The RHSV wants to bring together the leaders of the many networks of historical societies which exist across Victoria. This event will not be Zoomed as a key aim is for leaders to meet with peers from across Victoria and then to share their findings with their member societies.

COST:

The event is FREE to each leader + one-two other network members who are prepared to share their experiences and knowledge with their network afterwards AND as long as they or their historical society is a member of the RHSV. We understand that not all organisations which are members of these networks are members of the RHSV however, because we are a member-supported organisation we can only extend the free tickets and travel reimbursement to those attending who are both representing a historical society network AND that they are a member of the RHSV or of an affiliated member society of the RHSV.

For those who aren’t members there is a small fee ($20) to cover catering.

Includes all-day refreshments and lunch.

TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT:

For long-distance travel and the accompanying accommodation some reimbursement by the RHSV will be available if your network cannot help support you.

Reimbursement can be up to $50 in total if the attendee resides 50-150kms from Melbourne and up to $150 in total if the attendee resides beyond 150kms.

An expense claim can be completed below. Please submit your reimbursement request AFTER the event. Once again, we can only financially assist those attendees who are both

representing a historical society network AND that they are a member of the RHSV or of an affiliated member society of the RHSV.

ENQUIRIES

Bookings close on Friday 19 July.

Enquiries: HSSC Chair, Dr Rosalie Triolo FRHSV hssc@historyvictoria.org.au

BOOKINGS

below on this website page.

For emergencies on day: 03 9326 9288 or office@historyvictoria.org.au

FRIDAY 26 JULY PROGRAM

Each session invites questions and sharing of success stories, especially solutions to shared challenges

9:00am                          REGISTRATION tea/coffee and ‘introducing yourself to others’ activity on arrival

9:45–10.00am             PROGRAM START
Acknowledgement of Country and welcome: RHSV President
Emeritus Professor Richard Broome, AM, FAHA, FRHSV, FFAHS
Welcome, aims of the day and housekeeping: HSSC Chair Rosalie Triolo

10.00–10:45am           PRESENTATION 1: Helen Laffin and Rosalie Triolo, ‘Building capacity: Attracting and keeping community interest’

10:45–11:30am            PRESENTATION 2: Graham Goulding OAM, ‘Going for grants: Helpful hints’

11:30am–11:45am      MORNING TEA

11:45am–12:30pm      PRESENTATION 3: Craige Proctor, ‘Requiem for the Newsletter?
Does the newsletter still have a role for historical societies in the social media world?’

12:30–1:30pm               LUNCH and mingling/networking

1:30–2:15pm                  PRESENTATION 4: Rosemary Cameron, ‘Creating engaging events’

2:15–3.00pm                 FORUM DISCUSSION: Participants and speakers take earlier discussions further or raise new topics for discussion by all

3.00-3.15pm                 ROUND UP AND CLOSE: Rosalie Triolo

ABSTRACTS and SPEAKERS

Building capacity: Attracting and keeping community interest – Helen Laffin & Rosalie Triolo
Helen will share practical knowledge from her experiences in the heritage sector in relation to generating and keeping the interest of community members. Volunteers are crucial to successful operations but planning and a positive attitude are essential.

Rosalie will offer further strategies for attracting visitors, members, volunteers and leaders of diverse skillsets and cultural backgrounds. ‘Bigger picture’ thinking is necessary; only then will the stories of peoples past and present in our communities have greater chance of being understood and cared for into the future.

Helen holds a Master of Cultural Heritage, Deakin University, and is currently Heritage Collections Co-ordinator at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. She is also part of the City of Whitehorse Arts and Culture team which oversees Schwerkolt Cottage Museum Complex and the Whitehorse Artspace. She has a strong interest in local history and collection management and has worked as staff or volunteer at many small and large collections in Melbourne including Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West, CERES Community Environment Park archives, and Coburg Historical Society.

Rosalie has enjoyed over 40 years in History education, including multiple, long-term, volunteer Victorian and national association leadership, advocacy, presentation and publication roles for which she has received many awards; has worked in general public, as well as tertiary, secondary and primary education History contexts; has taught Australian history in diverse Victorian government schools; and facilitated the development of specialist teachers of History for 25 years at Monash University.

Going for Grants: Helpful Hints – Graham Goulding

Preparing grant applications can be daunting and difficult but those few words should not deter anyone from making applications. This session will provide the helpful hints that can make a difference and will focus on what has been learnt in over forty years of writing grant applications for many organisations.

Graham is a retired teacher who has been applying for grants since the 1980s, beginning with grants to support his work in education. In retirement, he has been writing for Gippsland Immigration Park in Morwell (since 2005), the Walhalla Board of Management which looks after government properties in Walhalla (2009-21) and the Moe & District Historical Society (since 2001). The total funds obtained exceeds $250,000.

‘Requiem for the Newsletter? Does the newsletter still have a role for historical societies in the social media world?’ – Craige Proctor
Many societies continue to produce regular newsletters as well as maintain an online presence to engage with members; other groups have retired the newsletter. How do and should these media differ? This presentation considers the relative merits of each and asks if the traditional newsletter still has a role. Do the digital natives among our communities expect something different these days? In migrating to online engagement, are we at risk of losing something?

Craige produced the Mortlake & District Historical Society’s newsletter for 14 years. Since 2022, he has produced the Western Victorian Association of Historical Societies newsletter, receiving and reading a great many newsletters from western Victorian societies. Craige made his first foray into managing Facebook pages for historical bodies in 2011 and presented for RHSV, 2014-17, on how societies might engage with their communities via social media. He supported several groups in developing their online presence.

Creating Engaging Events – Rosemary Cameron

Rosemary will give a very practical talk with templates of timelines, simple budgets and to-do lists. She will take participants through workshopping ideas to keep events fresh and engaging with advice on how to ramp up events from a simple talk to a conference. She will cover value-adding and making sure organisers always work within their own resources.

Rosemary has spent most of her career in theatre and literary festival management which is effectively event management. For several years she ran Tour Guides Australia, so she also understands how to create good tours. She organises a variety of RHSV events. She is the former director of the Melbourne Writers Festival which had some 400+ events over 10 days (2005–09) and the Brisbane Writers Festival (2003-05).

NETWORKS OF HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

This is a list of the networks of historical societies which we know exist across Victoria. There may be more. And there may be people interested in setting up networks for areas not currently covered. Please contact the RHSV if your society is part of a network NOT listed below or your society is interested in forming a new network to cover currently unrepresented areas. (office@historyvictoria.org.au | 9326 9288)

1. Western Victorian Association of Historical Societies Midlands Zone
2. Western Victorian Association of Historical Societies Southern Zone
3. Western Victorian Association of Historical Societies Wimmera Zone
4. Eastern Regional Association of Historical Societies (eastern suburbs of Melbourne including Shires of Nillumbik, Yarra Ranges and Murrundindi, Cities of Monash, Whitehorse, Boroondara, Maroondah, Knox, Greater Dandenong & Banyule)
5. Heritage Network East Gippsland
6. South Gippsland Historical Network
7. Wellington Shire Heritage Network
8. Gippsland Association of Affiliated Historical Societies (GAAHS)
9. Gippsland Cataloguing Network
10. Latrobe Combined History Groups
11. Australian Alpine and Snowsports Historical Societies (Falls Creek & Mt Buller)
12. Mornington Peninsula Local History Network (Shire of Mornington Peninsula, City of Frankston)
13. South Eastern Historical Association (SE Melbourne: Cities of Greater Dandenong, Casey, Bayside, Kingston and Frankston; Shires of Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast and Cardinia)
14. South Metro Network (Cities of Stonnington, Bayside, Glen Eira, Port Phillip, Monash and Kingston)
15. Central Highlands Historical Association (City of Ballarat, Rural City of Ararat, Shires of Pyrenees, Heburn, Moorabool, Golden Plains, Central Goldfields and Mount Alexander)
16. Geelong & District Historical Association
17. Boroondara Historical Societies Association
18. Yarra Plenty Heritage Group  (Cities Manningham, Banyule and Whittlesea, and Shires of Nillumbik and Yarra Ranges)
19. Yarra Ranges History and Heritage Group (Shires of Yarra Ranges and Cardinia, Cities of Greater Dandenong and Banyule)
20. Western Metropolitan Group of Historical Societies (Cities of Wyndham, Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay, Brimbank, Melton, Whittlesea, Moonee Valley and Hume)
21. Surf Coast Shire Heritage Committee