History Beyond the Classroom HSTY 3811 - 2024 Archives

Marrickville Legal Centre – 45th Anniversary Project

Project Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7KB-S-_Tpo

Originality: The project we’ve done focuses on the people who have been helped by MLC. And we focused on helping the organization refocus on the people they’ve helped, and we helped create a 20-minute video for them to mark MLC’s 45th anniversary. Because they needed a memorial video for their gala, we interviewed people who had been helped by MLC and made a video of those interviews for them to use.

Argument: Our main argument is that the MLC is a very meaningful organization, and they do fight for social justice. Many people, especially migrants, have been helped by MLC and have been able to settle in Australia. This is the point that we were trying to prove before we did this project. Therefore, our subsequent evidence and interviews with our interviewers are trying to prove that these people were indeed helped by MLC. And it turns out we proved our point. The MLC is indeed a legal center fighting for social justice, and those who have sought the help of the MLC have not only successfully defended their rights and interests with the help of the MLC, but also some of the people who have been helped by the MLC have now begun to devote themselves to helping people in their own countries better integrate into the cultural melting pot of Australia. In other words, with the help of the MLC, they are now also fighting for social justice.

Evidence: Since we completed an oral history in the form of video, the evidence we used was mainly the oral history of the interviewers. In order to prove our point, the questions we asked our interviewers were mainly about how they knew about MLC and how they received help from MLC. In addition to the historical section, we also asked the respondents how they felt when they received help from MLC. While this may not sound rigorous, we believe that emotions are a part of history, especially when we are dealing with people who once needed legal assistance. Because when people are desperate and overwhelmed, and the joy of being helped can affect people’s memories and compose new memories for them. Therefore people’s emotions are part of the equation. Of course, in addition to the interview content of the interviewees as evidence, we also read the MLC annual report and some news and newspaper content to help prove our views, so as to ensure that our research is effective and scientific.

Themes: The theme we want to develop in this project is the history of the people, especially the history of immigration in Australia. First, because the organization’s previous historical projects have focused on the organization itself, we believe that the right to tell history should be returned to the hands of the people. Especially since I’m a Marxist. My view of history is that people are the one who produce history. And interviewing people who have been helped makes MLC more aware of the importance of its work. This theme can be extended to our argument that MLC does indeed help immigrants.

Need: I think our project can not only help this organization to improve its own history. It also gives those who have been helped the opportunity to tell their own history, so that more people can learn about their immigration history. And it can also attract more immigrants to seek legal support, because many immigrants can’t get regular legal support because they don’t know where to get it. And our video can serve as a good publicity function. In this way, MLC can help more people.

Significance: As mentioned above, the significance of our work is to make people more aware of the stories of migrants and to put the power to tell them back in the hands of the people. And people can better understand that the work done by MLC is full of meaning, which can be a good way to get more people to join the legal service. This would create a positive cycle, with not only more migrants seeking help but also more volunteers joining the fight for social justice. Therefore, our project not only completed an oral history recording task, but also carried out a good publicity for MLC. Because a person may not believe what an organization tells them about themselves, but they will believe the stories told by ordinary people who have the same experiences as them. Therefore the significance is remarkable.

Creativity: I think it is meaningful for us to present an oral history by editing different interviewees together, because video is the best way for people to intuitively feel the history. Maybe we can make a web page to present this oral history, but I think the text is always cold. When people can see the speaker’s face with their own eyes, they can better focus on the interviewer’s story. And the video can also be paired with graphics and music to enrich the content, so that the video becomes less monotonous. The same goes for audio, which alone can’t bring the interviewer and the audience closer than video. This is why eye contact is so important when communicating with people.

Presentation: As mentioned above, the presentation method we use is through video, and MLC will upload the video to their YouTube account and their official homepage. Therefore people who are looking for legal assistance can see this video on the MLC website, and people who watch YouTube in their spare time can also see this oral history that we’ve produced. This goes a long way towards broadening our audience and letting more people know about MLC and the communities they help. In other words, when more people get a chance to view this video, it means that our goal has been achieved.

Accessibility: As mentioned above, people can watch this video on YouTube to gain a better understanding of the organization. In addition, when someone comes to MLC for consultation, the MLC staff can make them watch this video to increase the trust of the people who come to MLC for consultation.

Sustainability: After this project, we may continue to try to contact people who have been helped by MLC, because there are many people who have been helped by MLC since its 45th anniversary. In fact, we did miss an interviewer this time because of time constraints, therefore continuing to interview people who have been helped by MLC will help the oral history project even more.

Fighting for social justice — Marrickville Legal Centre

The organization I work with is the Marrickville Legal Centre. It is a non-profit community legal centre in Sydney’s Inner West. They mainly provide free legal aid to some people who are socially or economically disadvantaged. And this organization is responsible for a lot of things. They provide free legal aid in New South Wales for young people aged 25 and under, as well as for adults. They also provide assistance to people who have experienced domestic violence, Family Law services, and rental services for renters living in the Inner West and North Sydney areas. They are also responsible for property management in New South Wales, providing free legal information to those property owners.

The work that this organization is doing is very important because Australia is a country of immigrants, and a large number of immigrants enter Australia every year. This includes many people who have been displaced by political persecution. For example, I know that MLC helped a Rwandan man named Noel Zihabamwe. He moved to Australia on a humanitarian visa in 2006 after his parents died in the Rwandan genocide. And Noel Zihabamwe and his brothers came to Australia. Because they had not learned English before, because Rwanda is a French-speaking environment. So it’s hard for them to survive in Australia. But the MLC has helped them, not only by providing language training services but also by helping them settle in Australia. Mr Noel Zihabamwe is now committed to fighting for social justice and equality. He pays extra attention to the African Australian community, especially those who are also from Rwanda. He is the founder and current president of the African Australian Advocacy Centre. He is also a past President of the Rwandan Community Federation of Australia (FRCA), past President of the Rwandan Community of New South Wales, and current Treasurer of the Lower North Shore Multicultural Network (LNSM) and African Health Australia (AHA). With the help of the MLC, he not only successfully settled in Australia, but also became a leader in the struggle for social justice.

I chose this organization because I think the work they do is very important. They are promoters of social justice and equality. And to fight for people’s rights in a legal way. I am a Marxist, therefore I pay extra attention to those who, for economic reasons, cannot enjoy reasonable rights. This is especially true in the capitalist society, where interests come first. I am also an international student from outside Australia, therefore when I encounter legal problems, I am completely unable to pay the high legal fees to fight for my rights and interests, especially when I encounter unreasonable accommodation problems. This shows that the existence of organizations like MLC is very necessary and able to help people. I got in touch with this organization through Rose, who is also taking this course, and we will work together to complete this project. Together, we will complete an oral history in the form of video. To let more people know what the organization does. We’ll focus on what impact MLC’s offering of free laws has had on immigrants in the Inner West Side.

Community, friendship & uplifting women in sport: a digital timeline of Hills District Netball Association

My work with Hills District Netball Association (HDNA) over the semester has culminated in the creation of an interactive digital timeline which reflects significant events, achievements and anniversaries throughout the association’s history. To support this timeline, I have created two short video clips to be posted to HDNA’s social media to drive awareness of and engagement with the timeline. Moreover, I have digitised an extensive collection of physical posters which detail HDNA’s history, ensuring that the contents of these posters are preserved and kept in an accessible online archive.

My project reflects how HDNA has acted as a significant local organisation which has fostered a sense of community and provided women and girls with a space to thrive in their sporting endeavours. Through spotlighting the efforts and achievements of pivotal members of the HDNA executive team, players and umpires, my project showcases how community netball organisations have created opportunities for women to demonstrate leadership and carve out a path for themselves in sport. Netball is the number one team sport for female participation in the country, playing a significant role in the lives of scores of Australian women and girls. This digital documentation of HDNA’s history reflects one example of a community netball organisation which has offered a space for women and girls from the local area to demonstrate their leadership capacity, develop strong friendships and flourish in sport.

I chose to present my project through this digital timeline format as I wanted to present the history of HDNA in an engaging, interactive and visually rich manner. I researched several different online timeline programs through which I could present my project, though I ultimately decided to use TikiToki. I was particularly interested in the 3D view option that this program offered, which allowed me to showcase HDNA’s history in a visually stimulating and engaging way, rather than presenting a static, text-based timeline. This platform also enabled me to create an interactive digital timeline, with users able to scroll through the years using the slider at the bottom of the webpage, and click on various elements of the timeline to reveal further details and more visual media. The timeline has also been divided into categories, including HDNA History (general key events), Achievements, Umpires, Anniversaries and Snapshots. Each event in the timeline is colour-coordinated in alignment with the corresponding category, allowing users to visualise different themes.

A snapshot of the interactive digital timeline.

It is my aim for this interactive presentation format to allow the history of the association to be easily digested and engaged with by a wide range of audiences, especially younger audiences who would likely be averse to engaging with large amounts of text-based information. This is particularly important in the context of my organisation, with young players, from 8-year-olds to teenagers, constituting a significant portion of the HDNA community. Through the integration of various multimedia elements, including photos, videos, text and external links, I have been able to create a digital timeline that can be displayed on HDNA’s website, capturing the rich history of the association in an engaging way. As someone who has been playing netball at this association for years, it was fascinating to see how the association has evolved over time and to see how a place that I know so well came to be. I hope that engaging with this timeline will provide a similar experience for other HDNA community members, enabling them to visualise the significant events and instrumental volunteers that have shaped the association into what it is today.

A link to the timeline can be found here.

Dive into the History of Cabbage Tree Bay, Manly

A little thing about me: I never got to master swimming in the past twenty years of my life, but since I am now in Australia, I said to myself that I should not waste this natural beauty and the precious resources we have here down under. That is how I self-learned how to swim and obtained my Open Water Diver license in April this year. Since then, I have been enjoying scuba diving, especially at Shelly Beach, a small beach just next to the infamous Manly Beach. Just less than ten metres underwater, you get to see rays, sharks, and of course, our celebrity at Shelly – Basil the Green Turtle munching on seagrass.

Basil the Green Turtle, the local celebrity at Shelly Beach.
Source: Dive Centre Manly.

It truly amazed me how we are so lucky to have such a beautiful aquatic reserve right next to the bustling city. However, this might not be the case – can you imagine having a Luna Park 2.0 in Manly? Yes, the definition of “leisure at Manly/Shelly” could be completely different as there were once proposals to completely revamp the scenery at Manly a century ago in the 1920s. Luckily thanks to the local community effort, not only were the plans terminated, but Cabbage Tree Bay also became a no-take aquatic reserve. That’s what my collaboration with Dive Centre Manly, a local dive centre that has been serving the Manly community at Belgrave Street since 1962, is about. I have created a website that serves as a central hub for the dive centre and Manly’s history, as well as studying the development of Cabbage Tree Bay from “one of the dirtiest spots in Manly” to almost an amusement park, and now an aquatic reserve.

Dive Centre Manly, originally Ron Harding’s Sports Centre, at Belgrave Street (leftmost shop).
Source: Manly Library Local Studies.

With global climate issues such as extreme weather and ocean pollution such as the thunderstorms in Sydney and the mysterious black balls that washed up on Sydney beaches recently, both the daily lives of Sydneysiders and marine life are negatively affected. By promoting local conservation efforts like the regular Dive Against Debris event held by Dive Centre Manly, the organisation could gather more participants in beach and underwater cleanup. The project also assists the public in acknowledging their bargaining power and the significance of their contribution in negotiating and collaborating with resourceful governmental bureaucracies in making changes to their society.

I believe that the general public and community organisations, such as Dive Centre Manly, are some of the major, if not the most, contributors to the development of Cabbage Tree Bay from almost an amusement park to an aquatic reserve that has a richer biodiversity than most of the other aquatic reserves. From resistance such as protests, fighting funds and petitions to the municipal council in the 1920s to collaboration with governmental departments and publicly funded non-profit organisations in the late twentieth century until today, this project shows that community efforts in various aspects are effective in local marine conservation.

Newspaper excerpts regarding public involvement in the Shelly Beach Amusement Scheme in the 1920s.
Source: Trove.

The project website is divided into four subpages, each with one theme: “Dive Centre Manly,” “Shelly Beach Amusement Plans in the 1920s,” “Cabbage Tree Aquatic Reserve,” and “Photo Album.” The 1920s page and the conservation page showed a contrast between how Shelly Beach could have become if the community had not contributed to striving for the area to become a no-take aquatic reserve, while the Dive Centre Manly page illustrated how the organisation has served the Manly community for over 60 years, as well as its continuing effort in preserving the natural beauty of Cabbage Tree Bay through adopting Manly Cove and Shelly Beach. The album provides visual comparisons for the aforementioned changes.

This project is innovative in bringing together history, social dynamics, urban development and marine conservation. Local residents and organisations as social agents constitute a large part of a community and therefore should never be underestimated in their contribution and involvement in writing history and development of their society. Also, responses from residents and visitors are focused on as they are the actual users of the aquatic reserve, presenting vastly different voices which are based on more personal experience, compared to government and council officials. Although the major focus is still on history, this project has the potential to develop into an interdisciplinary project with further collaboration with experts/students/stakeholders in various fields.

This project also provides a creative solution for different stakeholders in society to have a more holistic view of Cabbage Tree Bay. Resources available regarding the 1920s improvement plans were mostly if not all, written documents such as meeting minutes and local studies articles. This project draws from these records to produce a simulation/recreation of the proposed plans as an interactive map and references Coney Island in the US in assisting users to picture what the park might be like. Non-snorkellers and certified scuba divers also gain access to pictures and videos of local marine life – go check out Dive Centre Manly’s Instagram reel about Basil the Green Turtle!

Interactive Map illustrating the 1920s amusement proposals.

My technique and focus on presenting all these information is mainly on visualisations. I have also included a lot of primary sources as the main evidence (and I do mean A LOT!). A large number of photos and videos are used. Maps, paintings and images of Cabbage Tree Bay since the late nineteenth century are compared with photos taken by me in early November to show the development of Manly. Illustrations of amusement facilities in places like Coney Island, Manly, and the Blue Mountains assisted in visualising the abandoned Shelly Beach Amusement Schemes. Sources such as photos and local studies stored at the Northern Beaches Library History Hub and the local history section on 2/F of Manly Library (shout out to the friendly and knowledgeable staff there!), especially the works by John Morcombe of Manly Daily, contributed a lot in supplementing and providing a concise introduction to the overall development. I have also personally visited Manly and took pictures with my camera for the comparison section on the photo album page to show the difference in the area over a century – I might not be a great photographer, but at least I think I get the locations right!

To supplement visuals with written records, council meeting minutes illustrate the discussion between investors and the council, and government gazettes, websites, reports and blogs are used to track the continuing conservation work done by the state government and the Northern Beaches council. For community efforts and perspectives of the public, newspaper articles, and letters to the editor are also included.

Of course, in the modern internet era, multimedia content such as photos and videos produced by Dive Centre Manly must not be missed. Please also spend some time watching the video on the Dive Against Debris event and listening to Richard Nicholls, the founder of Dive Centre Manly, about marine conservation at Shelly!

Oh and don’t worry about it being a plain website as I have prepared lots of interactive elements for you all: The interactive map on the 1920s page allows you to click on different sections to learn about the proposed amusements, while the slider photo album lets you compare certain spots of Manly and Cabbage Tree Bay at the same angle across a century (or more!) If you have time, hyperlinks to external websites and materials such as Government websites and content created by Dive Centre Manly for a deeper and more expertise understanding of marine conservation are also worth-visiting. Although the website has not yet been marketed, as Dive Centre Manly is active on Facebook and Instagram and holds weekly guided dives, trips, gatherings, and courses, the website could be promoted both in-person and online for a wider reach.

One of the sliders on the Photo Album page comparing Fairy Bower in 1890 and 2024.
Note: This is a screen capture, so the slider function does not work here – visit the website!

The local community at Manly/Cabbage Tree Bay, visitors, and Dive Centre Manly will benefit from this project. By raising attention towards marine conservation, local residents and visitors (like us!), especially water sports lovers, can continue enjoying the natural beauty at Shelly Beach and Fairy Bower during weekend activities such as snorkelling, swimming, and diving and the biodiversity the reserve provides. Dive Centre Manly, although with a long history, did not have an archive for the record. This project serves as a central hub for the organisation and the community’s history, as well as educating the public about marine life and marine conservation at Cabbage Tree Bay.

The website will hopefully be continuously updated for the latest events held by Dive Centre Manly, as well as more photos and videos of the marine life underwater taken during these events (especially when season and daylight hours change there will be different creatures appearing). More information could also be supplemented in other aspects such as biodiversity, conservation and urban development through interdisciplinary collaboration. Interviews or feedback from different stakeholders such as local residents and participants of the community events could also be added to a new subpage of the website, acting like a discussion board/forum for information exchange and strengthening social unity. So feel free to tell us your story or experience!

Summer is coming, so whether you like visiting beaches just for a cup of coffee, going sunbathing, escaping the heat by jumping into the water, or going underwater for the fascinating scenery and experience swimming with the local marine residents, Shelly Beach is definitely your to-go destination! If you would like to join us in preserving this paradise, don’t forget to also check out and sign up for Dive Centre Manly’s regular Dive Against Debris event on their website – sign-up is free, gear rental is half-priced, and enjoy a barbeque together afterwards!

Dive Centre Manly’s Dive Against Debris community event held on 22/09/2024.

Although I am no longer working with the previous organisation as mentioned in my first blog post, I would like to quote myself again as this project still aims at spreading this message:

“It is the waters which shaped our nation, it is the people who lived through a diverse experience and explored the land and the ocean. By preserving and sharing the stories of people from different communities, I believe that the public interest and curiosity towards the relationships between us and the ocean can be sparked…”

This semester, particularly my time in this unit, has been fruitful and fun – perhaps the best unit I have ever taken at uni. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank James and Mike for allowing us to temporarily get out of the classrooms and libraries and into the society we’re living in. The semester has ended, and it’s goodbye for now, but I hope to see you guys again no matter at Manly or in the public history field!

A Story of Strength: Kinchela Boy’s Home Aboriginal Corporation

I acknowledge that I write on stolen land, the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and I pay my respects to elders past and present. For over 65,000 years, before British colonisation, this land has been a place of storytelling. As a history student at the University of Sydney, it is imperative to recognise the significance of this past and the enduring impact of colonialism on the stories and histories of Australia today. Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.

On Dunghutti land, not so far from where I grew up in Port Macquarie, lies what used to be Kinchela Boys Training Home – an Aboriginal Children’s Home established in 1924 by the Aboriginal Protection Board. For more than 400 boys, KBH was a site of incarceration. It was justified as a protection act, yet it was anything but that. The boys who passed through the gates of Kinchela were not known by their names but by a number. They endured conditions that were hostile and dehumanising, no home for any child or person.

The stories of KBH are just one in countless others from the Stolen Generation, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children across Australia were forcibly removed from their families by the Australian Government with the intent of assimilation and cultural destruction.

However, this story of pain and trauma is also a story of strength. In 2002, the survivors of KBH established Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation, an organisation “built on and informed by the guidance and unique insights offered by survivors and which, contributes to the social and emotional wellbeing of survivors, their communities, and culture.” KBHAC offers services such as:

Kin Connect Program, created to support the healing of KBH survivors, and address the intergenerational trauma faced by their descendants and families.
Connecting Abilities Program, which provides NDIS registered services for Indigenous or non-Indigenous Australians with a disability.
Education Program, to further First Nations truth telling on the Stolen Generation. Initiatives include the Mobile Education Centre and Educational Resources available to schools for History, English and Aboriginal Studies curriculum across NSW.
Support for those eligible to gain access to the National Redress Scheme

As a proud Gamilaraay women, and niece of a survivor of the Stolen Generation, the work of KBHAC is powerful and so important to everyone it reaches. KBHAC not only advocates truth telling, preserving the stories and memories of survivors, but it also is making the meaningful steps needed for healing and rebuilding cultural connection and community.

If you would like to learn more about the KBHAC, have a read of their website here: https://kinchelaboyshome.org.au/. Additionally, if you are interested in offering any support, you can email: office@kinchelaboyshome.org.au for more information on volunteering or you can provide a donation at https://www.givenow.com.au/kinchelaindigenousstolengensupport.

Indeed, there is the opportunity to get involved and help out this October on the 18th – 19th! This October will mark one hundred years since Kinchela Boys Home first opened. KBHAC invites KBH survivors, their descendants and families as well as you, your families and the wider community to “honour the spirits of the children who walked through the gates of KBH.” If you would like to volunteer on the day, contact 100kbh@kbhac.org.au.

Levelling the Scales: Marrickville Legal Centre

This post was written on Gadigal land, and discusses an institution developed on Wangal and Gadigal land. I pay my respects to the traditional owners. This land was stolen, but sovereignty was never ceded.

In 1979 ‘Little Greece’ sprawled along the Cooks River and up Illawarra Rd, consumed by the scent of hot bread which plumed from Vietnamese bakeries. The ever-exotic ‘cappuccino’ was just making its debut. Marrickville was considered a recognisably migrant community in Sydney at the time, and was a broadly working-class area. The Marrickville population did not have easy access to legal aid. A group of University students recognised that this lack of legal aid, alongside differing literacy levels and greater economic vulnerability, meant that a pro-bono community legal centre had to be developed, and so Marrickville Legal Centre (MLC) was established in the Town Hall.

Despite humble beginnings, MLC now has a catchment area of over 1.5 million people, and has expanded its service to advise and advocate in several different areas of law, including:

General legal services
Family and domestic violence (FDV) services
Youth legal services
Strata services
Family law
Tenancy services

MLC’s services are not isolated purely to direct legal action, as the Centre runs several community workshops and education efforts to give the communities they serve the knowledge and dignity to act. It is this demystifying approach that has been instrumental in generating lasting impact – in precedent and spirit.

Information cards created by the Law Foundation of NSW, featuring MLC as a point of contact for young clients.

The passion with which MLC approaches its work is palpable, and it is evident that the Centre thrives on the stories of hope and solidarity that emerge from it. So, to mark its 45th year, I will be facilitating an oral history project (with video) for MLC, focusing on the impact of the organisation on migrant communities. This will involve interviewing prominent community members, community organisations, and significant individuals directly involved in past matters. The integrity of the project lies in providing space for the people that MLC was established for, to be the people who tell the organisations history.

MLC represents a shifting attitude in legal spaces towards education and power, posing direct questions to the traditionally guarded institution surrounding who deserves advocacy, and how legislative dignity can be derived from immediacy with the communities that the legal system dictates and serves. While access to legal aid is significantly less difficult today, the proverbial road is still long. It was only this year (2024) that visa workers saw genuine protections be brought into their workplaces – reforms like this will save lives.

Please click here to learn more about the work of MLC, educate yourself on your entitlements, or otherwise engage with the Centre.