With Dr Pamela Statham Drew - State Library · thousand years ago. Later, on the other side of the...

OCTOBER� 2 0 0 4No.111

ABN 571625138800

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The objectives of the Society are to assist and promote the interests of the Battye Libraryand of those activities of the Library Board of Western Australia concerned with theacquisition, preservation and use of archival and documentary materials.

��Mrs Ruth Reid AM

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Emeritus President : Prof Geoffrey Bolton

President : Dr Pamela Statham Drew

Vice President : Mrs Gillian O’Mara

Secretary : Ms Carol LeighEmail: [email protected]

Treasurer : Mr David Jones

Committee : Mr Graham Bown, Ms Jennie Carter, Mr Martin Fordham,Ms Julie Martin, Dr Nonja Peters, Ms Helen Wills-Johnson

Ex-officio : Ms Margaret Allen (CEO & State Librarian),Dr Ronda Jamieson, Mr Tony Caravella

Newsletter Editor : Mr Martin Fordham

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Ms Valda Kiely Tel: (08) 9427 3283

All correspondence to:The Secretary, PO Box 216, NORTHBRIDGE WA 6865

ISSN 1035-8692

Views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily the views of the Committee.

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Jack’s Back: OVER THE WORLD’S WIDE OCEANS A round-the-world trip of two months and a busy month since returning have prevented me from selecting the usual kind of domestic topic for this column. So I crave the reader’s indulgence if I make a few observations resulting from my travels in northerly climes. A real highlight in my time overseas was a visit to the northern tip of the Canadian island of Newfoundland where the main features of note are the Viking Trail and passing icebergs. Artefacts and remnants are rather few here at the only authenticated site of Viking settlement in North America, but there are some substantial replica structures and good interpretive centre nearby. However, I simply found it quite fascinating to think how the plucky Norse voyagers made their way there from Iceland and Greenland a thousand years ago. Later, on the other side of the Atlantic, on my first ever visit to Portsmouth in England, I was pleased to notice an item of sculpture on the foreshore that was unveiled by the Queen some twenty years ago. It commemorates the fact that the First Fleet sailed from that vicinity in 1787 bound for Botany Bay and thus a new nation was founded. I went on to conjecture that the idea for the memorial’s creation was probably inspired by a similar memorial to the Pilgrim Fathers and the Mayflower’s departure for America in 1620 which, likewise inadvertently, I came across in Plymouth five years ago. So, at the ocean’s edge again, I had much food for thought. My mind soon turned to William Dampier and his voyages to New Holland a century earlier, a topic which I had written about in this column in March last. And it was in a tiny village library in Canada forsooth that I had lately come across and quickly digested a new biography of the talented buccaneer, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, by Diana and Michael Preston. The British couple had made a point of going to places the world over that Dampier had visited in his voyages of circumnavigation. In their judgement, he derserves greater recognition of scientific achievements, for he has been all too neglected, they maintain – ‘except in Western Australia’! Which brings us back to home base. CORRECTION: We regret that a typographical error crept into the Jack’s Back column in our last issue, and particularly as the piece was critical of the numerous errors in a new book that it reviewed. So, in correction, the film ‘Show Boat’ drew a patronage in Perth not of 48,6783 but simply of 48,673. – Editor.

Our Topic

‘Writing Stirling’

With Dr Pamela Statham Drew Pamela Statham Drew, our Friends of Battye President will be giving a talk on how she has written and researched her two Stirling Books – the 655 page book James Stirling Admiral and Founding Governor of Wetsern Australia published in 2003 by UWA Press, and the 64 page book James Stirling and the Birth of the Swan River Colony, self published in 2004. The first book involved a great amount of research and travel over a 7-year period with her husband Nick Drew. During this period Pamela was employed full time in the Economics Department of the University of Western Australia as a senior lecturer with the biggest class on campus with over 1000 students. This discussion will give an account of some of the amusing incidents that occurred during the research and insight into the amount of work involved in publishing these books.

We look forward to Dr Pamela Statham Drew’s discussion And

Buffet Dinner at the

Proclamation Day Meeting

26 October 2004. 5pm for 5.30pm.

SEE FLYER FOR FULL DETAILS

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INSIDE OUT

Gerard Foley Receives the Megan Sassi Award We are delighted to announce that Gerard Foley has received the Megan Sassi Award for Excellence in Reference Librarianship. The award commemorates Megan Sassi and her outstanding contribution to the State Library as a reference librarian. Gerard joined the Battye Library staff in 1989 and the citation paid tribute to his excellent reference skills and the proficient and cheerful way he deals with clients. It also acknowledged his work in the State Film Archives, his assistance with locating footage for clients and providing copies, and his careful selection of films to preserve adding to the subject matter available to them. A copy of the full citation will be included in the next edition of the Friends Newsletter. New Chief Executive Officer for the State Library At last the all important announcement about the appointment of a CEO. Margaret Allen will take up her appointment on 1 November. She has worked for the State Library of South Australia for many years as the equivalent of director of the State Reference Library, but also has acted as CEO for substantial periods. We look forward to welcoming her. We are very grateful to Claire Forte for the support she has given to the Battye Library in her long time as acting CEO and her genuine interest in our preservation issues. She has encouraged us in all our activities and been an advocate for preservation with the Minister and the Department of Culture and the Arts. Thank you Claire. Treasures at David Jones The treasures at David Jones exhibition was a great success with 1500 people visiting the gallery display over the two weeks of the exhibition. Many thousands more people would have seen the displays in the Murray Street Mall window, and on each of the floors, near escalators. Comments from visitors were very enthusiastic.

Report on the History Council of WA 2003/2004 For the Friends of Battye Library Annual General Meeting

20 July 2004 The Friends of Battye Library is a Corporate Member of the History Council which was established in 2003 to promote the study, preservation and use of history in Western Australia. In 2003 Jennie Carter was appointed as representative of the Friends of Battye Library on the History Council and later elected by Council members to the management committee. Jennie was re-elected to the committee for 2004/2005. Since its formation, the Council has been very busy producing a constitution and a strategic plan to guide the Council over its first four years. Funding has been received from the History Foundation of WA to assist the Council secure administration support and develop a website. Council membership is drawn from genealogical, historical and heritage organisations, universities, teacher groups and individuals. The current President of the Council is Dr Jenny Gregory. A major endeavour for 2004 is the 175th year conference to be held at the new conference centre 17-19 November. The Council is coordinating speakers and papers for the History stream of the conference. The Council’s 2nd Annual General Meeting was held on 25 August 2004. Jennie Carter

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• The library’s large collection of Western Australian postcards are being

reorganised and rehoused into albums which will make them more accessible to clients. Preserved portraits of World War 1 soldiers from the Adopt a soldier project have been organised into albums. A volunteer with an extensive knowledge of the goldfields area is assessing and documenting the Dwyer negatives of Kalgoorlie images.

• Private Archives volunteers are working on many collections and helping to

make them available to researchers. Among the notable papers dealt with are the Western Australian Turf Club, the Atkins Carlyle business records, the Peter V. Jones (North West Shelf Gas Project), the West Australian Shipping Association, Millars Timber Co. East Kirup Mill, the Ambrose Durack collection, and the Australian Association for Speech & Hearing (WA Branch).

• Two volunteers have been sorting, weeding out duplicates and listing

Ephemera materials. • In the Oral History collection, volunteers have been preparing lists of

contents and short synopses of interviews. One person has also helped to rehouse master tapes which have been placed in the ten degree storage vault to prolong their life. This process identified some missing copy tapes which were subsequently copied from the master tapes and placed in the reading room for clients to access.

• Volunteers have also been involved in indexing some Western Australian

serials including the Western Methodist 1899 to 1977. Preservation Services Volunteers have assisted Conservation staff with rehousing and listing negatives and original artworks. One skilled volunteer used a heat sealing machine to construct 280 folders to protect large items which were stored in plan cabinets. Another one sorted, listed and rehoused 4438 fragile plastic negatives from the Illustrations Ltd collection in preparation for further conservation work and preservation scanning. As a small, but heartfelt gesture of appreciation for the dedication, hard work and skill of Battye Library and State Records Office volunteers a Christmas lunch was held on 10 December 2003. Jennie Carter Valda Kiely Manager Battye Archival Collections Coordinator of Volunteers

Words like ‘wonderful’, ‘excellent’, ‘great’ were the most common. Then there was: ‘wish there was more’, ‘Great! Not enough, ‘a great recollection of history’, ‘so many memories’, ‘learned so much; thanks’, ‘great pictures & history’, ‘fabulous’, ‘fantastic history lesson’, ‘very nostalgic’, ‘beautiful exhibition’, ‘great to see history alive’, and ‘treasures not to be lost’. Congratulations Gerard Foley rates a second round of congratulations for receiving the Maryann Gomes Award from the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) and a grant towards travel costs to the AMIA Conference in Minneapolis in November 2004. This award honours the memory of Maryann Gomes, first Director of the North West Film Archives in Manchester, England. Maryann was a great believer in the power moving images have to document regional identity and issues. The Awards Committee and the Board of Directors all felt that Gerard’s work with the motion picture heritage of Western Australia as archivist in charge of State Film Archives is important, and wanted to provide him with opportunities that can help him meet the State Library’s mission. The award is for $US1000 towards costs of attending the conference, plus free registration and attendance at a pre-conference workshop of his choice, and a one-year individual membership to AMIA. We know Gerard will make very good use of the experience and have lots to tell us on his return. Book Launches and Talks It was my great privilege to visit Geraldton as a guest of the Council and the Geraldton Public Library to launch ‘Geraldton: a pictorial history’. The book was compiled by staff of the Library and volunteers, and is a first-rate representation of the town and its history. All those involved are to be congratulated on the many hours of work put in and the fine end product. While there I had the chance to speak to the oral history group and RWAHS members, and also discussed some of the issues involved with the local studies collection. A highlight for me was 93-year-old Charlie Phillips and his wife attending the launch to say hello.

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Charlie in 1984 and will always remember his marvellous sense of humour and the great tales he could tell. I was also honoured to launch Pamela Statham Drew’s latest book, ‘James Stirling and the birth of the Swan River Colony’. It is a short version of the excellent full biography of Stirling and is generously and superbly illustrated. Much useful and interesting information is there and it is a ‘must have’ for all schools and homes. I bought copies for each of the grandchildren. The New Norcia Library day in August was its usual success, with an outstanding keynote speaker in Tom Griffiths talking about his experience as a field archivist for the State Library of Victoria. How envious we were. Such a position in Western Australia is even more important because of this vast State, but it is not something we can fund. I was a member of the panel in the afternoon about some collecting and preservation issues, and a lively discussion followed. News of the Collections The most significant donation came from a family in Melbourne who donated an album of North West images. It contains very good photographs of Aboriginal people in the West Kimberley in the early part of the 20th century. The photographs reflect the traditions and way of life of Aboriginal people at that time taken by someone who clearly respected and admired his subjects. Recent donations to the oral history collection included 31 hours of tape from the Nannup Historical and Port Hedland Historical Societies, and People for Nuclear Disarmament (WA). One recent month of statistics from the Private Archives collection is worth repeating. There were 346 retrievals of Private Archives’ materials and 41.93m of material processed and made available for client use. This was assisted by 569 hours given to Battye Library collections and Preservation Services from volunteers. For example, Ian Murray completed the Atkins Carlyle and North Kalgurli Mines collections. Patrick Bunbury completed work on the Peter Jones

Report on Volunteers’ Activities 2003/2004 For the Friends of Battye Library Annual General Meeting

20 July 2004 This year 45 volunteers donated a total of 5,798 hours of their time and expertise to the Battye Library including Preservation Services. This translates to approximately 483 hours per month and is a 15% increase on the number of hours contributed last year. This is an outstanding achievement as last year was a 27% increase on 2002. The team of volunteers who work behind the scenes provide vital assistance to staff and help ensure that important collections are made accessible to clients. We welcome new volunteers Bobbette Albert (by arrangement with the Jarlmadangah Aboriginal Community), Lynley Edwards (retired Battye staff member), Elizabeth Russell, Nancy and Ross McKenzie, Richard Matthews and Natalie Weissbach. We also take pleasure in welcoming back Tess Thomson and Lesley Gilks. Our sincere thanks to Judy Gluyas who commenced in January 2004 researching collection histories for the Private Archives Manuscript Notes (MN) listings. Due to family illness, she has had to take indefinite leave and our thoughts and best wishes are with her at this time. Volunteers make a long term commitment to working with collections and assisting the library’s staff. Tasks carried out this year included sorting, listing, and rehousing items as well as undertaking research to locate background information which helps staff determine the origin or provenance of materials donated to the Battye Library. This work is vital and much valued by staff as well as appreciated by clients. The following is just a sample of the various projects the Battye Library’s volunteers have worked on this year. • Assessing the condition of films and making subject listings for future

retention and disposal decisions. Some large collections from the Aboriginal Affairs Department, the Agriculture Department, WAPET, Westrail and Midland Workshops were completed. This work turned up some unique and important film footage which has been earmarked for further preservation work.

• In the Pictorial collection one volunteer who has specialised knowledge

of the Prinsep and associated families has been sorting, documenting and listing this large and historically significant collection. Work is also being done to describe and list the Atkins Carlyle collection since the closure of that company.

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Turkey: presentation by Jen Ford NAA & general discussion staff & researchers, in February 2004 Fremantle & the Web: Jessica Morris re SRO’s “Crossing the bar’ website, in March 2004 Swan River Papers: Indexing project by volunteers Ann & Bruce Buchanan, in April 2004 Beyond Anzac: Tom Reynolds & James Butterfield re military records in SRO & NAA, and July 2004 Anthropologists in the archives: Mark Chambers NT researcher.

Launch of 1973 Cabinet papers at a media briefing on Foundation Day Mon 7 June 2004. The content of the 1973 cabinet papers received extensive coverage in the electronic and print media. The ABC’s ‘Stateline’ featured a story about the SRO about the lack of storage space for state archives on 6 Feb 2004. The story was prompted by comments made by the SRC in their annual report 2002/03. Geoff Bolton Lecture: inaugural lecture to be presented by the Premier at Government House 11 August. Two presentations of the Margaret Medcalf award occurred this year. On 18 August 2003 to Christine Choo (for Mission Girls) and Bruce and Ann Buchanan (for the Bugtool), and on 24 May 2004 to Steve Kinnane and Lauren Marsh for their article “Ghost files’ (Studies in WA History). SRO & NAA will combine resources to jointly promote Perth’s government archives collections to the general public at this year’s Royal Show.

Storage Since July 2001 the SRO has been unable to accept archival transfers from government agencies. Therefore more than 66% of archives remain with these agencies or are in commercial storage, thus hindering public access to these records. Two initiatives explored over the past year are the lease of space at NAA ( good storage conditions but presents only a short to medium term solution and use of a DCA owned facility at Welshpool (better option but requires fit out).

Volunteers Volunteers this year were Pat Paterson and Bruce and Ann Buchanan. Pat has continued her work on relabelling boxes and on inserting stable box liners to isolate our valuable archival heritage from the acid boxes in which they are kept. This is very labour intensive, but is a cost-effective way of converting poor storage into excellent storage. Pat has spent about 100 hours on this project. Ann and Bruce Buchanan finalised their guide to the Convict and Fremantle Prison records listed in AN 358; produced an index to the Swan River Papers; and are now working on a guide to a set of Group Settlement records. Based in Bunbury, the Buchanans travel up on a regular basis to spend two or three days at a time in the SRO. They have generously given copyright in all their guides to the SRO, and have provided several informative talks on their projects at Sandwich Seminars. I thank the FOBS for the support again this year. I also thanks Tom Reynolds for being the SRO representative on FOBS. I wish FOBS a successful 2004-05.

North West Shelf gas project papers and the Elaine Forrestal collections (children’s author), and Richard Jeffery the Scarborough parish records. In the State Film Archives, volunteer Alex George has done an expert job in prioritising Agriculture Department films that were amongst the unprocessed collections. Ronda Jamieson Director, Battye Library Coming Soon

Treasures of the Battye Library via the Internet The Battye Library is pleased to announce the imminent arrival of a new website that will showcase some of the many treasures held in the Battye Library's collections and make them available to the wider community via the Internet. The website will display an image of each treasure, provide some information about it, and give links to further sources of information. The project has been funded by the Friends of Battye Inc as part of the Maude Sholl Bequest. Maud Sholl was a well-wisher who left a substantial bequest for the use of the Friends of Battye Inc to be used for the compilation of finding aids and the editing of documents with the view to publication and otherwise for the Battye Library collections. This project is consistent with the aims of the project as the website will make unique resources from the Battye Library accessible to all. A launch is planned for later this year and further information will be included in a future issue of this newsletter. Dianne Calway Manager Battye Bibliographic Services

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Premier delivers inaugural Geoffrey Bolton Lecture

On Wednesday 11 August 2004, the Western Australian Premier, Dr Geoff Gallop, presented the inaugural Geoffrey Bolton Lecture at the Government House Ballroom before nearly three hundred people.

Named in honour of Professor Bolton, whose contribution to the field of history and archives in Western Australia has been significant, the annual lecture addresses the use and interpretation of archives and important issues in history and the meaning of society.

It is hoped that in the coming years the Geoffrey Bolton Lecture will attract speakers with national and international profiles.

Following the official launch of the Geoffrey Bolton Lecture by the Governor of Western Australia, His Excellency Lieutenant General Sanderson, Dr Gallop spoke for forty minutes on the many uses and interpretations of archives.

The Premier spoke about how archives make us accountable, allow us to interpret and reinterpret history, and are a record of our heritage. The Premier also observed that while archives are viewed as the raw materials from which history is made, at the same time cultural institutions contribute to inventing versions of a past through the active selection of documents that privilege certain types of memory over others. He argued that while most people assume that an archive is the raw material from which history is fashioned - that archives are factual, essential and immutable - increasingly an archive is being seen less as a repository of certainty and more as a facilitator for cultural debate. Rather than thinking of an archive as the raw material for history, perhaps it is more accurate to think of it as the semi-processed material from which history is manufactured.

Director of State Records - Report to AGM, 20 July 2004 Recordkeeping Plans 307 State and Local governments were required to submit their draft Plans to the SRO by 8 March 2004. 289 organisations (94%) met the deadline. The SRO has been very busy providing advice and assistance to a hugely diverse range of agencies in the preparation of their Plans, driving the State Records Advisory Committee, and providing support services to the State Records Commission. State Records Commission Guideline 3: Government record keeping in WA: A Guideline for Government employees, will shortly be available on the SRO website. All CEOs will be advised of its release.

WA Inc (Royal Commission) Records Project In Nov 2002 a project commenced to identify and document all WA Inc RC records that were transferred to the SRO in 1999 following the cessation of legal action by the DPP. This project was completed in January 2004. In April this year the State Records Commission reported to Parliament that all records of that RC are accounted for. Archive management system The SRO is currently introducing an archives management system that will replace the existing in-house database and will enable our clients to search our collection finding aids through the SRO website. The new system will also support the viewing of digitized images of State archives. Once the data base is online the SRO will have caught up within other State archival institutions & the NAA in making our collection more accessible to the wider community. We’re planning a Work For The Dole project to assist with converting the AN register into a database for subsequent uploading. Digital Recordkeeping Initiative and the Digital Records Working Group The SRO this year agreed to participate in the Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative (DRI), which aims to avoid our fall into digital amnesia. The aim is to come up with consistent Australasian standards and approach rather than everyone going their own way and replicating work effort. Locally we’re about to set up a Digital Records Working Group, which will feed off the DRI and feed into the DRI. The Scholl bequest Lifting the Bar website. A website dedicated and to highlight the State archives related to the first hundred years work on Fremantle harbour. Still not completed. The SRO thanks the FOBS for making this project a reality. We will certainly be advising FOBS when the project is completed. Sandwich seminars This year NAA staff and a native title researcher joined SRO staff as guest speakers to present in November 2003 Talking

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citations and handed the awards to recipients Mollie Lukis, Leslie Marchant and Sir Charles Court (in absentia). It was so good that the late Professor Marchant was able to attend that meeting and accept the award, which recognized a lifetime of scholarship, in front of his family and friends. We also pipped the Government in our award to Mollie Lukis, for as most of you will know Molly was recently mentioned in the Australian honour awards with an OAM. Our first function for 2004 on March 9th was a double-banger. We had guest speaker Dr Cathie Clement throwing light on ‘the History Wars’, preceded by a ceremony in which the Premier, Hon. Dr Gallop, accepted on behalf of Battye Library, Derek Keene’s wonderful photographic collection of the Hall’s Creek community. The Premier stayed for Cathie’s talk and was clearly as interested and intrigued as the rest of us with the “Humpty-Dumpty” analogy she used to throw light on what has been a sometimes bitter debate. The dinner that followed was also very well attended. Our May meeting at noon on the 11th was less well attended – which was a shame as Ric McCracken gave a lively talk on the Midland Workshops History Project. Many people find lunch time meetings difficult to attend due to work commitments, so your committee has suggested that we return to our original 5pm slot for future meetings. Your committee has, as always, worked behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. I am particularly grateful to our Vice President, Gillian O’Mara, who has stood in for me when needed, and our Secretary, Carol Leigh, who due to work commitments is not standing for re-election. Our volunteers have served us well and deserve heartfelt thanks for their efforts, which will be reported separately. A very special vote of thanks to Lindsay Peet who has very generously donated money for special Battye Library projects and to HRRC to provide the private support that Lotterywest expected for our grant application. Lindsay’s much appreciated donations are a tribute to his parents Cyril and Ethel Peet. Another welcome donation of $5000 was received from Denise Peggs and Steve Bizzaca for a project approved by their daughter Kris Bizzaca in discussion with Battye Library curatorial staff. Kris is an active and valued member of the Historical Records Rescue Consortium, as is Lindsay. There are exciting plans in line for more events in the coming year – foreshadowed by today’s speaker, Dr Jenny Gregory, who will throw a little more light on her recent history of the modern city of Perth. Assoc. Professor Pamela Statham Drew, July 2004

Underlying the Premier's inaugural Geoffrey Bolton oration was the belief that essentially archives are about people - about where they could live, whom they lived with and how they lived. The Premier's observation that archives are not only a record of our society, but are what give our society depth and substance, was well received by all.

The following is an extract from Dr Gallop’s lecture. To view the text of the entire lecture, please refer to the “Current Speeches” section of the Premier’s website, at http://www.premier.wa.gov.au/main.cfm?MinId=01&Section=0054

This evening is a recognition of the contribution of Professor Bolton to Western Australian society, and an opportunity to pause and reflect upon the significance of Western Australia’s 175th anniversary and the many uses and interpretations of those archives which document our history. Geoffrey Bolton is the patron saint of Western Australian history. No one has done more to promote the study of Western Australian history and encourage new and thought provoking interpretations of its content. Quite appropriately he has always treated Western Australia as both a jurisdiction and a community in its own right and not as a footnote to something we call Australian history. He takes the State and its history seriously. He has encouraged us to think of ourselves through the perspective of our families, our neighbourhoods and our workplaces and also to be inclusive, to think of ‘the other’ and reflect upon how different people experience what it means to be a Western Australian not only today but yesterday and the years before that. This takes me to the title of tonight’s lecture – “The use and interpretation of archives”. To that I now add the subtitle: “Taking Ourselves Seriously”. Thinking about, writing about and talking about Western Australian history requires good archives and a commitment to promote them. That’s why I have made a public event of our release of the 30-year-old Cabinet Records and can say that the response of the media has been positive and constructive.

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Of course, Cabinet Records are pretty easy to define and identify but is that the case for all archives? I would suggest that most people assume that an archive is the raw material from which history is fashioned – that archives are factual, essential and immutable. No doubt those who worked in the early part of the twentieth century to save and protect government records from destruction, and whose work led to the eventual creation of the State archives collection, believed that they were building a solid institution to document a society. Archives give substance and depth to that society – certainly the fundamental tenets of good record keeping go to the heart of good government, and archives (those records of permanent value) are the outcome of good governance, but the unspoken part of the social contract between the people and its governments includes an expectation that cultural heritage will be identified, preserved and made available for all. State archives are an important part of our cultural heritage. They do, after all, document the many interactions of government with citizens, either directly to an individual or collectively through the work of government. Rather than thinking of an archive as the raw material for history, perhaps it is more accurate to think of it as the semi-processed material from which history is manufactured. I’m told that the process for determining what is kept and what is not is known as “sentencing”. This term is a good one in that it captures the seriousness of the decision and the consequences that can flow. We deem what is important, what reflects our society the best. We judge what will be useful for future generations. But as our future generations will probably use the State’s collection in ways we have yet to imagine – how can we be sure we are including the best information? How can we be sure we are not culling what may actually be most valuable?…

year she was further honoured by being awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to the preservation and recording of Australia’s cultural heritage, particularly through the National Trust of Australia and the Royal WA Historical Society. The award related to her work since retiring as State Archivist, and acknowledged that heritage continues to be her passion and something to which she gives generously of her time. Mollie Lukis’ work will outlast her lifetime. Her work in enhancing archival collections to enable people to trace the history of individuals, families, organisations, businesses, government, cities and towns will live forever. We honour Mollie Lukis for providing the gift of the past so we can understand the present and enrich our future. We are grateful to those who have been awarded the Mollie Lukis Award for carrying on the tradition. Ronda Jamieson

President’s report 2003 – 2004

Friends of Battye Library Inc.

Annual General Meeting, 20 July 2004

The past 12 months have been a landmark for the Friends in that we have sponsored the largest lottery application ever, to assist with Battye Library’s preservation programme. Details of that application have been given elsewhere but I want to thank you all for helping the Historical Records Rescue Consortium gain community support for our project. That was by far the toughest part of our assignment, and to all of you who either did the questionnaire, signed a petition and got others to sign, I offer my personal thanks. The HRRC committee did a super job, but the help of the Friends was immeasurable. Our Treasurer, David Jones, needs a special thank you in this regard as he has handled all the invoices and payments to our consultants. Now for our own activities over the past year. Early October saw the launch of Katitjin: a Guide to Indigenous records in the Battye Library compiled by Heather Campbell. This was also a landmark publication as it is the first of our “Guides” to have been published principally on line – although hard copies are available. Proclamation Day 2003, on the 21st October, was a special meeting for the presentation of our Gems of Time Awards. Professor Bolton read the

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State's prospects of having an extensive and reliable collection of government archives, especially in this era where digital records are so ubiquitous, looked gloomy. The work of the Recordkeeping Plan Team has without doubt increased the awareness of proper government recordkeeping practices, and we will have better government archives as a result of these efforts. After the presentation of the awards by Tony Caravella, Director of the State Records Office, Dr Ronda Jamieson, Director of the Battye Library, spoke briefly about some aspects of the life of Mollie Lukis. An article appeared in the ‘Western Mail’ in March 1945 about her appointment. She was quoted as saying that the job would outlast her lifetime. At the time she was not only the first woman but only the third archivist in Australia to be appointed. There were many more trailblazing aspects to Mollie’s career. She was educated at a girls’ school and gained her BA degree with honours at UWA in 1931, receiving a Diploma of Education two years later. She taught in girls’ schools in England and Australia before being one of the first women to hold the position of meteorologist in Australia, working for the Munitions Supply Laboratory during the War. When you study the history of the Battye Library, it is full of the dedication of Mollie Lukis and her colleague and successor Margaret Medcalf in searching for and gathering up from all over the State, government and private records. These were then carefully sorted, listed, indexed and made available. Local history collections were started and enriched in country public libraries with copies of material that were sent to them from the Battye Library’s collections. During her time as State Archivist, Mollie Lukis started the first oral history program in any State Library in 1961. She conducted several interviews herself and the choices she made about interviews are remarkable. Her interviews included a bullock driver, an aviation pioneer, and an engineer who worked with C Y O’Connor. She undertook a project where she interviewed five Collie coalminers and three wives of coalminers. She says in her own oral history that back in the 1960s when these interviews were done, she did not believe the Collie coal mining industry would last and she wanted a record of working in the mines while it was possible to capture these memories. Mollie Lukis has accumulated many honours over the years, including an OBE, honorary doctorate and being made a Fellow of the Library Board. This

It is a wonderful thing that we still have archives from settlement 175 years ago and that we are able to use the paper and parchment on which they were created – but what will people 175 years from now know about our digital society? The online storage of archives raises a series of issues that have not existed before. These are issues that mainly centre on access and privacy. In an archival context, these two issues are opposing forces. The modern debate is really access versus privacy. Access to War Service Records has created a huge and fiery debate. It is a very contentious issue. Should these records be published online? If these Records are available online, it means that anyone at

anytime can access them. Another example is the publication of the National Census online. Our last Census gathered detailed information of every person within Australia. The Census is an archive; it is a treasure trove for future historians.

Should the Census be available online? Should details of every person in Australia be online? Is this an unacceptable invasion of people’s privacy? How do we balance access and privacy? This is a complex question, and not one that I can answer tonight. It is certainly a question worthy of the debate it has created. We do need to find an answer, or at least a balance, in order to maintain the integrity of archives and the right to personal privacy. Archivists, and increasingly historians, then, are always conscious that there are human forces at work at the point of creation of records and then in the decisions that go into selecting some records as having archival value, to be kept forever, over others that are destroyed as unimportant.

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The Mollie Lukis Award for Excellence in Archival Practice

There was more excitement than usual at the presentation of this year’s Mollie Lukis Award because of the number of people the award celebrated. The joint winners were Toni Munro from Preservation Services in the State Library, and the Recordkeeping Plan Team of the State Records Office. The team, led by Isabel Smith, included Anne Gill, Martin Fordham, Lena Stekl, Jessica Morris, Lise Summers, Damien Hassan, Vera Novak, Marelda Kelly, and Doug Carrie. The Award is in its 4th year and commemorates the exceptional first State Archivist, Miss Mollie Lukis. It is presented for:

An outstanding contribution to any aspect of appraising, collecting, arranging, preserving and making available Western Australian materials which reflect the cultural heritage of Western Australia.

The citation for Toni Munro’s Award covered the two-year review of the Battye Library film and negative collections to determine their state, the extent of deterioration, and recommendations for preservation. Her significant contribution to preserving and making these collections available to the public of Western Australia deserved recognition. Toni displays enthusiasm, dedication and commitment to her work, a commendable attention to detail, and is tireless in producing a high-quality result. In addition, she guides and supports the Preservation Services team and Battye Library staff and volunteers in preservation of film and photographic collections. Drawing on her technical knowledge, computer skills and intimate knowledge of the collections Toni sorted, identified film base, arranged materials for archival storage, and developed condition reporting layouts. She undertook research worldwide to arrive at the best solutions, drawing on her highly-developed analytical skills to highlight problems, apply corrective measures, and prepare progress reports for management. Toni was a major contributor to the successful completion of the ‘Save our Film’ project sponsored by Lotterywest and the State Library Custodians. The copying of motion picture films and sound tracks is complex and Toni oversaw this process. Largely due to her efforts, the Battye Library is one of the first institutions in Australia to provide DVD public access copies of the heritage film collection.

A pilot program instigated by Toni on the pictorial negative collection was completed that investigated and developed tender specifications for a high-end scanner to cover all formats. She was instrumental in developing specifications and guidelines to allow the preservation of the negatives. Preservation Services staff are now scanning this material under Toni’s guidance. The end result is most commendable and deserving of recognition. The State Records Office Recordkeeping Plan team has been working for more than two years on setting up the new State Recordkeeping regime under the State Records Act 2000 (“the Act”). Their work has been an outstanding contribution to making available Western Australian materials which reflect the cultural heritage of this State. It has enabled the SRO to collect, appraise, and make available, cultural material created by State and local government, with greater certainty, comprehensiveness, and reliability. The team developed the processes and systems, delivered the training, and answered the many enquiries from more than 300 government agencies regulated by the Act. SRO was asked to carry out the new and additional functions, including the development of software solutions, basically within existing resources. Members of the team developed systems, principles, standards, guidelines, templates, evaluation checklists, and internal procedures. A short period of time was provided in the Act for government organisations to be compliant with the Recordkeeping Plan regime. The team worked tirelessly to ensure that the entire State and local government sector clearly understood what was required. By the due date for the submission of Recordkeeping Plans on 7 March 2004, 289 plans had been received out of the 307 total, or 94 per cent. By the end of June all had been received; an outstanding effort. The team encountered resistance including from the powerful and vocal LGA elected member cohort and by the WA Local Government Association. It was common for record creators who are subject to the Act (in excess of 100,000 in WA) to fear its provisions might be implemented in a heavy-handed way. Due to the diplomacy and tact of the team, those fears were unfounded and the team received acclaim and positive feedback. Without this effort, the