Post Haste the Millennium:
Opportunities and Challenges in Local Studies

12-13 November 1999

2nd National Local Studies Conference, Rose and Crown Hotel, Guildford, Western Australia

Critique

Introduction

Samuel Butler, the English novelist and sometime sheepfarmer in 1901 said 'God cannot alter the past, though historians can'. Alexis de Tocqeville the French historian andpolitician in 1856 said 'History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies'...referring by that to the phenomena that history tends to repeat itself. Both these quotes I hope help set the scene for the importance of the material publication that is being launched today.

The publication that is being launched today is a collection of all but two of the papers from the National Conference of the ALIA Local Studies section held in this place in November last year. That conference was titled Post Haste the Millenium: Opportunities and Challenges in Local Studies. The title of the conference itself is an interesting one. I interpret that title in the same way as did Sheila McHale MLA in her paper contained in the collection, at page 139; namely, the phrase 'post haste' qualifies the word 'millenium'. Hence the theme of the conference being an examination of opportunities and challenges facing local studies as we rapidly approach (note: I say 'approach', not 'approached') the new millenium. Notwithstanding the genius of Albert Einstein who once said 'I never think of the future because it comes soon enough', it is I think right for ALIA Local Studies section to be thinking of the future and to have cast its conference with that prospective theme rather than a retrospective one.

I attended Post Haste the Millennium Conference. At that time I had been the state director of the National Archives of Australia for the grand total of 5 weeks. Needless to say I had a lot to learn then, as I still do now. The conference, however, with the benefit of hindsight, was for me an excellent introduction to the world of library studies, local history, and archival matters...I say 'with the benefit of hindsight' because at that stage of my life as head of NAA in WA I didn't really have a clue of what was important and what wasn't...you know what it's like when you're new to something...everything seems important...then after a while you become more discriminating.

Unfortunately I don't think that I will have time to comment in detail about each and every paper in the work, however, I will be referring to a number of them. Those to which I do not refer to are no less important but have simply been omitted because of insufficient time to discuss them here today.

My impression of the contents of the book that I am reviewing is that it is not mere esoterica. I repeat, not esoterica, just in case anyone thought I said erotica. I would be distressed if anyone confused the words. I found the book immensely interesting, and highly accessible and understandable...these are key combatants in the battle against esoterica. There is strictly nothing wrong with esoterica, however, wide access sits comfortably with my personal value of reducing the vast canyon between the information rich and the information poor. Call me an 'information socialist' if you like. The papers in the book are not steeped technical jargon or mumbo jumbo. The writing is definitely not turgid or confusing. However, many of the papers are technical in the sense that by reference to them one can take the information and know-how and use it in similar fact circumstances. Therein lies the real value of this document.

Aims of the conference

The aim of the conference, and hence the Proceedings flowing from it, was not a lofty or abstract one, but rather a very practical one. It was, as stated at page Roman xii, 'to enhance the skills of local history enthusiasts and encourage co-operation and networking between individuals and organisations committed to the preservation of Australian's heritage, especially at the local community level.'

The aim of the conference is well and truly achieved based on my observations of the conference itself, and now through the publication of this collection of papers. Within its covers one finds a wealth of useful advice and the experiences of eminent practitioners in the area. Their efforts, aggregated by Margaret Pember in this volume will help immensely to enhance the skills of local historians. The qualifications, skills, and experience of the contributors to the publication are impeccable and beyond question.

Style of the papers...some examples...meeting the aims of the conference

I will now briefly traverse some of the content of the Proceedings document itself. It's structure follows, logically in my view, the structure of the conference namely it contains:

• Dr Alan Bundy's paper sets the scene for the important role played by public libraries in identifying, collecting, conserving and making accessible Australia's documentary cultural heritage through local studies collections. His review of recent studies into local studies collections is most illuminating.

The next part of the collection of papers deals with 'Managing Resources'. In this part the papers traverse a range of important topics including:

• preserving and accessing sensitive information - Josette Mathers presents an excellent discussion particularly on the tensions between access and privacy;
• digital imaging of historical photographs;
• opportunities for local studies during anniversary celebrations - in this paper Jennifer Sloggett reminds us that local studies should explore local identity, not just local history;
• planning andmanaging an oral history collection - Dr Alison Gregg, as did a number of other contributors to this collection, reminds us 'ordinary people in our local districts have important stories to tell'...she goes on to give very practical advice on how to collect those stories through oral histories;
• in respect to managing electronic resources - Isabel Smith from the State Records Office deals with the great challenges associated with electronic records. Her paper is a valuable reference for those of us who want to be serious about creating and archiving those elusive records in the form of electronic pulses and which inhabit that world stitched together by wires and microcircuits.

Part III provides a fascinating collection of Swan Valley stories and examines aspects of the Swan Valley viticulture, the Guildford Grammar School Archives, and the Midland Westrail history project. These three subject areas are integral to the history of this area. I related especially to these subjects having lived and worked a major part of my life in this district.

The next part of the collection provides useful insights into the management of heritage issues including aspects of the relevant heritage legislation this is useful in its clarity and making simple what can be a legal minefield.

Part V is titled 'Links to Community'. It contains a range of papers on particular projects and other helpful advice which will serve as models for those contemplating the undertaking of a local history exercise. I was fortunate to attend the delivery of the paper by Geoff Moor titled 'Perth Department Stores' which provided for me a most nostalgic walk through what was then the Boans Department Store. Having admitted to the nostalgia generated by this I fully appreciate I have laid down evidence with the weight akin to DNA testing as to my age. Oh well. Part V is also important for the inclusion of Sheila McHale's paper which contributes to the debate on the Public Records Bill currently before State Parliament. This piece of legislation, if and once enacted will provide the legal framework for the keeping of State records. The thoughts behind this Bill is mirrored at the Commonwealth level of government through the current revisions being contemplated to the Archives Act.

In 'Telling the Story' we have two papers each of which contributes to the value to the collection at two levels, as do most of the other papers. At one level, these papers deal with specific subjects, in the case of the papers by Sister Anne Carter the history of early privately run schools and the early educational packages. In the second paper Jenni Woodroffe traces the establishment of Balwarra gardens. The second level benefit that I refer to of these two papers is found if one abstracts the methods used by their two authors and distills the principles they have used. Such principles can readily be imported by other writers of history thereby making such writings clear, concise and meaningful and most importantly, helpful!

The next part of the book deals with the important aspect of immigrants in WA history. As a first generation Australian myself these two papers were ones that I related to in a particularly intimate way.

'Nuts and Bolts' is the heading given to Part VIII. This is an apt name since it covers the question of the now ubiquitous internet website and their creation and maintenance. It seems that everybody bar the cat (at least not my cat at any rate, at this stage) is waxing lyrically about the coming of the internet. The papers in Part VIII are valuable all the more as we are told that public expectation for instant access to electronic sources grows daily. I commend this section particularly to those in the IT fraternity who sometimes appear to concentrate almost obsessively to building world-beating websites with perhaps rather less energy and thought devoted to content. Perhaps the papers in this Part should be compulsory reading for members of that fraternity and others who push us with increasing force into the world of 'cybraries' and out of the world of libraries. Grant White's paper (@235) reminds us not to burden down our websites with links to links which link to links which link to links ad nauseum. Such a link-mania distracts the web surfer, muddies the site, and invariably becomes inaccurate as link site addresses change or are abandoned by their creators. White's paper also reminds us of the need for a clearly articulated website content policy to avoid your website becoming cluttered and virtual information porridge. Useful advice I'd suggest!

The next Part I want to briefly consider is the collection of papers in Part X titled 'Outreach'. Australia is not merely an aggregation of cities as it would be all too easy for us city dwellers to conclude. Australia is about cities, but vitally it is also about suburbs, towns, settlements, communities, local government areas, 'the bush', the rural and the remote areas. Those who ignore this fact ignore it at their peril, as we so often see in the results of elections. The centrality of outreach functions for those of us who work in the information world, including librarians, historians, archivists and record managers, is clearly set out in the papers contained in this part. The experience of the City of Playford, the observations of Jan Partridge in her paper titled 'Friends of Local History Groups', and the tips and traps exposed by Rosslyn Marshall and Lesley Wallace from JCPML make essential reading for practitioners in this field. On the question of outreach, I think that it will be interesting to see what happens to business or government who place total reliance on say the internet as the sole means of outreach compared to those who provide internet and other outreach services, such as personal contact, visits, hard copy materials etc. Today it is unfashionable to suggest that the internet may not be the panacea to everyone's problems. We live in a world that treats very harshly those that challenge aspects of 'change'. Critics of modernisation today are dismissed as dogmatic ideologues who cling to outdated and unworkable ideas in a nostalgic (note this term is used pejoratively for this purpose) way. There is a fascinating book by Andrew Scott titled 'Running on Empty' in which the author presents a thesis that the idea of 'modernisation' has at its core an uncritical acceptance of change as an unquestionable good. Setting aside the party politics evident in the book, it is still deadly accurate in it critical insight of the 'modernisation' going on around us. Those who dare question the modernisation are portrayed as 'sentimental traditionalists'. The important thing, and where local historians, and historians generally are all the more relevant today is in the fact that they can provide the contextual critique. Rather than blindly accepting the rhetoric that we live in a time of unprecedented change, librarians, historians, archivists, record managers are able to prove that we in fact live in a time of precedented change! Rapid change is a characteristic of society with every generation tending to see change in its own day as unprecedented. What is necessary to avoid falling for this fallacy is critical thinking of the most robust sort. Librarians, through local history collections, and through the sorts of papers in the Proceedings I'm talking about today, play a most important role in supporting that critical thinking through access to reference and other material. What does this have to do with 'Outreach' I hear you ask? I think it has a lot to do with it. I think that through outreach activities we can engage the community, get them involved, to the extent that they want to be.

Finally, the paper by Professor Joe Hendry titled 'Local History at the Millenium' provides a fascinating study of how the Millenium Commission in Britain went about its task. I drooled over the statistics including the 1.25 billion pounds at its disposal for capital projects with a further 200 million pounds for Millenium Awards and 200 million pounds for 'The Dome' in Greenwich...a place that is definitely on my list of places to see the next time I'm in Britain. Professor Hendry's paper also reminds us of the important community task for which local historians have particular responsibility...that is, to preserve and conserve, but also to disseminate the 'people's history'.

I think that upon any assessment when one tests the various parts of the conference as I have just described then, against the aim and outcomes that I referred to earlier, one can arrive at one and only one conclusion, that is, the aim and expected outcomes of the conference (and hence the Proceedings) were and are (respectively), without doubt, achieved in full.

Users

These days, as it was in the past, it is necessary to consider the users needs. This principle has been variously described as putting the customer first, or focusing on the consumer... The published Proceedings have been clearly assembled with the user in mind... It is, in its form, a practical guide containing many useful hints and suggestions for potential users... With this in mind if I have a criticism of the publication then it is that it could have quite properly been titled differently. It could have been titled, without fear of misrepresenting its contents, something like 'Post Haste the Millenium: A Guide to Seizing the Opportunities andto Meeting the Challenges in Local Studies'. The fact that it has not been titled so but rather somewhat more modestly, leaves the - 'How to' - nature of the work to implication rather more than explication.

In the wider context of archives

The Proceedings document makes a substantial contribution in the field of archives. By its nature, archives is a practical discipline. The Proceedings document is a practical work from which the experienced archivist as well as the aspiring information sciences or archives student will derive much benefit. It is by virtue of this that is a significant contribution to the broader world of archives.

Conclusion

This published collection of papers from the conference aptly collects and preserves the efforts of the vast majority of contributors of the conference...

The Proceedings document is a highly-accessible, easily read, and valuable contribution to the local history of the surrounding district and also to the discipline which is that of local studies. In this way it is a testimony to the expertise of its contributors as it is a testimony to the success of the conference from which it was born. With these thoughts in mind I am pleased to play this small part in the launch of the Proceedings. I congratulate the work's editor, Margaret Pember who I'm sure would agree that something like this doesn't 'merely fall together without great effort. The contrary is of course the case. Jan Partridge, 1999 National president of ALIA Local Studies section is also to be congratulated on her efforts in making this publication possible. As associate editor Jan performed the indexing of the papers hence providing prospective users with greater accessibility to the work. Of course we all know that a non-fiction book without an index is like a ship without a rudder... Finally, Jenni Woodroffe, the conference convenor, is also to be congratulated since the conference itself was the origin of the source material for the publication. The conference was without doubt an unqualified success. There is every reason to believe this publication will share the same success. And to Jenni or to her successors in the title I'm sure all here tonight would join me in expressing our support and interest for a similar future conference.

It would be negligent of me not to also congratulate all the individual contributors...

It is therefore without further ado that I conclude this brief critique of the Proceedings and commend the work to you and to the wider community at large.

In concluding this review I think of the following quote by the much quoted Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the English poet, critic and philosopher who in 1831 wrote 'If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern, which shines only on the wave behind us.'

Thankyou for the opportunity to provide my impressions on this fine work.

Tony Caravella
State director, WA
National Archives of Australia
28 April 2000