History Matters

As I’m completing my final project, an online collection of images and objects, and looking back on my notes from the beginning of my work with my organisation, I wanted to use this chance to reflect on those initial experiences. I began working with Wesley College, one of the residential colleges at the University of Sydney, offering to do some work digitizing their archives. When suggesting this to the Director of Programs at the college, I was met with a knowing look and an enthusiastic all clear to go ahead. In retrospect, I should have known.
The “archive” I was led to comprised of a spacious and well-lit cupboard in the newly renovated part of the building. So far, so good. Looking inside however, I found it filled from floor to ceiling with boxes, piles of loose papers and photos slipping haphazardly onto the floor out of overflowing crates, with no discernable order or system. It seemed my task had evolved from the simple digitization of an existing archive to trying to establish some sort of organizational system.
This task has truly exemplified the phrase “easier said than done”. The main challenge I have faced is the sheer quantity of material. Wesley was established in 1917 and student enrollment and academic records, yearly ledgers, photographs of every shape and size, student magazines and countless other records have been (albeit sometimes sporadically) kept and now reside in this room. These often include duplicates or more multiples (up to 50 copies in some cases). Furthermore, the continual shifting of these records has led to damage of some of the oldest books, photographs and files. With my complete lack of skill and experience dealing with old objects, all I could do is try to be as gentle as possible.
Despite this, in sifting through the masses, fascinating nuggets of history have fallen into my hands. The initial appeal of being the first to look at these sources in a historical had almost faded (after ten hours) until suddenly, in sorting through a pile of photos, the face of an 18 year old Rob Carlton (who I had seen on TV playing Kerry Packer) in a debating photo, brought back the interest and excitement. So did seeing the eyes of a close friend stare back at me from the face of her grandfather in the Rugby First XV of 1947. Even reading a memo from the matron in 1965 requesting teaspoons be returned to the dining hall, in the same week as current students of Wesley received a Facebook notification asking them to search for and return missing cups taken at mealtimes had the same effect.
Indeed, the stark digitization of the current Wesley experience, and that which I had discovered in the paper trails of earlier years, was one of the significant things I’ve taken from the experience. The relative lack of photos and records since 2000, after the overload of tangible documentation from previous years, is kind of disappointing. I began to question whether I should be digitizing old sources, or ensuring recent years are physically documented in this room. I think I went archive crazy.
Looking back on the process, I couldn’t imagine trying to do my final project without doing the organizational tasks. Instead of trying to find sources for my final project, I was now simply selecting from the abundance of potential sources I had. I have in no way even approached a satisfactory completion of the task of organizing the archives, however in discussion with the college, I hope to continue this work next year.

We are all students of history because, assumingly, we each have a passion for learning about the past in order to consider how it can and will impact on the future. In our many and varied history subjects, we have gained insight into historical events and historiographical debates and continuously attempted ‘to develop original insight’ into a given topic. While I am still doubtful as to whether any of my claims regarding World War 2 were ‘original’ given the breadth of academic intrigue on this subject, my professors were always encouraging which further nurtured the passion I have for history. History: Beyond the Classroom, however, has, in the subtlest and cleverest of ways, forced ‘original insight’ because we were to complete a task that has never been completed before for a community group, many of which it seems, have had sporadic attempts at constructing historical narratives. The brilliance of HSTY3902 is that we are given the freedom to entirely develop ‘original insight’ and as such I honestly feel I am a more complete student of history as a result of the work I have completed for my community group, Cooma Little Theatre.
As I discussed with last year’s History: Beyond the Classroom student, Natalie Leung, I went into this subject in the same way I approach any research project: I wanted to find something in the history of my organisation that would lend itself to developing a interesting discussion. I wanted to “re-write the history of my organization”, exposing the features that would make it interesting to the wider community. Regrettably, what I failed to realise at the outset was that it is exactly what my community group has been dedicated to for 60 years that provides the most interesting and compelling argument I could ever hope to develop. Each production of the Cooma Little Theatre’s past 60 years tells a story and when combined together, they create a history.
I therefore chose to digitally archive the posters and programs from the theatre’s sixty thriving, theatrical years. With every hour that I’ve dedicated to finding, scanning, editing, uploading and cataloguing, I’ve increasingly become more and more aware of the many histories this seemingly simplistic task creates. By looking at these visual sources, not only can you appreciate the multitude of productions performed but one can also see how technology has advanced, how advertising has increased, how cast members have change, how productions have varied and how, at a simplistic level, Cooma Little Theatre has continually remained a central entertainment facility for Snowy audiences in spite of changes in the makeup of the town. Indeed the benefit of completing this project is for me, to give back to the place that has given my family so much enjoyment. But more than this, this project will hopefully bring together past, present and future members of the theatre as they will each be able to visually appreciate the magnitude of the theatre’s achievements. The community of the Cooma Little Theatre expands across Australia and throughout the world and so the choice to use the website to display this history is to enable every member of our far-reaching community to access the site, spark a sense of nostalgia and remember ‘the good-times’ fondly.
I admit, I went into this assignment with the wrong attitude because I was blinded by the expectation to ‘develop original insight’. Little did I realise that the original insight I was so desperately looking for could be found in the most celebrated part of the theatre’s history. History: Beyond The Classroom has led me to look at research in a different light, to focus on the task rather than the product and to concentrate on achieving something that is bigger than just a university mark.
As the semester draws to a close and we prepare to submit the final assessment of our degrees, I think it’s important to reflect on what we’ve achieved and feel proud… We’ve looked ‘beyond the classroom’ and into the real world to find local history. And as we step into that real world, we should continue to appreciate the many histories that surround us every day.
Chookas HSTY3902!

On my last post I discussed the importance of an expansive view in regards to Australian history. I will be first to admit that I have, in the past, discarded the significance of Australian history. But now that’s history! In my last post I stressed the importance of accepting every aspect of the past as history, even the most mundane and innocuous details. History should not be viewed as series of dates on a page, rather it is something that people have lived. I think that’s the biggest take away from my community work and this course.
For the past few months I have been working with the Waverley Library and Council in their local studies department. The Waverley library has quite an extensive archive, especially regarding Bondi Beach and its surrounding suburbs, so it was a great experience to work within this format. My task was to document some materials that came from the Bondi Pavilion, and make accession numbers for them. The accession numbers are there so if other people want to locate the materials I archived, they locate the number, and then they can find the appropriate box in the archive room. Filing and documenting material may sound dull, but it was actually a really interactive and fun way to work with history.
One of the biggest things for me when dealing with these materials was that I was one of the first people to view these objects as having a shred of historical significance. Many of the materials were everyday objects that had just been piling up at the Bondi pavilion. Although this was extremely interesting it also made it difficult. As I was the first person to conceptualise these objects as historical artefacts, there was no real framework on how to view them, no past papers, no outlines. I had to personally decide what they meant. This in itself was extremely fun because I could ascribe what I thought was significant about it. This process that I undertook fits into the idea of appreciating everything from the past as important history. The materials I was archiving were posters, stamps and swimsuits from the turn of the century. These objects don’t seem that old but their utility obviously was. What’s more is that as time goes by their historical significance increases. Even now you can tell how dated the swimsuits are. Will they come back into fashion? Who knows.

Above: This photo was on the tag of one of the swimsuits displaying what it looks like. photo credit Xavier May.
Since the completion of my archive work I have been consolidating the photos I took of the process, and been looking further into the archives to find more information about the contemporary history of Bondi. These archives mainly consist of newspaper clippings and council statements, but they have told me a lot about Bondi’s recent history. Recent redevelopment plans regarding the Bondi pavilion are highly controversial, but I have found this is not an isolated event. Roughly every twenty years the council has made an effort to reinvigorate the Pavilion. A lot of the newspaper clippings also debate the gentrification regarding Bondi. I have always thought that Bondi was a pretty affluent area, however I have discovered that it has a very grungy past. This has been a controversial point in the literature regarding re-development plans and expansive commercial ventures. The debate around gentrification and commercialism is still on going and so it is important to be aware of these problems. These examples show how history is not finite and how problems that were happening a few generations ago are still occurring. That is how public history can be useful, so people can be aware of what happened in their local past so they can better shape the future. I hope that my work in the archives enables others to learn more about Bondi and more importantly, their own history.

Considering that my project centers on a rugby league club, I thought I’d start off with one of the great sporting clichés. It’s almost hard to believe that in under a month our final projects will be revealed. I spent the last blog post giving a little bit of a background on why I undertook work with Wests Archives, so this one will be dedicated to the project itself. A detailed account of my trials and tribulations….
Like many of the students of Beyond the Classroom, I’ve found that my projects had meandered and molded as time has passed. Having now set my sights on producing a short film for the club, preparation work has been under way. Having actually never made a video before, I must admit that I am somewhat anxious. With shooting next Saturday, It’s going to be a really stretched to ensure that everything is organized and that the day runs as smoothly as possible. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed it becoming closer to the people involved throughout the organization. Founder of the club, Scott Morris has been so helpful in helping me organize the material for the project. Late night phone calls and rather rushed Facebook posts have meant that we have been able to gather enough support to get this video off the ground. I’ve included a few of the screenshots from the Facebook page for you guys to see below.
On the 5th of November, Scott has organized a jersey handout to coincide with the interviewing for the video. This should be really helpful in gauging some meaningful responses from members of the Fanatics. I’ll be asking questions about:
– What the club means to them as members of the Western Sydney Community. (Hopefully invoke some responses relating to class and ethnicity here)
– Why exactly it’s important to preserve the culture of the Rugby League Club.
– Why creating public history for the organization is helpful for their growth and sustainability.
I really hope to capture this kind of sentiments on camera. As the script progresses, I feel that it’s important to remember that I am writing history for other people. This is not a video about what this team means to me. But rather, why it plays such a pivotal role in the lives of those who breathe Magpies culture day in and day out. With over 3000 members, I encourage all of you to have a look at the group’s facebook page. I’ve included a link below to if any of you want to have a peek at the kinds of events and activities they get up to.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/westernsuburbsmagpiesfanatics/
I think thats about everything I have to update you guys with. So I’ll leave you all with another sporting cliché that maybe everyone can use as life gets a little more stressful as deadlines emerge.
“Keep your eye on the ball..”

Walking into the Mitchell Library I think can be very daunting. No I don’t know what a microfiche is, no I don’t know how to print, wait, what – my library card has expired! (Surely library cards don’t have expiry dates).
Initial hurdles, it turns out, were easily overcome. I didn’t really think that my research would take me into the depths of an archive. Mostly, I’ve been chatting to my family, and destroying any sort of order that mum had the photos in. But when Dad said that Schenk & Co got most of their business from a huge half page ad in the Yellow Pages, I thought that I probably would be bad historian if I didn’t follow that up.
Actually, Dad said the White Pages. Companies don’t really advertise in the white pages. I did not know this, being a child of the twenty first century. After about an hour of fiddling around and trying to make the microfiche legible, I did find my family listed, and the company, but it was no half page ad. It was only after that that I thought maybe it’s the Yellow Pages that does company adverts. Turns out the Yellow Pages didn’t exist in the 1960s and 1970s. It was called the Pink Pages. But actually, there was no ad in that either. What Dad was actually thinking of was the Western Sydney Buyers Guide.
The actual struggle of finding it I can only blame myself for. I tried smash repairs, repairs, wreckers, cars. It was actually under motor. But once I had figured that out I was set. Schenk & Co had a small ad, not really the half a page that Dad seems to remember, but still quite significant for a small family business.

I feel like my project is a little more valid now. I know that family histories are valuable, but compared to all the fabulous projects being undertaken by my peers, I feel that I really have taken an easy road. Definitely a great experience feeling like an actual historian, looking for actual sources in an actual archive.

Before I started the HSTY3902 unit, when I thought about public history I often discounted its validity because I believed museums and other historical spaces only showed the public the stories/images of the past they desired to remember or commemorate. However, one particular reading from the unit has managed to change my perspective. Thomas Cauvin’s article ‘Shared Authority’ highlights that public history has the possibility to be more than just an arena to unquestionably celebrate/commemorate victories and tragedies. In Cauvin’s article I like the idea that “…historians should strive to understand [the past] as it really was, not as what people want it to be, and by doing so should endeavour to create a space for discussion about the past”.
As many are aware, there are multiple perspectives and interpretations of the past and each need to be heard, discussed and analysed in order to create a truer picture of history. Only by allowing public audiences to see and hear multiple voices, including those which juxtapose to their own experiences or views, can there ever be a ‘shared authority’ of the past between historians and different groups and individuals of the public. If only one story is ever told from a singular point of view, it can ever only feel owned from a small fragment of society.

You don’t always know where you’re going, what you’re looking for or what you’ll end up with, but even more so, it’s sometimes hard to stop looking! It’s an exhilarating, ironically non linear ‘choose your own’ adventure where anything could happen, so many tracks to go down. You go on tangents and find things you never expected to, or wild goose chases where nothing turns up. Sometimes records are missing or literally eaten by rats, or a perhaps a paper shortage! But how fabulous is that! The gaps keep you coming back, it’s a thirst for the whole picture. You get to know the ‘characters’, imagine their lives, feel a strange connection and a sense of responsibility to finish what you started. I am doing a history of ordinary people, who lived in a ordinary house, but ordinary for me is what makes this type of history so exciting. Anyone can become history and anyone can find it. History is part of family life, the community, the future.

(Certificate of Title: Henry Wardrope 1910 Vol 2102 Fol 117 http://images.maps.nsw.gov.au/pixel.htm )
Mr and Mrs Wardrope are my centre point from which my study spreads. This project spawned from an enquiry from their ancestor, their beautiful sepia portrait and their house between the old Town Hall and Blue Mountains Echo (later ‘Daily ‘paper). I still do not know the end result, but the experience has been invaluable. I feel attached to their story, even if it is not exceptional it serves as an insight to the lives of migrants, the experience of family and work in the early 20th century, the township of Katoomba and the legacy members make serving the community.
It is also an interesting look at the evolving urban environment. Still seen to be as a large Township, Katoomba has grown from a mining town, a touristic centre, a medical escape to a vibrant multicultural hub for all types of people and business still serving some of the functions it once did. A study of this property, the changing size and shape it took over time, the amalgamation, transformation and destruction serves as a larger analysis of the growth of settlements and urban expansion. Further, it is interesting to understand how history meets heritage and how a study of the people and places are key to preserving aspects of the past for our future. And while a car park stands there now and much of Katoomba has been reshaped since its earliest developments, respect of the past lived experience is crucial, even starting from the smallest house squeezed between two key buildings.
As I do not wish to give too much of the story away, I will leave you here, hopefully keen to learn more about the voyage of the Wardropes across the world to the unknown, settling in the inner west before finding their community in the Blue Mountains, about the agricultural to urban evolution from the first land grant to the car park for Civic video which stands there today. Local, small scale history is important as it is relatable, it as an unseen aspect of our past and past community members which have contributed to our lives today.

I remember hearing from other students from last year’s class speaking about how they chose their final project structure at the last minute, or changed their idea just in time to stress out completely. A common theme among them, though, was how proud they were of their final product.
As I heard these recounts, I thought (a little too smugly) that that was nice, but it didn’t apply to me and my organisational genius. I had picked out my organisation, I had organised a position and started volunteering every Friday at the library, and I was gathering research for a walking tour. I was set.
I didn’t account for the role that genuine interest plays in the history making process, or at least in the academic sphere. To be clear, I certainly did not dread my original project idea (which was to create an informative blog around the ‘Crime in Vaucluse’ walking tour that the Woollahra Library will give sometime in December), yet something was bugging me. I remember the multiple encouragements that Mike gave us that were along the lines of: make use of your skills, experiment with different modes of communication, and strangely enough… have fun with it! (I’m sorry, what?)
And for me personally, this is the act of writing. Without going into depths about my hopeful future in this practice, it is what I am drawn to again and again. I mentioned in my last blog about the difficulties I was facing in terms of imagining the human qualities and character behind Sir Henry Hayes (an Irish convict who set up Vaucluse House). I dove further into this interest, and narrowed my research to feature just Sir Henry. It seemed the more that I delved into his past, the more fascinated I was by the character he must have been. To lay out a few facts from the research I have gathered using the Woollahra Library Local History resources:
-Sir Henry Hayes was a Sheriff in Cork, who came from a wealthy manufacturing company. Around 1795, he became a widow with 7 children.
-Hayes abducted Mary Pike, a wealthy heiress. He showed little remorse of this act, and Mary Pike fled to England with her reputation in ruins.
-Hayes eventually turned himself in after two years on the run. Why did he do it? This question has been bugging me an insane amount!
– He paid for the best room money could by on board the Atlas, the convict ship heading for NSW.
– Immediately he showed a distaste for authority, becoming enemies with Governor King, and constantly being sent to other parts of the colony under suspicion of organising uprisings against English rule.
-He tried and failed (and tried again) to set up Australia’s first Freemason House and it is rumoured that he hosted the first legitimate Saint Patrick’s Day celebration at his home, Vaucluse House.
The list goes on, but most importantly I want to portray these facts (that are so often condensed to dates and places) to a wider audience that might be interested in this man through a different mode- that of narrative history.
I plan to create some diary entries with the first-person perspective of Sir Henry Hayes and post them to a blog site of my creation. Crucially, I will be basing all the facts upon historical evidence, and I will have links to the various primary or secondary sources that I have used to create the story. In this way, I plan to bring a different mode of interest to the biography of such an interesting character.
At the end of the day, I want people to possibly stumble across this account of Sir Henry and be intrigued enough to read on, to read the primary sources or visit the Vaucluse House. I have offered Woollahra Library the opportunity to draw attention to the project if they feel that it will increase interest in the historic site, and the historic man.
At the moment I am in the process of writing up the diary entries and putting them on the website. I have learnt so much during this process- from working out how to set out a website, to thinking about the best way to produce content in an original yet educational manner. I am swiftly realising that the balance between entertainment and historical education is a fine one, but I am enjoying having the freedom to choose how I want to present the story of this man.
I certainly didn’t take into account how long the research period would be. Thankfully the Woollahra Local History department had many wonderful, hard-cover books that gave me the majority of my information. This was good news too, as most of the scarce information on Sir Henry Hayes on the internet is either far too vague, or written by historically-minded writers who haven’t shown any evidence for their claims. Then came the time consuming task of writing these quotes up in a Word document, so that eventually I can paste quotes onto the site (with full referencing, obviously). This is all to ensure that I can say that a large portion of my work has been based on historical facts mentioned by previous publications.
Regardless of this work, it has been such an immersive and challenging experience that already is giving me a sense of pride in what has been made so far. I plan to continue this work after I hand in what I have written so far, because I am realising now that I will not be able to write all the diaries entries that sum up the long Convict-Career of Sir Henry Hayes. I suppose I fell into the trap of thinking I could do more than was realistic. Regardless, I still have a week(ish) until I have to hand in my project, so I hope to keep writing up until that point. I hope the end product reflects the time and effort I have put into it. All in all, I have learnt some genuine skills through this project, and it has been a rewarding task to try and create something that both meets the academic interests of my course, but also engages me as a writer and historian.

The semester had come to close and I have turned my focus from researching to presenting. I will be submitting two projects – a website and a video. Originally I intended to submit just the website, but after seeing the end product I decided it wasn’t original or creative enough. Don’t get me wrong, I think the website looks beautiful and serves the purpose of highlighting the fascinating lives of the old girls whom I researched and I hope the KOGU community will find it useful, but it wasn’t enough. So I decided to create a video. A video which isn’t really a documentary isn’t really a movie and isn’t an interview. I am not sure what to classify this video as, but I hope that will be the strength of it. I tried to create something that was a little unusual and different and I hope I have succeeded.
One of the major reasons I wanted to create something different is because I have found through my study of history, ancient and modern than the unusual and more original stories and presentation formats are often the ones most remembered. Today is the 11th of November – Remembrance Day. My knowledge of World War I is not great but there is one story which I love – the Christmas Truce story. The story goes that on Christmas Day 1914 the British and German troops on the Western Front called a cease fire for the day and played football in no-mans land. To be honest, I am not entirely sure that the story is true, but I think it is (or at least hope it is). Now I think the reason this story is so well known is because it is different and unique. In the constant history of war and hatred and opposition this one story of peace and kindness shines through. Throughout history there are many well-known anecdotes or stories that have been remembered and passed down and I think we have to ask ourselves why these stories are remembered and captivating whilst others are not. I think stories like these are especially important in local or community history because they have the ability to infect people’s brains and be transmitted and become alive. Stories which are alive and captivating are so important in local history when the historian is always struggling against the tide of people interested in wars or revolutions and not the local swimming pool. I hope that my story and my presentation method can act like this and cut through to the people who will appreciate it the most.