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Hazel de Berg |
| Australia's
Oral History Collections: A National Directory
provides electronic access to oral history
endeavour in Australia. Based on the printed publication of the same name (published in 1997) the database allows you to search within tens of thousands of hours of oral recordings.
These collections
document Australian life, customs, politics and traditions and cover a wide range of
subjects.
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coverage
Much of the material listed in the
database was collected in the 1980s and 1990s, and many projects
are ongoing. We encourage users to report
new oral history collections so that database may continue
to grow.
The earliest oral heritage
recordings include a 1928 collection of Aboriginal material held
by the South Australian Museum Anthropology Department, and 1939
recordings held by the National Library. Most of what we would
recognise as oral history and folklore recording has come from the
early adoption of the portable tape recorder by historians in the
late 1940s.
The Directory lists some 460
collections held around the country, including:
- the collection of the National
Library of Australia, containing some 30,000 hours of original
recordings;
- at least 11 collections holding
more than 1,000 hours of material - including ScreenSound
Australia (formerly the National Film and Sound Archive),the
Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Studies, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Australian War
Memorial, National Museum of Australia, Australian National
Maritime Museum, and National Archives of Australia, and State
libraries and State archives services;
- more than 200 entries for
collections held by local government bodies (mainly public
libraries) or volunteer-based local history societies;
- smaller but significant
holdings in the hands of organisations like schools, religious
bodies, professional and occupational associations, companies,
government departments, ethnic communities, community theatres,
sporting associations and recreational groups;
- collections of Aboriginal
groups and communities - the oral heritage of indigenous peoples
has been a research focus for many decades, but in recent years
a number of Aboriginal groups have set up their own exciting
projects documenting, reclaiming, and in some cases returning
their oral heritage to their communities;
- the holdings of at least 26
Australian universities - largely due to the research of
individuals working in anthropology, history, music, and English
departments, a number of very important collections have been
established in university libraries, archives, and faculties;
and
- approximately 60 privately held
collections - most of these are small, but include significant
material.
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You can
search for oral history collections
all over Australia by:
- name of collection or holding
institution;
- subject of the collection
(including the geographic regions covered); as well as
- the date/decade of recording.
The
Directory also provides links to
overseas oral history sites and collections and other useful
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![[Des Fennessy (left) interviewed by Peter O'Shaughnessy, 1992]](./images/interv.jpg)
Des Fennessy (left) in 1992
with interviewer Peter O'Shaughnessy |
History
of the Directory
In March 1992 a major national conference, "Towards
Federation 2001: Linking Australians with their Heritage",
was convened in Canberra to consider ways of improving access to
Australia's recorded documentary heritage. As one of its outcomes
the conference recommended:
- That Australian holdings of oral history
and folklore collections and on-going projects whether involving
institutions or individuals, be identified in a directory
(Recommendation TC12)
During 1993-1994, a nine-member
Oral History Directory Committee was formed consisting of
representatives from Commonwealth and state libraries, museums and
archives, and members of the Oral History
Association of Australia. This Committee took the
responsibility of bringing the task of the individual project
officer in their state to completion, and the printed Directory
was released in September 1997. The coordination of entering
material for the project and preparing it for publication was
carried out by the National Library and National Film & Sound
Archive personnel.
Further information
We welcome information about
additional Australian oral history collections for inclusion -
email oralhist@nla.gov.au
or send details via our online form.
Institutions with oral history materials listed in the Directory
may update their collection details online.
For further information or
enquiries about the Directory, contact:
- Oral History Project Officer
National Library of Australia
CANBERRA ACT 2600
phone: 02 6262 1545
fax: 02 6262 1653
email: oralhist@nla.gov.au
To search for other items in Australian library collections, try the
Australian Libraries Gateway (ALG).
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