RAHS Upcoming Events
The Royal Australian Historical Society has an established tradition of delivering a diverse Calendar of Events throughout the year, helping make history accessible to all. This program includes lectures, skills-based workshops, regional seminars, tours and book launches.
The annual RAHS Conference is a highlight of the Society’s activities. It provides an opportunity for the RAHS and its Affiliated Societies to network at a conference dedicated to promoting local and community history, showcasing the research of individuals and societies.
October 2024
RAHS Day Lecture – Mapping the colony: The intriguing contributions of Francis Barrallier
Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 2 October 2024 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm
Event Location: Online via Zoom
Cost: Free
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Event Description:
The French refuge Francis Barrallier – surveyor, cartographer, engineer and explorer – made significant contributions to NSW colonial endeavours from 1800 to 1803 but fell victim to the feuding between his fellow Rum Corps officers and Governor King. His talents were employed in the West Indies instead. In this talk, Andy Macqueen will argue that Barrallier’s French origin and associations influenced his undertakings and his fate in the colony.
About the speaker:
Andy Macqueen OAM is a Blue Mountains historian. He has produced six books and many other works, including several peer-reviewed papers published by the Blue Mountains Association of Cultural Heritage Organisations. His topics include colonial exploration and first contact, surveying, and conservation history. His latest book is The Frenchman: Francis Barrallier, life and journeys 1773–1853 (2024).
2024 RAHS Conference at Campbelltown
The Green showing the trees planted by Alderman J.T. Bottin, c.1910 (Image Courtesy CAHS)
Event Date & Time: Saturday 26 – Sunday 27 October 2024
Event Location: Campbelltown Catholic Club
Conference Theme: Windows into Local History
Bookings must close by 10 October 2024
Event Description:
Local history, with its intimate view of the past, is a key to understanding the interconnectedness of history at all levels. It reveals how global and national events have shaped local communities and how local events have contributed to the Australian story.
The 2024 RAHS Conference will be a fantastic opportunity to engage with local history and discover what it can reveal about your community. The conference will take place in Campbelltown, on the traditional lands of the Dharawal People. It is the perfect site for our conference as the region’s rich tapestry of heritage sites, landmarks, and festivals reflects the development and diversity of New South Wales.
November 2024
RAHS Day Lecture – The Antipodean Laboratory: Re-reading colonial archives
Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 6 November 2024 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm
Event Location: Online via Zoom
Cost: Free
Event Description:
What if the Australian colonies, far flung and usually considered peripheral to nineteenth-century Europe, were in fact central to the period’s philosophical, ethical, and scientific developments? This talk explores this provocative idea, showing how Australia was a key colonial field where British ideas could be trialled in experimental sites that transformed and distilled them before returning them as textual and material artefacts through circuits of correspondence and print culture.
About the speaker:
Anna Johnston is Professor of English at The University of Queensland. Anna has held ARC Queen Elizabeth II and Future Fellowships at UTAS and UQ, and she was the 2022 John Oxley Honorary Research Fellow, State Library of Queensland. Her major books include The Antipodean Laboratory: Making Colonial Knowledge, 1770–1870 (CUP, 2023); Eliza Hamilton Dunlop: Writing from the Colonial Frontier (SUP, 2022, edited with Elizabeth Webby); The Paper War: Morality, Print Culture, and Power in Colonial New South Wales (UWAP, 2011); and Missionary Writing and Empire, 1800–1860 (CUP, 2003).
RAHS-HHA Evening Event – In the House with Kate Fitzpatrick
This event is in partnership with Historic Houses Association
Event Date & Time: Tuesday, 12 November 2024 @ 6.00 pm – 7.30 pm
Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000
Cost: RAHS & HHA members $35 | Non-members $40
Event Description:
We are delighted to announce that the Royal Australian Historical Society, in partnership with the Historic Houses Association, will host a special joint event at History House. Tamar Kelly will interview Kate Fitzpatrick and explore Kate’s extraordinary career that spans theatre, film, and television.
Star of Australia’s stage and screen, artist’s muse, writer and trailblazing commentator Kate Fitzpatrick has been hailed a National Treasure for good reason. Career highlights include playing Magenta in the original Australian production of the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’, opening the Opera House in 1973 with the ‘Three Penny Opera’, being the first woman in the world to call the cricket, and most recently touring Australia in ‘Gaslight’. In 2025, you can catch her in Renny Harlin’s latest film, ‘Deep Water’. We chat to Kate about her several appearances at the Opera House, time spent with Brett Whiteley, Martin Sharpe and Charles Blackman at the Yellow House and everything in between – including a rich and rambunctious collaboration with writer Patrick White.
Tamar Kelly landed her first acting role at age seven and spent weekends running backstage at the Sydney Opera House or whirling around a ballet studio. She has worked all over the world as a performer, writer, teacher and producer. Tamar is currently at Carriageworks in Redfern where she produced the Yellamundie Festival, ‘swim’ for Griffin Theatre and ‘Gilgamesh’ with Sydney Chamber Opera and Opera Australia, among others. Tamar loves exploring the techniques and inspirations of creatives and is excited to work with HHA to bring you a series of ‘In the House’ interviews.
Join us as we delve into the creative life of a true National Treasure in what promises to be a captivating conversation, connecting Australia’s past and present through art and performance.
RAHS-WEA Workshop – Stepping Ashore: Researching Passenger Arrivals in the Australian Colonies
Circular Quay, c.1935 (RAHS Collection).
This event is in partnership with WEA Sydney
Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 13 November 2024 @ 11.00 am – 1.00 pm
Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000
Cost: RAHS members $35 | Non-members $39
Event Description:
Explore the methods and resources that can be used to uncover the records of individuals who immigrated to the Australian colonies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This course also delves into the historical significance of immigration, providing participants with the skills to access primary and secondary sources, with a focus on accessing and interpreting ship’s passenger records, government archives, newspapers, and personal narratives.
About the speaker:
Christine Yeats is an archivist, historical researcher and active supporter of local historical societies. Her research interests include the history of the Romani (Gypsies) in nineteenth-century Australia and attempts to introduce a silk industry into the Australian colonies. Christine has undertaken a range of consultancy projects, including significance assessments and biographical and local history research. She is President of the Federation of Australian Historical Society, Senior Vice President of the RAHS and a member of the Professional Historians Association (NSW & ACT). Her recent publication is Handy Guide: Convict Records of NSW: The Human Stories of the Transportation System (2021).
RAHS Special Lecture – Life So Full of Promise: Further Biographies of Australia’s Lost Generation
Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 20 November 2024 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm
Event Location: Online via Zoom
Cost: Free
Event Description:
Life So Full of Promise, winner of the 2024 Age Book of the Year Award, is Ross McMullin’s second multi-biography about Australia’s lost generation of World War I following Farewell, Dear People, winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History. Ross has again combined extensive research and narrative flair in another collection of inter-woven stories about forgotten Australians who had radiant potential. With their families and friends also conspicuous in the narratives, Life So Full of Promise illuminates what the war was like at home and at the sharp end. It provides insights into the experiences of Australians before, during and after the war, whether they were combatants or civilians, or soldiers’ wives or parents.
About the speaker:
Ross McMullin is an award-winning historian and biographer, and a renowned storyteller and speaker. His biography of Australia’s most famous fighting general, Pompey Elliott, won multiple awards. His other books, including his acclaimed ALP centenary history The Light on the Hill, are featured on his website: https://rossmcmullin.com.au.
December 2024
RAHS History House Seminar – Writing History: Some Tips and Taboos
Event Date & Time: Tuesday, 3 December 2024 @ 11.00 am – 1.00 pm
Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000
Cost: RAHS members $20 | Non-members $25
CLICK HERE TO BUY A TICKET
Event Description:
How do you turn your historical research into readable history? Historians don’t simply ‘write up’ their research – or let AI do it for them. Writing history is a literary endeavour. This seminar discusses the nature of historical writing and provides some tips on history writing for people who would like to see their research published – and read.
About the speaker:
Richard White taught Australian history at the University of Sydney from 1989 to 2013, supervising over 100 honours and doctoral theses. His own publications include Inventing Australia, The Oxford Book of Australian Travel Writing, On Holidays and Symbols of Australia. He co-edited History Australia, the journal of the Australian Historical Association, from 2008 to 2013, mentored early-career academics and has been a judge for a range of History prizes.
RAHS Day Lecture – A Nation Divided: The Sister Liguori Affair, 1920–21
Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 4 December 2024 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm
Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000
Cost: Free
CLICK HERE TO BOOK A TICKET
Event Description:
When in 1920 an Irish Catholic nun, fearful she was about to be murdered by her mother superior, fled her convent in Wagga Wagga and sought the protection of the Orange Lodge, it sparked a sectarian war that divided the Australian nation. The story of Sister Liguori is a remarkable tale which, if written as a novel, would be considered too far-fetched to be acceptable as a serious work of fiction. Yet it is a true story, full of tragedy and farce with an unholy mix of politics and religion.
About the speaker:
Dr Jeff Kildea is a retired barrister and honorary professor in Irish Studies at the University of New South Wales. In 2014 he held the Keith Cameron Chair of Australian History at University College Dublin. He has written extensively on the history of the Irish in Australia. His books include Tearing the Fabric: Sectarianism in Australia 1910–1925. His latest book is Sister Liguori: The Nun who Divided a Nation.