History Council of Western Australia

Vale Neil Byrne

The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History (ASSLH), Perth Branch is very sad to announce the passing of our President, Neil Byrne, after a long illness. 

2019 Western Australian Heritage Awards

This year’s WA Heritage Awards was a standout night not just for the worthy winners but in light of the many heart–felt and emotionally charged speeches made by the recipients.

Margaret Medcalf Award

Congratulations to Dr Robin Barrington of Curtin University, who was awarded the 2019 Margaret Medcalf Medal for her journal article ‘A Race War: Tracing emotions on the Murchison frontier in Western Australia 1880-1915’.

From Another View: NAIDOC Panel Discussion

On 11 July 2019, the State Library of Western Australia in partnership with the Minderoo Foundation hosted a panel to explore how Aboriginal researchers talk about connections to Country and navigate our shared colonial history in these modern times.

The Midland Railway Workshops project

History and heritage are not synonyms, something made clear in A Natural Battleground: The fight to establish a rail heritage centre at Western Australia’s Midland Railway Workshops, historian Bobbie Oliver’s most recent work, published on the 25th anniversary of the closure of the WAGR Railway Workshops at Midland.

NOTICES

City of Vincent Local History Awards

Australian Historical Association Petition in Support of the Uluru Statement from the Heart

Just Published

‘Drought, Mud, Filth, and Flood: Water Crises in Australian Cities, 1880s–2010s: an online exhibition

President’s Report

A number of issues have recently emerged that are set to become hot topics over the next months and perhaps years.  Firstly, the reduction in the number of students studying History at secondary school, because of the proliferation of WACE subjects in Years 11 and 12. Secondly, the position of History in WA Government Arts Leadership Group’s Strategic Directions 2016-31. Thirdly, the continuing lack of storage space for State Archives and the challenge of born-digital archives.