Do you recall members of your family sitting by the wireless listening to the voice of the radio announcer in your lifetime, or the voice of a person sharing their own account of an actual experience in recent times? Perhaps you have searched online and discovered extensive oral stories telling personal experiences. If you have engaged in active listening, you will be aware of the enduring legacy oral stories bring to an informed society.
On June 5 and 6, State Library of Queensland hosted a 2 day oral history workshop as part of Playback, an OPAL (Online Public Access Libraries) project supporting Queensland public libraries who identified significant oral histories in their collections and submitted them to State Library for digitisation and long-term preservation.
Workshop members at State Library of Queensland
Twenty-four local history and specialist librarians, archivists and cultural heritage officers attended the workshop to explore various aspects of oral histories. Guest speaker Alistair Thomson, Professor of History, Monash University, Oral Historian and author, shared his experience of working on the joint Australian Generations Oral History project, and followed with a master-class on what constitutes a great oral history interview.
Guest speaker Professor Alistair Thomson talks to the audience attending the Playback Oral History Workshop
Professor Alistair Thompson leads a master-class for workshop participants
Independent radio producer and oral historian, Hamish Sewell also contributed to the workshop, sharing his work on the Story Project and his latest project involving oral stories being told through sound trail technology. Both sessions were filmed and will be available on State Library website shortly.
Independent radio producer and oral historian, Hamish Sewell at State Library of Queensland
The contents of the material submitted by public libraries, museums and historical groups include personal tales and accounts of early settlement in local areas, the effects of WWII on a northern community, the history of the sugar industry, connection to country and German settlement.
In stage two of Playback, library staff and heritage workers from Mapoon, Balonne, Townsville, Mourilyan, Mitchell, Gold Coast City, Moreton Bay Regional Council, James Cook University and the Redlands City Council will begin to plan an event to showcase the newly digitised oral stories in their communities later this year.
Jane and Diane meet at the Playback Oral History Workshop
Kelly of Moreton Bay Regional Libraries meets Robyn from Townsville City Libraries
Thank you to all SLQ staff who contributed to the workshops and to all who will assist with the online access of the content.
Oral stories! Have you listened recently?
If you would like to view some of the activity during the workshop check the twitter hashtag #playbackslq
Anne Scheu – Distributed Collections Coordinator and Chrissi Theodosiou – A/Senior Research Officer, State Library of Queensland