SLWA on ABC Radio
This week Damien Hassan, Senior Archivist at the State Records Office, discusses steps taken by the State government in 1962 to ensure the Empire Games held in Perth in that year were a “no-fly” zone.
More details on The Great Fly Menace of 1962This week we focus on a range of separate but connected collection items and tell the story behind them. The Georgette Rescue and the role of Sam Isaacs and Grace Bussell within it has become part of West Australian folklore and mythology.
More details on The Georgette RescueThis week Damien Hassan, Senior Archivist at the State Records Office, talks about a secret language used by convicts that allowed them to converse without authorities understanding what they were saying. Convict slang – or 'flash' language, as it was known – was imported by convicts arriving into Western Australia during the mid-1800s.
More details on “The Everlasting Staircase…”This week Dr Kate looks at a collection that is widely acknowledged as one of the State Library's treasures – the Freycinet Collection.
More details on Freycinet CollectionThis week Damien Hassan, Senior Archivist at the State Records Office, discusses something a bit unexpected in the State archives collection: banned bumper stickers. These stickers used to be vetted by the WA Censorship Office.
More details on Banned Bumper StickersThis week, just in time for wildflower season Dr Kate immerses us in the beautiful photography of Hilda Wright. Although she taught dressmaking professionally, between 1936 and 1950 Hilda was also a keen (and very skilled) photographer, focussing primarily on Western Australian wildflowers.
More details on Hilda Wright’s Wildflower PhotographyThis week Damien Hassan, Senior Archivist at the State Records Office, talks about the Secession Movement and how in 1933, we almost split from the rest of Australia to become our own independent dominion. The idea of secessionism has never really gone away and remains topical and a media-worthy debate to this day (these days, secession is known as #Waxit).
More details on Should I Stay or Should I Go?This week, Dr Kate highlights the State Library's incredible (and extensive) oral history collection, and focuses on the role that oral history can play in telling the stories of everyday West Australians and in highlighting and describing those aspects of our social history that are often ignored or left out of more official documentation of the past.
More details on Oral History - Althea Dorris BarberThe Police Department records held by the State Records Office cover a lot of territory, both in geography and in subject matter. As well as investigating and reporting on criminal activities, the records can also document more unusual matters.
More details on The Truth Is Not Out There, It’s In Here, at the State Library BuildingThis week, Dr Kate talks about a small collection of photographs from the Gilchrist collection, depicting protesters from the Union of Australian Women marching against the development of a US military base in WA in 1962.
More details on May Day 1962 ProtestsAlmost 100 years after the event, the murder that took place at Government House Ballroom in the early hours of 27 August 1925 continues to intrigue and fascinate. This week Damien Hassan, Senior Archivist at the State Records Office of WA, delves into the State archives collection to talk about the case.
More details on The 1925 Murder at Government House BallroomThis week Dr Kate discusses John Hutchinson’s remarkable collection of recordings documenting Western Australian birds across several decades in remote areas across the state, including parts of the Kimberley, Pilbara and South-West.
More details on John Hutchinson Birdsong CollectionToday, Dr Kate is talking about some promotional wedding magazines published by three prominent Perth photographic studios in the 1930s and ‘40s.
More details on The Bridal MagazineAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are advised that this page includes photographs and names of people who are now deceased.
More details on Mary Montgomerie Bennett and Ada Bromham CollectionThis week, Dr Kate talks about the Stevenson, Kinder & Scott Corporate Photography collection – a collection of over 25,000 corporate and advertising images, ranging from 1965 – 2008.
More details on Stevenson, Kinder & Scott Corporate Photography CollectionToday, Dr Kate discusses the opening up of the South West as a tourist destination, and showcases an attractive, illustrated, handwritten booklet recounting a trip to Augusta in 1921.
More details on Katherine Shenton Travel Log – Augusta 1921This week, Dr Kate talks about a more recent piece of Western Australian social history: a scrapbook containing mementos of a Perth café that was around from the 1950s to the early 1980s. The Coffee Pot was a popular hangout for many, offering style, sophistication, and a welcoming atmosphere.
More details on Coffee Pot ScrapbookThis week, Kate talks about a very early letter from the Pilbara, written just as this area was opening up to the pastoral industry. The letter is digitised and can be viewed online through the State Library catalogue.
More details on 1864 Letter from William Shakespeare HallDr Kate discusses the recently digitised watercolour paintings and ink sketches produced by Rica Erickson for her 1958 book Triggerplants.
More details on Rica Erickson Illustrations for 'Triggerplants'ANZAC day was on the weekend and in light of that, this week Dr Kate discussed Joseph John Talbot Hobbs who kept five diaries throughout World War I.
More details on J J Talbot HobbsThis week Dr Kate discusses the manuscript book of poetry by John Boyle O’Reilly, famous Irish-American author and Fenian.
More details on John Boyle O’Reilly’s Manuscript Book of PoemsThis week Dr. Kate discusses Raymond Stanley Stewart’s diary written on toilet paper while he was a prisoner of war in WWII.
The diary covers the period of 27 July 1942 to 12 September 1942 and details the day to day life as a POW in the desert camps of North Africa to the camps in Italy.
More details on Raymond Stewart’s Toilet Paper DiaryThis week Dr. Kate discusses Mary Ann Friend’s journal, an account of the settlement of the Swan River 1829-1831. Of great cultural significance to Western Australia, the journal is one of the many treasures of State Library.
More details on Mary Ann Friend's Journal