'Information Update' - Newsletter 4 - December 1998

Contents:

National History Challenge a Winner
From the Director's Desk
ERA opens John Curtin records to the world
AWARDS
Curtin's Vision Acknowledged
JCPML Thanks to our Supporters
New Hours for New Look Exhibition
New to the Collection
Contributions & Support
Visitors to the JCPML Challenge Bank Reading Room

National History Challenge a Winner

Winners of the Premier's Young Historian award perform their winnng entry

Throughout 1998 the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library has hosted the judging of the WA division of the National History Challenge and in October that culminated with a special Awards Ceremony to honour all the division prize winners.The National History Challenge was established to promote public support for widespread involvement in the teaching, learning and making of history and to add a sense of interest and enjoyment to the study of history for school children. It is a nation-wide program involving students from years 5 to 12 who can enter projects in a number of categories-from essays to multi-media, from performances to exhibition displays.The best entries from each school were entered in the preliminary judging at the JCPML. Finalists went onto the next round of judging with the best of the State entries being eligible to enter the National Finals held in Canberra. According to JCPML Director, Ms Vicki Williamson, one of this year's judges, the standard of the entries was extremely high. "I was very impressed by the effort and work all the students had put into their entries," said Ms Williamson."We had more entries this year than last and I anticipate that the competition will continue to gain interest and popularity," said Ms Keryn Zeeb, State Coordinator for this year's Challenge. Ms Zeeb travelled to Canberra with students Khandis Marinko, Sarah James, Ashleigh Owens and Rebecca Walker from Penrhos College, winners of the Premier's Young Historian Award, who represented WA as the overall winners in the National Finals with their group performance- "A Dramatic Interpretation of the Development and Struggles of Women in Democracy and their role in Society throughout Australian History."

Age Division Winners:

Year 5/6 Age Division: Lisa Alarcon (St Simon Peter Catholic Primary School) for her essay "Discovering Democracy through the Australian Experience of War"

Year 7/8 Age Division: Alysia Debowski (Presbyterian Ladies College) for her essay "The Eureka Stockade"

Year 9/10 Age Division: Sarah James, Khandis Marinko, Ashleigh Owens and Rebecca Walker (Penrhos College) for their group performance "A Dramatic Interpretation of the Development and Struggles of Women in Democracy and their role in Society throughout Australian History."

Year 11/12 Age Division: Chloe English, Jennifer Coltton, Claire Delfs and Sarah Maughan (Santa Maria College) for their group performance "The Conscription Debate - WWI".

Special Categories Winners:

Australian Experience of War: Choong Yang Hwong (Rossmoyne Senior High School) for his multimedia entry "Australian WWII Internment Camps"

Environment: Jeremy Kung (All Saints College) for his essay "Greenpeace Australia".

Reconciliation: Shaydeen Thompson (Penrhos College) for her museum display "Reconciliation".

Peter Platell from Como Primary School won the special Gold category

Gold: Peter Platell (Como Primary School) for his museum display "Towards Democracy - A Model of the Eureka Stockade."

Parliament and Politics: Holly Cameron and Esther Lee (Penrhos College) for their museum display "Democracy in Australia".

Communications: Candy Thiel (Narrogin Senior High School) for her essay "The Communist Party in 20th century Australia".

Western Australian Constitutional History: Jessica Burrow, Ying Hong, Alicia Sim, Renae Stirling (Rossmoyne Senior High Scool) for their multimedia entry "Western Australia's Constitution and the Democratic Myth".

Oral History: Amy Green (Presbyterian Ladies College) for her museum display "Protesting Against the Vietnam War".

Regional Prize: Craig Earnshaw (Narrogin Senior High School) for his essay "The Struggle against Communism".

From the Director's Desk

It is difficult to believe that our first year of operation is coming to a close so quickly. As we look back over this year JCPML staff feel very proud of what we have achieved as Australia's first prime ministerial library. The standards we have set in the areas of collection development and management, our schedule of public events and education programs and the progress we have made with our innovative use of technology are worthy of note. For me personally the highlight of the year was the July 5 anniversary lecture presented by our Patron, former prime minister the Hon. Gough Whitlam.At a recent State parliamentary session to discuss amending the Curtin University of Technology Bill, due recognition was given to what we have been trying to accomplish this year and I would like to quote the following passage:'Having adopted the name "Curtin" for the university, a number of people-- including our parliamentary colleague ... Hon John Cowdell--took the initiative of seeking to establish a prime ministerial library at Curtin University. With the cooperation of the commonwealth archive body, such a library has been established. It is the first such library in Australia. We should congratulate the university and the individuals involved in establishing it because we will have something that is uniquely Western Australian ... that will honour Australia's wartime Prime Minister. It will provide a facility for people researching matters related to Curtin's prime ministership, that period and some of the initiatives and themes developed while he was in office. That is a very commendable initiative and one that we should welcome."More than 12,000 people have now visited the JCPML and our exhibition and their comments have been overwhelmingly supportive. If you have not had the opportunity to visit us in 1998 I hope we will see you in the new year.Until then, on behalf of the JCPML staff, I wish you all the very best for 1999.Vicki Williamson, JCPML Director

ERA opens John Curtin records to the world

Providing electronic access to John Curtin archival material becomes a reality in February next year when the JCPML Electronic Research Archive (ERA) is launched for public use within the JCPML Challenge Bank Reading Room. More than 5000 items will be available including nearly 600 editorials written by John Curtin for the Westralian Worker, photographs from the Curtin family album, oral histories, copies of official documents, letters and other personal papers. ERA gives researchers full electronic access to the content of this material and ERA's search retrieval software allows the textual content of documents, as well as the descriptive metadata attached to each document, to be fully searched.In addition to digitizing the JCPML collection, dispersed John Curtin-related materials held around the world are being added to ERA with the cooperation of such institutions as the National Archives of Australia, the National Library of Australia, the MacArthur Memorial Library and the Roosevelt Presidential Library.Following data migration to new software in the first half of 1999, full web access to ERA will be available later that year.

JCPML wins Awards

The JCPML was recently honoured with a Museum Publication Design Award. Several categories are open for nomination by cultural heritage institutions and this year there were nearly 300 entries. The JCPML received a Certificate of Commendation from Museums Australia for the supplementary material category for a series of invitations we used throughout 1998.A Travel Scholarship from the Victorian Association of Library Automation (VALA) has been awarded to Lesley Carman-Brown, JCPML Public Programs Coordinator. Lesley will travel to the UK to investigate new IT developments in electronic access for such difficult collection areas as manuscripts, newspapers, three dimensional objects and video and audio material. This information will be used by the JCPML to continue enhancing electronic access to the collection through ERA.

Curtin's Vision Acknowledged

Attending the ceremony were (from l to r): Federal Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, JCPML Director, Vicki Williamson and Dr Don Schewe, Director of the Carter Presidential Library

In recognition of Prime Minister John Curtin's qualities of vision, leadership and community service, Curtin University of Technolgy recently initiated the John Curtin Medal as an award to honour these qualities displayed by other Australians.At the inaugural medal ceremony on October 29, four people from diverse backgrounds were selected to receive the John Curtin Medal: Ms Priya Cooper, a Parlympic swimmer; obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr George O'Neil; Ms May O'Brien, an Aboriginal educator; and Dr Eric Tan. In the lead up to the ceremony, all four were given a tour of the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library and its facilities.During the ceremony Associate Professor David Black, JCPML Historical Consultant, spoke about his impressions of John Curtin, saying:"Where are the mainsprings of Curtin's greatness to be found? Quite simply his greatness stems from the fact that ... he was uniquely placed to perform the task he did at the gravest point of our history since the commencement of European settlement 210 years ago. ... In short, Curtin was a man of great courage in the fullest sense of that word, a man who triumphed over personal adversity and a man who ultimately sacrificed himself in the service of his country. ... His concern for others caused him great anguish but it never prevented him from making the great decisions which had to be made and taking full responsibility for them." DAVID BLACK'S SPEECH

With Thanks to All our Supporters

A special Founders Dinner was held in the Sir Laurence Brodie-Hall Atrium of the John Curtin Gallery on October 20 to thank the many foundation supporters whose generosity over the years has enabled the John Curtin Centre to be established. Among the guests were key JCPML supporters George Nichols, Director of the National Archives of Australia, Mr Philip Pendal and Professor Dennis Moore. A highlight of the evening was the screening of some archival film footage from the JCPML collection.

New to the Collection

An exciting new donation to the JCPML collection this quarter comes from the Curtin family who have very generously donated Prime Minister John Curtin's briefcase. Unlike the modern, rather slick accessories that accompany today's busy politician, Curtin's case looks rather like its owner--somewhat humble, sturdy and well-worn yet very capable of fulfilling its duties. As the photo shows, Curtin used it to carry any important papers that he had to take with him on his overseas trip in 1944. No doubt it was also used to take home correspondence he preferred to mull over away from the office at the Lodge or during a rare trip home to Cottesloe.The briefcase is one of the new items that will go on display in our refurbished John Curtin exhibition when it reopens on February 9.

Contributions & Support

Australian War Memorial
Jessie Ayres
KimBeazley
Curtin family
Michelle Grattan
Kodak
Beverly Lane
Rena Leckie
National Archives of Australia
National Library of Australia
Philip Pendal

The JCPML would like to acknowledge a recent donation from Kodak, whom we are proud to have as a sponsor.

Visitors to the JCPML Challenge Bank Reading Room

Alan Barblett
Kim Beazley
Rachel Beazley
Patrick Beere
Stephen Carre
Jennie Carter
Jimmy & Phyllis Clarkson
John Dawkins
Michael Day
John Edwards
Maria Jose de Fousa Majer
Dr Johan & Dienkie Froneman
Goldwyn Hart
Susanne Haydon
John Houston
David Karpin
David Kingberg
George Macrides
Jonathan Majer
Lauren Nimmo
Pat Norris
Phillip O'Hara
Dr Kinji Ono
Eleanor Oxham
Alan Read
Don & Cheri Schewe
Edward Seaford
Colin Smith
Tom Stannage
McKenzie Stewart
Tom Taylor
Steven Ti
Kim Wilke