Hunter Living Histories Showcase
Advocacy for Cultural Heritage & 2023 Annual Report
Monday 4 December 2023
- Annual Report (Gionni di Gravio OAM)
HUNTER LIVING HISTORIES
2023 ANNUAL REPORT
AT A GLANCE
- Living Histories Data Platform – 7.8M Views (As at 4 Dec 2023)
- Special Collections Flickr Site – 72.5M views (Lifetime)
- Special Collections YouTube – 98.1.6K Views with 231 New Subscribers (for the year 2023), Over 628.8K Views since 2008, with over 37.2K hours watched. (As at Feb 2024)
- Hunter Living Histories Blog Site – 139,444 Views (For the year 2023)
- Over 52 Hunter Living Histories posts were researched and created and published during 2023 and shared through community social media channels, Linkedin, internally through Teams and Yammer.
- Hunter Living Histories hosted 66 guest presenters for the year.
- UON Library 2023 Report (Released 28 October 2024)
LIVING HISTORIES TOP 10
- Honour board for the GUOOF Duke of Edinburgh Branch, No. 1379 (28,519)
- Conferring of Degrees and Awards (17,801)
- Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) Unidentified Collection (15,670)
- Detached honour board panel for the Independent Order of OddFellows (15,063)
- Baptism, Marriage and Burial Registers – Archives of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle (13,883)
- The Store Oral History Project (13,226)
- The NBN Television Archive (12,493)
- Ralph Snowball Photographic Archive (12,042)
- Archives of the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle (11,322)
- East Maitland baptism (1829 – 1859), marriages (1828 – 1897) and burial (1829 – 1854) register
FLICKR TOP 10
- M4631 Map of the Country around Newcastle NSW, 1910. (33,223)
- Surfest – Newcastle, N.S.W (29,624)
- Boy on Scooter by Josiah Cocking (27,601)
- Killingworth Colliery, Killingworth, NSW, 16 October 1903. Ralph Snowball. (25,858)
- Partially clothed woman, boudoir photography. C.1910s (Rodoni) (24,369)
- Lake view from Toronto Hotel, Toronto, NSW, 15 September 1900 (Snowball) (24,087)
- Duncan McGeachie’s house, 109 Brighton Avenue Toronto, NSW, [26 February 1906] (Snowball) (24,012)
- Map of Newcastle, NSW, [n.d.] (23,674)
- Miners’ train at the Burwood Colliery Number Three Pit, NSW, 26 August 1898 (Snowball) (23,602)
- Cessnock Motor Cycle Club, ca. 1924 (Barry Howard) (23,442)
- Sophocles’ Antigone (1996 Production) (68,089)
- Newcastle – A place to face the Future (32,874)
- Newcastle in 1825 by Charles Martin (2017) (28,344)
- Aeschylus’ ‘Agamemnon’ (1986 Production) (25,911)
- Newcastle East End – Before and After (1985) (23,621)
- Valley of the Hunter (1960) (18,614)
- Archaeological Dig at 9 Watt St Newcastle (Australia) (16,113)
- Maitland Flood Films 1949 and 1955 (7,198)
- ‘Service Tests of Modern Sub Machine Guns’ (1941) and other Historic Films on the Owen Gun (1940s) (6,881)
- Rare Aboriginal rock art across Sydney and Newcastle (Australia) faces threats (6,759)
HUNTER LIVING HISTORIES 20 YEARS OF UON ENGAGEMENT
- Described by Dr Sacha Davis as the “University of Newcastle Special Collections flagship public engagement platform “Hunter Living Histories”
- Presenters included founding members as Coal River Working Party: Emeritus Professor John Fryer, Doug Lithgow, Professor Erik Eklund (Chair), with Professor Nancy Cushing and Head of Knowledge Australian Maritime Museum Dr Peter Hobbins as commentators.
- Applauded website, flexibility to support initiatives, University support for longevity in community engagement, “keep doing what you’re doing” If you can reach my son, you’re doing something right”
INSPIRATIONS FROM ABORIGINAL RECONCILIATION & MEMORIALS
Inspired by the work of Professor Nancy Cushing and her team into Colonial Monuments, https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/05/19/june-2023/ we revisited Aboriginal Memorials established decades ago to see how they were faring. https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/06/23/naidoc-2023-hlh/ and discussed it at 2023 NAIDOC Week
We began with Paul Walsh and Susan Harvey’s Yirranali The Quiet Project: https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/06/29/yirannali/ and then revisited Yallarwah Place.
Novocastrian Tales/Yallarwah Place/Currawong Project – Work of Paul F Walsh OAM, Susan Harvey and Dr Ray Kelly
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2022/09/06/novocastrian-tales-25/ (1997)https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/08/24/yallarwah-place/ (1999)
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/09/11/currawong-project/ (2001)https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/09/21/return-yallarwah/ (2023)
IMPACT: After meetings with officials from Hunter New England Health and the John Hunter Hospital, Restoration works are under way in preparation for 2024 anniversary.
POSTSCRIPT: Although not related directly to Aboriginal First Nations people, another memorial initiative by Paul F. Walsh OAM and Susan Harvey to those who died of AIDS and located in Carrington Park is also in a process of restoration thanks to the intervention of Hunter Living Histories and UON scholars.
ABORIGINAL STORIES TRUTH TELLING & RESEARCH
- Historic Film of Aboriginal People and Dwellings on Shortland Site, 1963
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/03/23/aboriginal-uon/ - The Birth of the Wollotuka Aboriginal Institute: A Timeline
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/10/19/wollotuka/ - NAIDOC Week – “For Our Elders” Hunter Living Histories – Showcase
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/06/23/naidoc-2023-hlh/ - Dr Ray Kelly ,Professor Kate Senior & Purai and the Stan Masterson Collection https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/03/08/stan-masterson/ and https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/04/24/hlh-may-2023/
- “What The Land Had To Say” by Reese North (Newcastle Launch)
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/11/07/reese-north/ - Is Kurri Kurri (NSW) the original Garden of Eden?
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/07/18/kurri-kurri/
Carrington Public School Turns 150!
Whole school (consisting of 130 school students) all showed up to view their archives dating from 1873 as well as visit the University of Newcastle.
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/07/27/carrington-ps/
GIGANTIC ARCHIVAL OVERVIEWS
- The Hunter Valley Research Foundation Archives (28,000 words listing) Re-connection with Institute for Regional Futures and Hunter Research Foundation scholars.
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/07/12/hvrf-archives/ - The Space Time Expanse of the Ralph Snowball Archive
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/11/14/ralph-snowball-archive/ - Rosary Convent Waratah Archives for the Deaf (1888-1979)
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/08/14/schoolgirlsarchive/ - Oral History Archives
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/04/17/mh-oral-hist/ - What’s in the Pender Archive
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/07/06/pender-archive/
Conferring of Degrees 1953 – 2009+
- There are thousands of graduation photographs, around 17000 of them digitised by Mr Peter Longworth.
- Many thanks also to Mr Marcus Mariani, and the many Auchmuty Library Rovers who digitised the majority of the Conferring Of Degrees Graduation Booklets in 2007.
- Mr Michael Sheriff and Mr Angus Glasper who volunteered over many years to digitise all our extant Graduation Videos and films and uploaded them to our YouTube Channel under the supervision of Phil Lloyd and Dr Ann Hardy in the UON GLAMx Lab.
The HANNAN PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE
- Work officially begins on the massive Hannan Photographic Archive
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/05/26/hannan-photographic-archive/ - The History of the Hannan Archive
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/06/20/history-hannan-archive/ - “All Things Hannan” Hunter Living Histories Showcase
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/08/01/hlh-august-2023/ - Hannan Photographic Archive – WIL perspective
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/08/06/hannanwil/ - Hannan Photographic Archive – Coordinating the WIL Student & Volunteer Work
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/08/07/hannanglamx/
CONTRIBUTIONS OF INTERNS, VOLUNTEERS, CAREER-READY PLACEMENTS (WIL) STUDENTS
- Loud Sky Exhibition – UON intern Zach Allan, who collaborated with curators Dr Kathleen McPhillips and Rod Pattendon, and team at the Lock-Up to digitise the physical exhibition.
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/08/01/loud-sky/ - Vera Deacon Intern – Isabel Whittle and Elma Gibbs Archive
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/10/31/elma-gibbs-1904-1973/ - Who Penned the 1855 Travel Diary Aboard The Joshua – by Leah Madigan
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/11/05/ellis1855diary/ - Who Played Shakespeare’s Macbeth in Tighes Hill (1961) by Mackenzie Haynes
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/11/24/macbeth-1961/ - The Hunter Valley Vineyards (1882) Translated by Angus Glasper
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/08/21/hunter-vineyards-1882/
Thank you to all our dedicated student and community volunteers, they include Phillip, Mark, Terry, Robert, Michael, Mitchell, Angus, Jessica, Sarah, Lillian, Leigh, Anne, Melissa, Verity. Projects include audio-visual digitisation/metadata (magnetic tape and film), Hannan Photographic Archive. We greatly appreciate you!
AMPLIFYING THE WORK OF ACADEMIC SCHOLARS
- “Raise Your Voice: Talking Back to Monuments” (Assoc. Prof Nancy Cushing, Mr Nikolas Orr, Dr Irene Perez Lopez)
- “Histories of Shopping Centres in Australia” by Associate Professor Matthew Bailey https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/03/27/shopping-centres/
- “Women and Intellectual Life in New South Wales 2 – Rose Selwyn.” by Paula Jane Byrne https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/03/21/rose-selwyn/
- Marion Wyndham and the ‘Wollong’ weather diaries, 1891 to 1928. Bridgman, H., Wilkinson, D. S., Ashcroft, L., Thornton, K., & di Gravio, G. (2022). Marion Wyndham and the “Wollong” weather diaries, 1891 to 1928. Journal of Australian Colonial History, 24, 77–100. https://search-informit-org.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/doi/10.3316/informit.877607278231876
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/03/16/marion-wyndham/ - International Women’s Day, Celebrating Margaret Senior (2023 Exhibition)
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/03/08/margaret-senior/ - “Queen Margaret of the Awabakal Nation” by Mr Ryan Stewart
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/03/29/hlh-april-2023/ - May Day 2023 On the Visionary work of the Newcastle Trades Hall and the push for the establishment of a “University” by Rod Noble and Inspiring and amplifying Aboriginal political voices that has had ramifications from remote regional Australia to the world. Sources from the Stan Masterson Collection by Professor Kate Senior
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/04/24/hlh-may-2023/ - Collections and Archives in Creative Writing and Women’s History and Newcastle Herald story featuring writer researcher Jodi Vial “Newcastle writer to search state library archives for lost voices” (2023, Jan 21) 41.
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/10/31/hlhnov2023/ - Dorothy Hewett Centenary Celebration
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/06/23/naidoc-2023-hlh/ - Thesis Digitisation Project – 2000 theses digitised in 2023
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/12/01/thesis-digitisation-project/ - Masters of Architecture Graduate Exhibition Captured in 3D. by Hongdi Fang
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/12/04/archexhibit2023/
PUBLIC ADVOCACY IN ENGAGING WITH PEOPLE AND PLACES
- Hunter Living Historians Go To “Hollywood”
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/03/01/hollywood/ and Newcastle Herald story here: “Revisiting the famous site of former shanty town ‘Hollywood'” Mike Scanlon (2023, Apr 15 p.8) - Public Advocacy for Hunter Regional Committee of National Trust updates and professional advice and support for Miss Porter’s House collection UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/04/24/hlh-may-2023/ - Professor Joanna Callaghan, School of Media, Arts and Humanities at the University of Sussex screening ‘Record’ at The Lock Up in Newcastle on 8 July 2023 – her project began with a residency there in 2017. ‘Record’ is a 2020 Film Essay on growing up in regional Australia. https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2021/11/15/record-2020/
- EXHIBITIONS – Glamour on Glass, Charles Martin Exhibition/Friends Book Fair, Lockup Artists in Residence etc
- ABC Radio ABC Radio’s Paul Turton’s The Person Behind the Placename, History Segments, Newspaper Columns, Podcasts
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATIONS & COLLABORATIONS
- The Immortal Archive Vita Brevis Ars Longa – (Drs Moghadam, Hardy and Gionni Di Gravio) Inspired by the Aboriginal people, the original archivists of the Living Archive, the land and its peoples. Identifying destructive legacy of managerialism and economic centred short-term ideologies have had on the public sector over the past three decades. Delivered to 2023 ASA National Conference. https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/05/25/immortal-archive-asa2023/
- “Discomfort” AMAGA National Conference 2023 (Dr Hardy) “Historicing Significance” https://hunterlivinghistories.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/HARDY-AMAGA-conference.pdf
- “Living Histories Digitisation Projects & Community Engagement in the GLAM Sector” RAHS (Dr Hardy and Di Gravio) https://hunterlivinghistories.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/HARDY-RAHSconference.pdf
- Waitako Strategic Research Fund – “Enhancing pathways to tertiary study for Māori, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Aotearoa and Australia”. Success between Maori colleagues Dr Mere Berryman, Elizabeth Eley (and team of 6) and our UON team of Dr Amir Moghadam, Kua Swan and Gionni Di Gravio, OAM
- ARC Grant Success – Ngukurr to Newcastle: intercultural collaboration and influence. Dr Raymond Kelly; Professor Kate Senior; Professor John Maynard; Professor Richard Chenhall; Professor Victoria Haskins; Dr Frances Edmonds; Professor Kathleen Clapham; Mr Gionni Di Gravio
- “Beyond Hegemony: Colonization, Decolonization, and Ethical Engagement with Indigenous Heritage,” which Dr Moghadam is presenting at the Pacific Conservation Group’s meeting on November 24th at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia.
BIG LOSSES
- Charles Martin (1945-2023)
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/04/28/charles-martin/ - Dr Edward “Ted” Flowers University Librarian.
- Gregg Heathcote (1963-2023) Former Archives Officer, Cultural Collections
- Stephanie Dee – Stroud Historical Society (descendant of Stroud’s Charles Dee)
Little Richard
Rock’n’Roll Historians & Musicologists Rick Pointon, Roddy Jordan & Roland Bannister features with new evidence: https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/02/28/hlh-march-2023/
Little Richard Timetime bringing together all these rock and roll historians’ work together in time for the 66th anniversary & Newcastle debut of new Little Richard documentary at the Regal Cinema:
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/09/30/little-richard-timeline/
And on the eve of his Brazil concert, (30th November 2023) Paul McCartney liked our tweet on Little Richard’s 66th Anniversary of “throwing his rings into the sea” in Newcastle Harbour. It’s a rock’n’roll sacred site.
For 2024 and Beyond…
- We’re had 66 guests present at the Showcases for this year? Who would you like to hear from? Experts in the field? Inspiring people?
- What are your digitisation priorities? What would you like to see online?
- Think about what your town and regional communities need history wise?
- Public Advocacy? UON Professional expertise required?
- Any commemorations, anniversaries or wish-lists for history and heritage?
- Stories of Our Town Series 2 is in production
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2023/11/20/soot-series2/ - Aboriginal Truth Telling? Waitako Collaboration, Ngkurr to Newcastle ARC Grant for Stan Masterson Archives, Tailor making Aboriginal history and culture resources across Regions
Gionni Di Gravio, OAM
University Archivist & Chair, Hunter Living Histories
HUNTER LIVING HISTORIES SHOWCASE PRESENTATIONS
- Presentation: ‘Protect Our Walka Inc.’ (Lee Galloway & Susan Davy) Walka Campaign website
- Presentation: “Save the Myall Road Bushland . . “ (Steve Warham)
- Presentation: New Book Then Again (Greg and Sylvia Ray)
- Presentation: New Book The Footprints of Maitland’s Old Hands Trilogy (Book 1) (Peter F. Smith)
UPDATES FROM THE REGIONS
- Regional GLAM Institutions Updates
- Hunter Regional Committee Hunter National Trust Updates
Update from Mark Metrikas on behalf of the Hunter Regional Committee Hunter National Trust (received 4/12/2023):
Newcastle City Centre & Newcastle East Heritage Conservation Areas Review Report.
- This draft report considers community feedback from earlier this year about which streets, buildings and areas are considered to have heritage significance. While there are some positive aspects, the overall tenor of the review diminishes and threatens the integrity of the city centres built heritage, including the protective interface with other neighbouring HCAs.
- On the positive side – the review recognises that the history and character of the City Centre HCA varies across its 3km width – and that definite sub-precincts are evident. The Newcastle East HCA will be better aligned with the state significant Coal River Precinct.
- However, the review recommends sub-dividing the City Centre into several smaller heritage conservation areas such as ‘Old Town’, ‘Honeysuckle and Civic’, ‘Hunter Street’ and ‘Parry Street’ each with their own character statements. Other large portions of the current HCA would be excised, such as most of Newcastle West, and the precinct centred on Arnott & Ravenshaw St. This means that items formally identified as making a contribution to the heritage of the city centre would no longer have any protection. For example, rows of terrace shops in Newcastle West could be demolished. Tall apartment developments in areas excised from the City Centre heritage controls could overshadow adjoining heritage areas in Cooks Hill & Hamilton.
- Exhibition period on Have Your Say closes 18 December. https://haveyoursay.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/draft-newcastle-city-centre-heritage-conservation-areas-review-report
HOT TOPIC DISCUSSION
Next year! Discussions on future history and heritage needs for Cities, Towns and Communities of Hunter & Central Coast Regions.
RECENT NEWS
- “Home Grown in the Hunter” Exhibition on Level 2 of the Auchmuty Library, Callaghan Campus. This exhibition celebrates food stories from the Hunter region through items from the Special Collections’ holdings.
- Wallsend’s rich history to be celebrated with 150th event – August 2024 Further information HERE