly. For example, I am a very fast reader and have been trained through work to absorb stuff quickly, so my hints mat not be suitable for all.

My first hint may raise eyebrows, may be seen as unsuitable in a university environment. I will still make it: use Wikipedia and other on-line sources. Yes, I know Wikipedia is full of errors and is not normally suitable for referencing, but it is still valuable in two primary ways.

One of the challenges faced by all students is to get a feel for the scope of their course. Yes, the course material does aim to do that, but Wikipedia can still be valuable. For my part, I use it to give me a quick overview of the area in question, a starting framework. Say I want to find out about the early days of the Muslim faith. A friend was doing this as a course and I wanted to help. So I went through the Wikipedia pages, following the links. In an hour, I had a rough historical structure to work from that at least allowed me to talk sensibly..

 I also use it to clarify names, words and concepts. In reading academic writing I am constantly struck by names that I do not know, words and concepts that I do not understand. I immediately follow through using on-line search and especially Wikipedia.

These types of searches can often be fitted into time gaps.

My second hint: create a schedule of key dates early in the piece. Dates are pegs. You hang things from them, they help you think about the patterns involved.  They can also stop you making gross errors. There is nothing more mortifying, as I know full well, in realizing that an entire carefully developed argument has to be discarded because certain pesky dates don’t fit! It also saves time because you can refer to your schedule in finding dates rather than searching again. In some cases, it may help to add a glossary of terms plus a list of characters.

Hint three: each time you read a new article or book record the details properly. This has two advantages. It saves time later when it comes to that horrid task of creating footnotes and bibliography for your assignment. Mind you, while I still hate creating bibliographies and, in my case, resource lists, I now use footnotes as a tool, even weapon, to support my argument. Properly documenting references in the first place means that when you take notes you can use short form – author and date plus page number – since you already have the full details recorded.

Hint four: keep your notes short. You are recording ideas, facts, quotes for later use. Don’t be like the early me and feel that you must record everything. So much time I wasted. You can always go back if you must. This approach also reduces the risk of the dreaded plagiarism.

There are different ways of taking notes. One old fashioned way that still works is to put them on index cards that you can reshuffle as required. Consider keeping a writer’s diary in which you jot down thoughts, ideas and key facts. This can be a small notebook that you can store in handbag or brief case. This should be page numbered and have an index space (blank numbered pages) at the front where you can cross-reference later thoughts.

Hint five: with books don’t just start reading. Take the time to look at the table of contents (this tells you the structure), read any introduction or preface (this tells what the author thinks the book is about) and browse the index for any topics, people etc that seem relevant. Then flick browse through the book. This gives you a feel for the book and its flow, helping you focus on what seems important. You can then read as required.

Hint six: try to use your otherwise dead time effectively. I used to work in Parramatta, taking around two and a half hours travel time in all. I came to call this my train reading time. Once your mind and ideas are engaged you will find it easier to use little bits of time effectively, thinking while ironing or walking.

Hint seven and I know this one is hard. Try not to get too hung up on assignments or essays. They are important because they are measures that the university uses to assess your progress. They are also problematic sometimes because of variations in marking and in perceptions (staff and students) of the results. In all, they are a major cause of angst.

We live in a measurement world where we all must jump through hoops. That won’t go away. We just have to manage. Here I want to make a few points that may sound heretical or just hard to do.

 Change the way that you look at essays or assignments. Forget the question of how well you do or might do. Don’t worry about the question of pass or failure. Yes, I know that’s hard.

I remember my father then Professor of Economics at UNE and a member of the NSW Board of Examiners for the old NSW Leaving Certificate. A friend’s daughter was struggling with an economics essay and Prof (we all called him Prof) gave her some help. She failed badly. A week later her teacher, an economics student, came round to the house for a group economics tutorial from Dad. Dad did not say a word; just let the matter pass to the keeper.

My point is that any essay or assignment is just a point in the process. Markers are human and struggle with the technical process of marking. I know from my own experience that this can be quite hard when you have a lot of papers. You have to grade them against each other and against your own perception of standards.

If we now turn all this on its head and look at it from a different viewpoint: to the university, the essay or assignment is a progress measurement, a measure of pass or failure. But is it?

In our measurement obsessed world, it would seem so. But, in fact, essays and assignments and indeed exams are part of the process by which you are learning your historical craft, as well as writing skills. As an historian, you need to be able to express your arguments clearly History is not just “facts”. You have to learn to express an argument from introduction to conclusion using clear English in a logical flow, marshalling your arguments supported by evidence. This just doesn’t come. It has to be practiced. The skills you learn will carry you through well beyond history.

 I know that some of the most turgid, tendentious English that you can find comes out of our universities. That does not matter. Well, it does, just not for our present purposes. You need to think of your essays and assignments as part of your learning process. If you fail, find out why and move on, even when you disagree.

I will finish this post with a few general observations

External study can be a lonely business when you are trying to balance work, study and family commitments and have no one to talk too on either method or topic. Use the Moodle or the History at UNE FB page to reach out, to engage, as Jennifer did. Look for fellow students who share your interests and experiences. If you are in trouble reach out early.

In all this, remember that you are acquiring interests and learning skills that will carry you forward in directions that you cannot yet see.  Sorry, I have dropped from helpful to lecturing mode!

A new history year dawns in New England - Port Arthur, Isabel McBryde and the importance and difficulties of multidisciplinary studies

And so we come to the start of a new historical year, or should that be historiographic year since I am talking about writing history?  

To mark the start of the year, UNE scholars Richard Turfin and Martin Gibbs had an interesting piece in the Conversation, Why archaeology is so much more than just digging,. With their team, they are currently over a year into a research project, Landscapes of Production and Punishment, that uses evidence of the built and natural landscape to understand the experience of convict labour on the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania between 1830 and 1877.

At its peak, nearly 4,000 convicts and free people lived on the penal peninsula. Their day-to-day activities left traces in today’s landscape that the teams looks to locate and analyse using historical research, remote sensing and archaeological field survey.

I am interested in their work in part because New England had two penal colonies, one at Newcastle, the other Port Maquarie.

Joseph Backler (1813-1895). Port Macquarie c1840. The penal settlement was established in 1821 and finally closed in 1830. 

Several things struck me reading the piece. One was simply the advances in technology over the years.

I became involved with Isabel McBryde's work in Australian archaeology as a first year student at the University of New England in (gulp) 1963. In 1967, I was a member of her first archaeology honours class, the first such class in Australia.

Isabel sought to use the latest science and technology, but it was just so limited. Radio carbon dating was in its infancy, while none of the passive ground sensing technology that we know today existing although simple metal detectors were already being used by some prospectors and treasure hunters. Aerial photography was the most advanced technology available to Isabel and that was quite expensive.

Like the current UNE team, Isabel attempted to combine survey work with historical and ethnographic records and later Aboriginal memory. She also involved other disciplines including botanists, zoologists, geologists and geographers to aid her in her work.  

UNE archaeological survey c 1963-64. Mick Moore left, Jim Belshaw right. Photo Isabel McBryde. 

Today, of course, we know so much more and have so much more more depth available to us. That's good, of course, but there was a certain enjoyment in our then innocence, the rush of the new.

At UNE I was involved in what we now call multidisciplinary studies. In fact, for most of my working life I have been involved in working with other fields, other disciplines, aided by broad based studies. In doing so, I became very aware of the way in which professional silos blind us, limit the questions we ask, limit our ability to develop new ideas.

This may be a prejudice, but I think that this problem has become worse as education has become more narrowly vocation, specialisation deeper. But if this is a prejudice,  I know with a much higher degree of certainty just how much of a challenge the spread of knowledge has become.

I am a general historian. Yes, I have a strong focus on a particular area, but within that area I try to understand and write on as many aspects of human life over 30,000 years as I can.. I am constantly reminded how little I know, aware of the possible things I don't know that I don't know!

It's not all bad, of course. The work I do is is a constant broad education. Mind you, I sometimes wonder just how I might have gone if I had put as much time and thought into my university studies?!    

Which brings me to my final point. Over this year I hope to continue to bring you new things, new ideas, new slants on New England history that may interest or at least inform broader thought.