History Matters

On a family holiday in 1955, Rosie Pidgeon stumbled across the floral linocut (pictured below) in an Alice Springs art gallery.[1] The footnote read that it was created by Amie (Amy) Kingston from her window in the Girl’s Friendly Society (GFS) Hostel, 1933. Upon returning to Sydney, Rosie earnestly searched to obtain a copy, for ‘this linocut was [her] only connection to the GFS period’ – Arundel House was first called the GFS, then CENEF (Church of England National Emergency Fund) and now Arundel House. But after some time and numerous phone calls, it appeared that sadly there were no more original artworks.[2] Rosie told me this story when I asked her what she thought Arundel House’s mission is.

This Christian residential college has been a home to young women for almost 100 years. Rosie (now retired) worked as both the Chair of the Arundel House Council and an administrative staff member for the college. I myself am an Arundel alumnus and lived at the college from 2017-2018.

I interviewed Rosie with the intention of building up a timeline of Arundel, beginning in 1920, and felt she dodged my question about Arundel’s mission; this story has nothing to do with mission and vision, I thought. Through some dusty archive digging and further conversations with alumni, however, I have come to realise that Rosie’s response actually reveals the very heart of Arundel’s mission: community.

A house becomes a Home:

For most girls that come to Arundel, they are only living under its roof for a very short time – on average, two to three years. Yet Rosie’s response captures the type of community that Arundel builds; it spans geographical terrains and across time but remains a community nonetheless by the shared experience of living, growing and sharing faith at Arundel. When a girl joins the house, she is not only provided a bed and a meal but she is given a lifelong community. This is particularly significant as many of the girls that join the house come from rural homes and have thus become disconnected from their childhood communities.

Ageing well:

In 2021, Arundel will be celebrating its centenary. The current Director, Mel Hanger, is in the early stages of building an alumni database with the hope of rekindling and strengthening the community that Arundel is. My initial work with Mel, my discussions with alumni and my own personal experiences, have grown in me a deep curiosity to understand how and why the college has nurtured and grown young women across time. I am curious to know how shifts in broader society have influenced the way Arundel has thought about its mission: to what extent is Arundel’s mission today different or perhaps more important than previously, and how can Arundel continue this mission into the future?

My project will focus on these questions of mission through the lenses of community and legacy. I will be engaging orally with alumni to capture their stories and questions on this topic, with the aim of collating their voices into a webpage on which Arundel can launch its centenary.

During my time at Arundel, I never really took much notice of the copy of Kingston’s small, floral artwork displayed in the Front Lounge. Now this artwork has become, for me, a symbol of my part in something bigger. Time has seen significant change but the house has remained the constant that connects us girls. I hope that by joining Mel in Arundel’s database project, and re-connecting alumni to each other and the house, that other alumni may experience this same feeling of re-seeing something with a new understanding and appreciation. I am excited to commemorate the numerous ways Arundel has nurtured and grown young women, and to celebrate the unique community we create.

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[1] Amie (Amy) Kingston, Geranium and St John’s, Glebe, Linoblock print on cream wove Japanese vellum paper, 1933, https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/detail.cfm?IRN=37610&PICTAUS=TRUE.

[2] Rosie Pidgeon, “Arundel House History,” interview by Louisa Davidson, 12 October 2020.

The organisation I have chosen to centre my project around is Erskineville Public School. After writing an email to the school, and then having a follow-up call, I was told the school was not interested. However, after speaking to Sophie, I was told it would be okay for me to create a project about the school without their contribution or direct engagement as I was an alumna of the school. Although I am disappointed that I won’t be able to volunteer and work directly with the school I am sure that my connections with past and present members of the school community will still allow me to create an engaging and worthwhile project. 

After speaking to family and friends in my local community of Erskineville, I understand there is a wealth of resources and historical archives available concerning the school and its history. Given the abundance of these resources, as well as the strength and resilience of the Erskineville community, I feel a multi-media video will best relay the important history of the school whilst simultaneously giving a voice to members of the local community.        

Founded in 1882, Erskineville Public School has a rich history. In particular, I would like to draw attention to the strength of the Erskineville community and their relationship to the school. In March 2001 (a few years prior to my enrolment) it was announced by the then education minister John Aquilina that the school would be closed. However, the Erskineville Public School Parents and Citizens Association (P&C) obtained Freedom of Information documents which revealed that a year earlier the NSW government was already planning to close the school (amongst others) and failed to officially notify parents. Over a year later, and after the closure process had “politicised average mums and dads into becoming activists” as the P&C’s president Jeni Mulvey put it, it was announced by the education minister at the time, John Watkins, that the school would remain open. Since the closure had been announced, the school’s enrolments had fallen to 29, seen in the above photo. However, as seen in the photo below, during my time there the number of school enrolments had risen dramatically and were continuing to do so. I would love to interview some of the students and parents who were part of the struggle to keep the school open and see how they viewed and view their experiences and relationship with the school’s history. I would also like to interview those who arrived after this historic moment and helped to strengthen the school community.                    

The school underwent numerous landscape changes during my time there, including the creation of the garden amphitheatre and the rainbow serpent sculpture under the guidance of Tom Bass. It would be highly rewarding to interview those who helped implement these changes and whether they felt they were actively contributing to the school’s history. 

There are a few challenges I will have to overcome while undertaking this project. Firstly, I must pinpoint the parts of Erskineville Public School’s history which are the most important and relevant to both myself, and past and present members of the school community. I will also need to develop my skills in video and filmmaking, as this is an area, I have little practice in. However, I know previous history students have written about the software they used to create multimedia videos in their blog posts and so these will be an extremely valuable resource on which to draw on. Rather than benefiting the organisation as a whole, I believe this project will benefit the school’s community members on an individual, familial and/or relational level, allowing people to critically engage with history and what it means to them, their family and their friends.

The Cooks River holds a special place in my heart. I strongly feel that I grew up alongside its cluttered depths; elusively beautiful, in that sometimes it glittered blue and other times smelt like rubbish, I made some of my first ever friends at the Ewen Park playground which sits next to the river. My first birthday parties were had at the BBQ areas and picnic tables that were anchored alongside the river, and even my father, an artist, has painted extensively about exploring the Cooks River area as an immigrant.

That’s why I chose to reach out to the Cooks River Alliance. The Cooks River Alliance is run by all the councils who share the land with the Cooks River. They are an informational and educational resource for the community to become aware and up to date on the environmental issues the Cooks River has. They also run events and talks with notable community figures such as Ian Tyrell and Jennifer Newman, an Indigenous educator. The website also features extensive Indigenous oral histories and published research papers on the Cooks River Catchment’s Aboriginal History. I believe these resources will be a great starting point for me in capturing the legacy of the Cadigal and Wangal peoples who were the first inhabitants of the Cooks River.

Cooks River Alliance’s website also features a call to action to help the river with ‘ten ways you can lower the environmental degradation of the Cooks River’, as well as multiple community groups you can join including the ‘Mudcrabs’ who do rubbish pick-ups along the river. Much to my dismay when I was growing, up my mother used to drag me to ‘Mudcrabs’ meetings. As I grew older though, I became to appreciate the community spirit and the practice of acting locally for the sake of global environmental change.

When I went onto the Cooks River Alliance’s website, however, I could feel a distinct lack of a page that details its historical roots. That’s why I felt that I could help them assemble a section of their website dedicated to the uses and community perception of the river over time.

I felt so blessed when Catarina Fraga Matos, the Cooks River Alliance’s Communications Project Officer, mirrored my enthusiasm and could see a need for displaying snapshots of the river’s history. We agreed on a live webpage that succinctly captures the history of the river, detailing how the community used and responded to the river over time.

It’s difficult in that there are already a few timelines of the river available online. I want to make mine unique in that it has multiple purposes: to educate, to inspire and to capture the attention of the viewer. Aesthetic awareness is important to me – so I hope to include an artistic element to the webpage. I would love to have a watercolour drawing of the river running down the page as you scroll, changing shape as you move over time and having new symbolic elements pop up as you continue, leading to more information.

It will be interesting to see how the project takes shape and whether I will be able to actualise what I envisage. I will end with Anna Clark’s sentiment which inspires what I want to capture in my project: “Place literally locates our individual and collective historical consciousness in the world around us. Family, community and national narratives are bound by the places in which they play out.”[1]

[1] Anna Clark, Private Lives, Public History (MUP, 2016), p. 117.

Sydney Harbour Exhibition 2021 (Children’s Exhibition Trail)

The organisation that I am involved with is the Manly Art Gallery and Museum (MAG&M). They are a regional Sydney harbourside art gallery, located in Manly Cove. MAG&M is the self-described “centre for arts and culture on the Northern Beaches.” It is also the oldest metropolitan regional gallery in Australia, opening in 1930, since then being known for visual arts and “beach ephemera.”

MAG&M exhibitions consistently showcase the talents of Australian artist (especially in NSW). It makes the effort of archiving Australian artists that it hosts and preserving its own history and the history of the Manly regional area. Additionally, MAG&M also attempts to try and reach a wider audience, so it can highlight its talents and histories – this is evident through MAG&M online and previous children’s exhibition trails that it has created.

For my final project, I will be creating a children’s exhibition trail for the Sydney Harbour Exhibition in 2021. It will have 8 paintings by different artists from the exhibition – with a variety of activities and interesting historical facts accompanying each painting. This booklet will help to generate interest in a younger population (ages 7-12) with the exhibition, regardless of whether they are from the Manly regional area or elsewhere in NSW. It is my aim to make it both educational and fun – as I want to be able to generate interest in art and history at a young age. This project will highlight the values of MAG&M i.e. community engagement, showcasing Australian talents and educating the population. I believe that this project will lead to young people getting more involved in art exhibitions, and engaging with the history of Manly’s community and the history of Australian artists.

Gleebooks is an independent bookstore located on Glebe Point Road, a short walk from the University of Sydney. It first opened as a second-hand bookstore in 1975 and became known as a “godsend to intellectuals and those who want new books as soon as possible after they are published.”[1] It now has stores in Dulwich Hill, Walsh Bay, and Blackheath, and continues to be a popular location among inner-west locals and the university community, while also being considered a must-see site for visitors to Glebe. 

Along with selling books in-store, Gleebooks operates an online store and was recognised earlier this year for providing home delivery services to customers by bike during the COVID-19 lockdown.[2] They are also the stockist for the annual Sydney Writer’s Festival.

Another noteworthy aspect of Gleebooks is the popular literary events which they host (so popular that last year, scalpers were reselling tickets for up to six times their original price).[3] Their space in Glebe has been the location of many book launches, panels, and conversations, often discussing progressive political ideas. Academics from the University of Sydney have also frequently been involved in events at Gleebooks and held book launches there, being a testament to the ongoing relationship between the store and university staff and students.

I chose Gleebooks as my organisation, mainly because I’ve enjoyed shopping there in the past and knew that they had been in the Glebe area for several decades, hence I assumed they would have a rich history. What I didn’t realise was how influential they have been within the larger Australian book industry, especially as advocates for independent bookstores.

During the mid-semester break, I met up with David Gaunt, the owner of Gleebooks, to discuss my project. He described the business as a “microcosm of Australia’s book industry” and informed me about a couple of their major actions over the years. Firstly, Gleebooks in the 80s was known for having unlawful but fast access to American-published books. These were typically cheaper and more diverse than the British-published books that Australian sellers could lawfully purchase. In 1989, they fought for the scrapping of these restrictions in the importation divisions of the Copyright Act, resulting in all booksellers having access to American editions. Then, in 1999-2000, Gleebooks played an active role in the campaign against the inclusion of the GST on books, which would significantly increase their retail price. While ultimately unsuccessful, the campaign continued a tradition of activism and defiance.

Despite ongoing threats, such as restrictive legislation and competition from corporate giants, Gleebooks remains a favoured location among Sydney readers and has continued to survive when other independent bookstores have not. My research so far has highlighted to me the important role of independent bookstores in Australian communities. They foster connections, share ideas, and inspire audiences.

For my project, I’m planning to create a podcast mini-series telling the story of Gleebooks’ history within the context of the Australian book industry. To do this, I have been going through online archives to collect relevant sources and will be conducting an oral history with David Gaunt in the near future. I’m looking forward to delving deeper into the topics mentioned above as well as other aspects of Gleebooks’ fascinating history.

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[1] Maurice Dunlevy, “Buyer’s rights lost in the world rights carve-up,” The Canberra Times, May 9, 1987, 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118302792?searchTerm=gleebooks%20copyright.

[2] “The bookshop bicyclist – Nerida Ross,” The Hub NRMA, https://thehub.nrma.com.au/community/bookshop-bicyclist-nerida-ross.

[3] Jason Steger, “Shock, horror! Scalpers at a book shop event,” The Sydney Morning Herald, August 9, 2019, https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/shock-horror-scalpers-at-a-bookshop-event-20190806-p52eg3.html.

The Boorowa and District Historical Society and Museum is an organisation located in my hometown of Boorowa. Boorowa is a small rural community located 3.5 hours south-west of Sydney in NSW’s south west slopes. Growing up in Boorowa, the history of my town was taught to me at a young age and is vividly displayed on our streets in the conserved old buildings, the stories shared by locals, and the shamrocks lining our footpaths telling the history of Irish settlement. The museum inhabits a prominent position in the main street, attracting tourists and locals alike. I fondly remember going on excursions to the museum in primary school where we saw colonial dresses of the Hume family, learnt how the first refrigerators and phones worked, and realised the extent of my community and family’s rich contribution to the merino wool industry. Being surrounded by a community that actively honours and examines its history has possibly sparked my own passion for it. I have always been immensely proud of and intrigued by the history of Boorowa, as many other locals are, and I believe the museum to be the product of local pride and Boorowa’s rich collection of history.

The Boorowa and District Historical Society was founded in 1974 with the aims to “promote the study of local history in the Boorowa local government area; to preserve items of local historical significance consistent with the acquisition policy and accepted ‘museum good practice’; to operate the Boorowa museum; to mount displays of local and special interest; and to encourage research into the recording of local history[1].” The society consists of a group of passionate volunteers who offer family history research and actively document, preserve and interpret local histories. They have accumulated an impressive and diverse collection over the years, receiving frequent donations from locals who have been clearing out their storage or come across significant artefacts.

The society members are enthusiastic about the contribution of their work to the community. I believe that a shared history ignites local pride, and it is the stories and artefacts in the museum which educate the community on their history and keep their stories alive. The elders in my community are highly valued for their knowledge and memories of the town which contextualise and enrich the museum’s collection. When I visited the museum and spoke with the society members at the start of the month, they requested that I produce an oral history on my grandmother and local identity, Peg Merriman, for my project. Most visits to my grandma’s involve listening to endless stories about local personalities, town gossip and Boorowa legends. I find these stories intriguing but struggle to remember the details or correctly recall them when retelling. This made me think about the significance of recording and documenting my 97-year-old grandmother’s stories and memories so that they can be remembered throughout history and hopefully assist others in recalling events or people from the past.

[1] ‘About Us’, Boorowa and District Historical Society and Museum, https://boorowamuseum.wordpress.com/about-us/.

For this unit, i have decided to create a walking tour, focused around the immigrant and multicultural community of Parramatta, alongside the Parramatta Heritage Library. Since early 2019, I have worked with them as a volunteer research assistant on projects relating to honour rolls, World Wars and the meaning behind street names in the local government area. This organisation, which operates jointly with the Parramatta Council’s Visitor’s and Information Centre, provides community-focused services related to history, including archival research, family histories, local histories and education materials.

This tour will emphasise the historic and present multicultural community. Additionally, visual content and transcripts in multiple languages will be provided to broaden the reach and immersion, disseminating a sense of belonging and inclusivity to previously underrepresented communities through history. This is reflective of the Council’s philosophy according to their acknowledgement in the ‘Waves of People’ project and its emphasis on community-building: “It captures stories of the … people who came from across the world as displaced people and migrants to make a new lives and homes for themselves here”.[1]

The tour, conceived in accordance with the Library’s needs, will emphasise  biographical narrative, as well as visuals and location to bring histories to life. I will also conduct interviews with locals on multiculturalism and select quotes to embed within my script, to reflect Parramatta’s present community. Walking tours are an unfamiliar terrain for me however. I will communicate and consult with tour guides for guidance in presentation and delivery. I aim to mirror their format, whilst introducing aspects of interactivity and discussion, and a greater emphasis on inclusivity given tour’s multicultural target audience. Additionally, I aim to emphasise historicity and academic research to maintain a truthful and honest representation of Parramatta’s past, whilst retaining the contemporary narrative of inclusivity and diversity. I will also need to consider the obstacles in Parramatta’s extensive construction projects, as well as cultural sensitivities.

The impact and benefits of this tour can be summarised in two notions: promotion of Parramatta’s historical community organisations, such as the Heritage Centre, and highlighting the multicultural roots of this city. Sparking an interest in their past will undoubtedly see higher levels of participation from the community in their history.

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[1] Bans, S. and Mar, P. 2018. Waves of People. Parramatta: City of Parramatta Council. p.4.