What is the Oral History Association of Australia?

The Oral History Association (OHAA), a non-profit body, was formed in 1978.

The aims of the OHAA are:

• to promote the practice and methods of oral history
• to educate in the use of oral history methods
• to encourage discussions on all aspects of oral history
• to foster the preservation of oral history records

State and national conferences include discussions about oral history projects and issues such as ethics, recording technology and copyright.

 

Oral History Records Rescue Group (OHRRG)
Progress Report from the State Library of WA

The Oral History Records Rescue Group (OHRRG) consists of representatives from Friends of Battye Library, the Oral History Association of Australia WA Branch, the Professional Historians Association and the Royal Western Australian Historical Society. OHRRG is managing a significant two year project, funded by a Lotterywest grant totalling $849,000.

The project is being cordinated by the State Library's Preservation and Maintenance team. The goal is to make available the most at-risk and in demand oral history interviews held in the Battye Library. At the end of the project, 7500 hours of interviews will be digitised.

Purpose-built sound studios are used to transfer analogue tape to digital format at preservation standards. Project Manager, Lee Blackford, informed us that as at December 2011, over 3,850 hours of cassette tapes, or 1,777 interviews, have been digitised.

A small example of the many rich and varied stories are:

The full life of the orphaned son of a wealthy Indian landowner who ran camel drays in Coolgardie. He describes life in the Swan Boys Orphanage and his life as a boxer, whaler and prospector.

A telegraph operator who worked in the Goldfields and the Pilbara before enlisting in World War II. He was a POW in Singapore and Burma. The interview is interesting for the interviewee's telegraphical way of speaking and his verbal examples of morse code.

A series of audio letters sent from an English migrant family residing in Western Australia to their parents back in England in the 1960s. They are a remarkable time capsule of the perceptions, hopes and efforts of just one ordinary family. That they exist at all is a testament to the care with which multiple generations of the family treated the correspondence.

The final stage of the project is presently being prepared with the selection of a further 2500 hours of interviews being undertaken by the OHRRG. One of the outcomes of the project is to make 200 voices accessible online during 2012.

Grant Scheme

The Western Australian Branch of the Oral History Association of Australia has an annual grant pool of $2,000 available to members to assist with oral history projects or to assist with their attendance at relevant conferences.

Applications will be considered on a quarterly basis when 25% of the annual budget will be allocated. Application closing dates are as follows:
- 31 January
- 30 April
- 31 July
- 30 October

Application forms are available on our Activities page.

 

Branches of the Association

Western Australia Lindy Wallace President PO Box 1065 Nedlands WA 6909 08 9448 8295 email:wallaclj@bigpond.net.au	Tasmania Jill Cassidy President Queen Victoria Museum PO Box 403, Launceston TAS 7250 email: mandjcassidy@gmail.com
Queensland Ariella Van Luyn President PO Box 12213 George Street Brisbane QLD 4003 email: a1.vanluyn@qut.edu.au	Victoria Jill Adams ph 0431 038 810 email: president@oralhistoryvictoria.org.au
New South Wales Sandra Blamey President PO Box 66 Camperdown NSW 1450 email: ohaansw@hotmail.com	South Australia June Edwards President PO Box 3113 Unley SA 5061 email: edwards.june@slsa.sa.gov.au
ACT is incorporated into NSW Branch NT is incorporated into SA Branch