The Development of Oral History in the National Library

Over the years, the Library’s oral history selection policy has reflected the democratisation of what is considered historically significant, a movement away from the famous and renowned and into revealing the hidden lives of Australians. The collections in Oral History cover all aspects of Australian life, including the personal stories of artists, writers, academics, politicians, scientists, journalists, librarians, and sporting figures.

Unlike the other departments and sections of the Library—Manuscripts, Maps, Rare Books, Newspapers and Pictorial which essentially preserve our cultural and historical heritage—Oral History creates it. Where a diary or manuscript is already written and complete by the time it is sought or received by the Library, the process of recording memories is done in the Library studio.

Although Oral History was not formed as a separate section of the Library until 1984, the Library had been working for many years on the collections that would give voice to the nation. It was Harold White’s interest in oral history that was the driving force behind the collections, an interest dating back to the 1940s:

I talked to Prime Minister Chifley on Saturday afternoons about all kinds of ways in which creative activity could be of benefit to the common man. I suggested to him the possibility of tape recording those inarticulate shearers and waterside workers who as he well knew were the origins of the Australian Labor Party. He greatly encouraged me.

Harold White interview ABC

White's understanding of the need to record broad and democratic cultural history was years ahead of his time. It was White's interest in the idea of oral history that led him to take an interest in the novice recorder Hazel de Berg.

De Berg began her recording life by taping poets reading their work for the New South Wales Blind Society in a series entitled Talking Books for the Blind. De Berg's first subject was Dame Mary Gilmore who recited her poem Old Days, Old Ways and spoke briefly about why she wrote the poem. In 1960 the Library came to a formal arrangement with de Berg. Until her death in 1984 she made 1300 recordings for the Library.

The Oral History Collection today consists of some 58 000 history and folk music recordings. One of many important projects has been developed in response to the 1997 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families. The Library implemented the Bringing Them Home Oral History Project, which seeks to record thousands of personal experiences, including those of the children, families and the authorities involved.

Professor A.D. Hope being interviewed for NLA Oral History 1990s
photograph
Pictorial Collection

Portrait of Ballet Dancer Sir Robert Helpman, Guest Artist and Choreographer with the Australian Ballet 27 May 1974
photograph
Pictorial Collection

Hazel deBerg 1960s
photograph
Pictorial Collection

Robert Guth (b.1975)
Portrait of Bob Randall, Indigenous Australian Performer 2000
photograph; courtesy of 'Bringing Them Home' Oral History Project and Robert Guth

Ruth Cracknell (left) with Michelle Potter (right)  1989
photograph
Pictorial Collection

Arthur Boyd, Painter 25 January 1996
photograph
Pictorial Collection

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