Welcome to the May 2025 news bulletin.
Reminder: In October, OHWA launched the John Ferrell Travel Fund. This is a new fund to support the travel costs associated with oral history interviewing. Small grants of between $200-$500 can be accessed throughout the year, up to a total of $1000.
The 2025 application form for the John Ferrell Travel Fund is available here: https://oralhistorywa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/12/2025-Ferrell-Travel-Fund-application-form.pdf
Introductory Oral History Workshops for 2025
OHWA is running tow more Introductory training opportunities for 2025 on Saturdays at the State Library WA: 7 June and 30 August.
This one-day workshop is ideal for those who are new to oral history and want to know more about what is involved. The workshop is also useful for librarians who are working with oral history archives, and would like an insight into the interviewing side of things.
The morning session focuses on oral history ethics, while the afternoon session is all about the practicalities of interviewing. Participants will have the opportunity to conduct a practice interview.
About the trainers:
Alison Atkinson-Phillips is the president of Oral History WA and vice president of Oral History Australia. Alison is an experienced oral historian and the author of Survivor Memorials: Remembering Trauma and Loss in Contemporary Australia, based on her oral history work with memory activists.
Janet Baldwin is a past president of OHWA with 21 years of experience in oral history: teaching, interviewing, transcribing and managing projects. Her clients include: State Library WA, WA Shires and Councils, Perth Observatory, Spiritualist women. Janet is the author of: Telescopes, Timekeeping and Teabag Jigglers and Out and About with Artemis at Perth Observatory, both based on oral history.
Cate Pattison has worked as a social and oral historian since 2013 for a range of public and private clients, presenting and publishing her work at national and international Oral History conferences and journals. Cate’s previous career was in media and market research, and she now also works as a heritage officer for the Royal Agricultural Society. Forthcoming publication: Gearing up the Groupies: The State Implement Works and Group Settlement in Western Australia in the 1920s and 1930s.
Training Opportunities
The popular four-day online Graduate Intensive offered by Oral History Victoria has been postponed from May and will now run in August/September. For full details you can go directly to the event’s page at –https://oralhistoryvictoria.org.au/events/graduate-oral-history-intensive-august-2025/ or the booking page at: https://events.humanitix.com/ohv-training-graduate-oral-history-intensive
Call for stories
Do you have an oral history project underway, or recently completed? We would love to be able to share news with members, to celebrate the oral history work that is happening around our state.
If you have a story to share, please email contact@oralhistorywa.org.au.