This online conversation brings together Beth Robertson and Alice Garner on the occasion of the publication of the 6th edition of Beth’s Oral History Handbook which has served as an essential guide for oral historians since the 1980s.

The lunchtime discussion will explore how oral history practice and technology have evolved since Beth wrote the first edition of the Handbook. There will be an opportunity for participants to ask questions of this highly experienced oral historian.

Book here! https://events.humanitix.com/talking-about-listening-beth-robertson-and-alice-garner-on-oral-history-handbook

Free for members of Oral History Victoria (and other OHA state and territory association members), $10 for non-members.

Note: event starts 12.30 AEST time so there will be a different start time for people in some other states.

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Beth Robertson has 45 years’ experience in the fields of oral history and audiovisual preservation. She began using oral history in 1979 for her Honours History thesis at the University of Adelaide, and joined the Oral History Association of Australia (OHA) the same year. From 1987 to 1999 Beth was the foundation Oral History Officer at the State Library of South Australia (SLSA). She then became responsible for managing all SLSA’s audiovisual formats. For the last 20 years of her career she was Manager, Preservation of all the library’s collections. She retired in 2023. 

Beth was presented with the inaugural national Hazel de Berg Award for Excellence in Oral History in 2006. She was a member of the Editorial Board of the OHA journal, 2007–2022, and the OHA Book Award judging panel, 2019–2022. Beth has also been a member of the Professional Historians Association (SA) for over 35 years.

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Alice Garner has been working as a freelance oral historian with the National Library of Australia and on independent history projects for nearly twenty years. She has a PhD in French history from the University of Melbourne (2001), and has published books and articles in social and educational history. She was President of Oral History Victoria from 2023-2025 and is currently a Research Fellow at the Australia India Institute. In 2025 she was awarded the Jane Hansen Prize for History Advocacy.

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For more information about the Oral History Handbook and to order a copy:

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.

Hosted by our OHV Committee Member, past President of Oral History Australia and experienced oral history trainer Professor Al Thomson, the Ideas and Skills Exchange session provides an opportunity for OHV members to ask questions and share experiences and discoveries in oral history.

These are very informal and conversational sessions. No matter where you may be on your ‘oral history journey’, you are most welcome to join the chat with Al.

Please click this URL to start or join. https://monash.zoom.us/j/84417515850?pwd=TGplUDlIckdqdmNxVVYxQ3N2dFBzUT09 

Or, go to https://monash.zoom.us/join and enter meeting ID: 844 1751 5850 and passcode: 667975

Ensure your device has a dedicated microphone and webcam.

Event Starts at 5:30 PM AEDT

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.

Presenters: Carla Pascoe Leahy, Sarah Rood and Alistair Thomson

Dates: October 9, 10, 23 and 24 (Fridays and Saturdays)

Time: 9:30am-4:00pm

Location: Online

Are you a PhD, Masters or Honours student, or a post-doc, about to start a research project using oral history – and need training to get you on the right track? Perhaps you’ve already started a graduate oral history project and want advice and support? You may be a historian, or you work in another social science or humanities discipline that uses life story interviews.

This four-day, online training course could be just what you need.

In October 2026, three of Australia’s leading oral historians, in partnership with Oral History Victoria, are teaching this popular oral history intensive course aimed at university research students. We will teach you how to plan an oral history project and apply for ethics approval. You’ll learn how to create excellent interviews and document the recordings for use in research. We’ll explore approaches to analysing interviews and interpreting memories. And we’ll consider how to write a thesis using oral history and to create other types of oral history productions.

You will be active participants in the teaching and learning: reading a selection of key texts, bringing examples and issues from you own research, workshopping issues with the group, conducting practice interviews, discussing interview extracts from each participant, and developing a peer support group of graduate oral history researchers from around Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. Each day school will be taught online via Zoom, from 9.30am-4pm Australian Eastern Standard time. The course will be limited to 18 participants.

Feedback from participants in this course in 2024 and 2025:
“Many thanks for a terrific 4 days from the three of you from OHV … so valuable in redirecting and redrafting my research project. Initially I had doubts about the full value of a day zoom meet with 14 or 17 post grads, but it exceeded all expectations.”

“It was terrific to have access to such skilled teachers/facilitators and to come together with other graduate students and to receive such a vast array of helpful resources.”

“I was very happy with the course – expert presenters who were very respectful of/responsive to the participants, great management with everything running on time, different formats to maintain interest, relevant/engaging activities especially listening to everyone’s interview extracts.”

“Al, Carla and Sarah, you made such a warm and welcoming environment! You were all engaging, and passionate and held space for everyone’s opinions and thoughts. Thank you!”

Course outline
Day 1 Friday – Planning Your Oral History Project & Seeking Ethics Approval
Day 2 Saturday – Creating & Documenting Oral History Interviews (fortnight break while participants conduct practice interviews)
Day 3 Friday – Interpreting Oral Histories
Day 4 Saturday – Making (Oral) Histories in Writing and other Media

Course fees:
$500 for Oral History Victoria and Oral History Australia members
$750 non-members
We anticipate participants will draw on funds from their own or departmental graduate research budgets. For students without access to research funds, bursaries might be
available from state and territory oral history associations. Oral History Victoria offers up to four bursaries for OHV members.
Details at https://oralhistoryvictoria.org.au/ (see the Events page for the course)

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

Registration here
Contact: for further information and to discuss the course, please contact: Alistair.Thomson@monash.edu

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/.

Presenters: Sarah Rood and Alistair Thomson

Dates: Saturday 14 November and Saturday 21 November

Time: 9:30am-4:00pm

Location: Online

Have you always wanted to learn how to create an oral history interview? Or do you have an interest in recording the memories of elders in your family or community?

Maybe you’re wondering whether or not to record remotely, or you’re thinking about conducting face-to-face interviews. Perhaps you’re a student starting an oral history project.

This popular Oral History Victoria two-day online training workshop is for anyone who would like to learn how to prepare, conduct, record and document an oral history interview. Facilitated by two of Australia’s most experienced oral history trainers, and using Zoom technology, you will learn and practice essential interview techniques and discuss important ethical issues.

After the first Saturday sessions, you will conduct your own oral history interview (remote recording or face-to-face), which will be a learning resource in the second Saturday sessions. The workshop will be limited to 18 participants to enable lively discussion and practical work in an online format. Participants will need a computer with Wi-Fi connection – the Zoom link will be provided, along with Zoom instructions.

Feedback from previous participants on this course:

‘The skills I learnt and the discussions that took place were invaluable’

‘I liked it that our activities really tested our comfort zones. It was just terrific.’

‘Al and Sarah are wonderful educators and facilitators!

‘A wonderful learning experience. I’ve definitely fallen in love with oral history too!’

‘I loved the course – learned so much on so many different levels, far more than I would have expected. Well done on awesome Zoom teaching.’

‘Thanks so much for providing us with such a great course. I have already promoted future courses to my friends.’

TRAINER PROFILES

Sarah Rood is a professional consulting historian who has been working in the field for the past 20 years. She has seen the uses and applications of oral history change

drastically. Motivated by a desire to help communicate the past and to help connect individuals and communities with history and identity Sarah has recorded countless

oral history interviews. Firmly believing that everyone has a story to tell, Sarah aims to work with people to record their stories in a way that both documents their

experiences and ensures that (with permission) it can be accessed by others in the future. Exploring the relationship between new technologies and oral histories has

become a particular area of interest for Sarah in recent years. Similarly, the interplay between the tangible and the intangible and how this plays out in oral history is a constant source of intrigue for Sarah.

Alistair Thomson, national award-winning teacher and now Emeritus Professor of History at Monash University, taught his first oral history workshop in 1985 at the

Wangaratta Centre for Continuing Education and has been teaching oral history in both community and academic settings ever since. Al’s oral history books

include: Anzac Memories: Living with the Legend (1994), The Oral History Reader (2016), Ten Pound Poms: Australia’s Invisible Migrants (2005), Moving

Stories: an intimate history of four women across two countries (2011), Oral History and Photography (2011), Australian Lives: An Intimate History (2017), Fathering: An

Australian History (2025) and The Bloomsbury Oral History Handbook (2026).

Contact: Alistair.Thomson@monash.edu if you’d like to discuss the course.

TRAINING PROGRAM FORMAT

Timing: the workshop takes place over two consecutive Saturdays.

On each workshop day the session will go from 9.30am – 4 pm with a lunch break from 12 – 1 pm.

Book here.

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