History Council of South Australia (HCSA)
PO Box 6809 | Halifax Street | Adelaide 5000
E secretary@historycouncilsa.org.au | W www.historycouncilsa.org.au
ABN 80 979 742 192
Minutes of General Committee Meeting
Monday 5 December 2011
5.00 – 7.00 p.m.
Meeting Room (Law School 110), Ligertwood Building, University of Adelaide
Meeting opened at 5.30 pm
1.
Present
Wilf Prest (Chair), Daryl Best, Peter Brinkworth, Norman Etherington, Lauren Gobbett,
Elspeth Grant, Alan Mayne, Annette Mills, Greg Slattery, Jenny Stock, Richard Venus,
Jacinta Weiss.
2.
Apologies
Margaret Anderson, John Bannon, Carol Fort, Hugh Magarey, Adrian Rudzinski.
3.
Confirmation of Minutes of previous meeting
Minutes of the Committee meeting of 26 September 2011, having been circulated, were
received with amendments [Corrections to spelling of names in 5c) and 9a)]. Moved Greg,
seconded Annette, that the amended minutes be accepted as a true and correct record.
Carried.
4.
Business Arising:
a) & b) Historian of the Year Award, presented by Premier
Protocols were confirmed at the Executive meeting and the awards will be announced in
January. The presentations will probably occur following the HCSA annual lecture and Jay
Weatherill will be invited to make the presentations.
Michael Bollen of the Wakefield Press has kindly agreed to contribute $500 in books to
each prize winner.
Action: Wakefield Press to be acknowledged on website as sponsor after awards
announced, and given opportunity of sighting announcement before it is released.
c) Annual lecture
Prof Barbara Santich has agreed to present the annual lecture on a date to be determined,
and at both a metropolitan and a rural venue.
d) About Time
Action: Wilf to contact Alan Smith re the Hetzel Lecture Theatre as the venue for our
proposed Forum involving SA historical organisations and societies. Annette to
make a tentative booking for Wednesday 24 May 2012, from 2-5pm.
e) Mortlock Wing
A long term strategy needs to be constructed to reinstate the Mortlock Library.
Annette brought up the importance of digital preservation as something that makes South
Australiana more accessible. Annette pointed out that the State Library needs funding and
support for digital preservation. It was agreed by the committee that this is something that
the HCSA can advocate for.
5.
Membership
Action: Lauren to email contact list and membership letter to Committee. Committee
members to suggest contacts for the mailout.
6.
Member’s Report – Elspeth Grant
During Elspeth’s report about the roles and activities of the SA Branch of Museums
Australia, she asked Committee members to offer suggestions for potential keynote
speakers for Museum Australia’s National Conference 2012. Visit www.ma2012.org.au and
Appendix 1 for further details about her report on Museums Australia and the conference.
Action: Contact Elspeth at the Migration Museum, or SA Branch President Robert
Morris, care of SA Museum, with suggestions of keynote speakers for the MA
National Conference 2012.
7.
President’s Report
Wilf met with Alex Reid, Executive Director of Arts SA, on 30 November. Ms Reid
expressed keen interest in the HCSA Historian of the Year awards, and the proposal to
repeat the Annual Lecture in a regional centre. They discussed the Cultural Campus
planning exercise and its likely implications for the Mortlock Library; Wilf stressed our
commitment to restore the Mortlock Library to its former function as a working library space
with a special commitment to SA history. He also drew attention to the lack of historical
expertise on the current board of the SLSA.
Wilf noted the importance of ensuring that an application be again lodged with the Cultural
Fund of the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) for support in funding the annual lecture.
8.
Treasurer’s Report
Greg referred to the last Executive meeting’s Treasurer’s Report, noting that there no major
changes had occurred since that meeting.
Christian Brothers College, Royal Geographical Society and the University of Adelaide’s
Art & Heritage group have all joined or renewed their memberships.
Online IQ charged $291 for work to fix website problems as a result of hacking.
9.
Any other business
Review Meeting – As some members cannot attend the January Review Meeting they
would like to know how they can make an input to the process. .
Action: Wilf to ask Kate Reynolds what preparation needs to occur before the
Review meeting in January and in what way members might contribute f they are
unable to attend.
Proclamation Day - Hugh Magarey emailed Lauren to raise the matter of Proclamation Day
this year and if the HCSA can make a statement to the press about it. Daryl thought that
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this was an important issue that needs publicising and advocating by the HCSA. The
Committee agreed.
Action: Wilf to draft article for The Advertiser.
Clare Regional History Group’s ‘History’s Highways’ - Greg represented the HCSA at the
event and had his photograph in the Northern Argus.
Goolwa, the Regional Centre for Culture - The program for the Regional Centre for Culture
(RCC) at Goolwa has been released. It was suggested that instead of holding a second
‘regional’ lecture at Clare as was previously discussed, that the event be held at Goolwa to
coincide with it being the RCC. Suggestions were made that it be held in both Clare and
Goolwa in early August.
Engineers Australia – Richard announce that EA will be holding an Inaugural Conference
on the afternoon of Thursday 3 May. 4 papers will be presented at the event.
Premier’s Anzac Award- The Premier has increased funding for the Spirit of Anzac Award.
10 students will win an all expenses paid tour of important sites where Australians have
served in war.
9.
Dates of Future Meetings 2012
General Committee:
Monday 5 March 5-7pm
Executive:
Monday 6 February
Review meeting - General Committee
Thursday 19 January 4-7pm, at CBC
Meeting closed at 7.30 pm
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Appendix 1
National Conference, Adelaide 2012:
‘Research & collections in a connected world’
About Museums Australia
Established in 1993, Museums Australia is an advocate for museums and galleries, their collections
and the people who work in them. The association is a national membership body working through a
network of state and territory branches, Special Interest Groups (SIGs), the national office and an
elected Council.
Museums Australia is the national organization for the museums sector, committed to the conservation,
continuation and communication of Australia's heritage. The two primary functions of Museums
Australia are advocacy to government, (informed by research and consultation) and support for high
standards of professional practice.
The South Australian Branch of Museums Australia comprises all MA members who are based in SA.
At State level, a volunteer committee organises a regular calendar of networking events, panel
discussions and professional development opportunities for the benefit of South Australians working in
the museums and galleries sector.
MA also supports ICOM’s Australian National Committee, facilitating a link with important international
professional networks.
Vision
Our vision is for natural and cultural heritage to be valued, sustained and communicated as it
represents the shared histories, heritage and identities of all Australians.
Values
MA champions its membership and museums as resources for social development, and supports
intellectual, cultural and social diversity.
The organization promotes a complex understanding of heritage – including natural and cultural,
tangible and intangible aspects - and encourages the conservation of objects, sites and places, as well
as intangible aspects such as narrative, performance, cultural expression and history.
MA respects and highlights the role of communities, professionals, volunteers and governments in
conservation and communication of the nation’s heritage, and the importance of their work in
conservation of the nation’s memory.
In recognition of their status as our nation’s First Peoples, MA is committed to ensuring that Indigenous
people control and manage their cultural heritage and participate in any interpretation to the wider
community.
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Past Conferences
The national conference is the centrepiece event of the Museums Australia calendar which attracts
keynote speakers and over 500 delegates from Australia and abroad. Each conference consists of
three days of talks and workshops with added days for tours and special interest groups. Keynote
speeches start each day followed by morning and afternoon parallel sessions and workshops.
Conference dinners, gallery events etc are also arranged for the evenings. The national conference is
held in a different Australian city each year; the last time the National Conference was held in South
Australia was 2002.
The 14th National conference was held in Melbourne in 2010. Its principal theme focussed on the
changing role of collections in an electronic age. The 2011 conference in Perth is titled ‘At the Frontier’.
It will be jointly hosted by Museums Australia and Interpretation Australia. The conference will
encourage debate, speculation and open up a space of conjecture about the frontiers of museums,
museology and interpretation.
MA Conference 2012
University of Adelaide 24th – 28th September 2012
The 2012 conference is an opportunity to showcase the work and activities of the South Australian
museums and galleries sector nationally and to highlight its leadership in cross sector collaboration and
research. The 2011 ‘Strategic Roadmap for Australian Infrastructure’ has highlighted the potential value
of collections for research, particularly when digitised and made available online. For the first time the
Roadmap recognises the research potential of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences collections under
the banner of ‘Cultures and Communities’ and supports the need for content digitisation. Examples
such as the Atlas of Living Australia and the Museums Metadata Exchange highlight research
collaboration and the value of collections in a connected world.
Research undertaken by or for museums and galleries, in isolation or in collaboration with others is not
confined to collections. It is often concerned with how best to utilise collections to tell stories, inform
users or provide commentary about the world around us. The conference should endeavour to explore
all aspects of research in our sector, for our sector and its impact beyond our sector.
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