My mother gave me my great-grandfather's writing desk. It had stood for many years in my grandmother's spare bedroom. I recall her sitting at it doing her bills. But mostly it rested in the corner, its compact form locking away those personal details which were not my concern. The story of the desk when my great-grandfather owned it is hazy. Perhaps it used to sit in their … [Read more...] about The Desk
Victoria
History Without the Book???
People worry about the ephemeral nature of information on the internet. Web pages are easy to create and just as easy to remove or alter. Many prefer to refer to a hard copy of a book because they believe that it will be accessible for longer than information found on the internet. But the book is not an inviolable object. It can be destroyed by disaster, carelessness and … [Read more...] about History Without the Book???
Mapping Australia’s Natural Disasters: Space and Time
Yet another natural disaster is unfolding in Queensland with tropical cyclone Yasi crossing the coast of Far North Queensland. There was not much sleep in our household on Wednesday night as we have family members who live right at the heart of the destructive forces of the cyclone. I resumed this post at around 1 am Thursday morning. Blogging while keeping an eye on Twitter … [Read more...] about Mapping Australia’s Natural Disasters: Space and Time
The Transformation of a Word
We all know that the meaning of words can change over time. Words such as gay and cool are used in ways not contemplated one hundred years ago. Historians need to be aware of this when reading old texts. In my research of the education debates in the Australasian colonies from the 1860s to 1914, I had to understand what the word 'secular' meant at the time. It is much more … [Read more...] about The Transformation of a Word