Return to Blogging

Cross posting to the Personal Reflections and New England Australia blogs.

Well, I am now in Armidale. I still don't have the internet working properly, that requires connecting to the NBN, but can access the internet using a hot spot created on the mobile. This is potentially very expensive, but meets my immediate needs.

After such a long delay in blogging, the move was creating distractions and delays long before the intensive move period, traffic to my blogs has declined greatly. I have to rebuild and that will take time.

I will write about the move, after all it has been a big and all consuming one, but for the moment I simply want to record that I am back blogging.

I look forward to a return to regular posting, to the on-going conversation with blogging friends old and hopefully new!

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.  

A happy Christmas to you all

This will be my last post for 2018. I am shutting down fully until the new year to recharge my batteries.

This has been a busy year on the New England history front. I have valued my readers and especially my regular commenters and emailers. I may sometimes be slow in responding, but I do read and value.

I know 2018 has been a sometimes difficult year for some of us. I think for my part it has reminded me of the importance of love and friendship.

For those who celebrate this festive season, may I wish you a very happy Christmas? For those who are alone, and that can be just so hard, tomorrow is a time to remember our blessings no matter how few they seem.

We will continue our discussions and sharing in the new year.

History columnist Jim Belshaw believes history is vital for policymaking

Armidale Express feature by Nicholas Fuller on yours truly: History columnist Jim Belshaw believes history is vital for policymaking.  Cross posted on my other blogs.

Season's greetings to you all

I am shutting down for the new year. I will bring up my last Express column for the year next week, but other than that I am recharging, focused on catching up on other things and especially my writing backlog. For those who celebrate Christmas, have a lovely festive season. I look forward to meeting you once again next year

 To leave you, I was asked to do a short interview on my history column. I leave you with that.
 

Sources for New England Records

This post continues the archive discussion from my previous post, NSW Cabinet Records.

In New England & Archives Outside, I wrote:

Those who read this blog will know that I am writing a history of the broader New State New England. They may not realise how history affects records and the presentation of those records.

The University of New England was founded to be the Sydney University of the North. When it began, it collected material from the broader New England.

In 1967, the New State plebiscite was lost and the New State Movement collapsed. This affected both the way records were kept and presented. As a simple example, UNE''s local history collection, the best regional history collection in Australia, narrowed its focus to cut out some areas, focusing especially on inland New England. From my viewpoint as an historian, this was something of a disaster. Areas such as the North Coast diminished from view.

I must emphasise that this is not a criticism of UNE archivist Bill Oates who does a remarkable job. Rather, it is a simple statement that UNE's contracting focus meant that there was nothing left to bridge the gap between the narrowly local or regional and the state level.

The North Coast suffered most in this contraction. It actually vanished from the historical radar. This may sound extreme, but I do try to monitor this stuff quite closely.

There are so many broader New England and especially North Coast stories that are now just unknown. I cannot rebuild the broader New England memory of its past on my own, although I try. The Robinson family, New England Airways, steam navigation on the coast, Nimbin and counter culture, all are being lost. They remain as fragments, isolated memories diminishing on a sea of time, footnotes in the broader Australian story.

You see why I want more Hunter and North Coast photos?

In a responding comment, Fiona Sullivan from State Records NSW wrote:

In terms of State archives the University of New England and Regional Archives (UNERA) is the designated repository for archives from the New England and the North Coast regions. In fact right now we are in the middle of negotiating the transfer of records from a North Coast Council to the repository. I had assumed this was the case for their private archival collections as well, however, following your post I rang the University Archivist, William Oates to check on this. He confirmed that the North Coast region is still very much part of UNERA's collection policy, however, the reality is that they are being offered less from that region than the New England. . Perhaps this is a reflection of the shift in regionalism over time. When UNERA was initially established the University of New England had a Vice-Chancellor based in Grafton and travelling across to work. Since then the North Coast has established it's own university, Southern Cross, which merged then unmerged with UNE. It's also worth noting that there was period of time in the late 80's when the University of New England was without an archivist. The sheer fact of geography also makes the North Coast a more challenging region for UNERA to collect in. There are also a number of strong Historical Societies in the North Coast region who are actively collecting and maintaining archives. So in a sense it's not that archives from the North Coast aren't being collected it's more that not all of them are ending up at UNERA. I hope this helps to answer some of your questions.

I must say that I really love the way that our friendly archivists are responsive. This companion post looks at some elements of Fiona's comment from a New England perspective.

NSW Archive Regions

The map shows NSW regions for public archival purposes. The main regions that together constitute the broader New England are Hunter, New England and North Coast.

Before talking about New England repositories, two general points.

First, the region marked on the map as Orana actually includes part of what I would normally call New England. Current administrative boundaries do not always reflect history. There appears to be no repository for Orana, so I am assuming that records there are held by local historical societies or in Sydney.

The second is that Riverina records are held by the Charles Sturt University archives in Wagga Wagga. This may seem a long way from New England, but there is a strong interface between New England and Riverina because of the presence of cooperating separation movements in both areas. It is hard, for example, to understand the history of NSW or New England in the 1930s without having some knowledge of Charles Hardy and the Riverina Movement.  

Thinking of Riverina reminded me of Alan Ives who used to be archivist there. Eccentricity and archives sometimes goes together. In Alan's case he was a bibliophile of the first order whose flat in Canberra was stacked to the ceiling with books!

New England Archive Regions

The regional archives repository in Armidale is located at the University of New England and Regional Archives (UNERA) within the Heritage Centre on the C.B. Newling Campus (Cnr Dangar and Kentucky Streets) of the University. As UNERA holds State archives from the New England (Northern Tablelands plus North West) aad North Coast regions of NSW.

The Heritage Centre is open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm (excluding public holidays). The telephone number is (02) 6773 6555. The Newling Campus - the old Armidale Teacher's College - is less than ten minutes by taxi and is in walking distance of the main street. UnderIt's a pleasant location to work.

The Heritage Centre collection is a large one combining a number of different collections. These include the local history collection developed at the Armidale Teacher College/Armidale College of Advanced Education, the University  of New England Archives and the regional state archive. The original mission of the University archives was expressed in these terms:

‘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.’

While definitions of the North have varied, the University archives contains the best broad collection of Northern material.

You can access details of the current collection on-line including university, TC and CAE records, state records, maps and the regional collection. 

This photo shows University archivist Alan Wilkes collecting material in 1964. Alan was very definitely in that somewhat eccentric archival tradition that I have mentioned before.

In addition to the Heritage Centre, the main university campus contains further historical material. The campus is located to the north west of the city. While there is a local bus service, by far the best way of getting between the Heritage Centre and the main campus is  via a short car or taxi ride.

The University's Dixon Library contains a large special collection of local and regional histories, many of them now hard to obtain. This is a closed collection; you will need to contact the library to arrange access.

In addition to the local history collection, a number of departmental libraries contain valuable thesis material. Because the New England University College was established in 1938 as the Sydney University equivalent of the North, it had a very strong regional focus for its first five decades. This meant that a substantial number of theses - honours, Lit B, masters & PhD - were completed on local or regional topics.

Two examples to illustrate this. 

Isabel McBryde was appointed in 1960 to lecture in prehistory and ancient history. By 1978, UNE students had written at least 22 theses on the Aborigines, most with a regional focus. This remains one of the best resources on Aboriginal history at a regional level in Australia.

The second example are the local or regional history theses. These began earlier, and again constitute a valuable resource.

There are many other theses with a regional focus in other disciplines. One day, and this is yet another thing that I would like to do, I would like to prepare some form of consolidated list.

To access the theses, I suggest that you contact Archaeology & Palaeoanthropology for the Aboriginal theses, History for the history theses.

Turning now to the Hunter Valley, there are two official archives. Before discussing them, I must note I haven't visited, that's still on my list, just looked at their on-line collection material. 

The Newcastle Region Library holds general government archives of significance to the Newcastle Region. It also hold a range of other historical material. The material is managed by the Local Studies Section - Laman Street, Newcastle, telephone: (02) 4974 5330; the Local Studies Section is open Monday to Wednesday 9:30am-8pm; Thursday to Friday 9:30am-5pm; and Saturday 9:30am-2pm. The Library is, I think, in working distance from the Civic railway station.

In official records terms, the University of Newcastle Archives mostly holds university archives
and public health archives. However, the archives also include a range of other material, including the Pender papers. Maitland architects, the Penders had a considerable influence on the built environment across New England. The opening hours are Monday to Friday 9:30am-5pm. Address details Level 2 Auchmuty Library
University Drive, Callaghan NSW 2308, Telephone: (02) 4921 5819.

I am not sure of the best way of getting there by public transport.

Local Historical Societies

In her reply, Fiona mentioned local historical societies. These are indeed an invaluable resource. I haven't attempted a full list. However, I did want to mention a couple that are of particular importance. I am happy to add others.

The Richmond River Historical Society was formed in 1936. It has a large and very valuable collection.

The Clarence River Historical Society was formed in 1931. Like it's counterpart in the next valley, it too has a very valuable collection.

The Scone & District Historical Society occupies a special place in my heart.

Arch Gray was a lecturer at Armidale Teacher's College. There he met wife to be Nancy. When I stayed with them in Scone just across the road from the historical society, Arch must have been in his eighties.

Another bibliophile, he had the most remarkable set of material on the broader New England that I have ever seen. I just sat there and browsed while talking to him. Travel brochures from the North Coast Steam Navigation Company, local histories, political pamphlets, it was all there.

I spent the next day across the road at the museum going through the records of Upper Hunter branches of the New State Movement. That night, more conversations.

Arch knew the most remarkable range of people. This photo shows Dymphna and Manning Clark at the Grays, 12 November 1989.

I do wonder what happened to Arch's collection. I would love to think that it had been preserved.

Apologies for disorganisation

Dear I've been disorganised so far this year. I just haven't got a run up. My apologies.

My main post today is an historical one, Discovering Aboriginal New England.

New England history 2010

The chart shows visits (yellow) plus page views (yellow plus red) on thus blog over the last thirteen months.

I think of this year as one in which the blog began to acquire a life of it's own, with some more regular readers.

New writing on New England's history

This was also a year in which other writing on aspects of New England's history emerged. Here I am thinking especially of Paul Barratt's Australian Observer and some of the writing on Archives Outside, especially that by UNE Archivist Bill Oates.

You can get a feel for Paul's writing from his Armidale, New England and TAS tags. although there is inevitable duplication among the tags. You can find Bill's posts here.

Outside the blogosphere, the various local history groups continued their work, while staff at both UNE and Newcastle continued working on specific topics. However, it remains true, I think, that there is limited work on the broader New England or North. Much work is locality or narrow region specific.

Over the year I have referred to some of the work being done. However, I have not attempted to do a full review because my focus has been on those things relevant to my immediate historical concerns. I think that's a weakness, because it means that there is still no access to New England's evolving historiography. It remains fragmented.

Note to self: please record things as you come across them so that you can do a proper end-year review!

Visitor Interests       

Turning now to visitor patterns, I don't have detailed full year stats because Google only started aromatically recording traffic details during August this year. However, since then, the most popular posts have been:

• Geography of New England - Introduction 1054 page views
• Hunter Valley Aboriginal Groups 725 page views
• NSW Aboriginal Languages Map 254 page views
• Drummond's life 10 - bibliography 228 page views
• New England's Aboriginal Languages 198 page views
• Anaiwan or Nganyaywana entry page 132 page views
• Resumed posting on New England's history 131 page views
• How fast do horses travel? 93 page views
• New England Australia - Clarence River catchment map 87 page views
• Drummond's life 5 - The Minister: 1927-1929 84 page views

The dominance of the geography post is due to the number of international visitors interested in US New England who end up on this blog.

The importance of posts connected with the Aborigines has been a continuing theme. As I have said before, I need to update these posts in light of later work.

I also need to make some of my material more accessible, taking search engines into account. For example, the material posted on the life of David Drummond includes fully footnoted information and analysis on key periods in the history of public education in NSW. You won't actually find this easily via Google search.

All that is required to make it more accessible is a new post with the right heading linked back to the original material.

My own writing in 2010

My first post New England's History - blog objectives was posted in November 2006, just over four year's ago. Much has changed since then.

When I began, the broader New England has largely vanished from public view.

This was partially due to changes in taste that meant that area and country history outside the purely local had largely vanished, replaced by popular themes. The big wave in research and writing triggered by the establishment of the New England University College in 1938 peaked in the early 1980s, in some cases such as the Aborigines earlier, and then went into abrupt decline.  By 2006, entire slabs of Australian history and historiography had vanished from view.

There were lonely voices, UNE's John Ryan comes to mind, that kept the faith. But my statement is, I think, still true. For that reason, my first work was simply trying to lay a base, to recover.

To a degree, and I make no apologies for this, I am a historical populariser. I want people to be interested in the history that I am interested in.

In December 2008 I wrote my first column for the Armidale Express. Quite a bit of that column has been devoted to local and New England history, again something that I must pull together to make it more accessible.

Christian Knight, my editor, tells me that the column appeals most to an older demographic and especially those with local connections - Armidale has a highly mobile population.

I am sure that Christian is correct. The audiences at the history seminar papers I have delivered in Armidale are all older, one of the few audiences where I am actually younger than the average, dating from the peak period when country, New England and regional history was main stream. Yet there is, I think, a change.

One theme in my general writing this year has been the history of the attempts to gain self-government for New England. This writing has been a response to the re-emergence of interest in New England self-government. That's a change.

A second theme in my writing has been the history of Aboriginal New England. This was there before, but has become more focused. I find that there is a deep need among Aboriginal people to know more of their past. Not the generalised past so often presented, but the very specific past that relates to them. Too often, this is lost in the broader discussion.

I am not sure that I would classify this as a change - the need was there before. However, it has become more clearly focused in my mind.

The biggest change this year has been much greater feed back on my work.

When I began at the end of 2006 I wrote alone. Slowly, I began to get responses. This year it has reached the point that I no longer feel alone.

There are many people that I could mention. However, I will take just one example, Michael O'Rourke.

Back in September 2009 I spoke of Michael in Train Reading - Michael O'Rourke brings the Kamilaroi to life. Michael has been an inspiration. The depth of his work, his generosity to me, inspires me.

2010 was the year in which my writing went structured. Structure was always there, but I became more focused.

During the first part of the year I worked along two main  themes.

The first was the Aborigines, leading to the paper I delivered in Armidale in July on New England's Aboriginal languages. I hope that this will be published this year.

I am no longer worried about saying something new and interesting on Aboriginal New England. I think that you will find something new and interesting, a picture never before written. I am worried about my ability to do the topic proper justice. Here I have come to the view that it is better to present something that is interesting, if imperfect, rather than aiming for anything approaching perfection.

I need responses, for responses drive further work.

The second theme was the study itself, something that I spoke about in my March seminar paper, Unrecognised and now almost unknown: explorations through the history of the broader New England[1]. 

From July, my focus shifted to new issues, and especially my concern with social change in New England over the second half of the twentieth century. Here, too, I want to say something new and believe I can. New England was at the cutting edge of the changes that took place, yet this is barely recognised.

I will be presenting my final results here at a another seminar paper in Armidale in April. Yet already I am impatient to move on, to start on the next building block I need for my general history. After all, I had wanted to finish a first draft of the book in April 2010. Now I am well behind schedule.

My fellow History bloggers

I do not pretend to follow all history blogs. There are just too many! But to those I do follow, you constantly deepen my knowledge. I value you.

May 2011 be a good year for all of us!                 

Greece, the Aborigines and New England

Just at the moment, I am writing a series of posts on our Greek trip. I am really enjoying soaking myself in the history of the Greek Islands and the Eastern Mediterranean, although it is a dreadful distraction from the book I am meant to be writing on the history of New England.

Anybody interested in history will know the way in which thought in one area feeds into thought in another. After a while, the histories of apparently different areas becomes point and counterpoint around common themes. This really shouldn't surprise, although I am constantly amazed. After all, history is all about humanity, and the general problems people face have been constant across the eons. It's only the expression that differs.

Inevitably, given my interests, the lessons and ideas drawn from my Greek trip have been playing across into posts on the New England Australia blog about the lessons for New England tourism. I make no apology for this.

When I write as an historian, I try to be objective if interesting. When I write about New England issues or development, I can be as partisan as anyone else.

I accept that not everybody shares my interest in history. Not everybody wants to visit historical sites or see how things fit in with history. Yet, on my experience, a remarkable number of people do.

To my mind, Australia in general and New England in particular are very bad at explaining history, at creating a visitor experience, that will bring the past alive. Does this matter? I think that it does.

On Santorini I got into a dispute with my mother-in-law. It wasn't a bad fight, we are very good friends, but I still reacted strongly. You see, she compared the historical sites that we had seen with the Australian Aborigines, arguing that the Aborigines did not build things. I said that she was wrong, and tried to provide evidence.

Of course, Aboriginal constructions cannot compare with Ancient Thera on Santorini. That's not comparing like with like.

The Aborigines were not a farming community, they did not generate the type of food surpluses necessary to sustain a building workforce. They didn't need too. After all, their average standard of living was probably higher than that holding in many Neolithic farming communities. Why work a ten hour day when you can meet your needs in six?

Yet the Aborigines did build things from fish traps to ceremonial sites. They did so when there was a clear collective purpose.

Just at present, the Australian Government is considering a referendum to enshrine the Aborigines in the constitution as the first Australians. Depending on how it's worded, it will probably pass. It would pass more easily if Australians had better access to our Aboriginal past.

New England, here I am talking about the broader New England, had one of the highest Aboriginal populations on the content.  It was also a diverse population with different languages and life styles. Yet so far as the visitor is concerned, it might not exist. You cannot access it,

I think that's a pity.                    

Heritage Futures Research Centre

I see that the University of New England's Heritage Futures Research Centre has finally updated its web site!

The Centre was founded in 2001 to consolidate the University's range of expertise and research relating to the natural and cultural history and heritage of regional Australia, and to facilitate the sharing of values, information and expertise among scholars, professionals and the broader community.

The Centre has a strong multidisciplinary focus, something that I as a Centre adjunct value greatly. After all, when I write I am never sure whether or not I am writing as a historian, an economist or as a policy or management adviser!  

Do you know of any photos of the Jimmy Sharman boxing troupe?

I am running this story on a number of my blogs just to get the best coverage I can.

Back in July 2009, I ran something of a nostalgia story on my personal blog, Memories of Jimmy Sharman's Boxing Stadium. In response, kellso100 has just written:

Hi am looking for photos of sharmans troup in the late 40's and early 50's as my dad fought for him he fought under the name curly ryan before sparing for dave sands until daves unfortunate death.

When I got the comment, I did something of a web search on Jimmy Sharman photos and on Curly Ryan, but found very little.

Can you help kellso100? There must be some photos around. 

Anne Curthoy's Freedom Ride

Now that I have decided to take my history of New England to the end of the twentieth century, one book that I have still have to read is Anne Curthoy's Freedom Ride: a freedom rider remembers.

In some ways, the decision by a group of Sydney University students in 1964 to get on a bus and go visiting some New England towns to protest against prejudice and racial discrimination against Aboriginal people has achieved almost mythic status. The original idea came not from any local knowledge, but was a response to the US freedom rides, so the students themselves were to face a major shock.

Generally, the ride has been interpreted in the context of changing national attitudes towards Australia's Aboriginal people. I am interested in the way it fits into New England history, a very different perspective. How did people respond to these outsiders? What was the local impact? How did it fit into changes that were already taking place?

I don't have an answer at this point. I have come across a number of passing references, but they don't provide any pattern. It may be that there wasn't a pattern, that outside any broader issues and responses, local impacts varied greatly.

I do need to know these things. However, I am also struggling with a broader question.

Writing as an historian, I have to deal with things as I see them. The more I dig back into Aboriginal history, the greater the conflict I find between my role as an historian and attitudes towards Aboriginal history and culture.

At the moment I am still researching New England's Aboriginal languages. I struggle with the idea expressed by some that I must not do so unless I get approval from particular groups of Elders and indeed at the extreme allow them to clear my writing.

I am dealing with the historical record. The reason why so much of the New England Aboriginal languages have survived is because of non-Aboriginal recorders. The very if still limited success of the Aboriginal language revival movement is due to the fact that the Aborigines involved had access not just to their own knowledge but to non-Aboriginal research.

The tragedy for the Language revival movement lies in the fact that just when it was still possible to record in the seventies, non-Aboriginal interest seems to have declined.

It seems to me, I stand to be corrected, that some current attitudes effectively place Aboriginal Studies back in the ghetto that Aboriginal people as a whole are still trying to break out form.     

Armidale seminar paper - “Unrecognised and now almost unknown: explorations through the history of the broader New England”.

I am cross-posting this on the New England Australia blog as well as here.

On Friday 19 March 2010 I will be presenting a paper in Armidale as part of the University of New England's Classics & History Seminar Series. As the heading says, my topic will be “Unrecognised and now almost unknown: explorations through the history of the broader New England”.

This will be my first opportunity to report in an academic environment on the historical research that I have been doing into the history of New England, so I am quite excited.

While I have an idea of what I want to say, I now have so much material that choice is a bit of an issue.

One thing that I actually have to do is to demonstrate that there is such a thing as the history of the broader New England. This is where the unrecognised and almost unknown comes in. I also want to show why the history of the broader New England is important as a separate thread in Australian history. Last, I want if I can to share my joy in the methodological challenges involved and the pleasure of discovery.

At the moment, my thinking is to prepare two sets of material.

The first is a formal, fully footnoted academic paper. This is important because it allows people to check my research. I can then also use it as a source on things like Wikipedia articles. The second are powerpoints, because this gives me greater flexibility in responding to however many people come.

I mention this now not just because I am quite excited, but also because I know that a number of people are actually interested in our history. If you would like to receive a copy of the paper after delivery, email me ndarala(at)optusnet(dot)com(au) and I will add you to the list.