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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 45 | June 2000


Sell-out history conference brings past to life

Professor Jill Roe Professor Iain McCalman Professor Henry Reynolds

AHA President, Professor Jill Roe

Historian, Professor Iain McCalman

Historian, Professor Henry Reynolds

Reports of the ‘death’ of history have been greatly exaggerated, to misquote Mark Twain—judging by the success of the ‘Challenging Australian History: Discovering New Narratives’ conference, hosted by the National Library in April.

Against the backdrop of the current ‘crisis’ in history—some authorities have gone as far as predicting the end of history as a profession—the two-day conference was a sell-out. Demand for seats far outstripped the supply, with more than 300 people packing into the lecture theatre each day.

‘We could probably have sold out twice over,’ according to NLA Director-General, Jan Fullerton. ‘That’s an indication that there is a desire to talk about these topics. With so much discussion in the community now on issues like republicanism, reconciliation and the nature of our society, it is timely to reflect not just on how people use the collections and material in the National Library but on the roles and responsibilities of historians and the changing nature of historical research and scholarship.’

In her opening address, the Director-General described historians, writers and researchers as the ‘lifeblood’ of the National Library—‘They are the people we are here to serve.’ The Library’s objective was to collect and preserve Australian material and make it available to the community.

‘From the myriad of primary and secondary sources the National Library holds, historians, writers and Australians of all sorts can construct an account of their family, community and nation.

‘In deciding which direction the NLA should go, as our lodestar we’ve taken the wonderful words of Pierre Ryckmans, describing what a national library should be—a place where the nation nourishes its memories, exerts its imagination, connects with the past and invents its future.’

Speakers at the conference included the President of the Australian Historical Association, Professor Jill Roe; historian Professor Henry Reynolds; Professor (elect) in Australian Studies at Harvard University, Marylin Lake; historian Professor Iain McCalman; Koori author and historian Tony Birch; award-winning author Dr Deborah Bird Rose; novelists Nicholas Hasluck, Kate Grenville and Dr Nicholas Jose and the National Library's Assistant Director-General, Australian Collections and Reader Services, Margy Burn.

Tony Birch Kate Grenville

The speakers explored a range of subjects, including the future of history as a profession, the public role of history, the importance of remembering, cultural studies and history, the research adventure, history and creative writing and the issue of privacy. Common threads throughout the lectures included the nature of ‘truth’ and the issue of Reconciliation. In her keynote speech, Professor Roe addressed the topic ‘The Challenge of the Past’.

She pointed out that lately, the historical profession had been more concerned with the ‘challenges of the present’. The AHA had sounded the alarm bell in 1998, detailing a worrying decline in staff numbers in university history departments and the likely effect on enrolments and the training of history teachers. Professor Roe wryly noted the views of one colleague, ‘that history wasn’t needed any more, except for a bit of memory work’.

However, despite further staff shrinkages, Professor Roe felt there were encouraging signs for the future, including the continued interest in history among undergraduate students, increased opportunities for beginning historians and a recent national inquiry into the teaching of history in schools.

Historian, Tony Birch

Novelist, Kate Grenville

Margy Burn Dr Nicholas Jose

National Library staff member,
Margy Burn

Novelist, Dr Nicholas Jose

She was also encouraged by a wider trend internationally for a more invigorating approach to history and saw the conference as a rallying point for the profession in Australia. The challenge of the past, according to Professor Roe, was ‘to get it right’.

‘In many areas, especially contemporary history, we have a way to go in getting it right. There are some real obstacles to be overcome along the way but also many opportunities. We may be confronting what Timothy Garton Ash has called, in another context, a “difficult past”. But that only means it requires more attention, not less.’

In her closing remarks, Jan Fullerton said the National Library had been privileged to host the conference, adding that planning was already underway for next year’s event. Conference papers will be available on the NLA web site: www.nla.gov.au.
Photographs: Loui Seselja

Dr Barry Jones

Dr Barry Jones, a member of the National Library Council between 1996 and 1998, was among the high profile audience members at the conference. Dr Jones said he raised a privacy dilemma facing researchers during the session ‘A Decent Privacy? Personal Revelation and History’. ‘I asked where should the line be drawn in allowing/denying researchers access to any personal material which has been deposited subject to an embargo? If researchers may not even comment in broad outline about material held under embargo, it may seriously distort our understanding of major events, when the depositor is a public figure. On the other hand, if it is easy for researchers to get around embargoes, then this will be a powerful disincentive to handing over personal papers—leading to heavy self-censorship.’
Photograph: Damian McDonald

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