Tag Archives: Historical Research

5 Tips about Queensland State Archives for researchers who live outside Brisbane

Posted on by
15
Front of Queensland State Archives Building

Queensland State Archives are at 435 Compton Road, Runcorn in Brisbane.

I had the pleasure of researching at the Queensland State Archives while I was in Brisbane recently. These tips are for anyone who lives outside Brisbane who wants to research at the Archives and make the best use of their time:

1.     Lockers for suitcases

Small suitcase in an open locker

Luggage locker at Queensland State Archives.

The first thing an out-of-Brisbane researcher needs to know about the Queensland State Archives is that there are two lockers big enough to store a small suitcase. This means you can save time by heading to the Archives as soon as you arrive in Brisbane without visiting your hotel to drop off your luggage first. Remember to bring a one dollar coin to use the locker. You receive the coin back when you have finished with the locker.

2.     You cannot order items in advance of your visit, but you can do some preparation in advance

The second thing an out-of-Brisbane researcher needs to know about the Queensland State Archives is that you cannot order items before you arrive. This is sad, but the reason this facility is not available is sadder still. Unfortunately researchers were ordering items and then not showing up. Like all archives, the Queensland State Archives does not have enough staff and they certainly cannot afford to waste staff time by retrieving items for people who do not show up. This is a lesson for all researchers. Sometimes we order stuff and are unavoidably prevented from visiting the archives eg illness. But it is important that if we order stuff we make every effort to use it. It would be a shame if other archives have to withdraw the facility of ordering items in advance.

But you can still make the best use of your time by preparing for your isit. Before you arrive at the Archives make a list of all the Item ID numbers for the records you want. When you arrive at the Archives, go straight to the computers in the reading room where you can order the items. Use the ‘Retrieve Using ID’ facility in the catalogue and lodge the order. You can order items whenever you want and are not bound by a timetable for getting orders in at certain times during the day like at some archives. Items arrive in a reasonable time. It all works smoothly and the desk staff are very helpful.

While you are waiting for your items to arrive go to the microfilm room and look at any microfilms that you need. Continue reading →

Researching in Brisbane Again

Posted on by
8
photo of young girl dressed up as a nurse and young boy dressed up as a wounded soldier with arm in sling.

Like children in many parts of the world, Queensland children were affected by the Great War. This cover of the weekly newspaper, The Queenslander from 1st December 1917, is captioned, “The Spirit of the Times”. Image courtesy of State Library of Queensland.

Over the last few weeks I have returned to my research roots. I have been exploring the history of Brisbane from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of the Depression. My client is interested in the life story of a man who was born in Brisbane in the early twentieth century who moved to Sydney as an adult. He went on to work in East Asia during World War II and then became a successful business man. It is a pleasure to be part of such an interesting multi-national, collaborative project.

Once again I have been exploring the education history of the time, the politics, the culture and the experiences of young people growing up in Brisbane during this era. Fortunately I still have the references and workings for my honours thesis which was about Queensland’s Bible in State Schools Referendum held in 1910. Some of the work I did on that is relevant for my current research.

I gladly left our sodden house for a research trip to Brisbane – what a delight to have working lights and a good internet connection for a few days! I immersed myself in old records the Queensland State Archives and the State Library of Queensland as well as exploring the local area where our man had grown up. A good sense of place is important if an historian to portray the history well. There is nothing like walking the streets and visiting the places which are the sites of the history that is being researched. Continue reading →

Launching ‘Stumbling Through History Links’

Posted on by
6

Elm CStumbling Through History Links is a new page on this blog with over one hundred links to useful Australian history resources. I hope that these will assist you with whatever historical research you are doing, whether you are researching family history or local history, school or academic work. Nearly all the resources listed are free to anyone with an internet connection.

These links used to appear on the right-hand-side of my blog but your responses to my last post were clear. Those who commented said that the links were valuable but most people had not noticed them.  Even when I drew attention to them in my last post, some still found them hard to find. Fair enough. Even I was not using these resources enough.

Over the last day I have copied all the links into the page. By categorising them by topic and by region some gaps became evident. I have added some new links to resources which I have found useful in my research over the years. Continue reading →

Australian History Links on Stumbling Through the Past

Posted on by
15

I have been writing Stumbling Through the Past for over five years now. When I started this blog I thought that the right hand side column would be a great place for me to stow links to websites, libraries and archives that I have found useful in my research. I usually just add one or two links at a time, then move on with other things. This week I needed to go back over old work so I looked through the links.

I was surprised at what a useful Australian history resource I have gradually amassed. However, it is rather hidden on my blog as you have to scroll down to find it and look at the column. I wondered if anyone uses it, or whether I should place it elsewhere on my blog.

Australia’s Media History

Book cover

Bridget Griffen-Foley, ed. A Companion to the Australian Media, (North Melbourne, Vic: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2014).

While pondering these questions I added nine new links. These links are for websites and archives about Australian business and media history. Many of these links have been plumbed from the wonderful Australian Media History Database. This website and the Media Archives Project are provided by Macquarie University’s Centre for Media History. The Centre’s director, Professor Bridget Griffen-Foley has also edited an invaluable encyclopaedia on Australia’s media history. This week I consulted A Companion to the Australian Media while researching at the State Library of Victoria. It is the first place to go to when embarking on research into any aspect of Australia’s media history. I am also impressed by the work the Centre’s Media Archives Project has done to identify important records in Australia’s media history and work to ensure that these collections are secured for researchers to access in perpetuity.

The web resources of the Centre for Media History are extensive. While writing this I found the Centre’s Colonial Australian Literary Journalism website which currently covers literary journalism in Australia from the first European settlement until Federation (1901).

The internet is built by links. It is a collaborative exercise built on an ethos of generosity. Everyone benefits the more they share their own work and that of others. The Centre for Media History is just one of thousands of organisations and historians online who understand this.

(While writing this I digressed and added another link which I should have added a while ago. Check out Jennifer McLaren’s history blog) Continue reading →

War, Emotions and Beliefs

Posted on by
8
Melbourne Museum sign

It is hard to get a good photo of the aircraft hangar like building that contains the Melbourne Museum. While the outside of the building may look uninspiring, the exhibitions inside of the building are well worth a visit.

Over the last few months I have been dealing with life, the universe and the mundane. I had so much on my plate that I regretfully decided to reduce the pressure by taking a pause on my blog. But I am back! Over the next few weeks I will share some of what I have been doing. Today I thought I would give you an update on my book project.

When I was in Melbourne for the birth of our first grandchild I took the opportunity to attend the War and Emotions Symposium at Melbourne Museum. Over the last year there have been many war conferences, books, exhibitions, television series and other events hoping to catch the interest of people during the centenary of World War I. I couldn’t possibly give attention to all, and frankly, too many are superficial or cross the line by glorifying war but I’m so pleased I had the chance to attend the War and Emotions Symposium. Continue reading →

A Jewel in the Australian City of Literature

Posted on by
6
read description below.

The stunning La Trobe Reading Room at the State Library of Victoria. In the centre is a raised platform where librarians in bygone days used to sit and police the silence.

I have had the pleasure of doing some research at the State Library of Victoria while in Melbourne for the birth of our granddaughter.  Melbourne was the second city in the world to be designated a ‘City of Literature‘ by UNESCO. Melbourne has had a long love of books. The State Library of Victoria was one of the first public libraries in Australia (officially opened in 1856), but it continues to be loved and heavily used by the public. Increasingly tourists are visiting this Library to view the magnificent building.

Old book, computer plugged into one of the desks and an old chair to sit on.

My little place in the La Trobe Reading Room. It is a lovely mix of new and old. There are many power points in the old desks and wi-fi is available throughout the Library.

The stunning La Trobe Reading Room is a joy to work in. The room is flooded with daylight from the glass dome which soars thirty-five metres above. Even on one of Melbourne’s many dismal grey cloudy days, the dome and the white walls lift my spirits while I am working.

The La Trobe Reading Room was designed on panopticon principles, with a central raised platform in the middle of the room where in days gone by, a librarian would be perched to police the silence. Today no-one sits there. Apparently noise can be a problem in the room, but it has never bothered me. I find it difficult to concentrate in silence.

I have always wanted to do more photography at the Library so in breaks from reading World War I diaries I have been roaming around taking photos. Continue reading →

Pause, Reflect and Share… and a note to publishers

Posted on by
Reply
Peter Stanley standing on the, left, holding his book. I am standing on the right.

Peter Stanley and I at his book launch earlier this month.

Tomorrow I am driving to Canberra and will be in Melbourne at the end of the week. I am looking forward to researching at the State Library of Victoria and the Public Records Office of Victoria as well as catching up with family and friends. I have identified some key soldiers for my book and will be doing further research into the lives of a couple of the Victorian soldiers.

While World War I will be the focus of my book, I want to write about some of the experiences of the soldiers in their families and schools before the war as well as looking at their lives after the War. Soldiers brought the culture and learning they had received as children to war with them. The War stayed with them for the rest of their lives.

As you can imagine I am reading a lot of books about World War I. Most are well written but the one I am reading at the moment is infuriating because of the lack of referencing. I have done a bit of my own research to try to substantiate some of the author’s claims but cannot find proof of major claim about a statistic of the War. Humph! If a history is not properly referenced unfounded claims can be passed as truths. For all we know these books can be a mix of fiction and history, a member of the ‘faction’ genre.  Poorly referenced histories are not good sources. I have found another book on the topic which I am hoping is properly referenced.

Publishers – if you want your history books to be taken seriously then allow your authors to publish their fully referenced work! Why should we believe unsubstantiated claims?

As my then seventeen-year old daughter observed several years ago, footnotes (or endnotes) are ‘sneakily important’. Read that post for more about the problems of lack of referencing and the rise of ‘faction’.

I will step off my soap box now. Continue reading →