There are some 350 historical societies across Melbourne and Victoria. Most of these historical societies, as well as being a member of the RHSV, belong to local networks of historical societies. These local networks are usually geographically based and are vitally important in sharing information, sharing challenges and providing key support.  In our turn, the RHSV wants to support not just individual historical societies but also the networks that link them.

So, the RHSV is delighted to host our second Network Leaders day – an opportunity for leaders and representatives of these diverse historical society networks throughout Victoria to come together and connect.

Please note that this event will not be Zoomed as a key aim is for leaders to meet with their peers from across Victoria and then, when they return home, to share their findings with their member societies.

COST

All attendees receive full-day refreshments and lunch

• FREE for qualifying attendees who are both:
  • a Network Leader (and up to additional 2 network members) who, on returning home, is willing to share their new knowledge with their network AND
  • is an RHSV member OR a member of an RHSV-affiliated historical society
• $20 for network members who are neither an RHSV member nor a member of an RHSV-affiliated historical society.

TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT

• Available for long-distance travellers who are both representing a historical society network AND are a member of the RHSV or of an affiliated member society of the RHSV. Please first speak to your network to see if they have funds available to support your trip.
• Reimbursement amounts:
  • Up to $50 for attendees living 50-150km from Melbourne
  • Up to $150 for attendees living beyond 150km from Melbourne
• To qualify for reimbursement, you must:
  • Represent a historical society network
  • Be a member of the RHSV or an RHSV-affiliated historical society
• Submit your expense claims via email to Oliver Sperlich, RHSV Operations Officer, at operations@historyvictoria.org.au

About the presenters

Robyn Vincin – Presentation 1: No time, no money, no resources: Challenges for Historical Societies
Robyn has had a career in librarianship and town planning, including NSW Executive Officer for the Planning Institute of Australia.
With a strong commitment to public engagement and communication, she continues to be a passionate advocate for networking and member engagement in both professional and volunteer organisations.
She has a keen interest in genealogy and local history and the “stories of place.”
After moving to Bayside in 2013, she volunteered at Brighton Historical Society, where she assisted with collection management, answered research inquiries and was Secretary for a couple of years. In May 2024 she began volunteering at Sandringham and District Historical Society where she is currently Secretary and continues to provide research assistance. Robyn is a member of the RHSV Historical Societies Support Committee.

Graham Goulding OAM –  Presentation 2: Responses to challenges: what some Networks are doing and could do
Graham is currently the President of the Moe and District Historical Society. He served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Gippsland Association of Affiliated Historical Societies between 2006 and 2013. He has authored seven publications on Moe’s and Gippsland’s history and for some twenty years edited Coach News newsletter for the Moe Society and wrote many of the articles published. Between 2009 and 2021 he was a member of the Walhalla Board of Management looking after heritage sites in Walhalla and for nineteen years has been Secretary for the Gippsland Immigration Park which built the Gippsland Immigration Wall of Recognition and the Gippsland Heritage Walk with 72 panels of information on Gippsland history. Graham is a member of the RHSV Historical Societies Support Committee.

Craige Proctor – Presentation 2: Responses to challenges: what some Networks are doing and could do, and Forum 
A member and office bearer of a broad range of historical societies and heritage groups in south-western Victoria and the Wimmera, Craige is both Chair of the RHSV’s Historical Societies Support Committee and President and Newsletter Editor of the Western Victorian Association of Historical Societies whose membership stretches from the coast to the Murray River. Craige has authored or co-authored nine books ranging from school and local histories to biographies of pioneer women, a rural fire brigade and a disability support provider. While researching and chronicling aspects of local history is a passion for Craige, he is also driven by the pleasure networking with other groups offers. In 2022 Craige was the recipient of an RHSV Award of Merit for services to local history.

Dr Rosalie Triolo OAM FRHSV – Short Presentation: How the Federation of Australian Historical Societies can help Network Leaders and Presentation 3: Attracting young people to local history, now and into the future
Rosalie is FAHS President, a RHSV Councillor and a past-HSSC Chair. She has enjoyed over 40 years in professional and volunteer History contexts, including long-term, volunteer Victorian and national leadership, advocacy, presentation and publication roles. She believes that knowledge of the past can inform life into the future while being of profound interes tto individuals or whole communities. For 25 years at Monash University, she helped facilitate the development of specialist History teachers.

Dr Aleryk Fricker – Presentation 4: Working ‘good way’ with First Nation Stakeholders
Associate Professor Aleryk (Al) Fricker is a proud Dja Dja Wurrung academic at the NIKERI Institute at Deakin University. He is a former Primary and Secondary school teacher and focuses on how to decolonise Australia’s neo-colonial education system to support the outcomes of all students.

Rosemary Cameron – Forum: Cultivating hope: empowering historical societies for the future
Rosemary has been the RHSV’s Executive Officer since 2017. Her entire career has been in not-for-profit membership-based arts management. Overseas she worked for London’s English National Opera and Royal Opera House and Oslo’s Early Music Festival. She is former director of the Melbourne Writers Festival (2005 – 2009) and the Brisbane Writers Festival (2003 – 2005). She was involved in Melbourne’s successful bid to become a UNESCO City of Literature.