Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said “(It) is a breathtaking monument to Papua New Guinea’s rich cultural heritage, and importantly, it improves considerably the public’s access to this stunning collection of artefacts. Modern technology expands its reach, the oral history website, interactive audio visual voices from the war exhibition. And I want to put the High Commissioner on notice. The next time I’m back, I needed enough time in the programme to have enough time to go through the oral history exhibition and the voices from the war. One of the reasons is that my father served in PNG.” For full story click here.
Author: ohadmin
Saudi Oral History
The Oral History Center of the King Abdul Aziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah) has archived around 6,000 interviews with Saudi nationals past and present, said the Saudi Press Agency. The Saudi Oral History Center was established in 1997. It was the third of its kind in the world, after the United States and Britain. Read full story here.
Goonoowigall Soundtrails
Memories of searching for bush tucker, a tiny one-teacher school and sleeping six to a bed to keep warm have been preserved in a unique way as Goonoowigall joins the Soundtrails smartphone app. For full story click here.
Navajo Oral History
One never knows what kind of material will be next, when cataloging for library branches serving Smithsonian’s 19 museums and research centers. I recently received a box of DVDs that needed complex copy and original cataloging. The first several DVDs were oral history interviews with Navajo Code Talkers, which immediately piqued my interest. As I worked my way to the bottom of the box, I found that the interview topics were more diverse. For full story click here.
West Gate Bridge Story told in Theatre
Melburnians are seeing the West Gate Bridge in a new light this week, as the centrepiece of the Art and Industry Festival illuminates its rich history. The main event in The Bridge Projects is a theatrical revival of Vicki Reynolds’ The Bridge, a piece of verbatim theatre that echoes with the disaster of October 15, 1970, when a section of the bridge collapsed during construction, killing 35 workers. For full story click here.
Aboriginal Media Personality, Dre Ngatokorua
At just 21 years of age, Dre Ngatokorua is having his name mentioned among some of the most prominent Aboriginal media personalities. Dre is one of three finalists in both the ‘Best Photography’ and ‘Best Interview or Oral History’ categories. For full story click here.
They Shall Not Grow Old
The latest production from blockbuster director Peter Jackson is They Shall Not Grow Old, an innovative World War I film that converts scratched old documentary footage into vibrantly coloured images. For interview with director, Peter Jackson click here.
Music fights colonialism
The 20th century has witnessed unprecedented mass migration movements from the formerly colonised to the heart of former colonies. This has resulted subsequent to the decolonisation of many formerly colonised nations. Resistance and affirmation of national identity has thus taken on various cultural forms. Music stands out here for reasons I explain below, as well as the fact it combines both written and oral cultural practices. Music offers an inventory of paramount disruption and a cultural intervention that offers spaces for national and historical re-examination. For full story click here.
Oral History Australia National Conference 2019
Oral History Queensland and Oral History Australia, in partnership with State Library of Queensland will be hosting the 2019 National Conference. We are calling for presentations. See details here.
Latest on Boston Tapes
Anthony McIntyre is among a number of ex-paramilitaries who gave confidential testimonies to Boston College about their role during the Troubles. The convicted murderer was also a lead researcher on the oral history project, known as the Boston tapes. For full story click here.