This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| Tasmanian Historical Research Association | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tasmanian Historical Research Association |
| Type | Historical society |
| Founded | 1951 |
| Location | Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
Tasmanian Historical Research Association
The Tasmanian Historical Research Association is a Tasmanian scholarly society focused on the study of Tasmanian, Australian and Pacific history, founded in 1951 in Hobart. The association engages with archival institutions, university departments, municipal councils and heritage bodies to promote research into colonial, Indigenous, maritime and convict histories and to publish peer-reviewed and popular works. It collaborates with libraries, museums, and government agencies on exhibitions, lectures and conservation projects.
The association was established in 1951 by local historians and public servants influenced by figures associated with University of Tasmania, Royal Society of Tasmania, State Library of Tasmania, Tasmanian Archives, Hobart Town Hall and civic movements in Hobart. Early membership included curators and scholars linked to National Library of Australia, Australasian Historical Association, Royal Historical Society of Victoria and collectors connected to Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site. Its formative decades intersected with research into Van Diemen's Land, Port Arthur penal settlement, Tasmanian Aboriginal people, George Augustus Robinson, William Lanne and scholarship on Bass Strait and Antarctic exploration by figures connected to Sir Douglas Mawson. The association participated in debates involving Heritage Council of Tasmania, Historic Buildings Council, Centenary of Federation commemorations and archival access controversies tied to Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
Governance is overseen by an elected council drawn from members with affiliations to University of Tasmania, State Library of Tasmania, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston Historical Society and municipal history committees in Launceston and Kingborough Council. The constitution sets roles for president, secretary and treasurer, and committees liaise with funding bodies such as Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Research Council and state heritage agencies including Heritage Tasmania. Meetings and AGMs are held at venues linked to Tasmanian Archives, Hobart City Council chambers and university lecture theatres associated with departments like School of Historical Studies, University of Tasmania.
The association produces a regular journal, bulletin and occasional monographs in concert with printers and presses that have included partnerships with Monash University Publishing, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne University Publishing and local printers tied to The Mercury (Hobart). Regular activities include lecture series featuring speakers connected to Australian National University, La Trobe University, Flinders University, University of Sydney and researchers from institutes such as Australian Centre for Indigenous History. Conferences have addressed topics from convict transportation and colonial settlement to maritime archaeology, Tasmanian bushrangers and environmental history debates involving stakeholders linked to Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Franklin Dam controversy, Gordon River, Hydro-Electric Commission (Tasmania) and conservationists associated with Australian Conservation Foundation.
The association maintains bibliographic collections, research files and photographic archives donated by members, scholars and former public servants with connections to Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, Franklin Museum, Wrest Point Hotel, Cascade Brewery and private estates such as Clarendon House and Risdon Cove. Holdings include papers related to figures like William Crowther, William Lanne, James Backhouse and repositories of ephemera from shipping companies such as Orient Steam Navigation Company and Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company. It collaborates on digitisation projects with National Archives of Australia, Trove, State Library of New South Wales and regional archives in Devonport and Burnie.
The association has sponsored prizes and awards in partnership with academic and cultural institutions including University of Tasmania prizes, local history awards administered with Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and community history grants linked to Australia Council for the Arts and Arts Tasmania. Its publications and contributors have been recognised by honours such as listings in Order of Australia citations for historians, fellowships from Australian Academy of the Humanities and research grants from Australian Research Council.
Membership includes academics, archivists, genealogists and amateur historians with ties to Royal Historical Society of Victoria, Launceston Historical Society, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Royal Society of Tasmania and community groups in Sorell, Brighton, Tasmania, Huon Valley and Glamorgan–Spring Bay Council. Outreach programs collaborate with schools linked to St Virgil's College, The Friends' School, community centres and local museums such as Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and initiatives with Tasmanian Youth Arts to promote primary-source research, walking tours of sites like Government House, Hobart and oral-history projects referencing narrators connected to Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania.
Notable contributors have included academics, curators and writers with associations to Eric Richards, Lyndall Ryan, James Boyce, Martin Gibbs, Clive Moore, Graham Luckhurst, Richard Broome, Helen Doyle, Tom Griffiths, Geoffrey Blainey, Ruth Teale, Megan Smolenyak, Anne Philpott, John Reynolds, Hilda McKay, Rex Harcourt, Margaret Reynolds, Julie Gough, Bill Lines, Elaine Brown, Karen Fox, Neil Smith, Patricia Wallace, Philip Payton, Robyn Annear, Paul Pickering, Jenny Hutchison, Richard Flanagan, Rowland Evans, Alison Alexander, John West, Garry Darby, Deborah Gare, Murray Bird, Diana Jones, Ashley Hay, Tony Birch, Heidi Norman, Marilyn Lake, Nicholas Brown, Stuart Macintyre, Terry Underwood, John Mulvaney, Janet McCalman, Peter Monteath, Margaret Somerville, Rosalie Fletcher, Michael Roe, Jan Roberts, Ian McFarlane, Geoffrey Serle.