President’s Report
This is my last report as President of the History Council of WA. It has been a great honour and privilege to lead the Council over the past four years. Never could I have imagined that my term would begin towards the end of a mining boom and finish during a global pandemic. We have had outstanding expertise on the Committee to steer us through difficult times — in Aboriginal affairs, higher and secondary education, heritage, libraries and museums, local government — providing a rich resource of knowledge that assisted greatly in our discussions and decision-making. Without exception, your representatives on the History Council Committee have been wonderful to work with, making my role much easier.
Perhaps a highlight of the past four years was the development of the Value of History Statement (VHS), which I hope you’ve all endorsed (click the blue box at https://www.historycouncilwa.org.au/value-of-history) and are using the VHS. Work towards developing the statement was initiated by Margaret Birtley, then Executive Officer of HCV, and stemmed from the History Relevance Campaign in the United States. It provided an opportunity for us to think deeply about the value of history and to collaborate with our colleagues in the other four Australian History Councils (NSW, South Australia, Victoria). The statement has been sent to all members of state parliament and goes out with every letter of advocacy we send.
Although a number of us have met members of other History Councils at regular panels organised at the Australian Historical Association biennial conference, the development of the VHS over about 18 months gave us the opportunity to work together and get to know one another. This led to joint advocacy on a range of federal matters; the Uluru Statement of the Heart (Oct 2018), ARC research funding (Oct 2018), Commonwealth Marriage Act Form (Mar 2019), Senate Inquiry into Nationhood, National Identity & Democracy (Sept 2019), and proposed Commonwealth Funding Changes to the Humanities (June 2020) and to the Australian Parliament (Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia) inquiry into the destruction of 46,000-year-old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (July 2020).
We now have a What’s App group on our mobile phones for current Presidents/Chairs, Vice Presidents/Deputy Chairs and staff of all History Councils of Australia. Stephen Gapps, Chair of HCNSW, has agreed to be our first convenor. We are maintaining a watching brief on university funding, urging our members to write to the Senate cross bench on the issue, considering a national submission in response to the draft WA Aboriginal Heritage Bill, and a submission on the ACARA F-10 review of the curriculum in early 2021.
Our WA advocacy role has continued unabated over the winter months. We made submissions on the National Archives Review of Principles and supported the Australian Society of Archivists on their submission on the new State Records Commission Standards.
We released media statements on
commonwealth higher education funding which will increase fees and may disadvantage history and most other humanities students,
the destruction of the Juukan Caves by Rio and the need to progress consultation on a new WA Aboriginal Heritage Bill.
We wrote to
the Vice Chancellor of the University of Western Australia stressing the importance of UWA Publishing (UWAP) to historians and urging reconsideration of its decision to axe UWAP. We understand that, thanks to public pressure, UWAP will not be closed, that a review process has taken place with a decision on staffing and publishing to be made by the Senate once the new Vice Chancellor has settled in.
Fremantle Council about its local history collection, now in storage, querying whether the complete collection would fit into the new facility when completed and whether there would be adequate staffing to care for the collection and assist users. We were assured that there would be no problem but will keep a watching brief on the issue.
the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs expressing concern about Aboriginal cultural heritage and proposed changes to Aboriginal Heritage legislation. We are advised that the Minister is well aware of the inadequacy of the current legislation and expects to introduce the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2020 into parliament before the end of the year. Prior to that there will be a final round of consultation on the draft bill.
the Premier asking when a committee would be set up to prepare for 2029, the bicentenary of the founding of the Swan River Colony. The Premier has advised that informal discussions are taking place, assured us that our willingness to be involved will be taken into consideration when a committee is set up, and encouraged us to develop proposals for consideration. The Minister for Arts and Culture followed up with a similar letter.
the Minister for Culture & the Arts urging the reinstatement of a history category in the WA Premier’s Book Awards. The reply points out that historians are eligible for several of the awards and suggests that we seek a sponsor for a history award.
We surveyed our members on staffing at SLWA in preparation for a submission to government. This is being prepared following our recent meeting with Duncan Ord, Director-General of Department of Local Government, Sport, Culture and the Arts.
At our last Committee meeting we had a very useful and heartening presentation by Damian Shepherd, Director State Records Office, on various initiatives under way. This is reported on in detail below.
I was very pleased to read of the government’s announcement of a $75 m boost for arts and culture, in particular an allocation of $2m to begin planning for an Aboriginal Cultural Centre. A long way to go, but it’s a start. The Chamber of Culture and the Arts are to be congratulated on their work in developing a proposal to assist the sector. The cash injection is part of the McGowan Government WA Recovery Plan which emphasises infrastructure and the jobs that follow, so we will see both the Perth Cultural Centre and His Majesty’s Theatre upgraded.
Details of our coming AGM on 9 September in the Great Southern Room at SLWA are below. We are delighted that Andrea Gaynor, a former member of our Committee and the state’s leading environmental historian, has agreed to present the 2020 History Council Annual Lecture. We are very fortunate to be in a state where our borders have been closed, so that we are almost free of the Coronavirus, and are able to meet in person. We have a Plan B in case of an outbreak of COVID 19 and a change in circumstances but, for now, I really look forward to seeing many of you on 9 September.