Archived News 2004 - 2006
Archived News May 2006
Archives in Action exhibition
Presentations
New Accessions
Staff
Archives in Action exhibition, March-May 2006
This exhibition displays some of the many products resulting from research at
the Noel Butlin Archives Centre and University Archives. There are company
anniversary histories, pastoral histories and union histories, as well as more
general works of social and economic history.
But did you know that the collections of the Noel Butlin Archives Centre have
also been used to provide images for calendars, documentaries, websites and
even a jigsaw? And that poetry and songs from the collection are performed
at the National Folk Festival? The display will be on show until early May in
the Menzies Building on Fellows Road at the Australian National University.
Presentations
University Archivist, Maggie Shapley, presented a paper 'Free Beer, and what
else can we get you?: Archives catering for the economic historian' at the
Asia-Pacific Economic and Business History Conference at the Queensland
University of Technology, Brisbane in February. Later in the month Senior
Archivist Mary Paton spoke at the Business and Management History
Symposium at the University of Sydney. Dr Pennie Pemberton gave a
presentation to Link-Up officers at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Studies on family history sources, which mostly relate
to pastoral stations, held by the Noel Butlin Archives Centre.
New Accessions
Additions to the Noel Butlin Archives Centre:
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A small collection of pamphlets and papers from labour historian
Miriam Dixson
Kenneth Rivett's papers relating to immigration from the University of
NSW Archives
Rail, Tram and Bus Union records
Additions to the University Archives:
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Medals, certificates and books of Professor Frank Fenner, John Curtin
School of Medical
Research
Research material collected by Jill Waterhouse for her history of
University House
Agenda papers and minutes of the Faculty Boards of the Research
School of Physical Sciences
and Engineering (1964-92) and the John Curtin School of Medical
Research
(1957-2000)
22 metres of Central Files relating to student administration
Staff
Margaret Avard has joined the staff as an Archivist. She previously worked in
the Film and Sound section at the Australian War Memorial which included
oral history work. Arts student Simone Gubler has joined the team to replace
Jennifer Basham as our casual assistant.
Archived News November 2005
Eric Fry Labour History Scholarship
Australian Agricultural Company - letters published
Baptisms at Port Stephens, entered in Sir Edward Parry's Letterbook
Book launch photographs
Early Labour Movement in Canberra
New accessions
Staff news
Australian Agricultural Company letters published
In the Service of the Company: Letters of Sir Edward Parry, Commissioner to
the Australian
Agricultural Company, Volume I: December 1829 - June 1832 has been
published by ANU E Press. This first volume of letters from Sir Edward Parry's
letterbook joins Volume II for June 1832-March 1834 published in 2003. Both
books are available online at ANU E Press or can be
purchased for $30 each.
The former Deputy Prime Minister, Hon Tim Fischer, a current Director of the
Australian Agricultural Company, launched the publication on 21 November.
Archives staff. Dr Pennie Pemberton and Mary Paton transcribed and edited
the original volume which contains copies of hundreds of letters sent
by Parry to correspondents in the NSW Colony including Governor Darling,
Colonial Secretary Alexander McLeay, and the Principal Superintendent of
Convicts.
The extensive archives of the Australian Agricultural Company are held by the
Noel Butlin Archives Centre, with the first records collected by Professor Noel
Butlin himself in 1955. Apart from the letterbooks now published, there are
also Parry's lengthy despatches to the Directors in England, minute books,
and order books dating from 1824. The archives of the AA Company are listed
on the Australian Memory of the World Register.
In the back of the Sir Edward Parry's letter book is a list of baptisms at Port
Stephens. If you wish to view this list please click here: List of Baptisms (PDF
version 70.7 KB). Photos taken at Book Launch 21st November 2005 in the
McDonald Room, Menzies Library Building, ANU.
Maggie Shapley (University Archivist) with Vic Elliott (University Librarian)
and Professor Robin Stanton (Pro Vice-Chancellor)
Hon Tim Fischer AC (Former Deputy Prime Minister and a Director of the
Australian Agricultural Company)
Maggie Shapley, Hon Tim Fischer, Professor Ian Chubb (Vice-Chancellor) with
Mrs Joan Butlin (Noel Butlin's widow)
Hon Tim Fischer viewing Sir Edward Parry's original letter book (Vol. 1 1829-1832) (Mari Metzke from the Royal Australian Historical Society in
background)
Hon Tim Fischer AC (Former Deputy Prime Minister and a Director of the
Australian Agricultural Company looking at AA Company documents with Dr
Pennie Pemberton, Archives staff.
Eric Fry Labour History Scholarship
The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Canberra Region
Branch and the National Institute for Social Sciences and Law at the
Australian National University are offering a scholarship for students
undertaking their honours year (or equivalent) who wish to use the Noel
Butlin Archives Centre. The scholarship is intended to assist with travel and
other expenses involved in doing research at the Centre. The scholarship
honours the contribution of Dr Eric Fry to labour history as Senior Lecturer in
History from 1959 and as Reader 1967-1986 at the Australian National
University. With Robin Gollan he founded the Australian Society for the Study
of Labour History in 1961 and was the first Secretary and then President
1984-1986.
Applications for 2006 close on Friday 17th March 2006.
Last year's scholarship holder was William Newland. who is studying History
at the University of Melbourne and has been working on his thesis on
Archbishop Mannix.
Early Labour Movement in Canberra
Records about the development of the labour movement in Canberra are
currently on display at the Noel Butlin Archives Centre. The records include
the minute books of some of the earliest unions established in Canberra
including the United Operative Bricklayers Trade Society, the Transport
Workers Union of Australia, and the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and
Joiners. The Canberra branch of the Australian Labor Party was established in
1930 and was instrumental in setting up the Trades and Labour Council in
April 1931. Later documents, including copies of documents held by the
National Library of Australia and the Mitchell Library, State Library of New
South Wales, chart the efforts of the ALP, ACT Branch to gain autonomy from
the NSW Branch, finally achieved in 1971. The exhibition also presents
memorabilia and promotional material from the Inaugural Conference of the
ALP, ACT Branch in 1973, Federal campaigns and the struggle for ACT
self- government from the 1970s onwards.
The exhibition can be viewed in the foyer of the Menzies building on Fellows
Road and in the Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the back of the Menzies
building until the end of 2005.
New accessions
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Adelaide Steamship Company
Australian Education Union, Victorian Branch
Firemen & Deckhands Union of NSW
Textile Footwear & Clothing Union of Australia
Amalgamated Engineering Union, Latrobe Valley District Committee
Maritime Union of Australia
Federated Brick, Tile and Pottery Industrial Union
Australasian Coal and Shale Employees Federation
Federated Mining Mechanics Association of Australasia
The University Archives has recently received a large quantity of photographs
of University people, buildings and events from the Marketing and
Communications Division, records and publications of the former Department
of Economic History at the Research School of Social Sciences, programs and
audio tapes of SCUNA (the ANU Choral Society) from 1966 onwards, and
papers of Professor Archibald Brown (former Head of the Department of
Applied Mathematics), Dr Fred Barker (Department of Theoretical Physics at
the Research School of Physical Sciences) and linguists Professor Stephen and
Helen Wurm.
Staff news
Mary Paton has been promoted to the position of Senior Archivist and
recruitment to her former position is underway. Natalie Owen from the
National Archives of Australia has been engaged as an Archivist on a
three-month secondment till early January 2006
Archived News July 2005
Annual Lectures
Public programs
Conservation work
Staff changes
New accessions
Deposits for the Noel Butlin Archives Centre have been received from:
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Elders Ltd
Sugar Australia
Australian Federation of Air Pilots
Australian People for Health, Education and Development Abroad
(APHEDA)
Maritime Union of Australia - audiovisual records including Waterside
Workers Federation film unit
records
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia
Australian Society of Archivists
Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers
Art works were donated by the Fosters Group, consisting of 14 watercolours
by John C Goodchild on Elders buildings in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide,
Melbourne, London, and one of the birthplace of Alexander Lang Elder
(founder of Elders) in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. They seem to have been
commissioned for display in their Melbourne building in the 1960s. We also
accepted two framed lithographs by Ferguson and Mitchell of Goldsbrough &
Co warehouses in Melbourne and Sydney as we have the Goldsbrough Mort
company records.
The Archives recently exchanged collections with the National Library: we
received the records of the Cattle Council in exchange for a small collection of
Professor La Nauze papers (the National Library holding an extensive
collection of his papers).
The University Archives has received a large quantity of records for
permanent retention from University Records including Council and committee
minutes, central files and senior staff personnel files, amounting to over 400
metres. University collections have also been received from Professor Marian
Sawer, ANU EEO consultant in the 1980s, and the Cambridge Australia Trust
which administers scholarships for ANU students at Cambridge University.
Lectures
The Annual Lecture is presented by the Archives Program and the Friends of
the Noel Butlin Archives Centre. In November 2004 Professor Stuart McIntyre
of the University of Melbourne presented the Third Annual Lecture on the
topic The History Wars Continued? He spoke about the 'Three Cheers' view of
history versus the 'Black Armband' view with particular reference to his
debate with Keith Windshuttle, author of The Fabrication of Aboriginal History.
The Fourth Annual Lecture was held in May 2005. Humphrey McQueen,
Australia’s leading Marxist author and commentator, drew on research
undertaken at the Noel Butlin Archives Centre to speak about a neglected
body of Australian journalism, trade journals. Between 1880s and 1960s
Australian employer organisations produced over 1000 trade journals - each
significant for tracing changes in technology and marketing. Mr McQueen
argued that these publications provide rich material not only for media
studies, but that they also offer insights into how capitalism works. Mr
McQueen is currently working on a history of the Builders Labourers’
Federation using the BLF records held at the Noel Butlin Archives Centre.
Public programs
Other outreach activities have included displays and talks in conjunction with
the National Folk Festival in March, the Canberra and Region Heritage Festival
in April, the 50th anniversary of the Asian-African Bandung Conference in
April, and the Labour History Conference in Sydney in June. The display in
Sydney was on two themes: the 150th anniversary of the Sydney '8 hours'
Organising Committee and a selection of Union songs to complement one of
the conference sessions.
Conservation work
With the support of donations from researcher Dr Bob James, Director/Coordinator of the Centre for Fraternal Studies, and from Australian Unity
Limited (through Ms Beryl Armstrong, Librarian and Archivist) we have been
able to arrange the professional conservation of nine Manchester Unity
Independent Order of Odd Fellows dispensations, including repair of tears and
backing supports. The dispensation include red wax seals and ribbons and
flamboyant signatures of Directors.
Staff changes
Maggie Shapley, former Director, National Leadership at the National Archives
of Australia, was appointed University Archivist in March while Dr Sigrid
McCausland is on leave in 2005. Tatiana Antsoupova who had worked at the
Noel Butlin Archives Centre since 1996 took up a promotion at the National
Archives in May.
Archived News September 2004
Move to the Menzies Library Building
Light from the Tunnel - celebrating the move with the new publication about
the archives
New Accessions
Exhibition at Old Parliament House
History conference
Scholarship for Honours Students
Move to the Menzies Library
The ANU Archives Program staff has now re-located to the ground floor of the
Menzies Library (ANU Building 2) . We now have very spacious, light filled
rooms with modern furniture, paintings, and carpet - a vast improvement on
our old accommodation. As well, we are more conveniently located for other
campus facilities.
There are several coffee/lunch places nearby - University House, Caterina's
behind the Law School and ScreenSound Australia. A little further away are
the Gods Cafe & Bar, The University Union Cafe, and Chats Cafe at the
Canberra School of Art. School.
If you wish to visit us, please ring for an appointment (02 6125 2219). When
visiting, go through the front door and then straight ahead to find us. The
records will need to be brought up from the tunnel for you, so please allow
enough time for your visit. There will be two retrievals per day - one in the
morning and one in the afternoon. Further details will be posted on this
website as work is still in process and some records
are not yet available.
Light from the Tunnel - celebrating the move with the new publication
about the archives
It's the end of an era for the Archives. The offices and reading room of 20
years in the Tunnel have been closed and operations have moved to the
Menzies Library Building. The refurbishment of the old offices and current
repository resulted in a significant increase of storage capacity. It is a major
upgrade of facilities provided by the ANU for the Archives.
To celebrate this new beginning a function was organised by the Friends of
the Noel Butlin Archives Centre. It was held in the new Archives reading room
in the Menzies Library Building on 15 September.
At the same function a book marking the Archives' 50th anniversary
(celebrated in 2003) was launched by Dr John Merritt.
Light from the Tunnel: Collecting
the Archives of Australian Business
and Labour at the Australian
National University, 1953-2003
Edited by Barry Howarth and Ewan
Maidment (Canberra: Friends of
the Noel Butlin Archives Centre,
2004).
This collection of essays,
reminiscences and reflections on
the first 50 years of the Archives
was published at the beginning of
September.
It "grew out of our collective sigh
of relief that the Archives had
survived to reach its 50th birthday
(in late 2003). We are hoping that,
having survived, the Archives will
continue for a long time to come
as the national repository for the
documentation of Australia's
industrial heritage."
The Editors, from the Preface.
The price is $25 per copy ($20 for
members of the Friends of the
Noel Butlin Archives Centre) plus
$3 for postage and packaging.
New Accessions
In June-September 2004 the Noel Butlin Archives Centre received additions to
the following collections:
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Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and predecessors (deposit
Z628)
Manchester Unity (deposit Z262)
Jack Cavanagh Papers (deposit Z400)
Queensland Teachers' Union (deposit Z566)
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Ergonomics Society of Australia (deposit Z230)
Australian Historical Association (deposit Z130)
Australian Society of Archivists (deposit Z22)
The new collections include:
Merv Macfarlane (1924-2000) Papers (deposit Z649).
Merv Macfarlane, trade unionist and political activist, was a life-long member
and official of the Sydney Branch of the Waterside Workers Federation, he
was also an active member of the Maritime Branch of the Communist Party of
Australia and one of the activists and founding members of the Maritime
Branch of the Socialist Party of Australia (SPA). A small number of papers
documents activities of the Maritime Branch of the SPA in the late 1970s-early
1980s.
Sydney Stevedores' Association (deposit Z650).
The Centre received Association's minute book No 2 dating from 19 Apr 1901
to 22 Aug 1904. The Association was formed in August 1900. It changed its
name to the Sydney Stevedores' Wool-dumping and Lighterage Association
early in 1902. This was an employer organisation which might have become
the Sydney Stevedoring & Wool-dumping Co Ltd as listed in the 1928 Sand's
Sydney Directory.
Richard Eves Papers (deposit Z651).
Dr Richard Eves is a visiting fellow at ANU. He is an anthropologist whose
research interests include Melanesian ethnography, nineteenth century
anthropological and racial thought and colonialism in the Pacific. Dr Eves is
also a peace and anti-nuclear activist who donated to the Archives his
collection of the 1980s anti-war and anti-nuclear movement material: posters,
leaflets and badges.
In total the new additions comprise 35 metres of shelf space.
Exhibition at Old Parliament House
Records from the Noel Butlin Archives Centre are currently on view in the
Petrov Exhibition at the Old Parliament House. These records include
pamphlets, flyers, newspaper reports and Reports of the Royal
commission on Espionage - a fascinating look at our history. The exhibition
marks the 50th anniversary of the Petrov Affair, and tracks the key events of
this Australia’s greatest spy story. The Affair had a profound and lasting
impact on the fabric of Australian society and directly contributed to the Labor
Party Split of 1955. It was played out against the backdrop of the Cold War in
quiet hotels and on sleepy country roads around Canberra, under King’s Cross
street lights and in the corridors and offices of Old Parliament House,
Canberra—the seat of Federal Government.
History Conference
At the recent (July 2004) Australian Historical Association Conference in
Newcastle, Dr Pennie Pemberton gave a brief presentation about the
Australian Agricultural Company’s entry into the coal trade in Newcastle
. One of the illustrations for her talk was a map drawn by John Henderson,
the Company’s Colliery Manager, on his first visit to Newcastle in 1827. The
map shows a ‘bird’s eye view’ of Newcastle harbour, looking towards the
south bank of the Hunter or Coal River (Nobby’s shown as an island) and an
east-west section showing the coal strata.
The map and the accompanying report are dated 8 May 1827 [NBAC
reference 78/1/2, ff 186-189]. From comments made at the conference, it
seems the map may be one of the earliest geological maps
drawn in Australia.
Scholarship for honours students
The Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Canberra Region
Branch and the National Institute for Social Sciences and Law at the
Australian National University have established a scholarship for students
undertaking their honours year (or equivalent) who wish to use the Noel
Butlin Archives Centre. The scholarship is intended to assist with travel and
other expenses involved in doing research at the Centre. Applications for
2005 close on Friday 26 November 2004.
Archived news June 2004
Building work and temporary closure of the Reading Room
Exhibition at the Old Parliament House continues
Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win! Book launch and exhibition
New accessions
Anthology of Radical and Working Class Poems
ANU joins Picture Australia: our images are on-line!
Building work and temporary closure of the Reading Room
Building work in the Underhill Tunnel (our current location, ANU Building 76)
is scheduled to begin in late May and to continue until late August 2004.
This work includes a new reading room and staff area in the Menzies Library
and improvements to the Archives Repository here in the Underhill.
The old Reading Room will close on Friday 2 July 2004 and the new Reading
Room will open on the ground floor of the Menzies Building (ANU Building 2)
on
Monday 30 August 2004.
Please let the Archives staff know if the closure will affect your research plans.
At the new location the new access and reference rules will apply. Please
consult our Access and Reference section for changes to the current
procedures.
Sigrid McCausland
University Archivist
19 May 2004
Exhibition at the Old Parliament House continues
People’s Procession:
Australian Popular
Movements 1880s-1950s
This exhibition at the Old
Parliament House continues
until 15 July 2004.
Follow this link to find out
more about the exhibition.
To read what the curator of
the exhibition Peter
Emmett thought about the
archives and the records
follow this link to the ABC
website.
Image:
Membership Certificate of the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers,
1880s, Noel Butlin Archives Centre,
Australian National University, T61/6
Courtesy Australian Manufacturing
Workers Union
Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win! Book launch and exhibition
A new book on BLF history
Dare to Struggle, Dare to
Win! Builders Labourers
fight deregistration,
1981-1994
by Liz Ross was launched in
Canberra on 5 May 2004 at
the Archives.
The launch was
accompanied by opening of
an exhibition which includes
records, posters and
photographs from the BLF
archives held at the Noel
Butlin Archives Centre.
The book can be obtained
from the Vulgar Press (more
info).
Exhibition can be viewed
until 2 July 2004.
New accessions
In January-May 2004 the Noel Butlin Archives Centre received additions to
the following collections:
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Association for Tertiary Education Management Inc (ATEM)
(deposit Z614)
Australian Agricultural Company (deposit Z629)
Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) (deposit Z328)
Australian Association of National Advertisers (deposit Z169)
Australian Society of Archivists (deposit Z22)
Australian Telephone and Phonogram Officers Association
(deposit Z635)
CSR Limited (deposit Z642)
Dieticians Association of Australia (deposit N153)
Maurice Mulheron Papers (deposit Z459)
Peters Bros, Wade & Allison Pty Ltd (deposit N149)
South Australian Institute of Teachers (deposit Z483)
Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia and predecessors
(deposit Z639)
In total the new additions comprise 54 metres of shelf space.
Anthology of Radical and Working Class Poems
Last month the Archives received a donation of an early 20th century handwritten
Anthology of Radical and Working Class Poems (deposit Z641). Little is
known about this volume except that it was given by Mrs Angela ('Annie')
Westbrook, a founder of the IWW in Western Australia, to John Dutruc-Moore,
abstract artist, who was born in England in 1909, studied at Brighton Art
School, became a member of the Melbourne Contemporary Art School,
showed a couple of exhibitions, before leading a roving existence, droving
cattle etc. and settling at Narrabeen [Ingleside]. He died at his home in
Cooktown, on 9 October 1999, aged 90 years. His death notice in the Sydney
Morning Herald, 16 October 1999, has the line "And he even managed a little
nip before his long nap". Another notice said: "He has finally laid down his
swag".
ANU joins PictureAustralia: our images are on-line!
At the end of April 2004 ANU joined the Australia-wide on-line image
database PictureAustralia. All images came from the ANU Archives and the
Noel Butlin Archives Centre. This is the result of a joint effort of the Archives
staff and the ANU Digital Resources Program on a pilot project of putting online an image database to test the new digital storage product DSpace. At the
moment DSpace contain just over 300 images which come from a number of
union and company collections as well as some early images of Canberra from
the University Archives.
To see our images through PictureAustralia follow this link, go to Advanced
Search and choose Australian National University in the Agency field.
To explore DSpace and see our images there follow this link.