CURRICULUM VITAE – ROSLYN RUSSELL
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Roslyn Valda Louise RUSSELL (née BRICE)
23 May 1948
Hendon, London, United Kingdom
Australian
33 Guilfoyle Street, Yarralumla, ACT 2600
61 2 6281 6805
Russell598@hotmail.com
Academic qualifications
BA Hons in History, University of Sydney, 1969; MA Hons in History, University
of Sydney, 1988; Graduate Diploma in Applied Science (Cultural Heritage
Management), University of Canberra, 1995, PhD, University of New South
Wales, 2011
Previous appointments
Secondary school teacher of History, Art History and English, New South Wales
Department of Education, 1970-1974; Part-time teacher, Communication
subjects, New South Wales Department of TAFE, 1977, 1980-1981; Research
assistant to Emeritus Professor Manning Clark, History Department, Australian
National University, 1982-1987; Part-time research assistant, History
Department, University College, Australian Defence Force Academy, 1987-1990;
Historian, Project Manager and Manager, Australian Heritage Projects (AHP) Pty
Ltd, August 1990-June 2001; partner, Marsden Russell Historians, June 2001 to
December 2004.
Current position
Director, Roslyn Russell Museum Services, January 2005 Participation in AHP projects
 Keith Murdoch Sound Archive of Australia in the War of 1939-45 for the
Australian War Memorial, with full-time responsibility for the project from
October 1990-August 1991;
 editor of the Australian Customs History Journal from 1991-1996;
 project officer and editor of the Country Education Profiles project for the
National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition (NOOSR), Department of
Employment, Education and Training; 1991-1994;
 curator of ‘Nyngan - Our Stories’, local history exhibition with a focus on the
1990 Nyngan flood, 1991-1993;
 joint curator of exhibition, ‘Coming to Canberra’ for the ACT Museums and
Galleries Unit and the National Museum of Australia, 1993;
 curator of ‘Literary Links between Australia and Britain’, a travelling poster
exhibition for the National Library of Australia and The British Council, 19931994;
 historical significance assessment of the North Sydney Olympic Pool for North
Sydney Council, 1994;
 joint curator (with Stephen Foster) of Australian Archives/National Library of
Australia exhibition, ‘An Ideal City? The 1912 competition to design Canberra’,
1994-1995;
 author of commissioned history of the Health Insurance Commission, Building
Strength Through Change: Twenty Years of the Health Insurance
Commission, 1995;
 oral history project for the Australian Industrial Property Organisation, 19951997;
 compilation (with Jan Lyall, Stephen Foster and Duncan Marshall) of General
Guidelines to Safeguard Documentary Heritage, Memory of the World project,
UNESCO, 1995;
 compilation (with Stephen Foster and Susan Marsden) of Federation: The
Guide to Records, for Australian Archives, 1995-1997;
 co-curator (with Stephen Foster) of an exhibition for Old Parliament House,
‘Going My Way?: Australia’s Choice in 1949’, dealing with the election of
1949, 9 May-31 October 1999;
 interpretation for Tidbinbilla Visitors Centre, Environment ACT, 1998-2000
 exhibition ‘The Australian National Botanic Gardens: Thirty Years of Growing’,
ANBG, 2000
 travelling exhibition, They came from the Bush’ – rural Olympians, Museum of
the Riverina, 2000
 co-curator of exhibition for the Centenary of Federation, ‘Belonging: A
Century Celebrated’, for National Library of Australia, National Archives of
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Australia, State Library of New South Wales and State Library of Victoria.
This included the development of a website as well as the physical exhibition,
and extensive media promotion on radio, television and in print;
Significance: a guide to assessing the significance of cultural heritage objects
and collections, for Heritage Collections Council, Department of
Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, 2001.
editor, Museum National (now Museums Australia Magazine), for Museums
Australia, from October 2000 to May 2009
Significance assessment for National Library of Australia Community Heritage
Grants, 1994, 1999-2003
Marsden Russell Historians  June 2001 to December 2004
From June 2001 to December 2004 Roslyn Russell was in partnership with fellow
historian and heritage specialist Dr Susan Marsden. They worked on the
following projects:
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National Archives of Australia Prime Ministers Project  books and
website;
Indigenous Gallery, ‘Koori Coast’, for Lady Denman Heritage Complex,
Huskisson, NSW;
Content development for interpretive signs for Mount Painter (Environment
ACT);
Scoping study and Collection policy for the National Museum of Australia;
Video presentations for the Canberra Museum and Gallery;
Foyer display redevelopment for Australian Customs Service;
Exhibitions on ‘Russia and Australia’ and the Antarctic Treaty for
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade;
Community Heritage Grants historical significance assessment 2002;
History of the Royal Newcastle Hospital.
In December 2002 Dr Marsden moved to South Australia, although the
partnership continued. Roslyn worked on several exhibition projects: museum
interpretation for the Hawkesbury Museum, Windsor, NSW; an exhibition on the
centenary of the High Court for the National Archives of Australia, ‘No Common
Creation’ (October 2003); an exhibition on the Canberra Bushfires for the
Canberra Museum and Gallery, ‘The Day the Sky Turned Black’ (January 2004),
and ‘Grand Visions for Jervis Bay’ for the Lady Denman Heritage Complex
(October 2004). Roslyn assessed historical significance for Community Heritage
Grants for the National Library of Australia and National Archives of Australia in
2003, and 2004. She also wrote a short overview history of the Department of
Environment and Heritage (2004); and in February 2004 was appointed editor of
the Friends of the National Museum of Australia magazine.
Roslyn Russell Museum Services, January 2005 to date
Museums Australia Magazine, Managing Editor, October 2000 – May 2009
Friends of the National Museum of Australia magazine, Editor, June 2004 – June
2011
Interpretation development for the Museum of Parliament and National Heroes
Gallery, Barbados, West Indies (2006-2007)
Modules on Mary McConnel, Sir Littleton Groom and Jenny Kee for the National
Museum of Australia Eternity Gallery (2006-2007)
Significance assessment of the collection of the Adventist Heritage Centre,
Cooranbong, NSW, for the Community Heritage Grants program, 2007
‘Conquering Distance: Kingsford Smith and the first trans-Pacific flight 1928’,
temporary exhibition for the National Museum of Australia, 2008
ActewAGL, Interpretation Room for the Cotter Pumping Station, 2008
Interpretation development for G14 historic site, Googong Foreshore
development, with Navin Officer Heritage Consultants (2008, 2013)
Exhibition for ActewAGL at Canberra Glassworks on Enlarged Cotter Dam
Project, April-June 2009
Significance assessment of the collection of the Port Macquarie Historical
Museum for the Community Heritage Grants Program, 2009
Significance assessment of The Australian National University Forestry Wood
Collection (2010)
Collection audit of the Melbourne Club collection of historic items (2010-2011)
Oral history interviews for Ray Edmondson on the history of the National Film
and Sound Archive (2010–2011)
Exhibition development for Agostino Brunias Retrospective Travelling Exhibition,
for the National Art Gallery Committee, Barbados, West Indies (2006, ongoing)
Editor of the Friends Review of the Australian Federation of Friends of Museums
(2009 and ongoing)
Content and interpretation development for an exhibition for the Central Bank of
Barbados in former Masonic Lodge building, Bridgetown, Barbados, (2011,
ongoing)
Interpretation development for Ferry Lane Memorial Avenue, Kempsey (with
Navin Officer Heritage Consultants (2009-2010)
Oral history interviews on the early history of the Astronomical Society of
Australia (2009-2011)
Significance assessment for Macleay River Historical Society Kempsey Museum,
November 2012.
Oral history interviews for the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service,
2005 and ongoing.
Research and writing a book on Shipboard Diaries on Voyages to Australia for
the National Library of Australia, 2011, ongoing (publication 2015)
Review of Heritage Framework for Department of Parliamentary Services,
Parliament House, Canberra, 2012.
Review of Parliament House Art Collection, April-August 2013.
Significance assessment of Curtin University Art Collection, October 2012September 2013.
Development of curatorial text for online exhibition for the Australian Women’s
Archive Project, From Lady Denman to Katy Gallagher: A Century of Women’s
Contributions to Canberra, launched February 2013 to mark the Centenary of
Canberra.
Other employment
From July 2008 – December 2010 Roslyn was a part-time staff member (two
days a week, non-ongoing) of the National Museum of Australia. She worked for
a year as a Senior Curator in Gallery Development, developing material for the
new permanent gallery to be opened in 2011, Landmarks. In August 2009 she
took up the position of Project Officer in Audience Development and Public
Programs until December 2010. She has copy-edited a book on Museums in
Australia since the Pigott Report of 1975 for publication on the National Museum
of Australia website as Understanding Museums (see
http://nma.gov.au/research/understanding-museums/
Selected publications
Roslyn Russell, Workers, Unions and Politics, Bay Books, Sydney, 1984.
Roslyn Russell, Building Strength Through Change: Twenty Years of the Health
Insurance Commission, Health Insurance Commission, Canberra, 1995.
General Guidelines to Safeguard Documentary Heritage, UNESCO, Paris, 1995
(with Stephen Foster, Jan Lyall and Duncan Marshall).
Catalogue for An Ideal City! The 1912 competition to design Canberra, Australian
Archives/National Library of Australia, 1995.
Interpretation and the getting of wisdom: papers from the fourth annual
conference of the Interpretation Australia Association, November 1995,
Interpretation Australia Association, Canberra, 1996 (with Elizabeth Beckmann).
Roslyn Russell, Literary Links: Celebrating the Literary Relationship between
Australia and Britain, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1997.
Federation: The Guide to Records, Australian Archives, Canberra, 1998 (with
Susan Marsden and Stephen Foster).
One Destiny! The Federation Story, Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria, 1998
(with Philip Chubb).
Building History, for Department of Communications, Information Technology and
the Arts, Canberra, 2001.
Roslyn Russell and Kylie Winkworth, Significance: a guide to assessing the
significance of cultural heritage objects and collections, for Heritage Collections
Council, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts,
2001.
With Peter Freeman and Trevor Creighton, Reflections: Manning Clark House,
MCH, 2002.
With Susan Marsden, Our First Six: Australia’s Prime Ministers, National
Archives of Australia, 2002.
Two People and a Place: the family who lived in Sydney Observatory, RRMS,
Canberra, 2008.
Ever Manning: Selected Letters of Manning Clark 1938-1991, Allen & Unwin,
Crows Nest, NSW, 2008.
Roslyn Russell and Kylie Winkworth, Significance 2.0: a guide to assessing the
significance of collections, Collections Council of Australia, Adelaide, 2009.
The Business of Nature: John Gould and Australia, National Library of Australia,
Canberra, 2011.
Barbados: More Than a Beach, Roslyn Russell Museum Services, Deakin, 2011;
e-book version Bobby Graham Publishers, 2012 (available on iTunes).
With Alissandra Cummins and Kevin Farmer (eds), Plantation to Nation:
Caribbean Museums and National Identity, Common Ground Press, Champaign,
Illinois, 2013.
‘Leichhardt’s work in Australia (1842-1848)’, in Günter Bayerl and Tim S. Müller
(eds), Ludwig Leichhardt (1813-1848), die Niederlausitz und Australien. Zum
200. Geburtstag des Natur- und Australienforschers, Waxmann-Verlag,
Münster/New York/München/Berlin 2013 (= Die Niederlausitz am Anfang des 21.
Jahrhunderts. Geschichte und Gegenwart, Vol. 3).
Articles and reviews for National Library Magazine (formerly National Library
News), Museums Australia Magazine, Friends of the National Museum of
Australia magazine, reCollections, Friends Review (AFFM), Sensibilities (JASA),
The Brontë Thunderer, Archives and Manuscripts, Historic Environment, Historia
(ACPHA) and the Canberra Times.
UNESCO Memory of the World Programme
Roslyn was a foundation member of the UNESCO Australian Memory of the
World national committee and chaired its Assessment Sub-Committee since its
inauguration in December 2000. In June 2005 she was appointed to the
International Advisory Committee of the UNESCO Memory of the World
programme and was also appointed its Rapporteur and Chair of its Register SubCommittee, a position she held until July 2009, when she was elected Chair of
the International Advisory Committee and President of the UNESCO Memory of
the World programme. She was re-elected Chair of the International Advisory
Committee in 2011, and left the position in 2013. She also remains a member of
the Register Sub-Committee, and is rapporteur for the Education and Research
Sub-Committee. She is also Chair of the Australian Memory of the World
National Committee.
Roslyn has conducted a number of workshops on the UNESCO Memory of the
World register nomination process, in Canberra and other capital cities around
Australia, and in Barbados, Saint Lucia, the Republic of Korea, Iran, Indonesia,
Ethiopia, Vietnam and Cambodia. She has also delivered papers and
presentations to academic symposiums and forums on behalf of the UNESCO
Memory of the World Programme in the Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Poland,
Macau and Germany.
Related activities
Roslyn is a Board Member of the Institute for Professional Practice in Heritage
and the Arts (IPPHA), The Australian National University; a member of the
Advisory Committee of the Canberra Museum and Gallery; and a member of the
Canberra Committee of the Australian Women’s Archive Project. She is Public
Officer of the Australian Council of Professional Historians Associations and a
member of the Professional Historians Association (SA). Roslyn also served for
a number of years as a member of the Management Committee of Manning
Clark House. She is a member of the Jane Austen Society of Australia and the
Australian Brontë Association, and has contributed articles to their journals and
given papers at their meetings and conferences; and is also a member of
Museums Australia, the Friends of the National Museum of Australia, the Friends
of the ANU Classics Museum, the Oceanic Art Society, the National Gallery of
Australia membership scheme, and Das Zentrum, Canberra.