History Matters

I first thought of writing this project like a story when I saw how many news articles were attached to BMYS. It was clear that people liked reading and hearing stories about the organisation.
It has been a great semester and, admittedly, I have probably spent more time working and helping the organisation itself than thinking about my project. But this time hasn’t been for naught. It’s been valuable and has contributed to how I’ve thought about my project as a whole. For example, even though the interviewees are all adult subjects, I have tried my best to keep the project as youth-centric as possible. This is evident through the many stories about the youth.
The main challenge was getting numerous interviews to be consistent since there were always multiple perspectives on one event. But the main joy of this was to see that everyone had their own individual experience even though events were shared. This also forms the backbone of my project which recollects dialogue and memories. What went really well was also the main challenge, which was the interviews. I think that these were difficult logistically as well—it was difficult to track down people who were involved with the organisation from decades earlier.
Overall, I feel that it has achieved its main outcome with reaching a wide audience in the local area. It has been such a long journey and I appreciate all the support which I’ve been given through the community organisation and through class. I will remain connected with this organisation in the years to come.

I am very relieved to have come to the end of this project. This project, which was the archiving of Queer Screen’s past film festivals between 1995 and 2010 was far more difficult and time consuming than I had initially thought. There were many issues along the way: some catalogues would not fit in the printer in the correct manner, my computer struggled to cope with the size of the different files and someone about half of my scans less than a week before the project due date. Despite these challenges, however, the project is finally completed.
When I commenced this project, I could not help but feel slightly concerned that it was not sophisticated enough. Unlike writing an essay, scanning documents does not involve much critical thinking. However, after I submitted the project proposal, I realised that the sophistication in this project does not lie in the process of creation, much like an essay, but rather in the manner in which it will be consumed by a public audience. This notion is expressed in Private Lives, Public History by Anna Clark. The German theorist, Jörn Rüsen coined the term ‘historical consciousness’ which Clark describes as being the manner in which people ‘engage with, and make, history’. An archive does not serve the same purpose as an essay, which is the product of someone’s historical consciousness. Rather, an archive is there to provide the backdrop for historical consciousness to occur: archives allow people to find historical information, see it in its originality and inspire some form of historical consciousness in those who view it.
With this in mind, there was some room for creativity and originality. I was required to write a brief description to accompany each year’s festival. These descriptions each were required to contain at least one to two descriptions of significant films from that year and, when available, information on the venues, growth of the festival compared to other years and popularity of certain films and programs. These descriptions hopefully have contextualised the festivals and highlighted some significant moments from each year thus providing more historical meaning to the archive.
The archive itself is presented on Queer Screen’s website and is placed along side their already existing archive of 2011 film festivals to the 2018 film festivals (see https://queerscreen.org.au/past-festivals/). However, unlike the recent catalogues in the archive, the sixteen years which I have added to the archive are all scans of original documents, meaning that the presentation of the catalogues are noticeably different from some of the more recent ones. Despite this, however, the archive is still accessible to the public and easy to locate on their website. It is also easily sustainable; in future years, new catalogues can be added without jeopardising the presentation of the archive and the accessibility of it too.
I hope ultimately that it will be a significant piece of public history. Queer Screen is becoming a popular organisation in the queer community and their Mardi Gras Film Festival has become one of the highlights of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras each year. As the festivals become more popular and attract larger audiences each year the need to have an archive that documents the growth and changing nature of the festival becomes more important.

The Austolian Youth Association (AYA) was a wonderful organisation to collaborate with to complete my final project. As I delved into the project itself, I found that my original plans for my final product had changed. The initial online, qualitative questionnaire I created, which did not end up in the final project, still guided me in the creation of the open-ended interviews I conducted. The results from the questionnaire, coupled with the videos I gathered over the course of my interactions with the organisation, contributed to the promotional video I created for AYA’s website.
Through analysing the responses of the qualitative questionnaires that I had conducted, the cultural, social, and historical value of this organisation to the Turkish community was hugely evident. Most members described their early introduction and interactions with Turkish cultural history, and they noted going to Turkish school on Saturday mornings. However, they stated that they valued the nature of AYA, due to its social fluidity. They suggested that they didn’t feel like the cultural or historical aspects were forced upon them, rather, they were integrated within the dance lessons themselves, making it less rigid, and more fun. Members of the group also described how the AYA allowed them to strengthen their sense of self and identity, as they were not only able to learn about their culture, they were spending more time interacting with people of the same background, and strengthening their language skills. One member noted that in the geographical area that they live in, there is hardly a Turkish population, therefore they enjoyed coming to class to listen to Turkish music, learn about the historical and cultural significance of the dances, and talk in Turkish with their peers. Additionally, the AYA’s participation in not only Turkish festivals, but also international festivals, provides members opportunities to share their culture whilst interacting with others.
This project reaffirmed my understandings of local history, and the agency (and sometimes lack of agency) the community has in the manner of the way their history is viewed and distributed. The AYA begun when the director noticed a disconnect between Turkish-Australian youth and the older generations of their family. Therefore, in the creation and maintenance of this organisation, in addition to their historical contribution to festivals, they are shaping the way in which Turkish historical culture is understood and consumed within the community. Especially through the act of combining art, dance, music, food and historical knowledge in festivals such as the “Taste of Turkey” festival in October this year.
The short video was intended to act as an addition to the “About us” section of the AYA website, as an informational video for future potential members and sponsors. The video follows AYA at two of their major cultural events, and incorporates the integral interviews that highlight the historical significance of the organisation for its members, directors, sponsors, and the Turkish community. Initially, I had decided on creating a physical brochure in conjunction with the video, however, AYA does not hold frequent information evenings, therefore, I thought it would be more beneficial to compose a short, informational video for the official website. It is direct in exploring the work the organisation does, and how the members feel their identities fit within that creative space.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience reconnecting with AYA again, especially as the little bits and pieces unravelled towards the larger project. This project reaffirmed my understanding of the significance of creating and maintaining a collective historical and cultural narrative for developing both a personal identity, and a group one.

As I was cataloguing a particularly dusty set of Photographic Archival Recordings, I came across a report completed for my old high-school. Naturally curious, I spent a little extra time reading the history of the buildings I once knew to be the Visual art and Design and Technology rooms, a place I had spent countless hours over my seven years of education there. In reading this report, I came to discover that this building was purchased by the school in the 1980s but until that point, had housed what had been known as the ‘Oddfellows Society’, a group of workers and merchants and their families who compiled money and resources together as a contingency should any hardship arise. I was particularly affected by this report, namely by the manner in which myself and my own community was connected to the distant yet ever present remnants of another. This served as a turning point for me, for I began to see an intricate tapestry of interwoven stories and lived experiences that connected my life, my reality and my story to those of bygone eras. Surprisingly, the thread of this tapestry was the buildings history had left behind and the reports that wrote about them.
My initial perception of this project with both Waverley Library’s Local Studies Centre and Waverley Council Chambers was centred on the idea that I would be handling largely objective and entirely factual assessments about old buildings. This has not only proven fantastically false, but has rather enlightened me to the rich, varied and expansive historical narrative that exists in my local area. This imbued my task of archiving the expression of such narratives- the reports and assessments of these buildings- with a sense of gravitas, for my work and my influence was to play a significant role in the writing and preserving of the Waverley Council District’s history.
These ponderings solidified my understanding of the significance that libraries play in local historiography, for I came to realise that archiving became a key means through which historical preservation occurred. As a convenient, multifaceted and educational tool that allows the Waverley Library historical collection to be easily conveyed to the public, the archive provided the autonomy necessary for me to shape the historical narrative conveyed to the Waverley community. This meant that consideration for the user served as the centre of all decisions regarding the design of my archive.
Thus, the focus of my project has not so much been the reports themselves, but the buildings that these reports discuss, for the intended audience of this archive shall be Waverley residents, whether that be amateur historians or home-owners who require knowledge about the history of their homes (to satisfy curiosity or to fulfill council requirements for intended modifications or demolitions of heritage housing). As this audience may be unfamiliar with heritage housing policy or using archives, categorisation has directly correlated each house with its heritage classification, so as to expedite the ascertaining of the information required by the user. In regards to the organisation of the physical reports, I have filed them according to suburb so as to match the archive created, making reports easier to find whilst also revealing to audiences the general trends of development that had occurred in the area (for example, one wishing to learn about 69 Ruthven Street could compare this site with other buildings on the street and thus discover that many houses here were built in the Late Victorian style. From there, one may extrapolate ideas about the development of housing on that street). I have also made note of the existence of digital copies of the reports catalogued, something which assists Waverley Library in their ongoing endeavour to digitise their collection, but will also allow consumers of the archive the ability to access such files when the archive is eventually made digitally available.
Unavoidably however, arose questions and limitations regarding technology, for many of these reports did not include a corresponding digital file. Thus, digitisation became another concern for this project, more centrally, the need for Waverley Library to preserve its collection through its digitisation, playing technological “catch-up” as it battles to keep up-to-date in a world where technological advancements quickly makes past technological modes of storage redundant. Through my digitisation of these reports, I also discovered that archiving provides an invaluable yet systematic (and therefore highly useful) opportunity for digitisation to occur, becoming a crucial and effective technique for preservation that combats the redundancy of outdated technology.
On a note of personal reflection, this project has also greatly enlightened me to the significance libraries play in broader local historiography. When reading reports such as that about my old high- school, the pub that my friend currently works at, even something as mundane as the tunnels at Bondi Beach, I have come to learn about how my personal narrative has been built upon a grander and long-running story. Waverley Library’s role in cataloguing these reports thus takes on an almost sacred quality, for they are the gate-keepers to local knowledge about the past, and actively work to continually build a repository that preserves such stories for the unwitting patrons that they serve. For other locals within the Waverley council area, I hope this archive shall serve as the contents page in the book about their own stories and communities, or mayhaps even (if one may indulge me this metaphorical pun), the door that serves as the entrance to the house of this community’s history.

I decided to complete my historical work with the Ku-Ring-Gai Historical Society; the local history hobby group of the area I have lived in my entire life. My Initial work started as the group teaching me their own methods of research; combining personal accounts mostly and existing history with things such as land history and ownership records, images, online map databases (predominantly SixMaps), census details via the Ryerson Index, and existing online databases such as Trove to slowly piece together information to understand and produce history. A wealth of resources- the Society was very keen that I pursue personal interest in my research-that being WWI and WWII. A testament to their dedication and knowledge, the group had just produced a multi-volume publication about WWI soldiers from Ku-Ring-Gai, so I decided to focus my attention on WWII. After a brief search on the council website showed a simple one line mention to community groups during the war; I was prompted to question- given the sheer significance of the War and the rightful honoring of those Australians who fought overseas, shouldn’t those whom contributed in other ways back on the Home Front be recognized too? Thus I set out to produce a piece discovering how the people of Ku-Ring-Gai during World War Two contributed to the War Effort.
I did encounter the challenge of a lack of information; the initial goal of interviewing those whom experienced it proved impossible due to no records of the individuals of each community group, which is why I relied a lot on the Historical Society’s property records that mentioned various War-groups in descriptions of past residents. Many past society articles and documents also mentioned groups and people briefly- which is why I was able to focus on combining many of these existing resources to produce an article that was more coherent and in depth of all the groups; which then enabled me to make sense of all the online and independent sources.
Rather than a solid essay; I decided to produce my piece as an article- making it shorter and more interesting, I was challenged to write it in a more relaxed and passionate way, definitely a change from my standard history essays where I jam as much information in as possible! I followed the standard format of the Historical Society’s Articles which go into their monthly newsletter and annual publication- The Historian- allowing them to take maximum benefit if they would like to use my work in that way or add it to their online database. Presenting a shorter work, combined with images; makes the article easier and more enjoyable to read for the general public; whom it is designed for; as I aim to make the hard work and spirit of those who worked tirelessly in the War known not just to a select few but to everyone as their honor deserves.
In this work- I was drawn to something that wasn’t initially in my plans for this course. I spoke to A lovely woman who was also doing her research at the same times I was, who was there sacrificing her own time and effort in order to save a house next door which has been sold and is being planned for demolition by overseas developers. Knowing the beauty and uniqueness of this area, it would be devastating to lost some of the historic houses after so many have already been lost to concrete monstrosities. This is where I developed the side idea of writing a small piece about the work of the society- as a way to highlight from my end the resources of it, get a perspective from people within the society, and also record Edwinas work as a way to preserve it; as I feel that history in Ku-Ring- Gai is under threat and this must be better acknowledged and known about. This article will be written so that it can be used by the society in terms of advertising and sharing their work; and I am hoping it could potentially be used by the Library and shared among their resources.
Thus, I have created 2 articles- one to be used by the society and the other for the society- and both to be used for the general public to gain awareness of two issues which I feel are of upmost importance, one being honoring those throughout recent history whom have given so much, and preserving this history for future generations so that it can be acknowledged how significant the past is to our current world and honor the past by keeping this alive. No matter the academic result of these articles, I can safely say I had an extremely enlightening experience, and this is definitely only the beginning of my time with the Ku-Ring-Gai Historic Society- and I cant wait to see what articles and histories I can research next, and hopefully get better each time!

As reading and listening to the unit’s major project requirements, which was to select a viable community organisation with whom to work and do some work for their benefit, I knew I wanted to conduct a project that would assist in disclaiming the Assyrian Universal Alliance and Assyrian Australian National federation’s name to the public, discussing their unconditional work they commit to towards helping the Assyrian community worldwide. I, myself, was unaware of their complete aims and achievements and I knew I wanted to know more about the process that the organisation and the Assyrian Australian National federation branch took to construct the Assyrian genocide monument, how they dealt with backlash and what they have planned for the future. I am an Assyrian Australian myself, I know the struggles and the plight of my ancestors for their simple basic rights that includes survival, and I am also studying to be a high school history teacher which brought me to my desire in wanting to connect and obtain knowledge about my heritage as much as I could.
Upon my first meeting with Mr Hermiz Shahen, the deputy secretary general of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, and Mr David David, the president of the Assyrian Australian National Federation and throughout our compromise about what my project could be, we had discussions about the monument and its importance, their steps they took to have the memorial constructed, the people they met with and the protests and backlash in response to this. It was made evident that the Assyrian Universal Alliance website which had links to information about the Assyrian genocide was also destroyed and taken over. They were in the midst of making a new website, in which upon further meetings and discussions, we decided that I would compile the information derived from the interviews that I had with the two prominent leaders of the organisation and the Australian branch, letters including the acceptance letters by politicians, feature articles, information reports, pamphlets, media articles, photos and other documents and merge them into a section of the new website tabbed under the heading ‘The Assyrian Genocide’ with sub-categories including context and history, monument, backlash and future work. The website is still in the process of publication, therefore, some adjustments to the submitted file may be made.
Not only was I completely humbled by being able to work on this project, the help that I committed to was appreciated by the two leaders I constantly kept in contact with. Fortunately, I will continue to work with them for future tasks such as the organisation of annual Assyrian New Year festivity in April. This was definitely a start of an ongoing relationship with the organisation.

For my project, I volunteered at the NHSA (Naval Historical Society of Australia). After I’ve completed a research directory to make further research processes within the NHSA easier and faster, and have transferred 40 pdf and Word files with the Occasional Papers (the NHSA’s periodical articles) into the website’s blog post format, I was approached by Walter, the editor of the Naval Historical Review – a quarterly journal published by the NHSA. The Naval Historical Review is a printed edition that goes to all NHSA members who pay an annual subscription. The average print run of the magazine is about 700 copies, and it is also available to members online.
Walter told me that, in his opinion, the Review lacked publications about the modern international naval affairs, thus failing to interest a wider audience. After finding out that I am Russian, Walter proposed for me to help him with writing and editing an article for the Review about the modern Russian naval perspective. Walter was specifically interested in the perspective on the latest maritime affairs concerning the Northern Sea Route (NSR), a shipping route that stretches from the Novaya Zemlya archipelago to the Bering Strait. When we were discussing this in late September, a container ship called Venta Maersk was about to complete a historical journey through the NSR, the first of its kind, proving if the NSR could be further used for container vessels and trade. This could change the map of international shipping routes, and the vessel’s later successful completion of the journey on September 28 renewed international – and, of course, Russian – interest in the NSR’s possibilities.
As Walter and I have decided, he would like me to translate several Russian news sources about the current Russian development of the NSR, combined with a part from an analytical article, into English, and to add a short historical introduction. Thus, the goal was to provide the Naval Historical Review with an article of approx. 3000 words (or less) that would cover the current NSR-related affairs, future perspectives, and local Russian maritime news. While it is not original in its content – it mostly consists of translations – it would be original, and highly interesting, for the Australian readers of the journal, and, as Walter himself noted, a Russian news source and a Russian translator would add up to the credibility of the material.
In my process of translation and editing, I was aiming for a balance of technical features and latest developments with a more general information style. Most of the Russian maritime news are very technically written, and I dutifully translated them as such, bearing in mind that the journal’s audience probably consists of a narrow group of people well informed about ships and their construction. At the same time, it is a public journal article, so it doesn’t seek to be strictly academical or formal. And, because Walter wanted the article to inform its audience about the current affairs, not the past, I have only included a brief introduction of the historical context of Russian Arctic exploration history without delving into much detail. The result will be published in the next edition of the Journal, in March 2019.
Overall, the translation and editing process had been a bit of a challenge. Yet working with the NHSA as a whole was a delight; I’m very glad I could contribute to their work, and hope that the article will be of use and of interest to the readers. It was so lovely to get to know some of the members, who were incredibly welcoming and friendly over the course of our work together. I am grateful to the people of the Society for their time, and to Mike for the opportunity.

My project was made with the Street Library Australia organisation, based in Sydney’s Inner West with their presence spreading across the nation as the number of these yard-based homes for books continue to grow. Whilst it is still in its infancy, the Street Library Australia organisation continues to grow and looking back at the scheme’s beginning shows where this success stems from. Thus, when meeting with the founder and general manager of the organisation we decided that it would be most beneficial to focus on the ‘birthplace’ of the organisation, Sydney’s Inner West. As we began to formulate different ideas for the project, we came to the conclusion that a walking tour of the Newtown and Erskineville area would be most achievable and advantageous in showing the successes of this scheme. The creation of a walking tour had the ability to highlight and further the organisation’s goals of literacy encouragement, community enhancement and the increase in Street Libraries.
A central part of the research which I undertook in order to create the walking tour were interviews held with Street Librarians. It was through this strategy that I realised how important the community aspect is to the organisation as many Street Librarians were most impressed with the way in which the Street Libraries had helped them to get to know neighbours better, meet people whom they otherwise would not have crossed paths with and create a meeting point. Thus, the questions I asked the Street Librarians focused on their personal history with the scheme and the community advantages which they had noticed in relation to it. By keeping the questions general, it allowed me to learn through personal anecdotes and as each person’s experience was different, they could share their own story.
I originally planned to create a walking tour to show the abundance of Street Libraries in the Newtown and Erskineville areas and the way in which this organisation promotes literacy. However, these interviews allowed me to realise the importance of the sense of community which they promote. Through this walking tour, I was able to highlight the way in which a community of Street Libraries has the ability to bring people together and strengthen ties in the local area. By creating a walking tour, I demonstrated that this is a beneficial social and community strategy which can be mimicked in other areas. This advantageous quality is becoming clearer as councils have begun to notice these benefits and subsequently work with and promote the Street Library organisation.
I deliberated for a long time over what would be the best way to format my walking tour. I brought together all of my data first, in order to assess what was the best way to make a walking tour which was both accessible and easy to follow. After considering a walking tour app or a physical pamphlet, I decided that the best strategy was to create a blog-style website. This way, I was not limited by size restrictions, proximity or pre-made templates, but could instead build a format which suited my project. When building this website, a vital aspect which I focused on was the ability for this to be accessed by both laptop and mobile devices. This was integral, as I wanted people to be able to complete the tour whilst following the directions on the website, thus requiring portability. In addition, the blog-style that I built allowed for all information to be presented on one page, making it easy to follow without needing to click onto other pages, especially while walking.
While I was researching pre-existing walking tours, I came across a postcard style printable walking tour. I thought that this would work well to go alongside my website as this version is a physical copy. This summarised form can be distributed as an advertisement for the organisation, with links to the walking tour for more information and is reachable for people that do not have easy access to technology.
Overall, the walking tour which I created evolved significantly since the project was decided on. While I originally focused on the literary benefits of the scheme, it shifted into highlighting the community aspect. My aim is that the walking tour which I have created will highlight the community benefits of the Street Library organisation, and thus prompt the creation of more Street Library communities, contributing to the organisation’s goal to have 5000 by December 2021.
Links:
Street Library Walking Tour – https://streetlibrary.wixsite.com/walkingtour
Street Library Australia Organisation – https://streetlibrary.org.au

For my major project this semester I have been working with the Balmain Institute. The Balmain Institute is a not for profit organisation which hosts public talks and discussions on topics such as the arts, science, economics, health, education, governance, the environment and current affairs. Established in 2010, the Balmain Institute has links to the former Balmain Workingmen’s Institute, which from 1863 provided the residents of Balmain with intellectual stimulation, opportunities for self-education, recreation and companionship. Furthermore, the original Balmain Workingmen’s Institute saw the suburb of Balmain transform from a blue-collar area to a gentrified, predominately middle-class suburb.
I chose to work with the Balmain Institute because of its relationship with the local community. The majority of the members of the Balmain Institute are long-term residents of Balmain and its surrounding suburbs, who are passionate about its history and its strong links to the early history of Sydney. When I think about what I love about history, it is the stories that have been hidden in plain view around us. Working with the Balmain Institute this semester has been an opportunity to shine a light on these stories, bring Balmain’s history out of the books and help the Balmain Institute to introduce a new, younger audience to their organisation and work and hopefully continue it into the future.
When I first made contact with the Balmain Institute, the organisation was very interested in me working with them. Initially suggesting I undertake a project looking at how the suburb had physically transformed over time, the project has expanded as I have done my research. Whilst there are numerous secondary sources about Balmain written by local historians, few of these can be found online. Additionally, Balmain’s oral histories are becoming less accessible as long-term residents age and the demographic of Balmain changes as a result of gentrification. Due to membership of the Balmain Institute primarily being people from the older generations who use print resources and a lack of dedicated funds, the organisation’s local historical sources online are lagging behind other organisations and institutions such as local history resources accessible through the State Library of New South Wales and municipal libraries. Therefore, it is the younger ‘online’ generation that is missing out on the stories which surround us.
The aim of this project is to compare how Balmain has physically transformed over time through maps from different time periods and link them to the memories and stories held by residents of the suburb, thus revealing what living in Balmain means to the local community. The project also examines how history can be preserved and communicated in ways other than traditional, printed history. Drawing on local history books, the Leichhardt Historical Journal, and the personal stories of some of Balmain’s residents, the aim is to reveal to others, particularly the younger generations, the depth of history they are surrounded by. The project also serves as a marketing campaign for the Balmain Institute by attracting new members of the organisation. The long-term goal is for younger residents and new residents of Balmain to learn about our local history, share their own stories and encourage them to engage with their local community through organisations such as the Balmain Institute.
I chose to present my research through the website ‘Balmain: Out of the Books’. A website is an easy and accessible way for people to access information and learn about the stories that have shaped a community. Inspired by other community history websites such as ‘Talk About Place’ (http://talkaboutplace.com/) and ‘Philaplace’ (http://www.philaplace.org/) which look at how a community is shaped by its residents and their history whether it be small actions or big historical moments; the aim was to create an ‘unending dialogue between the past and present’. The first page of the website or ‘Mapping Balmain’ looks at how Balmain has physically transformed over time. Using maps drawn by local historians and drawing inspiration from the book ‘Murs et Mémoire: la construction de Paris’ I drew my own maps to reveal changes to the suburb over the last 150 years. I also provided some information about these land settlements, particularly in the nineteenth century. On the page ‘Memories’ I used mapping software to pinpoint stories, memories and interesting facts about the history of Balmain. The next page, ‘Then and Now’ compares historic photographs of Balmain with modern photographs that I took. I have grown up being fascinated by these photographs and this project was an amazing opportunity to be able to show this rich resource off. Finally, I also included a contact form in which other residents can submit their own memories to the website. I plan to upload these stories as I receive more and more. I have also been using social media to create an online following of the website. I have set up both a Facebook page for ‘Balmain: Out of the Books’ as well as an Instagram page, which Inner West Council has started following.
I recently had a meeting with Dr Margaret Vickers, my original contact from the Balmain Institute, where we discussed the sustainability of the website ‘Balmain: Out of the Books’. Now the website is live, the Balmain Institute will notify its members about it in its monthly newsletter. The Institute will also post about the page on its various social media pages. Next year, the Institute is planning for me to give a talk at one of their monthly seminars about the project. I am also planning to put some flyers on the community noticeboard and possibly talk to local schools about the project, thus expanding the project even more.
Working with the Balmain Institute and creating this website over the past four months has been such a pleasure. I hope that ‘Balmain: Out of the Books’ will be a useful resource for not only the Balmain Institute in years to come, but also a source of intellectual stimulation and something that evokes a sense of belonging amongst Balmain’s resident’s past, present and future, just as the Institute has done since 1863.
https://www.balmainoutofthebooks.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Balmain-Out-of-the-Books-776048262787598/

Link to Project:
https://www.canva.com/design/DADHsHAIwfg/cGpYCJgHXf0ipt-toE4QhQ/view?utm_content=DADHsHAIwfg&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton

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For the past few months I have worked with a social community group my grandmother is an active participant of at Blue Haven Retirement Village in Kiama on the south coast of New South Wales. The Foodie Friends of Blue Haven meet every Thursday night for dinner and participate in regular social activities in and around the village. Some of these men and women have been friends for decades, with most growing up in and around the Kiama area. This group provides participants with conversation and friendship but also with a constant support network through which they are able to navigate the trials and tribulations of the later stages of life with. I wanted to provide this incredible group with a memento which acts simultaneously to thank them for my grandmother’s care over the years, but also as a celebration of their amazing bonds friendship and community spirit.
For this reason, the group thought it would be best to create a cook book of sorts- something that not only celebrates their friendship as a group, but also highlights their personal histories and backgrounds. The final product has culminated in a series of recipes categorised into three sections- snacks, mains, and desserts, and includes an anecdote related to a group member’s memories of either cooking or eating the recipe, followed by an ingredients list and method with how they have made it. As I began to collate the recipes of the individuals who chose to participate (through emails and interviews), a prominent question emerged that worked to guide my design, appropriation of my data, and final product:
“ What is the importance and role of food as a vehicle for remembering family, personal and community histories?”
Through various interviews with group members, it became extremely clear that food is an extremely important element in facilitating memory and senses of nostalgia, particularly with older group members. Incredibly, most members were able to recall very specific details about their childhood, parents, siblings, the neighbourhoods they grew up in, and even the physical surrounds, despite having mental disabilities such as Alzheimer’s and dementia that come with old age. Through eating certain foods, individuals were able to retain their memories of the past, despite the mental challenges that faced them in retaining short term memory in the present. For example, my grandmother June Lyons, was able to recall incredible minute details about her childhood as she told me her recipe for lamb shanks. She was able to recall the feelings of nausea and sadness of eating lamb as a child due to ‘seeing’ the lambs in the fields around her town as she ate it over 75 years ago, despite the onset of dementia as well as living with Parkinson’s disease for the last 30 years. This example alone is a clear testament towards the power of food as a vehicle for memory.
In approaching this project, I believed it was especially important to apply an anthropological (as well as historical) perspective in order to facilitate an investigation of the encultured nature of food and memory so that it could be more wholly understood. I found Holtzman’s Food and Memory to be of particular use in investigating my question. Ultimately, he investigates food as a multifaceted object, that is, in terms of both fuel and sustenance as well as a symbol, “medium of exchange”, and as a “sensuous object experienced by an embodied self” (pg 372). Food provides individuals with ways of “private remembrance, public displays of historically validated identity, an intense experience of an epochal historical shift, or reading the present through the imagining” of the past (ibid). Ultimately, food is able to have a powerful influence over memory due to the physical act of eating allowing transmissions of “powerful mnemonic cues, principally through smells and tastes” to reach both the conscious and subconscious (pg 373). The power of mnemonic cues in facilitating memory was evident through each of my interviews and correspondence with the members of the Foodie Friends.
Furthermore, Holtzman denotes food as being able to maintain and constitute historical identities (ibid). This was particularly evident through my interviews with Patrick O’Connor. Through his cabbage and bacon recipe, he was able to maintain both his sense of cultural identity and belonging as an Irish man, but was also able to elucidate specific and detailed memories of his childhood. In line with Brewer’s reasoning in Microhistory and the Histories of Everyday Life, the data gathered through my interviews with group members supports the argument for the importance of history at a grass roots level. According to Brewer, the historian has a duty to give significance and agency toward the happenings of everyday life, now and in the past (pg 87-88). Whilst the everyday happenings of life such as eating, may not seem to hold significance from afar, by examining food and its relation to memory as I have done in my project, ultimately shows how these minute occurrences play an instrumental role in our constructions of identity and the facilitation of our personal histories. The Foodie Friends are a prominent example of the power of how something as simple as food and eating, have significant influence upon the maintenance of memory and personal history.
In the production of my major project, I incorporated various medias that culminated in the final product. I employed the use of voice memos in recording oral histories, as well as email and phone to keep in contact with participating group members. After collating the recipes and anecdotes into a single word document, I worked at integrating the file into the website Canva, from which I was able to create a beautifully polished digital cookbook. Utilising Canva’s helpful tools, I was able to create a beautiful memento for the Foodie Friends of Blue Haven which I am sure they will cherish as a symbol of their friendship for years to come. I have sent a link to each member which directs them toward my Canva profile from which they can view the book. Before Christmas (my financial situation does not permit at the moment), I am planning to get a paperback copy of the cookbook printed for each member of the group as a thank you for helping me with this project.
As a final note, I would like to express my gratitude towards not only the group, but Mike as well for making this project possible. I have thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of work, design, research and reading I have put in to this project and I am proud of the result.