• SS Partizanka, Fremantle wharf, 1947. Courtesy M Grubisa

  • Three men at the top of the shaft using a windlass to haul up a bag of ore.
    Possibly Gwalia or Boulder, circa 1930s. Courtesy George Lithgo.

  • Expectant crowds gather to gaze up at the Partizanka as it docks
    in Fremantle on its way to Sydney. Courtesy K Ursich

  • Unknown prospectors. Courtesy George Lithgo.

  • Miner undergoing X-ray examination, Gwalia. Courtesy Dr Alan King.

  • Mara Markovich with herbs grown to supplement
    the monotonous diet. Courtesy Mary Vuleta.

unearthing hidden stories
Dr Criena 
Fitzgerald

Historian and Consultant

 

  • A picture of a besuited and bespectacled man, Dr Robert Mitchell, sitting, crossed-legged in a wicker chair, with an open book on his lap looking out to the left of the picture. He is in a flourishing garden in front of his home in Coolgardie. A bespectacled lady, in a high necked full-sleeved dress, is standing directly behind Dr Mitchell looking towards the camera. Photograph in possession of the author.
  • A picture of a group of nine, smiling, people looking towards the camera on the deck of the SS Ravella bound for Australia. The group (five males and four females) are gathered on and around a set of steps. The group includes Nena Katnić, her sister Joyce and her mother Mary, and George Grbavac, who later became the first president of the Dalmatinac Sport and Community Club in Spearwood. Photograph courtesy of Nena Katnić.
  • A picture of two male prospectors, wearing broad-rimmed hats and working clothes, in front of the Goldfields pipeline circa 1950s. The smiling man on the left of the picture is crouching, half-facing the camera, whilst milking a white goat which has its face obscured by the bucket its eating from. The man on the right is standing, partially leaning against the pipeline, holding a goat in his arms. It
Hear more interviews in Publications
Oral Histories
Recovering voices and stories from the past

Here you can see a list of Oral History Projects.

Using recording devices, I recover voices and stories from the past. Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews.

Click on a panel to open a more detailed description of the project. There are also some excerpts of interviews presented as audio files.

 Interview excerpts

'Sarge' Major, winder driver in Gwalia during the 40s and 50s talking about his first trip going underground. Part of the research for the book 110 Degrees in the waterbag: A history of life, work and leisure in Leonora, Gwalia and the northern goldfields.

During the riots in Kalgoorlie (1934), a group of single Slav men decided to defend their homes on the Boulder leases by making 'jam tin bombs'. Petar Radanovich, aged 11 at the time, watched these being made. Part of the research for the book For a Better LIfe: Western Australia to Yugoslavia and back 1948–1955.

Oral History Projects

Choose an item to see more details
Current Research
The Life and Times of Faiz Mahomet

I am conducting detailed research into the life of Faiz Mahomet in collaboration with Mahomet's grandson.

Faiz Mahomet (1848? – c.1910) was a notable camel-owner in the Mid-West and Goldfields areas of Western Australia. Believed to be from an aristocratic Afghan family, Mahomet was prominent in civic affairs and respected by those in the European and Afghan communities (source: Australian Dictionary of Biography).

The importance of Afghan cameleers in Western Australia prior to the introduction of railways has sometimes been overlooked in written histories but is now receiving greater attention.

This research is preparation for a planned book about Faiz Mahomet.

2016
Oral Historian Find and Connect.

History and information about Australian orphanages, children's homes and other institutions. A resource for Forgotten Australians, Former Child Migrants and anyone interested in the history of child welfare in Australia.

2013
Consultant Historian National Trust WA project

Researching and documenting occupants and health campaigns run by the Public Health Department 57 Murray Street.

2013–2018
Oral History Interviewer SLWA.

The collection consists primarily of audio tape-recorded, structured interviews in which interviewees talk about their lives or particular events and experiences in the past. There are stories of war, migration, personal and family relationships, mining, droving, prevailing social attitudes and farm life. Interviews in the collection span over 130 years of memories and many are with people born in the 19th Century - the earliest was born in 1863.

The major strength of the collection is in interviews with Western Australians sharing their everyday lives and representing a wide range of employment groups, social backgrounds, ethnic communities, lifestyles and experiences.

2010–2012
Oral Historian NLA Forgotten Australians project.

One of the Western Australian contract interviewers for the National Library of Australia project recording the experience of ‘forgotten Australians’.

2009–2010
Oral Historian for Professor Barry Marshall.

Ongoing work conducting family history research for Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Barry Marshall. I have completed interviewing Professor Marshall’s parents-in-law, and created a short interview film.

2009–2010
Oral Historian for Institute of Public Administration WA.

Oral Historian for Institute of Public Administration
I contributed an interview with former WA Health Commissioner Dr James McNulty to the Institute of Public Administration’s oral history collection.

2008
Trainer, Oral History Techniques, Oral History Association (WA).

I developed and delivered a two-day workshop in oral history techniques at Kalgoorlie Council for the Oral History Association (WA). I produced program content and co-presented (with Ms Jan McCahon) on topics including:

  • excellence in recording and managing an oral history collection
  • ethics in oral history
  • consent forms, copyright and access
  • the use of material culture to stimulate memory
  • open-ended questioning
  • oral history recording equipment.
2004–2005
Oral historian for Social History of Leonora and Gwalia.

Funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, this project required identifying suitable informants among the residents and ex-residents of the community, writing to each interviewee, co-ordinating the interviews and producing transcripts from each interview.

I collected and lodged photographic and documentary material in the JS Battye Library Collection. The project also required awareness of copyright regulations regarding photographs and documents.
 Interview excerpts

Bob Biggs, then aged 4 remembering the mine accident and being cared for by Netta Togni. Among his many jobs, Bob delivered bread for the baker to all the homes in Gwalia.

2002–2003
Oral historian for a history of UWA Press.

Oral historian and contract historian writing the history of UWA Press (published as A Press in Isolation, 2004). This project required me to interview past and current board members, editors and authors and work co-operatively with the UWA Press Board.

The monograph was delivered within budget and on time.

2003
Oral historian for Nedlands Library and Subiaco Museum.

I contributed to the oral history collections of these organisations in a freelance role. With direction from the Oral History Coordinator, I interviewed nominated residents to record early memories of the district.

1990–2002
Oral historian for The Battye Library, State Library of Western Australia.

The position required research, production of oral histories and checking and editing of transcripts. I interviewed indigenous elders, migrants, women, parliamentarians, elderly, people recalling trauma (the Darwin Cyclone) and children.
Projects included:

  • JS Battye Library oral history collection
  • Northern Territory Archives
  • Fremantle prison
  • Women and change
  • History of the Western Australian Parliament 2002
  • Changes in the Australian diet
  • Battye Library Federation CD-ROM
2000–2001
Oral Historian for Perth Modern School.

My work as oral historian for the Perth Modern School project involved close collaboration with Professor David Black and the Sphinx Foundation to create an oral history database of past students to provide information for a proposed book on the history of Perth Modern School.

This job required me to choose interviewees, conduct interviews, organise transcription of the interviewees and collect consent forms.

1999
Oral Historian and Research Assistant for Dr Jan Gothard, Murdoch University.

I conducted oral history interviews for Dr Gothard’s research into the history of the disabled, particularly the prejudices against accepting migrants with Down’s Syndrome.

I consistently carried out sensitive interviews with cognisance of disability and the difficulties of migration.

1998–1999
Oral Historian for La Trobe University Project on British Migration.

I worked independently to liaise with interviewees, conduct oral history interviews, obtain consents for the use of the interviews and produce interview summaries.

I maintained close contact with the Melbourne-based project co-ordinator Dr James Hammerton through telephone and email correspondence.