Oral History Western Australia

Members Only: join us for a mid-year General Meeting to catch up on the work of the Committee and hear what other members are doing.

• 10:00am          Arrival Informal networking

• 10:15                Acknowledgement of Country / Welcome to Meeting / President’s Report

Member Discussion: Collections WA. Question for Members: Is there a benefit to OHWA joining Collections WA on behalf of members?  

• 11:00 Special Guest: Mark Wong, President of the International Oral History Association (IOHA)

Leading Singaporean oral historian Mark Wong has been elected the new president of the International Oral History Association (IOHA). Mark is an assistant director/senior specialist at the Oral History Centre, National Archives of Singapore, where he has led oral history projects on politics, the public service, and the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also a member of OHWA, so we have invited him to share his experience of the IOHA and answer your questions. 

• 11:30 Invitation for General Sharing.

• 12noon – Close

Email contact@oralhistorywa.org.au for the Teams link or to find out more details.

Presenters: Alistair Thomson

Date: Saturday 23 May, 2026

Time: 10:00am-4:00pm

Online – advanced course.

In this audio-visual digital age, it’s easy to forget that oral historians often use interviews in written formats. This interactive online workshop will focus on approaches and issues in creating text-based outputs from oral history interviews, using examples from Al’s oral history publications and from participants’ own work.

First, we’ll discuss the range of ways in which oral history interviews are used in text-based outputs: in books, journal articles, websites, exhibitions and other media. We will note how new technologies are enabling new types of production that combine text and audio (and audio-visuals), and the opportunities and challenges posed by 21^st-century innovations.

Second, we’ll explore issues and approaches in creating verbatim and ‘poetic’ transcripts, we’ll review some basic guidelines and some useful software, and we’ll workshop one example for participant transcription and discussion.

Third, we’ll focus on approaches and issues in editing transcripts for publication, we’ll discuss editorial aims, processes and decisions, and we’ll workshop an example.

Fourth, we’ll consider different approaches to using oral history interviews in writing and explore ethical, aesthetic and interpretative issues in writing with oral history.

By the end of the day you will have enhanced your understanding and skills in writing with oral history.

Book here.

Concession fees apply to all OHA state and territory association members.

First Friday of every month, 12noon. Join us online for a member sharing event. Hear what other members are doing, share your latest project, and get advice from the OHWA Committee and experienced practitioners. BYO lunch and a cuppa.

Email contact@oralhistorywa.org.au for the Teams link or to find out more details.

Host: Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips, OHWA President.

Alison is an experienced oral and public historian, and is senior lecturer in Community Development at Murdoch University where she teaches about the importance of storytelling in community building. In her oral history practice, she is particularly interested in the ways different kinds of interview prompts (photos, videos or personal archives, for example) impact on the ways people remember in interviews. Alison is currently working with community co-operative Dwellbeing Shieldfield (UK) to develop a community archive.

First Friday of every month, 12noon. Join us online for a member sharing event. Hear what other members are doing, share your latest project, and get advice from the OHWA Committee and experienced practitioners. BYO lunch and a cuppa.

Email contact@oralhistorywa.org.au for the Teams link or to find out more details.

Host: Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips, OHWA President.

Alison is an experienced oral and public historian, and is senior lecturer in Community Development at Murdoch University where she teaches about the importance of storytelling in community building. In her oral history practice, she is particularly interested in the ways different kinds of interview prompts (photos, videos or personal archives, for example) impact on the ways people remember in interviews. Alison is currently working with community co-operative Dwellbeing Shieldfield (UK) to develop a community archive.

First Friday of every month, 12noon. Join us online for a member sharing event. Hear what other members are doing, share your latest project, and get advice from the OHWA Committee and experienced practitioners. BYO lunch and a cuppa.

Email contact@oralhistorywa.org.au for the Teams link or to find out more details.

Host: Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips, OHWA President.

Alison is an experienced oral and public historian, and is senior lecturer in Community Development at Murdoch University where she teaches about the importance of storytelling in community building. In her oral history practice, she is particularly interested in the ways different kinds of interview prompts (photos, videos or personal archives, for example) impact on the ways people remember in interviews. Alison is currently working with community co-operative Dwellbeing Shieldfield (UK) to develop a community archive.

First Friday of every month, 12noon. Join us online for a member sharing event. Hear what other members are doing, share your latest project, and get advice from the OHWA Committee and experienced practitioners. BYO lunch and a cuppa.

Email contact@oralhistorywa.org.au for the Teams link or to find out more details.

Host: Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips, OHWA President.

Alison is an experienced oral and public historian, and is senior lecturer in Community Development at Murdoch University where she teaches about the importance of storytelling in community building. In her oral history practice, she is particularly interested in the ways different kinds of interview prompts (photos, videos or personal archives, for example) impact on the ways people remember in interviews. Alison is currently working with community co-operative Dwellbeing Shieldfield (UK) to develop a community archive.

The National Oral History Association of New Zealand (NOHANZ) will hold its biennial conference from 18-20 September 2026 at the Tūranga Central City Library, Christchurch. The theme of the conference is Tūranga | Places we belong.

Proposals for a paper or panel should be submitted by Monday 25 May 2026.

For details go to the Call for Papers: https://www.oralhistory.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/NOHANZ-CALL-FOR-PAPERS-2026.pdf.

First Friday of every month, 12noon. Join us online for a member sharing event. Hear what other members are doing, share your latest project, and get advice from the OHWA Committee and experienced practitioners. BYO lunch and a cuppa.

Email contact@oralhistorywa.org.au for the Teams link or to find out more details.

Host: Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips, OHWA President.

Alison is an experienced oral and public historian, and is senior lecturer in Community Development at Murdoch University where she teaches about the importance of storytelling in community building. In her oral history practice, she is particularly interested in the ways different kinds of interview prompts (photos, videos or personal archives, for example) impact on the ways people remember in interviews. Alison is currently working with community co-operative Dwellbeing Shieldfield (UK) to develop a community archive.

The annual meeting of the Oral History Association will be held from 14 to 17 October 2026 in Portland, Oregon, United States. The theme is ‘Landcapes of Memory’.

Call for Proposals

Our memories are shaped by the landscapes we inhabit—both real and imagined. These landscapes are shifting in the face of environmental change, political instability, and an ongoing sense of crisis. Ancient connections with the natural world are being severed, and people are displaced not only from this innate connection to the earth but also from familiar ways of living and relating to one another. As oral historians, we witness narrators’ struggles to imagine new identities within this changing ecology.

For the 2026 Oral History Association Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, the Association invites contributions from around the world —from those working in academia, advocacy, education, and community-based practice—that speak to how people shape and are shaped by the landscapes they inhabit, traverse, defend, or are forced to leave behind. We welcome proposals that explore relationships to land, memory, and movement across shifting environmental, political, and cultural boundaries.

Find out more:

• https://oralhistory.org/2026-call-for-proposals/.

First Friday of every month, 12noon. Join us online for a member sharing event. Hear what other members are doing, share your latest project, and get advice from the OHWA Committee and experienced practitioners. BYO lunch and a cuppa.

Email contact@oralhistorywa.org.au for the Teams link or to find out more details.

Host: Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips, OHWA President.

Alison is an experienced oral and public historian, and is senior lecturer in Community Development at Murdoch University where she teaches about the importance of storytelling in community building. In her oral history practice, she is particularly interested in the ways different kinds of interview prompts (photos, videos or personal archives, for example) impact on the ways people remember in interviews. Alison is currently working with community co-operative Dwellbeing Shieldfield (UK) to develop a community archive.