RAHS Latest News
Ethel Foster (1870 – 1955)
Written by Elizabeth Heffernan, RAHS Volunteer To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Royal Australian Historical Society will highlight Australian women that have contributed to our history in various and meaningful ways. You can browse the women featured on our new webpage, Women’s History Month. The Royal Australian Historical Society would not be where it is today without the remarkable contributions of one of its founding female members, Josephine Ethel Foster. Born in Paddington in...
Nancy-Bird Walton (1915-2009)
Written by Elizabeth Heffernan, RAHS Volunteer To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Royal Australian Historical Society will highlight Australian women that have contributed to our history in various and meaningful ways. You can browse the women featured on our new webpage, Women’s History Month. Born in Kew, NSW, in 1915, Nancy-Bird Walton stayed true to her name as a pioneering female pilot in Australia from the time she received her commercial licence at age 19 until her death in 2009....
Malthusianism and the prosecution of Thomas Walker
Written by Christine Yeats, RAHS President The twenty-eight year old Thomas Walker, spiritualist, secularist, free-thought lecturer, journalist and politician, encountered the full force of the law when he presented the last of his series of Thursday evening lectures in the Secular Association’s rooms at 20 Oxford Street in Darlinghurst on 9 April 1885. [1] The subject of his lecture was Moral and scientific checks to over-population; or large families and poverty. [2] Walker was an advocate...
Valentine’s Day 1900
Written by Elizabeth Heffernan, RAHS Volunteer On Valentine’s Day in 1900, two schoolgirls and their maths teacher went missing from a picnic at Hanging Rock and were never seen again – or so author Joan Lindsay led her readers to believe in the classic Australian novel Picnic at Hanging Rock, first published in 1967. A short note from the author prefaces the story: “Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or fiction, my readers must decide for themselves. As the fateful picnic took place in...
Evelyn Scott (1935-2017)
Written by Elizabeth Heffernan, RAHS Volunteer To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Royal Australian Historical Society will highlight Australian women that have contributed to our history in various and meaningful ways. You can browse the women featured on our new webpage, Women’s History Month. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this webpage contains the images and names of people who have passed away. Indigenous rights activist and social justice campaigner Dr...
Vivian Bullwinkel (1915-2000)
Written by Elizabeth Heffernan, RAHS Volunteer To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Royal Australian Historical Society will highlight Australian women that have contributed to our history in various and meaningful ways. You can browse the women featured on our new webpage, Women’s History Month. When remembering the sacrifices made by Anzac soldiers in the World Wars, it is important to recognise the Australian servicewomen who stood alongside them. Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel was...
Miles Franklin (1879-1954)
Written by Elizabeth Heffernan, RAHS Volunteer To celebrate Women’s History Month, the Royal Australian Historical Society will highlight Australian women that have contributed to our history in various and meaningful ways. You can browse the women featured on our new webpage, Women’s History Month. The Miles Franklin Literary Award is Australia’s most prestigious literature prize, awarded every year to the most outstanding novel depicting Australian life in any of its phases. The Award is...
An anthem “of our own”: Advance Australia Fair
Written by RAHS volunteer, Elizabeth Heffernan In 1878, Scottish-born Australian composer Peter Dodds McCormick wrote the music and lyrics to a new patriotic song, ‘Advance Australia Fair’. One hundred and six years later, on 19 April 1984, his song – amended to suit a more modern audience – was adopted as the new Australian national anthem, replacing ‘God Save the Queen’. Today, ‘Advance Australia Fair’ is unquestionably played at local, national, and international political, cultural, and...
RAHS Weekly News Round-Up