Category: Uncategorized

Adoption history in Australia

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Adoptions in 21st century Australian have seen a climax of adoption reform, according to Marian Quartly who spoke at a keynote address for the Biennial OHAA in Adelaide this week.  As part of a four-year ARC-funded research grant, the Monash University History of Adoption team established a website and put out a call for people to upload their personal testimonies through oral histories.  Marian and the team hoped this would result in research results from all points of view.  She notes that most responses were from adoptees and birth mothers.

Marian looked at adoptions over a long time period and noted that from the 1920s to early 1970s babies were generally given up to avoid shaming the family – babies were born in secret.  From 1860 to 1950 advertertisements in the newspapers can be found for babies (see Trove).  The attitude only began to change when abortion became more acceptable and payments were made to single mothers.  The popular magazine "The Australian Women's Weekly" helped shape the change in attitude through articles and its "advice" column and  the magazine helped establish mothers' groups.  A research finding was that society mores in Australia forced adoption for single mothers who felt that they had no choice. On 21 March 2013 Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a national apology for Forced Adoption Practices.  

marketThe Adoption Project website also covers inter-country adoptions and how that has affected the adoptees and the adoptive parents. Vietnamese babies came out during the Vietnam War.  Babies from other countries continued the trend.  Some adoptees suffered from racism and confusion with their dual identity.

 The research project has resulted in a book entitled The Market in Babies: Stories of Australian Adoption.

 

 

 

 

Picturing the Guv, sharing humour about institutional photographs

 

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At the OHAA Biennial this year, there was quite a bit of discussion about the use of photographs in the oral history interview. From the NSW Government Printing Office, an oral history project has emerged that looks at institutionally staged photographs from the worker’s point of view.  This evocative project brings humour and humanity to an institutional labour experience, shedding light on the back story behind the photographs.

PhD candidate Jesse Adams Stein interviewed some 31 former workers about their years of working life from 1959 – 1989 at The Guv, as the printing office is described by the workers.  Photographs were used at the end of the interviews as memory triggers.  Interesting stories emerge that inform the context of institutional memory.  Many stories have a shared memory of humorous events about the staged photographs being fake or publicity shots that were very ”stagey”.

Resize of Picturing the Guv4This begs the question about description of many of our historical photographic collection.  Is there an easy or seamless way for all of us to add description to institutional or business collections as content emerges?  How can we join up oral history information with institutional records?  Many libraries will add description or tags.  It is just a matter of contacting your library or archive and asking if it is possible.

Other interesting aspects of Jesse’s project include transitions as technology changes, how outdated technology can lead to loss of trade skills and identity and how a project like this can give people the opportunity to allow workers to use their skills once more.

From a Queensland perspective, are there institutional photographic collections in the State that could be tapped into with oral history interviews that help inform and add to Queensland memory?

Catherine Cottle
OHAA-Qld President

Interviewing Michelle Potter

As a historian, Michelle Potter has recorded over a hundred oral histories for the National Library of Australia, collecting a diverse collection of stories from Australians from all walks of life.  Michelle has interviewed politicians, musicians, artists and designers and conceded it's a job she's honoured to do. For full story including ABC radio interview click here.

Newspaper history – Australia

Collecting oral history is a little like digging for gold. One never knows when a treasure will be uncovered. Some years ago I talked to a very modest man. He had done something incredibly brave on the Somme in the First World War for which he  was awarded the Victoria Cross. However, he didn't really want to tell me very much about this, and it was only when I asked about his family history,  that he became enthusiastic.  Arthur Charles Hall's  great grandfather, Edward Smith Hall, was a man of great conviction and compassion. He arrived in Australia from England in 1811 and in 1826 he published the first edition of  The Monitor newspaper, in which he advocated trial by jury and freedom of the press. For full story click here.

Company history informed by oral history

Dr. Indira Chowdhury, who has set up the Centre for Public History at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bengaluru was speaking at the annual lecture series on business history instituted by Godrej Archives, in association with Tata Central Archives. Her subject was 'Oral History and the Framing of Institutional Narratives' and the oral history example showed the sort of small, but telling detail that would probably be left out of an official history, which would be more concerned with leading personalities, administrative changes and the concrete facts about creation of campuses. For full story click here.

CSIRO’s open air insectaries

The CSIRO wants to demolish two heritage-listed buildings once used to study the dreaded Australian blowfly, saying they are derelict and a risk to public safety.  The open-air insectaries, believed to be more than 80 years old, were among the first purpose-built facilities at the CSIRO's Black Mountain headquarters, and used for research into issues such as sheep blowfly work and the biological control of weeds.  The buildings, known as the Blowfly Insectary No.1 and Blowfly Insectary No. 2, have both been registered on the Commonwealth Heritage List since 2004. For full story, click here.

Tasmanian Oral History

Garry Kerr is a very interesting man. He loves telling stories and listening to other peoples stories. A fisherman by profession, Garry has turned his hand to telling some of the history specifically relating to Tasmania. He has self published four books, three featuring oral history of Tasmania including "The Huon Pine Story". For full story including radio interview, click here.

Remembering Andy Warhol

At the time of Andy Warhol’s death in February 1987, there were about 50,000 photographs, many of them Polaroids, in his estate. The Warhol Foundation gave about half of the pictures, which at the time were valued at next to nothing, to small museums in cities like Scranton, Pa., and Portland, Ore. The rest have largely gone unseen. A little over a decade ago, Jim Hedges, a retired investment banker, began aggressively acquiring photos from the Warhol Foundation. He now operates Hedges Projects, a private dealership focused on all things Warholian, out of a West Village brownstone. For full story click here.