Events
Upcoming events
September 2025
11sep6:00 pm7:00 pmWater StoriesRecording Memories of Water in Oral History Interviews
Event Details
In oral history interviews, memories of water often incorporate broader conversations about environmental change, community histories, personal identities and political debates. Whether in the complexities of water management, the witnessing
Event Details
In oral history interviews, memories of water often incorporate broader conversations about environmental change, community histories, personal identities and political debates. Whether in the complexities of water management, the witnessing of changing climates, the trauma of disaster, or the pleasures of swimming in a river or the sea, the ways in which people talk about water can tell us a great deal about their relationships to place, community, the past and the present. In this panel discussion, three oral historians, Dr Scott McKinnon, Dr Margaret Cook, and Professor Katie Holmes, will reflect on their interviews about water, including its politics, joys and risks on a heating planet.
Cost: $20 non members, $10 OHNSW/OHA members
Where: Online webinar
Organised by: Oral History NSW
Bookings and further information: https://www.oralhistorynsw.org.au/events/2025/9/11/water-stories#!event-register/2025/9/11/water-stories-recording-memories-of-water-in-oral-history-interviews.
This event is presented online by Oral History NSW as part of History Week 2025
Time
11 September 2025 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm(GMT+10:00)
Organizer
13sep10:00 am2:30 pm2025 OHT Launceston SeminarRegistrations Open
Event Details
The program for OHT’s annual seminar has been finalised. It will be held 10.00 am – 2.30 pm in the meeting room, Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston’s Inveresk on Saturday
Event Details
The program for OHT’s annual seminar has been finalised. It will be held 10.00 am – 2.30 pm in the meeting room, Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston’s Inveresk on Saturday 13 September.
10.00 Doors open
10.30 Helene Boyer, Swampie stories from the ‘Venice end’ of Launceston
A retired teacher and now artist, Helene has lived in Inveresk for 25 years. For the past three years she has been gathering ‘Swampie stories’ from past and current Inveresk community members to be published this year in her book On the Swamp, a history of one of Launceston’s earliest villages. She will share the experiences and insights gained in interviewing community members and documenting their stories, including those of families who have lived in the same house for generations, descendants of early settlers from Scotland and mid-twentieth century European migrants.
11.30 Jean Elder and Rhonda Hamilton,
Exploring Tasmanian gardens, landscapes and the people involved
Jean Elder is a retired social worker and social researcher based in Hobart. Rhonda Hamilton has worked in cultural institutions in Tasmania for many years managing collections and presenting exhibitions. Together they have conducted 17 oral history interviews for the Tasmanian component of the Australian Garden History Society’s National Oral History Collection.
In this presentation they will explore the key themes that have emerged from the oral history interviews, sharing insights gained along the way – always informative, occasionally humorous and sometimes surprising.
12.30 Lunch
1.30 Jennifer Jerome, Community Archives at the State Library
Did you know that the State Library and Archives of Tasmania collects family papers, photographs, oral histories and records of community groups? In this session, archivist Jennifer Jerome will introduce the ‘Community Archives’ collection, explaining how you can contribute. She’ll also guide us through a range of treasures in the collection, explaining how to uncover records related to places, people, and events.
2.30 Close
Cost (includes lunch): Oral History Tasmania members: $30
Students, pensioners: $30
All others: $35
Click here to Register
Note: Registrations close on Thursday 11 September.
Enquiries: president@oralhistorytas.org.au
Lana: 0435 861 927
Time
13 September 2025 10:00 am - 2:30 pm(GMT+10:00)
Location
Queen Victoria Museum
Organizer
30sep5:30 pm6:30 pmAsk Al Thomson - September 2025Ideas and Skills Exchange
Event Details
Event Details
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 a very informal and conversational session so no matter where you are at on you ‘oral history journey’ you are most welcome to dial in and have a 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 AEDST
Virtual Event Details
Join the live stream
Join the Event NowPassword 667975
Time
30 September 2025 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm(GMT+10:00)
Organizer
October 2025
15octAll Day18OHA (United States)Exploring Our American Stories
Event Details
The annual meeting of the Oral History Association will be held from 15-18 October 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.The year 2025 marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence
Event Details
The annual meeting of the Oral History Association will be held from 15-18 October 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
The year 2025 marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed. For this year’s Annual Meeting, the Oral History Association will convene people around the question: What is America?
Participants will reflect on the ways in which American identity is documented, framed, and perceived by its citizens and the world.
Just as Americans have proven their resilience and capacity for change, oral history, as a field, has been undergoing a paradigm shift towards radical inclusivity. The Annual Meeting serves as a gathering space to amplify practitioners finding new possibilities, generating new approaches, reassessing best practices, and recalling and refurbishing the fundamentally democratic impulse of oral history practice.
Find out more about the conference including the program, workshops, tours and registration:
Time
15 October 2025 - 18 October 2025 (All Day)(GMT-04:00)
Location
Crowne Plaza
Organizer
Event Details
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?
Event Details
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.
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 16 participants to enable lively discussion and practical work in an online format. Participants will need a computer with wifi connection – the Zoom link will be provided, along with Zoom instructions.
Feedback from past 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 in 8 hours. 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.’
Tickets
Book via Humanitix here: https://events.humanitix.com/oral-history-interviewing-for-beginners
*Please note, tickets are made available to OHV members first, before being made more widely available from the 2nd of September 2025*
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) and Fathering: An Australian History (2025). Al is currently co-editing The Bloomsbury Oral History Handbook.
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:
Saturday 18th and 25th October 2025
On each workshop day the session will go from 9.30am – 4 pm with a lunch break from 12 – 1.15 pm.
Time
18 October 2025 9:30 am - 4:00 pm(GMT+11:00)
Future Event Times in this Repeating Event Series
Organizer
Event Details
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?
Event Details
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.
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 16 participants to enable lively discussion and practical work in an online format. Participants will need a computer with wifi connection – the Zoom link will be provided, along with Zoom instructions.
Feedback from past 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 in 8 hours. 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.’
Tickets
Book via Humanitix here: https://events.humanitix.com/oral-history-interviewing-for-beginners
*Please note, tickets are made available to OHV members first, before being made more widely available from the 2nd of September 2025*
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) and Fathering: An Australian History (2025). Al is currently co-editing The Bloomsbury Oral History Handbook.
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:
Saturday 18th and 25th October 2025
On each workshop day the session will go from 9.30am – 4 pm with a lunch break from 12 – 1.15 pm.
Time
25 October 2025 9:30 am - 4:00 pm(GMT+11:00)
Organizer
November 2025
Event Details
Oral History Victoria online training workshop.Saturday 8 November 2025, 9.30-1pm, via ZoomAbout the workshop:This workshop is aimed at oral historians who are beginners in photography, aiming to improve their portraiture
Event Details
Oral History Victoria online training workshop.
Saturday 8 November 2025, 9.30-1pm, via Zoom
About the workshop:
This workshop is aimed at oral historians who are beginners in photography, aiming to improve their portraiture skills within the context of oral history collection. We will start with an overview of my working principles, how I manage my relationship with the subject, as well as basic technical considerations (backgrounds, lighting, composition, exposure etc). A small selection of my work will be shown as examples, and participants can also share their own photographs for discussion. Everything covered can be applied to both digital cameras and mobile phones.
Facilitator Anna Zhu:
I’ve been a professional photographer, producer and video director since 2008, commissioned mainly by public sector and not-for-profit clients. I work across a wide variety of industries but always focused on telling stories about real people. The National Library of Australia acquired some of my photography in 2021, which also started my highly rewarding journey as an oral historian. I’ve been lucky enough to win some national and international photography awards, the most prominent prize being sent to shoot in Antarctica with National Geographic. Unfortunately, I still didn’t develop an affinity for wildlife or landscapes. www.annazhu.com
Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/portrait-photography-in-oral-history
Virtual Event Details
Join the live stream
Time
8 November 2025 9:30 am(GMT+11:00)