Submitted and supported by Neville Buch, Chris Dawson, Ray Kerkhove, and Beryl Roberts. Members of the Professional Historians Association (Queensland).
A Brisbane Southside History Network (BSHN) is the organisation and meeting place for the purpose of the common history for all history and environmental groups within the area of the Brisbane Southside ( [1]), and to provide a public-private business interface for the network of history groups and professional historians on the Brisbane Southside.
Current Government policy in funding history is based on the desire that history groups support projects from a mix-funding model, that is, public and community entities should not be completely reliant on the public purse but seek financial independency through public-private partnerships, bringing public ownership and market investment together . On that logic, professional historians have important role to play for family and local history organisations, where the integrity for both the voluntary ethic in history organisations, and the professional ethic for historians, can be maintained. There has to be a choice exercised for a middle way in the new economy if two extreme options are to be avoided: the loss of volunteerism (history as only a hobby) or the loss of professional history (history at high disciplinary standards).
The organisation of local history has to take a different direction if it is to survive. The facts are straightforward. In the 1980s there were significant public investments in local history. Several Australian universities had provided centre for local history studies which had created a market in professional history. Today, most of those centres had gone, and the initial growth in membership of local history groups had significantly diminished in the last decade. During this time family histories had grown substantially, and have created new organisations, both not-for-profit family history organisations and profit-based online genealogical companies. When you look at the financial models of these organisations, they are public-private partnerships. There is a combination, with some services being free to the public and utilising volunteer labour, and some services being for a fee to private clients utilising professional assistance. The critical problem is that the professional assistance usually comes from those who are professionals in the work of online or community services, and who are not professionals in the work of the history discipline. Without the input from professional history (knowledge-base and skills from discipline training), the quality of the product is at the very least questionable. The different missions of family and local history organisation can be maintained and their separate voluntary work can also be fostered, while, at the same time, a public-private partnership model can be created to ensure the delivery of histories of professional integrity and with economic sustainability for voluntary organisations.
There already exist important public-private enterprises for history on the Brisbane Southside. The Brisbane City Council has already invested $6,800 in the Mapping Brisbane Southside History pilot project. This was a project sponsored by the Coopers Plains Local History Group, and will benefit many history groups across the Brisbane Southside through a publically-available website (to be launched 1st March 2014). The website runs a mapping program of historical sites and areas across the region. This is a long-term project which seeks, not only to map completely the history of the Brisbane Southside, but will provide the site for other regions of Brisbane to bring their history into the mapping program and then back out to the public in easily-accessible educative formats. This long-term project requires both public and private funding, and needs the leadership of a Brisbane Southside History Network.
The proposal is for the launch event of the Brisbane Southside History Network, an organisation made available to all history and environmental organisations whose organisational focus lies in the area from the south bank of the Brisbane River BETWEEN eastern bank of the Oxley Creek and the western bank of the Bulimba Creek, and as far south as the current Brisbane city boundary. The three purposes of the Brisbane Southside History Network (BSHN) would be to be a ‘meeting space’ and the organisation there of, for:
· Fostering and promoting the common history shared across the Brisbane Southside;
· Provision, through the control of a Governance Board, a public-private entity to deliver history services and products to the market (both government and private clients), on behalf of the network, for a fee;
· Manage private investments in Network Projects, such as currently the Mapping Brisbane History website and mapping program (including the Mapping Brisbane Southside History Project).
Each member organisation of BSHN would have representation on the proposed Governance Board which would own all network and business interests. All costs would be covered by a not-for-profit scheme, but will ensure coverage of the costs for 1) Network administrative expenses, and 2) bursaries, mostly likely well under market rate in the first few years, for the Network services of professional historians at fee per hour work provided. In this way, the public status of the history group members are ensured, as well as the private business interests of professional historian contracted to the Network. The network would also seek private investments to assist in covering its network project costs.
The details of this proposal are in a process of negotiation. However, mechanics of how the proposal could work is as follows.
The centrepiece of the Network (BSHN) would be an annual gathering of BSHN member organisations, and open to the public. The BSHN launch in the latter half of 2014 would be the first annual talk-fest. The event would be organised to focus on the common history between the BSHN member organisations, and would be open to presenters from member organisations to provide information and discussion on the common history. The annual talk-fest could be held over two days and held at a venue on the Brisbane Southside which could accommodate requirements in numbers and presentation & catering facilities. It would be preferred if a venue could be found that had a historical association with the Brisbane Southside.
The BHSN Governance Board would own the public-private business entity, and formation of the BHSN Governance Board would be representatives of all BHSN member organisations, and the Governance Board members (representatives) would act on the behest of their member organisation.
The public-private business entity would be made up of professional historians contracted by the Network via BHSN Governance Board. The public-private business entity would provide history services and products approved by the BHSN Governance Board to client groups or individuals, whereby ordinary public service would not be charged, but services for private interest would require a payment. The payment would be divided to provide coverage for BSHN administrative costs and a bursary for the professional historian providing the actual service on per hour basis.
An example of a service provided by the Network via the public-private business entity could be history talk at a school, a public heritage tour, or investigation of complex history enquiry.
At an agreed point time, the Coopers Plains Local History Group could hand over the Mapping Brisbane History website and mapping program (including the Mapping Brisbane Southside History Project) to the Network Governance to manage. The public-private business entity, on behalf of the Governance Board, would seek private investments for the long-term project in a way which guard the scholarly integrity of the project. For example, investment opportunities in local history from specific community business that demonstrate significant historical ties could be sought. This can be done in a way to ensure that commercial investment does not destroy the integrity of our professional history work. Simply, the investment would not be an advertising tool. Only particular commercial groups where those businesses have, in fact, invested in the local community and are very much part of the history, would be invited to invest in the mapping project (or another Network project). To use an example for the Fairfield-Annerley pilot area in the MBSH Project, Matthews & Sons and their relationship to Annerley since the 1930s allows a potential investment to have historical integrity. The idea of an exclusive approach to select businesses will appeal to these businesses that can get a certain economic value from its years in valuing its community history. These businesses will provide the BSHN a monetary investment. In return the Network can, in the first instance, map their business history through the MBSH project. In other instances there is the potential to bring local businesses closer to the work of the local member organisation.
The Mapping Brisbane History Project is immediately available to the Network. Other projects could be generated on private investment as the Network chooses.
The proposers are seeking seed funding from the Brisbane City Council via the Community History Grant. The seed funding would be used to cover the cost of the BSHN launch, including venue and catering costs, and administrative costs in setting up the Network with a Governance Board and the Public-Private Business Entity for the first twelve months only.
The concept of the model is that member organisations would be less reliant on direct funding from the Brisbane City Council and can find the cost of their particular organisation resources in history production covered in part by the private market.
Financial sufficiency will be the challenge for this project, but if a funding model cannot be found to be able to work in a public-private partnership than there will severe losses for all who would want to see history researched well, and written up well or otherwise presented well.
[1] The area of the BHSN would be defined as all the area from the south bank of the Brisbane River BETWEEN eastern bank of the Oxley Creek and the western bank of the Bulimba Creek, and as far south as the current Brisbane city boundary.