Sydney Division Oral History Records.

NSW State Library

RTA Oral History Program

Oral History Association of Australia

Eveleigh Railway Workshops Oral History Project

References

Notes on How to Conduct an Oral History Program

Sydney Engineering Heritage Oral History Program

Since 1991 the Sydney Engineering Heritage Committee has conducted an oral history program, by tape recording the recollections and experiences of eminent engineers and others who have had significant engineering experiences.

We now live in a society where technology is changing rapidly and where historically important institutions and structures can disappear almost overnight. Consequently and particularly where the fabric is lost or where a process is discontinued, oral history may be the only way to document the place and what happened there.

Oral history also addresses the fact that an essential ingredient in recording the history of engineering and technology are the experiences of those that made it happen - the people who were there, who know not only the technical stories, but the human stories, the flashes of genius, the flukes, the political influences, the mistakes and the triumphs – the things that give engineering achievement a human dimension. Sites such as Eveleigh Railway Workshops and Cockatoo Island Dockyard display little in their preserved empty buildings compared to the riches that can be saved by recording the words and memories of those who actually toiled within those buildings. Eveleigh Railway Workshops has had an excellent Oral History Program undertaken with the employees who once worked there.

Our oral history program therefore recognises that the stories of today’s engineers who are doing important things, are as much a part of our heritage as the structures they build and their other achievements. In essence, their stories are the raw material of the engineering history of their time.

Sydney Engineering Heritage Committee keeps abreast of developments by being an active member of the New South Wales branch of the Oral History Association of Australia.

Nominations for Interview  

Nominations for interview are welcomed and may be made at any time to the Secretary or Chair of the Sydney Engineering Heritage Committee or to Michael Clarke.

• Nominations should include:

• name, date of birth, address and other contact details

• a brief statement of the prospects’ career, highlighting their significance and achievements as engineers

• a career resume (if available) and any other relevant information such as inclusion in Who’s Who in Australia

• an indication of any urgency or impediment that might attach to the timing or holding of an interview.

National Engineering Heritage Oral History Program

Similarly, all Australian engineers have the opportunity to record the stories of their achievements for posterity, through the National Engineering Oral History Program, an initiative of Engineering Heritage Australia, which manages it on behalf of the Institution.

The national oral history program will facilitate interviewing nationally important engineers, many of whom have played an important part in building modern Australia.

 The program aims to cover as many facets of engineering as possible. Nominations are welcome and should be emailed to the administrator of Engineering Heritage Australia.

 Nominations should include the information as above.

 Inquiries about the program can be made to Michael Clarke, past chair of Engineering Heritage Australia.

A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,

M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,

X,Y,Z.

Sydney Division

ORAL HISTORY RECORDS

The following is a list of names of recognised engineers and people associated with industry and engineering in Australia who have been interviewed under the Institution of Engineers Oral History Program in  New South Wales and Sydney.

Please note this listing is for Sydney & NSW and does not include interviews done by other state heritage committees.

The Institution of Engineers Australia - Sydney Division

Engineering Heritage Committee

Interviews Under the Sydney Oral History Program

( Includes Snowy Mountains Oral History Project and tapes acquired from other sources )

BN = Biographical Note Available     SLN = Recording Tapes lodged with the State Library of NSW

EHS = Copies with the Sydney Engineering Heritage Committee     SM = Snowy Mountains Engineers Oral History

Listing Last Updated - March 2003

 
This list will be added to as more interviews are undertaken by the Engineering Heritage Committee.

Where names are marked SLN, a copy of the recordings can be found at the State Library of NSW.

The RTA of NSW conducts a theme based oral history program where groups of people related to a subject are interviewed individually and the recordings are saved together under a subject title. This method of oral history recording is ideal for capturing the essence of a particular situation or subject and displays that theme's history in a pictorial manner.

Topics covered by the RTA include : -

• Sydney Harbour Bridge Maintenance Cranes

• NSW Vehicular Ferries

• Development of the Pacific Highway & Sydney-Newcastle Freeway

• Developments in Vehicle Regulation, Driver Testing and Licensing

• Construction of the Gladesville Bridge

• Timber Bridge Maintenance (video)

• Concrete Pavements

• Road Location and Design

• Traffic Management Initiatives

For more information go to the RTA's Oral History Program web site

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One of the more recent and notable oral history projects relating to industrial heritage has been the interviews of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops employees. This splendid work has been performed by Lucy Taksa of the School of Industrial Relations & Organisational Behaviour of the University of NSW.

To see a glimpse of this work go to the Teaching Heritage - Eveleigh Workshops web site

References

• Australia's Oral History Collections - A National Directory, National Library of Australia, 1997

• The Heritage in People - Oral History in Engineering: - Michael Clarke; First International and Eighth Australian Engineering Heritage Conference, Newcastle, 1996

• Oral History Handbook (Third Edition, 1997) - Beth M. Robertson, Oral History Association of Australia (South Australian Branch)

• A Guide to Commissioning Oral History Projects - Oral History Association of Australia (pamphlet)

• ScreenSound Australia (formerly the National Film & Sound Archive)

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Page last updated 09 March, 2007