BSHN Common History Talk-Fest
The focus of the BSHN Talk-fest is bringing the public into the local histories of the Brisbane Southside through different learning modes: self-tour displays of local organisations' work, public discussion of researched history presentations, and demonstration of audio-visual tools in local history, such as the Mapping Brisbane History website and mapping program. The marketable products of local history organisations, in particular books, would be on sale. The Talk-fest directly engages numerous Brisbane Southside history and environmental organisations. The inaugural talk-fest provides these community (public) organisations the opportunity to formally establish a network and to publicly display their history work. The envisaged BSHN (the Network) will provide a scaled-up public ownership of common history across the Brisbane Southside.
The project will run a two-day talkfest involving numerous southside Brisbane history and environment groups, open to the public. The talkfest will discuss "common history". The aim of this will be to further develop a Brisbane Southside History Network (BSHN) as a public-private business interface for history groups and professional historians on the Brisbane Southside, sharing research findings in the common history. It is envisaged that this activity will help establish a model for forming of a confederation with regional networks.
Over two days (projected for August 2014), our inaugural "Common Histories" talk-fest will help develop and launch a Brisbane Southside History Network (BSHN). A team of five professional historians and a spacial scientist will produce 'open' researched presentations on the theme of "Common Histories", facilitate public enquires, and record outcomes of the talk-fest in online publications. Additionally, a panel of 12 representative historians from diverse Southside history/ community groups will discuss the theme of "Common Histories." As well, members of networked groups and the general public will be invited to engage with the research presented and discuss/debate/offer insights on common history. Furthermore, networked groups will display areas to showcase their work to the Brisbane public. A second (expanded) website launch will be generated from this debate and the various contributions.
"Common history" -- historical matters (persons, events, places, geography, etc) which crosses over the focus of several local organisations -- of the Brisbane Southside would be researched and documented by professional historians, providing new conclusions about Brisbane's southside heritage. At the inaugural Talkfest the aim is to evoke public discussion/debate/offerings on the researched common history. This public engagement with professionally researched history would be recorded as outcomes of the Talkfest in online publication; that is, public input would be combined into the scholarship. This level of scholarship will add to the credibility of the local history produced. At the same time, folk memory and history would find its voice in the refining context of scholarship. The language used will be educative for a general audience; avoiding an academic in-house expression, but at the same time increasing the level of understanding for those who wish to learn about their local history.
"Common history" will expand the excellent work done in "Stories of the Southside" series by Beryl Roberts, a member of our Project team, by adding the voice of numerous scholars and groups.
These and public (folk) stories will greatly enrich the current record, and are being presented in a manner that will directly engage the public, with scope for producing thematic history (hence our categories of Natural Environment and Landscape, Indigenous History and Heritage, Transportation and Pathways, Industry and Land Use, Housing and Home Life, and Schooling & Cultural Beliefs). This mode of thematic history fits well with school curriculum requirements, but is less evident in community history work. Our public Talk-fest will also create the platform for build connections in the community's understanding of its stories and the large themes of local history.
This project builds upon Phase 2 of the Community History 2011/12 funded Mapping Brisbane Southside History Project (MBSH), which created a Brisbane-wide website and mapping program, re-structuring into the Mapping Brisbane History Project (MBH). It continues aspects of this project and utilizes some of the networks formed through that activity. By enabling the creation of a Brisbane Southside History Network (BSHN) through our Talkfest, and possibly other regional Brisbane networks, we would support Brisbane City Council's existing programs, improving the sharing of resources, and reducing replication. The proposal has a parallel in the relationship between the History Queensland Inc., and state & local governments in the promotion of community history. Our project is targeted at developing greater financial autonomy for all participant groups, and is supported somewhat in-kind by History Queensland Inc., as well as local history organisations. However, we require an injection of funds from BCC to 'kick start' the medium through which we seek to begin this process, namely a talkfest.
In line with current Government policy that history groups support projects from a mix-funding model, the creation of a network such as we propose through our talkfest would help stimulate formal volunteer-professional history work partnerships, and give public organisations the capacity to promote their work professionally. A joint-group Network could manage private investments in Network Projects, such as currently the Mapping Brisbane History website and mapping program. Our inaugural Talk-fest will discuss and test how volunteer-professional history work partnerships can work on a scale that would ensure the economic value of history products and services. Secondly, our event is a means of examining and promoting the common history shared across the Brisbane Southside, bringing together diverse history groups and interfacing them directly with each other and the public. This Talkfest will provide a rare opportunity for groups to share and exchange knowledge and resources, developing a more coherent and accurate vision of the Southside's history, and weighing its conclusions directly with the public. It is envisaged that the presentations and discussions (5 presenters and a total of 17 experts) will greatly contribute to knowledge of the region's history.
The outcomes (e.g. discussions) from the inaugural BSHN "Common Histories" Talk-fest -- from public input into professional history research -- will be published online through the website already developed in Phase 1. It will also help generate the updated (second) website launch. Our team will assess the success of the inaugural BSHN Talk-fest not simply through public attendance, but through the sustainability of resultant network(s) and our capacity to incorporate the issues and outlooks of member groups. It is anticipated that the BSHN could hold the annual talk-fests in the following years without calling on funding from the Brisbane City Council. The outcomes from the inaugural BSHN Talk-fest -- online publications, MBH mapping website, public displays of local history work, would include the demonstration of researched services and products that are publicly owned by the Network (made up of local volunteer organisations) and will be validated by professional work. The proof-in-the-pudding will be the number of selected local businesses investing in the Network.
The Talkfest will, as noted, be the means of both testing and developing history group networks and hopefully creating a workable model. It may also provide a solution to current issues facing local history groups - i.e. professional historians doing much of the work in volunteer local organisations, producing a standard of local history work that volunteers cannot deliver. The Talkfest and resultant networks would capitalize on this expertise, mentoring local history volunteers and enabling them to take greater leadership in project management. The projected networks are aimed at avoiding two extreme options: the loss of volunteerism (history as only a hobby) or the loss of professional history (history at high disciplinary standards). A broader entity (i.e. network) will enable local groups to dovetail resources and quickly locate expertise relevant to their various projects. It will also more likely attract external funding than an entity too strongly tied to a specific location. Once a successful network emerges, the Coopers Plains Local History Group Inc. would hand over the Brisbane-wide MBH Project to this entity upon its incorporation, and host the MBH website for all Brisbane regional networks.
The Project Team is made up of five professionals -- four historians and a historical geographer (spacial scientist). Most are the same group which successfully produced Phase 1 of this project, concerning mapping. The responsibilities of the team including negotiation with local history and environmental organisations across Brisbane Southside in an agreed structure and constitution for the formation of the Brisbane Southside History Network (BSHN), the organisation of the BSHN inaugural Talkfest (including the formal launch of the BSHN), the promotion campaign for the inaugural Talkfest, and the follow-up online publications from the Talkfest. Volunteers from local history organisations will bring their own displays of local history works at the Talkfest, assist in the recording of the Talkfest proceedings, provide administrative support in the lead-up to the Talkfest, and make decisions as members of the local organisations in the formation of any Network that results from this venture.