Noticeboard
National Library of Australia Fellowships
Applications are now open for the 2012 Harold White Fellowships, the Minerals Council of Australia Fellowship and the Japan Fellowship. Fellowships at the National Library offer researchers, scholars and writers unparalleled opportunities to delve into the Library's rich collections and are awarded for 3-6 months.
Closing date for applications April 30, 2011.
More information, a link to the online application form, and contact details are available at http://www.nla.gov.au/services/awards.html.
Australian Prime Ministers Centre Fellowships at the Museum of Australian Democracy, for 2011-12
The Centre awards Fellowships to researchers interested in the history, origins, traditions and contemporary practice of Australian democracy, in particular proposals with a focus on Australian prime ministers. Projects may draw on relevant collections held in Canberra, elsewhere in Australia or overseas.
Closing date: 1 July 2011.
For application forms and further information see: www.moadoph.gov.au/research/research-program or contact David Jolliffe, the Centre's Assistant Manager: David.jolliffe@moadoph.gov.au; (02) 6270 8239
For the Landscape
In the recent book More Than Luck: Ideas Australia needs now, published by the Centre for Policy Development, Ben Eltham argues that 'Australian culture is rich, deep and diverse and our new federal cultural policy should recognise this'.
The CPD website (http://morethanluck.cpd.org.au/sharingtheluck/cultural-policy-in-australia/comment-page-1/#comment-674) is calling for comments about any aspect of federal cultural policy. I have posted a comment (see extract below) seeking recognition of the Australian landscape as a significant and threatened aspect of our culture:
"There is no part of Australia untouched by humans; therefore the whole country is cultural landscape. First Aboriginal people shaped the land, then white people shaped the land. Our cultural landscape includes all the areas we think of as ¡§natural¡¨ and all the places we know are influenced by humans ¡V the roadside planting of Lombardy poplars near country towns, the windbreaks of radiata pine sheltering farmhouses, the persistence of Victorian era floral clocks and other plantings spelling out significant local events, the winding old rivers and their billabongs, the city streets rarely defined by anything distinctively Australian, similarly urban and suburban public and private spaces which could often be anywhere in the world."
Shirley Pipitone
Inside children's minds: Children's imagination in the stories they tell (not write)
I would like to give DVDs of my manuscripts to interested fellow scholars who are free to use the material as they like, as I cannot find a publisher and I think these are important and unique books. The stories were told to me in a one-to-one situation, and taken down verbatim in shorthand and illustrated with their drawings.
- Vol 1: Stories about their lives told by troubled and disadvantaged children.
- Vol 2: Stories about the world, told by fortunate and unfortunate children.
If you would like a DVD, email me with your address. I would be glad to send one to you gratis.
Valerie Yule, email val@yule.id.au
Reflections on writing
'In fifteen years, writing has gone from "reflecting on what happened and putting together some coherent thoughts" to "reflecting on what happened as quickly as possible" to "reflecting on what's happening as it is happening" to "here are my half-baked thoughts about absolutely anything".
US Sports Columnist, Bill Simmons (quoted in Peninsula Historian Vol 4 #3 March 2011 p 4)
Ask a librarian
In the December 2010-January 2011 issue of Newswrite, Kirsten Krauth interviewed Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville about writerly resources and how to research the State Library of NSW. While ISAA members are more than familiar with the Library and its material, the article contains useful website addresses, for example: Indigenous collections; oral history, manuscript and pictures sites; 'databases at home' and the various information services.