Scholarships open doors to Archives
Two scholarships to support postgraduate archival research into unexplored aspects of Australia’s history have been awarded by the National Archives of Australia and the Australian Historical Association (AHA).
The scholarships, set up by Archives and the Association, have gone to PhD candidates Catherine Horne from the Australian National University (ANU) and Fallon Mody from the University of Melbourne.
Ms Horne’s project looks at women’s speech on Australian radio between 1923 and 1966 and its links with women’s entry into the public sphere.
‘This study will contribute to an international history of those connections and also to the histories of radio and speech in Australia,” Ms Horne said.
Innovative research supported
“Radio played a significant role in 20th century life and culture here because it could bridge the vast distances within the country, as well as between Australia and the outside world.”
She said sound recordings tended to be neglected by historians and she would use material held at the National Archives of Australia in innovative ways.
Ms Mody’s project will look at immigrant European doctors in Australia between 1930 and 1960.
‘There has been no systematic survey of immigrant medical professionals’ lives as they sought to re-establish themselves in Australia,” Ms Mody said.
“I plan to reconstruct the professional lives of these doctors in a database which will allow an analysis of medical networks and their subsequent impact on the structure and practise of medicine and public health in this country.”
She said the National Archives held records crucial to creating a complete professional biography for each immigrant doctor, particularly for non-British immigrants who arrived as refugees or displaced persons.
The scholarships, at $650 each, support researchers with the cost of digitising records held in the National Archives’ various locations across Australia, when the cost of travel might be prohibitive.
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