Governance

Oral History Victoria is a volunteer-run, not-for-profit body which offers a range of services to its members including training and events. We are a state member of Oral History Australia and support advocacy of ethical oral history practice.

Our committee is elected every year at our Annual General Meeting, which is generally held in in September/October. We are always looking for new committee members.

Executive members

President: Jen Rose is a consultant historian specialising in community and organisational histories and PhD candidate at Australian Catholic University where she is developing a history of migrants’ rights activism in Melbourne from the 1940s to the 1980s. More on her work can be found on her website and LinkedIn profile.

Vice President: Claudia Craig is a writer, journalist and radio presenter with a passion for history and storytelling.  Her work is underpinned by responsible cultural representation and ethical community engagement. Claudia has a MA in Japanese Cultural Studies (University of London) and works at 3CR community radio in Melbourne. She is engaged in an oral history project interviewing the Wotjobaluk and Gunditjmara descendants of Australia’s first overseas cricket team.

Secretary: Vacant

Treasurer: Eve Lester is a Geelong-based lawyer and historian, working on a socio-legal account of the arrival of Cambodian ‘boat people’ in Australia from 1989 to the present which interweaves archival and oral history sources. Eve is currently an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow at ANU College of Law.

Committee members

Daniel Bacchieri is a journalist, content producer, music curator, and researcher with a PhD from Monash University (School of Media, Film and Journalism). Podcast producer/editor of ‘Beyond Bourke Street: Melbourne Buskers in the Digital World’, acquired in 2023 by the National Film and Sound of Australia (NFSA) and awarded a commendation at the 2023 Victorian Community History Awards (Oral History Award category). Jury member of the Australian Podcast Awards. LinkedIn profile.

Gerard Callinan is a former broadcaster with ABC Gippsland and has been working in the area of family and organisational history for 10 years. His work includes recording stories for the Paynesville Memories project as well as recordings to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Sale Hospital in Gippsland. Gerard brings expertise and professional experience of managing social media and marketing to the board and looks forward to meeting and talking to as many OHV members as possible over the next couple of years.

Kirby Fenwick is a writer and audio producer and co-founder of Siren: A Women in Sport Collective. Kirby’s written work has been featured on ABC Sport and The Guardian among others. In 2022, she completed her honours thesis on women in sports journalism in Australia. Kirby’s audio documentary, The First Friday in February, which tells the story of the very first AFLW game, was awarded the 2018 Oral History Victoria Award.

Alice Garner is an experienced oral historian who records interviews for the National Library of Australia. She has a PhD in French history and has published books ranging from 19th-century French social and environmental history to 20th-century Australian and US educational history and memoir. Alice is also a musician, performer and audio documentary producer.

Mia Martin Hobbs, Rewind editor, is an oral historian of war, memory, trauma, gender, security, and anti-war activism. She has published in the Oral History Review and her book, Return to Vietnam: An Oral History of American and Australian Veterans’ Journeys (Cambridge University Press, 2021) won the Oral History Australia Book Award in 2022. She is a Deakin University Postdoctoral Research Fellow, undertaking an oral history with women and minority veterans from the War on Terror. Mia’s website.

Marie Nunan has a degree in history and has been conducting oral history interviews for over 18 years. Her business Gift of a Lifetime produces substantial audio and video oral histories of individuals. Marie has also branched into business oral histories, ranging from family-owned SMEs including agricultural organisations and wineries, to large corporations. Gift of a Lifetime was a finalist in the 2016 Geelong Business Excellence Awards.

Nicolette Snowden, social media, is a PhD candidate working on an oral history project about women in a coal community. Her historical interests are in feminist history, particularly women’s experiences in rural areas. She has worked as a finance journalist and in community development on climate change and sustainability projects. She has taught non-fiction writing, journalism and media analytics in the tertiary sector. Nicolette lives on Gunai/Kurnai land, Gippsland.

Alistair Thomson  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 represents OHV on the Oral History Australia committee. His oral history books include: Anzac Memories (1994), The Oral History Reader (2016), Ten Pound Poms (2005), Moving Stories (2011), Oral History and Photography (2011), and Australian Lives: An Intimate History (2017). Al’s website.

Deborah Towns, a social scientist, has recently completed stories and biographies for the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne’s Centenary 2024-2025 project. At the Royal Historical Society of Victoria’s conference ‘Free Secular Compulsory: 150th Anniversary of the Victorian Education Act 1872’ (2022), she delivered the keynote. Deborah shared the 2018 Collaborative Community History Award with co-author Dr John Andrews. Sourcing gender matters in schooling and workplaces, Deborah has made over 70 interviews. See Deborah’s online profile.