There were many advertisements just like the one above, placed in newspapers around Australia after the end of World War I. The soldiers of Australia’s citizen army had finally returned and some of them brought with them intimate historical records of the war – the diaries they had composed on the battlefronts. The principal librarian of the State Library of New South Wales, … [Read more...] about The Diaries of a WWI Soldier
New South Wales
East of India: Forgotten Trade with Australia
Many Australians would be unaware of how much Indians have contributed to this country. Indians have traded with Australia since the first European settlement; they have lived and worked here for over two hundred years. Yet we don’t often hear about this aspect of Australian history. The exhibition, ‘East of India: Forgotten trade with Australia’ currently being held at the … [Read more...] about East of India: Forgotten Trade with Australia
Quietly Pushing Barriers Aside
This week came the disappointing news that the participation in Maths by girls in their final year of school in New South Wales is declining significantly. In 2001, the first year when students were no longer required to study a Maths or science subject in year twelve in order to qualify for university entrance, 90.5% of girls studied Maths whereas 96.9% of boys did. The … [Read more...] about Quietly Pushing Barriers Aside
Book Review: Flood Country by Emily O’Gorman
I would never have read this book if it wasn’t for twitter. Last year I came across the twitter stream of the University of Wollongong’s, Australian Centre for Cultural Environmental Research (@AUSCCER) and those of researchers who work at the Centre. I have enjoyed these tweets about geography and the environment . One day I noticed their tweets about the Sydney launch of a … [Read more...] about Book Review: Flood Country by Emily O’Gorman
Twenty Five: Stories from Australia’s First Parliament
Twenty five stories from Australia’s first parliament – intriguing! During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries political debate in Australia was vigorous and at times innovative. There are a wealth of great stories lurking in the pages of Hansard and the tightly packed columns of colonial newspapers. From the vantage point of today these stories are fascinating but … [Read more...] about Twenty Five: Stories from Australia’s First Parliament