Hunter Living Histories Showcase
Monday 6 June, 1pm – 2.30pm
PROGRAM
DON MORRIS WALK
Guest : Associate Prof Nancy Cushing & Adelaide Dufty (UON student) – Campus Study assignment (HIST2065) Australian Environmental History on the Don Morris Walk. WATCH HERE
QUEER NEWCASTLE RESEARCH
Guest : Dr Justin Ellis – “The Pub With No Queers” – Queer Newcastle research WATCH HERE
NGUKURR TO NEWCASTLE RECONCILIATION EVENT
SMOKING CEREMONY FOR POSSUM SKINS
Guest : Assoc. Prof Kate Senior and visitors ‘Senior Reconciliation Ceremony connecting Community Culture & Country’ WATCH HERE
Background – https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2021/04/30/ngukurr/
HISTORY NEWS MAY 2022 FROM THE HUNTER REGION
Latest Heritage News Updates
from Hunter Regional Groups WATCH HERE
KNEEL BEFORE YOUR CITY’S HISTORY
2022-05-02 NH p.21. “Kneel down before city’s rich history”. Features 87-year-old Brenda Dryden who has made 204 of the 409 kneelers in the Christ Church Cathedral. All of them tell a story. They depict images of Newcastle in 1812, Singleton Military Area, Newcastle before, during and after various wars. Many are in memory of those who have died, representing war widows, the Merchant Navy, members of the Red Cross, Royal Air Force, and Vietnam War veterans. The 1989 earthquake, which destroyed much of the Cathedral, is also depicted. Brenda Dryden is playing a key part in ensuring Newcastle’s history is preserved and continues to be told.
GRANTS FOR COMMUNITIES
2022-05-06 NH p.7 “Nearly $1 Million in grants for Community Groups” Newcastle’s Stories of Our Town received grant funding to create the film Biraban and the Reverend Threlkeld: Finding the Third Space which tells the story of Newcastle’s Indigenous population and how their language was translated and preserved almost 200 years ago by missionary Reverend Threlkeld and Biraban.
PORT OF NEWCASTLE (1882)
2022-05-09 A high resolution hand coloured plan of the Port of Newcastle (1882) published. https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2022/05/09/newcastle-1882/ David Threlfo produced a promotional video as Episode 11 of his 4 Local Stories of Us Series. Link to the Knaggs Maps series.
NEWCASTLE’S STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
2022-05-10 NH. ‘Stairway to Heaven’ in doubt as Iris launches last Mall redevelopment stages. Iris has lodged a development application with City of Newcastle to demolish the buildings on its remaining land between Hunter and King streets and is embarking on a design competition for the site. The demolition work for the final stages of the Iris development will take about six months, but the company will retain historic building facades on Hunter Street, as it has done in other parts of the project. It had hoped to reach a deal for Iris to redevelop the site with room for public parking and the council’s proposed “stairway to heaven” linking Queens Wharf with Christ Church Cathedral.
THE LATE GREAT MARGARET HENRY
2022-05-12 Margaret Henry (1934-2015) and the Social History of Medicine in Newcastle by Dr Jude Conway in our Fringe Histories and Histories of Hunter Women Category Series published in the HLH. Thanks to Dr Ann Hardy for compiling.
MAITLAND HISTORY DIGITALLY REMASTERED
2022-05-14 MM “Digitisations of Maitland’s history donated to library”
Two historic images from 1800s Maitland have been digitally restored and donated to Maitland Library’s heritage collection. East Maitland resident David Sciffer made the restorations and, armed with a high quality scanner and great photoshop skills, spent over 800 hours working on them.
“West Maitland, New South Wales and it’s leading commercial buildings” is from an 1878 issue of the Sydney Illustrated News, and is 106 by 76 cms long, with intricate details that map out Maitland’s major buildings and streets.
Mr Sciffer said the image, titled West Maitland, New South Wales and it’s Leading Commercial Buildings contained a wood engraving of Maitland as seen from the air.
A friend at the University of Newcastle’s library (?) sent Mr Sciffer a high resolution scan of the image which had a fair amount of damage, that he has now digitally removed.
“View of West Maitland” The second image is a poster from 1891 called View of West Maitland. It is a chromolithograph, meaning it was printed onto a flat surface, in colour. Mr Sciffer said it was based on photographs taken by Morris Moss.
LAMAN STREET FIGS 10 YEARS ON
2022-05-18 NH p.17 “The Laman Street Figs Battle a Decade On” Damon Cronshaw’s reflection of the protest over the cutting down of the Laman Street figs.
FORTRESS NEWCASTLE
2022-05-19 Fortress Newcastle Exhibition and Films: A Great Success The Newcastle Fortress Exhibition was officially launched on Friday 22 April 2022. It was an extraordinarily friendly and successful event, thanks to our Master of Ceremonies, Dr Peter Hobbins, Head of Knowledge at the Australian Maritime Museum, for his expert leadership of the ceremony. To Federal Member for Newcastle, Sharon Claydon MP, for her genuine compassion for our work, and to Coral Black, University Librarian for representing the University of Newcastle’s support for the project. The exhibition closed on 8 May, and everything was relocated to Delprat’s Cottage for inventory and storage. During its course, the exhibition operated smoothly with large attendances and all feedback received was positive. Over the 15 days, there were approximately 2,300 visitors to the Exhibition. The Newcastle Fortress Trail film was also produced by Glenn and Tony to coincide with the launch of the Fortress Newcastle Exhibition, a new film has been produced The Fortress Newcastle Trail to further support the ongoing development opportunity to create a tourist destination attraction using over 20 remaining sites from the defence network called Fortress Newcastle during WWII.
NATIONAL TRUST ACCOLADE
2022-05-19 Stories of Our Town Film Series Received National Trust Accolade in Sydney At the 2022 Heritage Awards they received a “Highly Commended” acknowledgment for their services to Education and Interpretation.
This good news comes hot on the heels that the Stories of Our Town film Fortress Newcastle: Life Under Threat was picked up by Foxtel Binge for Anzac Day and scheduled to run for four years. Foxtel Binge have also picked up the Star Hotel Riot film. SBS Television has also selected the Stories of Our Town Lycett and Wallis film for their NITV. Over the past 18 months the Stories Of Our Town team have conducted 14 public screenings in Military Forts, Museums, Art Galleries, Pubs, libraries and even a former Mess Hall at Rathmines.
CAROLINE JONES FROM MURRURUNDI
2022-05-20 ABC News. Caroline Jones’ tribute on the occasion of her death at age 84. A girl from the bush (i.e. Murrurundi in the Hunter Region) who became a trail blazer: Caroline Jones is remembered as a warm and kind person with a wicked sense of humour, but perhaps her biggest legacy is the strides she made for women in media and television. Jones was born & raised as an only child in the small country town of Murrurundi in the Upper Hunter region of NSW. ”Murrurundi was very formative for me,” Jones told the Newcastle Herald in 2013. “I was growing up in a country community & that stays with you your whole life.”
“STEP BACK TO KING STREET” FESTIVAL AT RAYMOND TERRACE
2022-05-21 Port Stephens Examiner 19/5/2022 p.18 Step Back into King Street Heritage Festival returns to Raymond Terrace on Saturday. The heritage festival highlights the historical significance of King Street in Raymond Terrace. The preserved historical street near the Hunter River has buildings dating back to the 1840s. It was the original main street of Raymond Terrace from 1840 up until the 1955 flood. Buildings went under water and the main street was moved further into the town. A highlight of this year’s festival will be a mock wedding under King Street’s historic Marriage Trees at 12pm and free horse drawn cart rides starting from near the bus stop outside Terrace Central on Port Stephens Street to the top of King Street
CHRIST CHURCH ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG
2022-05-27 NH p. 3 “Unearthing history at ‘significant site’ in city – Details archaeological dig underway at Christ Church Cathedral graveyard Martin Carney, principal director AMAC Group guest next month, Awabakal descendants corporation working on site. “We’re looking for objects of Indigenous heritage in the subsoil, but within the trenches, we also will come across remains of burial cuts, and possibly fragments of tombstones,”
VOLCANIC STORY OF PETRIFIED FOREST AT LAKE MACQUARIE
2022-05-27 NH p15 “Lake’s Forest of Fossils Swansea Rocks Tell A Volcanic Story”. Scott Bevan reports on Roz Kerr’s examination of a petrified forest located just below the Marine Rescue Station at Reid’s Mistake Head, on the southern side of the lake and facing the sea. Created when a volcanic eruption 253 million years ago blasted across a forest growing in a peat bog. The trees were covered in volcanic ash, and across millions of years turned to stone, the Peat bog turned into a coal seam. The 250 million-year-old prehistoric fossil forest hidden at Swansea Heads near Lake Macquarie
HOW TO CONDUCT AN ORAL HISTORY?
2022-05-31 How to Conduct an Oral History Interview is a guide to our colleague Dr Ann Hardy for her work compiling this guide. And brings to date the wonderful pioneering oral history work of the late Margaret Henry, as there are so many more ways of recording people now. https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2022/05/31/how-to-oh/
RECONCILIATION EVENTS
2022-05-31 NH p.3 Students take steps towards reconciliation with Awaba at the” centre. At least 1400 students from eight different schools around Lake Macquarie came together in Rathmines to talk about reconciliation. They gathered to share culture, Aboriginal knowledge and healing with the Biriban Local Aboriginal Land Council.
STORIES OF OUR TOWN SEASON 1 COMPLETE
2022-05-31 Stories of Our Town Series One came to an end. 15 films produced. One more yet to see, the Threlkeld and Biraban: Finding the Third Space has just come back from the audio mastering today. Our acquittal paperwork is now lodged with the NSW Stat Government, and we are seeking Series 2!
OLIVER SALMON ON THE WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING EXPERIENCE
2022-05-31 Library Webinar – Oliver Salmon talks about WIL experience
SMOKING CEREMONY
2022-06-03 Cooks Hill Campus Event to see the smoking ceremony of possum skin pelts. To tell us more, here is Assoc. Prof Kate Senior from School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Science and daughter Lily.
HUNTER NATIONAL TRUST UPDATE
Hunter National Trust WATCH HERE
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS NEWS
- HLH site for May 2022 had 10,855 views of its posts
- Living Histories Data Platform for May recorded 651,142 accesses
- UONCC Youtube (May 2022) 7.5K views 404.9 hours watched (Lifetime 448.6K views/27.1K hours watched)
- UONCC Flickr 66.3M Hits
OTHER NEWS & UPDATES
Fringe Histories- Call for blog posts
June theme ‘Environmental histories’
Hunter Living Histories May 2022 Showcase
available online HERE