Friends of Battye Talks

The Friends of Battye present a series of talks throughout the year on Western Australian historical topics. These talks are open to members and the wider community. Visit their website for more information.

The Friends of Battye Inc. are a not-for-profit organisation that assists in acquiring, preserving, and providing access to Western Australia's documentary heritage through fundraising, volunteering, and publishing.

Doors open at 5:00 pm for a 5:30 pm start. Members and guests are warmly invited to arrive early to enjoy drinks and nibbles.

The WA Naturalist Club's role in the growth of environmental activism with Sue Graham Taylor 

10 March 

​The Western Australian Naturalists' Club was founded in 1924 with the aim of 'encouraging the study of natural history in all its branches and preventing the wanton destruction of native flora and fauna.' Sue will discuss her work on the centenary history of the organization, with particular emphasis on the Club's role in the growth of environmental activism in Western Australia.

​Dr. Sue Graham-Taylor AM is a prominent Western Australian historian, researcher, and environmental advocate, known for her work with the WA Museum, the Conservation Council of WA, and projects like Swan River Stories, focusing on local heritage and environmental history. She holds a PhD, curates exhibitions, researches various aspects of WA history (from health insurance to waste management), and champions environmental conservation. 

Ghost Towns in Western Australia with Christine Harris 

12 May

​Fabulous fortunes, shocking tragedies, mystery and excitement surrounding Western Australia’s many ghost towns are being unveiled.

​At present, our list of identified ghosts towns has grown to more than 500 with more being identified every day. Of these perhaps the mining towns are the best known. In the 1901 census the largest towns in Western Australia included the mining towns of Day Dawn, Kanowna, Mount Morgan and Nannine, all of which are ghost towns today.

​Western Australia’s size, vast distances, boom and bust and unforgiving climate have left us with many places where once there was life that now has gone or almost gone. What remains may only be a crumbled down structure or grid patterns of a few streets which have now all but gone back to bush.

​The project is providing a richer, more human connection to these places, by giving voice to communities whose stories are often overlooked or marginalised in traditional historical narratives. The project will ensure that these individuals and locations are not forgotten. Information gathered will be published on an online website and index.

State Hotels Project of the Scaddan Government in the years 1911 - 1916 with Charlie Fox

14 July

AGM and the The Abolition of Slavery and Settler Colonisation AGM with  Jane Lydon

8 September

Jane Lydon’s research centres upon Australia’s colonial past and its legacies in the present. In particular, she is concerned with the history of Australia’s engagement with anti-slavery, humanitarianism, and ultimately human rights. She is is a white settler scholar who aims to carry out politically located research that respects Indigenous sovereignty. Her work has contributed to decolonizing heritage and academic practice, with a strong impact on debates regarding colonialism and Australian legacies of imperialism and slavery. Her most recent books include Imperial Emotions: The Politics of Empathy across the British Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2020) which examines the role of the compassionate emotions in creating relationships spanning the globe, and Anti-slavery and Australia: No Slavery in a Free Land? (Routledge, 2021), which explores the anti-slavery movement in imperial scope, arguing that colonization in Australasia facilitated emancipation in the Caribbean, even as abolition powerfully shaped the Settler Revolution.