Stories

Recent Stories

These stories come from the items in our collection.

006758d May Holman 1920s
Australia’s first female Labor parliamentarian
SLWA on ABC Radio
WA history
Join Dr Kate as she explores the extraordinary life of May Holman, Australia’s first female Labor parliamentarian, a member of the WA Legislative Assembly from 1925 -1939.
Wongan Hills Newsagency 25th Sept 1998
Small towns & regional cities
Wongan Hills is located 185km from Perth in the Shire of Wongan – Balidu in the Wheatbelt region. The shire falls within the traditional lands of the Ballardong Noongar and Yued Noongar people.
Sochoeurn the Monk
Stories

To celebrate the Harmony Week theme 'Everybody Belongs', we are sharing the stories of the people that bring the Library's spaces to life.

Sadie Corner later Canning training at Bethesda Hospital Melbourne ca1950
Aboriginal stories
Photographs and films
SLWA on ABC Radio
WA history
Sadie Canning (nee Corner) was Western Australia's first Aboriginal nurse. She was a member of the Stolen Generations and grew up at Mount Margaret Mission in the north eastern goldfields.
Don McLeod 1972
Rebel outsider chiselled from the Pilbara rock
SLWA on ABC Radio
WA history
Join John Hughes, Senior Subject Specialist, on ABC Radio discussing Don McLeod (1908 -1999) a miner, handyman and major activist for Aboriginal rights.
Izzy Orloff and colleague working in the Censors Office
An in-depth look at his photography
Photographs and films
WA history
Izzy was one of WA’s most significant photographers, an Avant-Garde innovator in photographic style who captured moments of urban life. Born in Ukraine in 1891, he migrated to Fremantle in 1910.
Bogged in the Leonard River on the way back to Derby Derek Green Ian Moore Robin Berry and Bob Deal May 1962
Photographs and films
SLWA on ABC Radio
How a flight attendant's colour photos introduced National Geographic to remote WA in the 1960s.
Lena Van Hale interviewee for the Centre for Stories Death and Dying project
Defying Trans and Sex Worker Stereotypes
Death and Dying
Lena is a sex worker activist and trans woman, and in this interview she breaks down the misinformation around violence and death for sex workers, why (and when) suicide is actually prevalent among trans people, and how deaths from the HIV pandemic affect everyone today.
Maya Shioji  Judy Edgar interviewees for the Centre for Stories Death and Dying project
Sorry Business
Death and Dying
Karijarri and Yawuru woman Judy Anne Edgar and her daughter, Japanese Yawuru woman, Maya Shioji, discuss how much is to be gained by doing death and dying the traditional way.
Leon Ruri and Adrian Momber interviewees for the Centre for Stories Death and Dying project
Choosing Life, Communication and Haka
Death and Dying
Lifeline WA and suicide prevention ambassadors Leon Ruri and Adrian Momber discuss men’s mental health, dance and haka as a medicine, suicide prevention and why our society is making people mentally unwell.
Leanne OShea interviewee for the Centre for Stories Death and Dying project
The Eternal Journey of Grief
Death and Dying
Leanne discusses how grief is made up of a million tiny moments, why our communities need to better support people in their mourning, and how our values and self-awareness are key to healing and moving forward after loss.
Sandy Mitchell interviewee for the Centre for Stories Death and Dying project
Dementia and Daily Rituals
Death and Dying
Sandy discusses losing her dad to dementia, her newborn baby to a heart defect and her mother to cancer – all in a small country town in southwest WA. She shares how people reacted to these different losses in different ways, and why community, ritual and celebration are so important in the healing process.