School of Humanities and Social Science, The University of Newcastle 2012, Semester 1
Held in the Cultural Collections (near the Information Desk) Level 2, Auchmuty Library, Callaghan Campus
Friday 1st June, 10:00am, followed by morning tea
Dr Elizabeth Roberts-Pederson,
University of Western Sydney
“Some measure of revolution”: physical treatments for war neurosis in Britain, 1939-1945
During the Second World War, thousands of British service personnel were treated for ‘war neurosis’ in the psychiatric wards of military and civilian hospitals in Britain and overseas. While historians of psychiatry have tended to emphasize the rise of ‘therapeutic communities’ during this period as a new and innovative means of rehabilitating neurotic service personnel, less attention has been given to the widespread use of what medical practitioners termed ‘physical treatments’ to mitigate neurotic symptoms.
In this paper I argue that the wartime adoption of drug therapies, insulin comas, convulsive therapies and prefrontal leucotomies for the treatment of neurotic conditions holds implications not only for the ways in which we understand the development of psychopharmacology and the ‘biological turn’ in psychiatry in the latter half of the twentieth century, but for our conceptualization of the problematic relationship between psychiatric theory and psychiatric practice in wartime.
School of Humanities and Social Science, The University of Newcastle 2012, Semester 1
Held in the Cultural Collections (near the Information Desk) Level 2, Auchmuty Library, Callaghan Campus Friday 4th May, 10:00am, followed by morning tea
Professor Lyndall Ryan
Centre for the History of Violence, Newcastle University
“Was New Zealand part of New South Wales 1788-1817?”
When Captain Arthur Phillip the first governor of New South Wales, read out his commission at Sydney on 26 January 1788 he said that the boundaries of the colony extended from Cape York in the north to South Cape, all the country westward as far as 135 degrees east and “including all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean” between Cape York and South Cape.
Did Phillip’s jurisdiction include New Zealand? Between 1788 and 1817 the governors of NSW were in no doubt that NZ was part of the territory of NSW and encouraged trade and missionary enterprise between the two places. However in 1817 the British government ruled that NZ was not part of NSW. This paper explores the ways historians on both sides of the Tasman have written about this period in relation to their countries’ histories and argues for a new approach to trans-Tasman history.
School of Humanities and Social Science, The University of Newcastle 2012, Semester 1
Held in the Cultural Collections (near the Information Desk) Level 2, Auchmuty Library, Callaghan Campus
Friday 23rd March, 10:00am, followed by morning tea
Emeritus Professor Alan Ward
Is a treaty any use at all? A perspective from restless New Zealand
Since the 1960s there have been insistent proposals for a ‘treaty’ (or ‘Makarata’) between the Commonwealth and Australian Aboriginal people, as a basis for Aboriginal advancement. Lately the trend has been towards explicit recognition of Aboriginal rights in the federal Constitution. Arguments in support of such proposals sometimes include reference to the allegedly better race relations in New Zealand, allegedly deriving from the Treaty of Waitangi concluded between representatives of the British Crown and some 530 Maori rangatira in 1840. There is an assumption that the Treaty of Waitangi has constitutional force, or the force of fundamental law, against which statute law and the received common law are measured. This talk will examine those assumptions.
School of Humanities and Social Science, The University of Newcastle
2012, Semester 1
Held in Cultural Collections (near the Information Desk) Level 2, Auchmuty Library, Callaghan Campus
10am, followed by morning tea
Friday 9th March – 10am
Prof. Michael Rosenthal, Warwick University, England Edward Close: Prospects of the Colony
In 2009 Dr David Hansen discovered that the watercolours attributed to amateur colonial artist, Sophia Campbell were the work of Lieutenant Edward Close, of the 48th Regiment, which arrived in Sydney on August 3rd, 1817. This paper builds on Dr Hansen’s foundation, to discuss some of the technical problems surrounding even knowing what we’re looking at in the field of colonial Australian art, and works are discussed according to their genre – caricatures, views, landscapes – and the latter are investigated with a view to decoding what messages their aesthetic references tell us about how Close was viewing New South Wales, Sydney and Newcastle. These in turn are linked into other issues – the ethos of the Macquarie era, the impact of European occupation upon the Aborigines and their places – to argue that art can be as eloquent as any written documentation about the actualities of historical process.
The Newcastle Heraldhas been of great assistance yet again by publishing one of our photos in its fascinating A moment in time series. On Saturday 14 January 2012, they published the above photo showing some teacher trainees, asking for people to identify the young faces, and, in the same column on Saturday 21 January, they reported the information kindly supplied by members of the public.
Trevor Fullerton emailed the Herald to say he was pictured on the far right of last week’s photo.
Mr Fullerton said it was taken at The Junction Demonstration School in 1956 when Newcastle Teachers’ College was located in Union Street, Newcastle.
“It was the first demonstration lesson observed by a group of students in their initial year of training, ” he said.
“The [standing] students are, from left to right, Jocelyn Driscoll, Brian Evans, Patricia Dark, Bill Fowles and Trevor Fullerton.”
David and Dale Dark of Clarence Town also sent an email, saying they had called David’s sister Patricia Dark, (now Menzies) who now lives at Dorrigo and remembers the photo being taken.
Many thanks to the Herald and to Mr Fullerton, Mr and Mrs Dark and Mrs Menzies!
If you wish to see the full-sized photo, click on the image on this page. Former Newcastle Teachers’ College students may also be interested to see the rest of the photos in the set, Newcastle Teachers’ College, on our Flickr site.
Tug-o-War at Northern (Rhondda) Colliery Picnic, 1957
This wonderful photo appeared in The Newcastle Herald on Saturday 19 November in its excellent A moment in time series. The photo is of a tug-o-war and was taken at a works picnic attended by management and workers of Northern (Rhondda) Colliery, near Teralba, New South Wales. It was taken by the late Vic Ash and provided to us by Barry Howard who identified some of the people as follows:
On the rope, from right to left – Jack White (at front, closest to camera), Peter Murray (Mine Manager), Norm Ward, unidentified man, Dawson Robertson.
The man holding the little girl, third from right, is “Nugget” Hayden.
Since the photo appeared in The Newcastle Herald, more information has been supplied by members of the public. On Saturday 26 November, The Herald reported:
Argenton’s Francis Fenwick called in to say his daughter had recognised him in the photo (above) published last week, standing on the very right behind the boy with dark hair.
Known as “Fenno” and now 87, Fenwick was a bulldozer driver for carrying company Hawkins and worked at the Rhondda Colliery for two and a half years.
He said he remembered manager Jack White and superintendent Peter Murray as if it were yesterday.
On Saturday 3 December, The Newcastle Herald reported:
Elaine White recognised her late husband Jack White at the front of the rope in the picture of the Miners Picnic at the Northern (Rhondda) Colliery in 1957.
Mr White died in 1979.
The man behind him, Peter Murray, died six years ago.
“I can tell you it was the staff versus the miners and the staff did pull the miners across the line,” she wrote.”
On Saturday 10 December The Herald reported:
Patricia McBlane sent an email to point out her husband Norm McBlane in the photo published on November 19 of the Northern (Rhondda) Colliery picnic in 1957.
She said her husband, then 14, is pictured at the far right of the photo.
His father Doug (Jock) McBlane worked in the mines and called events from the microphone at the picnics.
It is great to receive information about the people in our photos. Our Flickr site has been a boon in this regard, and now the publication in The Newcastle Herald of this and other photos from our collections has added greatly to our knowledge, and given pleasure to those who recognise themselves or loved ones in the photos.
Our thanks go to Helen Gregory of The Newcastle Herald for publishing the photo, the late Vic Ash for taking it, Barry Howard for supplying it to us, and, of course, Mr Fenwick, Mrs White and Mrs McBlane for giving us the information.
The University News / UniNews Archive is now online!
We have now digitised virtually all the extant issues of The University News, later renamed UniNews and made them available at our Libguides site. If you were a staff member or student in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s or ’00s, you can enjoy revisiting events, and reminiscing over past times.
No bar to time: a perspective of Snowball’s hotel photographs of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie.
Ed Tonks
Wednesday 24 August, 10.00 am
Cultural Collections Reading Room Level 2, Auchmuty Library
Let the work of legendary photographer, Ralph Snowball, be the ticket to a journey through the suburbs and heart of old Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. Become acquainted with hotels such as the BONNIE DOON, HAND OF FRIENDSHIP, LOCOMOTIVE, GOLD MINERS HOME, HUNT CLUB and many more. Establish the link between a Mayfield hotel and The Junction. How many hotels were there once in Adamstown? What was the earlier name for the Lambton Park Hotel? What hotel licence was once held by Arthur North? Which hotel once promoted Marshall’s Ales? Name some hotels designed by Newcastle architect Wallace L. Porter? Which brewer once made SB branded beers? What is the connection between the Gateshead Tavern and Telford Street, Newcastle?
Come along and find out, as Ed Tonks, well-known local historian and author, shares his expertise.
To acknowledge Reconciliation Week 2011 a gathering was held to ‘talk recognition’ under the mirror ball of the Auchmuty Library with a piece of Italian continental cake (specially made for the occasion), and to launch the Exhibition comprising archival material and books and items kindly loaned to us by Mr Paul F. Walsh and Susan Harvey relating to their nationally acknowledged work towards reconciliation in the Hunter.
At the conclusion of the event both Paul F Walsh and Mr Rodney Knock said a few words regarding their reconciliation work in the Hunter Region.
The Novocastrian Tales and Currawong Projects
Novocastrian Tales, created, published, co-written and edited by Paul F Walsh was a national bestseller. The Novocastrian Tales project raised over $600 000 to build Yallarwah Place, the Aboriginal Accommodation Centre at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle. Yallarwah Place serves the Aboriginal communities of Northern NSW.
Mr Walsh created and directed the Currawong Project during the Centenary of Federation Year. The Currawong Project was a national reconciliation project featuring the Currawong Exhibition, opened by NSW Governor Marie Bashir, and inspired by the novel Black Feather White Feather by Paul F Walsh.
The Currawong Project inspired such notables as Sir William Deane, Governor General of Australia, Marie Bashir, Governor of NSW, Bob Carr, Premier of NSW, et al, to plant trees with local Aboriginal people at the Bicentenary Memorial at Yallarwah Place. The Yallarwah Bicentenary Memorial is believed to be among the first united Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal memorials in Australia.
The memorial concept, design and symbolism were co-created by Paul F Walsh and Aboriginal author Ray Kelly. The reconciliation partnership of these two men throughout the Novocastrian Tales and Currawong projects was said to be reminiscent of the co-creative aspects of the relationship between Biraban and the Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld in colonial times.
Mr Walsh recalls: ‘It was Susan Harvey who slammed a coffee cup onto our kitchen bench and said: “Why don’t you create something with a team for a change?” It was Susan Harvey who co-published Novocastrian Tales and who organized us all. Without Susan Harvey there would be no Novocastrian Tales and there would have been no Currawong Project.’
Susan Harvey recalls: ‘It was one of those unique and joyful times in Novocastrian history when the disparate tribes within our community united to achieve a reconciling outcome via a reconciling process. Novocastrian Tales was a meeting point of three continuous processes of reconciliation. The most obvious of these is reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
The least obvious, perhaps, is reconciliation between left and right political traditions. And the third is reconciliation of the past, present and future.’
I plant this tree in the spirit of the currawong, black feather white feather lifting me. I plant this tree to call upon all Australians to replant a shared future together.
The letter below that was written by Mr Paul F. Walsh to the future editor of Novocastrian Tales for the Tercentenary of Newcastle. The letter, along with the two new tales being submitted, is held in the Novocastrian Tales time capsule at Newcastle Region Library. It defines much of what Susan and Paul embrace in terms of reconciliation as an eternal process.
The Editor
Novocastrian Tales
Newcastle-Hunter Tercentenary edition
1797 – 2097
Heart of our nation
Dear Sir/Madam
I respectfully submit Newcastle and The Mathematics of Life for possible inclusion in the Tercentenary edition of Novocastrian Tales.
These submissions reflect my view that reconciliation is a continuous and expansive process, a limitless journey without maps or discrete destination. This seems true to me whether we are talking of reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, male and female, old and young, left and right, gay and straight, Islamic and non-Islamic, believers and non-believers, socialists and capitalists, global warmers and global coolers or teachers and students.
These submissions also reflect my sense of humour where no political cow is too sacred and every dog has her day. The failed politics of reconciliation has thus far spawned Aboriginal deaths in custody, homophobia, sexism, ageism, Global Warming, the Tampa, the War on Terror, a decaying education system and the victory of spin over truth. This list is not exhaustive but it is exhausting. I find myself breathless in a wardrobe, with a world I no longer recognize outside. Like the anonymous errorist who finds it hard to reconcile his current circumstance I am the only one left. And then in that wardrobe I discover there are people like me beyond the wardrobe. I find myself reconnecting with all that is good in my various lives. I see Nobbys, a navigational beacon reconciling us all, I see the giant black kangaroo, and I see my myriad selves taking up their quills.
I am sure that reconciliation manifests in your world in as many contexts as it does in mine. And yet all these personal reconciliation journeys without limit or destination make no sense to me, unless we are finding out who we are along the continuum. Each of us by virtue of our common humanity is walking the path of reconciliation whether we recognize the process or not. Maybe we are Simon, the brilliant young student, or maybe we are the anonymous errorist, or maybe we are an infinite number of selves trying to reconcile with each other through the fluttering of our quills.
Whoever we are, or are becoming, we are writers, you and I, separated by time and circumstance, but not by place or sense of mission. We are united in a common quest. We seek to reconcile the past, present and future. Perhaps it is a foolish quest, but it is an honest quest, and in that quest we may chronicle our emerging selves.
I wish you well on your editorial journey.
Heart of our nation Reconciliation
Paul F Walsh OAM
The Medal of the Order of Australia
Newcastle Citizen of the Year 2001
The Premier’s Award for Community Service
Australian Reconciliation Award
Editor
Novocastrian Tales
Newcastle-Hunter Bicentenary 1797 – 1997
Dated this 5th day of September 2007
on the occasion of the tenth birthday of the Bicentenary edition of Novocastrian Tales.
This was truly a magnificent day. On Friday 19th February 1999 Yallarwah Place was officially opened and born to the Community of the Hunter Region. Yallarwah Place is an accommodation centre for the families of Aboriginal people from the communities of the Hunter and Northern NSW who are receiving medical care at the John Hunter Hospital. It will also serve non-indigenous families as the need arises and is believed to be the first such facility in Australia. It also stands as the first physical act of reconciliation between the black and white cultures in this country. In the words of Aboriginal Elder, Uncle Bob Smith, and Ray Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of the Awabakal Co-operative, it represents black and white people coming together, working together to achieve one goal. If this is what dreams can do, then let’s have more dreaming!
Yallarwah is an Awabakal word meaning ‘resting place’. It is a place of healing and rest for people and also for the land which we share. Yallarwah was made possible through the vision and dreams of author Paul Walsh who created and directed the Novocastrian Tales project for the Newcastle-Hunter Bicentenary 1797-1997. The funds raised from the sale of the book, along with a generous contribution from the State Government of NSW and many corporate and community benefactors helped make the dream into reality. The Archives, Rare Books and Special Collections Unit of the Auchmuty Library is honored to have played a part in this very important event through the preparation of the portraits of Biraban and The Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld whose relationship spawned the inspiration behind the memorial. These framed works along with the bronze book and plaque, created by Vlase Nikoleski, Head of the School of Fine Art, formed the University of Newcastle’s gift to the project.
Order of Ceremonies
The Opening Ceremony for Yallarwah Place was created by Paul F Walsh and Susan Harvey
Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony
Upon arrival the guests were invited to pass through the smoke of the Yallarwah campfire as a ritual of purification and unity. The Smoking Ceremony was performed by the respected Aboriginal Elder Uncle Bill Smith, with assistance from Mimaga Wajar (Mother Earth) Traditional Custodians, Michael Moran, William Smith and Malcolm Smith.
A Prayer of the Smoke Uncle Bill Smith, Aboriginal Elder
For thousands of years the campfire of our ancestors marked their places of rest and celebration in this Hunter Valley. May the glowing of this fire remind us of the Father’s love for us and our love for one another. As the smoke from this sacred campfire rises into the sky like Biraban, the Eagle-Hawk, may it drive away all the evil spirits and bring us together as one to enter into this service of Dedication.
Acknowledgment of the Ancestors of the Awabakal
Ray Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of the Awabakal Cooperative. Ray spoke of invitation for the presence of the ancestral spirits.
The Prologue from Novocastrian Tales
Words by Paul F Walsh, narrated by Graham Wilson, produced by Professor Robert Constable. A beautiful piece, complimented with the intrusion of a mobile phone, performed by an impromptu embarrassed anonymous owner.
More Than Ever
A piece of music composed for the dedication ceremony by Keith Potger, Trevor Spencer and Boyd Wilson. It was performed by Keith Potger. I wondered who this fellow was, he looked familiar…”was he from Redgum?”. I learn he is from the legendary Australian group The Seekers. Sorry Keith.
Uncle Bob Smith and Ray Kelly
Both these men spoke from the heart concerning the past difficulties encountered in accommodating the Aboriginal families of loved ones in hospital.Uncle Bob spoke of how he once asked the Government for a “house and a bus”, they refused. For 15 or so years he carried the dream alive for a special place, and was tearfully joyous at now seeing it become a reality.
Professor Roger Holmes
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle spoke of the history and the University’s gift to Yallarwah Place.
The Dedication
After being introduced by John Mills MP, The Honourable Dr Andrew Refshauge MP, Deputy Premier of NSW officially opened Yallarwah Place and dedicates the Yallarwah site as a Bicentenary Memorial for the people of the Hunter Region.
Opening Prayer
Jean Hands, Upper Hunter Aboriginal Liaison Officer, Hunter Health
A reading from the Gospel of St Luke
Read in Awabakal by Ray Kelly. This translation into Awabakal was made between 1827 and 1831 by the Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld and the famed Awabakal man, Biraban, in the Newcastle/Lake Macquarie Area. Following Ray Kelly’s reading, the Gospel was read in English by Pastor Rex Morgan, Susan Harvey and Jane Gray.
Prayers of Blessing
Most Reverend Michael Malone, Catholic Bishop of Maitland and Newcastle blessed the container of waters drawn from the sources of the Northern Rivers by tribal Elders. Respected Aboriginal Elder Uncle Bill Smith, dusts the waters with smoke. The Right Reverend Roger Herft, Anglican Bishop of Newcastle, blessed a container of soils drawn from the lands of the North by tribal Elders. Respected Aboriginal Elder Uncle Bill Smith dusted the soils with smoke. Ray Kelly, lead Aboriginal Elder Uncle Bill Smith and the two Bishops, to smoke and bless the building. This was followed by the Rainbow Spirit Prayer.
The facility utilised Aboriginal design elements in its construction. It is shaped in the form of an Eagle-Hawk astride a flying boomerang. At this point in the Ceremony the guests form a symbolic Rainbow Serpent/Hunter River. The Bishops, Uncle Bob Smith and Uncle Bill Smith are guided to the River where they enter the symbolic canoe.
Rowing Down the River
The Dancers create a symbolic canoe and row down the River with the crowd following behind. They chant the Bellingen Boat Song (composed by Lennie de Silva). The Yallarwah Bicentenary Walk was blessed and smoked.
The canoe is challenged by two didgeridoo players who guard the Rainbow Serpent’s Head / Newcastle Harbour. The canoe stops and the Bishops, Uncle Bill Smith and Uncle Bob Smith enter the Yallarwah Circle of Reflection. Uncle Bill Smith smokes the bronze book and the Circle while the Bishops distribute the blessed water. Uncle Bob Smith distributes the tribal soils within the circle as a symbol that all peoples are welcome at this place of healing. The guests were then allowed into the Circle.
Within the clearing there is a circle of six large stones, reminiscent of the Awabakal’s stone circle arrangements observed by the Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld in 1825-1826. In the centre of the stones there is a seventh stone with a bronze book. The right-hand page reads: ‘Yallarwah Circle of Reflection. In memory of the Aboriginal people, European settlers and convicts who lived and died in our shared Hunter History 1797-1997′. The left-hand page reads: “‘On enquiry of my black tutor, M’Gill, he informed me that the tradition was, that the Eagle-Hawks brought these stones and placed them together…’ Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld 1825-1826. Novocastrian Tales”.
The framed portraits of Biraban (or M’Gill) and The Rev. Lancelot Threlkeld
The Kookaburra Mosaic
The coming together of the tribes.
Carol Abela and Phillip Towney
Carol Abela, Chairperson of Hunter Area Health, and Phillip Towney, Aboriginal Liaison Officer, John Hunter Hospital and Manager of Yallarwah Place spoke of the design of the building and its connective attributes to the four elements.
Howard Frith and Paul F Walsh
Howard Firth, Managing Director of the Newcastle Permanent Building Society, talked of his first meeting with Paul, and how it resembled a wonderful plot to a great tale. He spoke of how his head was saying “No! No! No!” while his heart was saying “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Paul spoke of his inspirational relationship with his wife and paid tribute to his wife’s mother and former business partner. He thanked everyone involved with the project, named and unnamed.
The Epilogue from Novocastrian Tales
Words by Paul F Walsh Narrated by Paul F Walsh and Ray Kelly
Two hundred years Fifty thousand years! Two hundred years Fifty thousand tears Our river flows Our river knows Heart of our nation Reconciliation
At this point I beheld the spirits of both Threlkeld and Biraban.
Gionni Di Gravio 20th February, 1999
Sources:
Programme – Yallarwah Place 1797-1997, by Paul F Harvey and Susan Harvey, Newcastle, Elephant Press, 1999.
An Australian Language as spoken by the Awabakal The People of Awaba or Lake Macquarie (Near Newcastle, New South Wales) being an Account of Their Language, Traditions, and Customs: by L.E. Threlkeld. Rearranged, condensed, and edited, with an Appendix, by John Fraser, B.A., LL.D., Sydney, 1892.
Australian Reminiscences & Papers of L.E.Threlkeld, Missionary to the Aborigines, 1824-1859. 2 vols, ed. Niel Gunson, Canberra, 1974.
The framed portraits of Biraban (or M’Gill) and The Rev. Lancelot Threlkeld
