Details of public seminars on historical topics will be posted here. Upcoming seminars:

Women Behaving Politically - 5 March 2009
Discovering Archives for Research - 14 March 2009

Women Behaving Politically

Women’s History Month

Thursday 5 March, 2.00 pm
Victorian Archives Centre, 99 Shiel St, North Melbourne

Helen Harris OAM, Dr Nikki Henningham, and Associate Professor Judith Smart will examine the impact and achievements of women who acted politically in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Seminars

Women Behaving Politically: Conservative and Mainstream Women’s Activism and Achievements
Until the 1970s, conservative and mainstream women’s organisations, rather than those of the left, were the main agents of dissemination and broad acceptance of the principle of equality for women, while at the same time catering for their particular interests and domestic preoccupations. In most cases they did not initiate schemes for extensive or radical reform and sometimes they lagged behind. Generally they followed rather than led. Their crucial role and major achievement lay in making broadly feminist ideas seem uncontroversial and acceptable to large numbers of ordinary women and, in doing so, they arguably achieved more change than women of the left. The principal means through which they did this were the National Councils of Women, umbrella coalitions formed in all Australian states between 1896 and 1911, and officially federated in1931. This paper examines the nature of the political activism and achievements of the Councils and their leading affiliates, focusing primarily on Victoria.

Judith Smart is a principal fellow at the University of Melbourne and an adjunct professor at RMIT University. She has published on Australian women's organisations in the first half of the 20th Century, as well as on women and political protest, women and religion, and the Miss Australia beauty contest. Current projects include (with Professor Marian Quartly) a history of the National Council of Women of Australia. She is a past editor of Australian Historical Studies and present editor of the Victorian Historical Journal. A special issue of the latter on Victorian women’s suffrage and political citizenship was published in November 2008.

Helen Harris OAM will discuss work of the political activist Helen Hart a suffragist largely forgotten and ignored. Helen Harris is a family historian, expert on police history and currently Mayor of Whitehorse.

Dr Nikki Henningham is a research fellow in the School of Historical Studies and the Executive Officer of the Australian Women's Archives Project. She will talk about the AWAPs latest projects, including three new on-line exhibitions: one that looks at Australian Women Journalists, the other two focused on Victorian women who have tried, successfully and otherwise, to enter parliament.

Link to Women's History Month events page

Link to Office of Women's Policy International Women's Day page

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Discovering Archives for Research

Saturday 14 March, 9.30 am to 1.00 pm
Victorian Archives Centre, 99 Shiel St, North Melbourne

Discovering Archives is a new initiative from Public Record Office Victoria, the National Archives of Australia and the University of Melbourne Archives to introduce post-graduate and honours students to the richness of archives for research and provide information to assist in making the most of archival resources, not only here in Melbourne but also interstate and overseas.

Five topics are covered in this seminar, starting with a brief Introduction to Archives including archival methodology, access issues, legislation and copyright. This Introduction is followed by sessions on researching at Public Record Office Victoria, National Archives of Australia and the University of Melbourne Archives. To finish there will be a 'Hands on the Records' session giving practical examples of issues mentioned during the other presentations.

Ther will be opportunity for Questions and Answers and discussion over morning tea. At the end of the seminar there will be a tour of the PROV repository for those interested in behind the scenes (approx. 1 hour).

Venue
Victorian Archives Centre, 99 Shiel Street, North Melbourne. There is free off-street parking via the Macaulay Road entrance (Melway ref: 2A E6, 43 C3). Please note that street parking at the Shiel Street entrance is two-hour only.

Cost
$15.00 includes morning tea, notes and a 'show bag'. Payment can be made on hte day. Bookings are essential as numbers are limited. Phone PROV Reception on 03 9348 5600 to book or email reception@prov.vic.gov.au

Program:

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