"Having heard that Rabbits are being bred in various parts of the country, and knowing from experience, that their favourite food is parsley..." Famous last words from colonisers new to the Australian ecosystem. Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser, 25 June 1825, p.2

⚓️ WE NEED YOUR HELP! HMAS Vampire turns 70 this year! Our curators are digging through the archives and found this photo of a gorgeous lab pup onboard. We have zero details. Who is this dog? When was this taken? Help us solve the mystery in the replies! 👇 #HMASVampire #MuseumArchives #NavyDogs

This was a fun little piece to write with @baibi.bsky.social from our @everydayheritage.bsky.social research. #history

Why doesn’t Hobart have a Chinatown?

Early Chinese communities might seem to have left little tangible trace. But such an absence does not necessarily mean the absence of a Chinese history.

theconversation.com

This was a fun little piece to write with @baibi.bsky.social from our @everydayheritage.bsky.social research. #history

Why doesn’t Hobart have a Chinatown?

Early Chinese communities might seem to have left little tangible trace. But such an absence does not necessarily mean the absence of a Chinese history.

theconversation.com

Me, trying to convince friends *waves hands* out there that Tasmania is a normal and real place. The locals:

For a few years now, I've been part of an online writing group that finally met in person at Mississippi State last year. Now our special issue of Agricultural History about place-based history is out online. The group has such diverse research, enjoy! read.dukeupress.edu/agricultural... #history

For a few years now, I've been part of an online writing group that finally met in person at Mississippi State last year. Now our special issue of Agricultural History about place-based history is out online. The group has such diverse research, enjoy! read.dukeupress.edu/agricultural... #history

My neighbours are moving out, which means my WFH companion is also moving away. I'm going to have to get a cat of my own, aren't I?

I know what I think this says, but what do you think? "between the swamps the soil _________ good but _______ to clear, great quantity of fern and sword grass." Grimes, King Island, 1802-3: nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2322... #history

Now its the time for the aurora to visit these nocturnal parts. Its 10:30pm and the beach has the gentle hum of a few small groups watching the lights, while the waves sway back and forth in time with the sky's dance.

Where are my old-ish French handwriting readers? How did Freycinet's people describe the landscape around today's New Norfolk in Tasmania? I have bits and pieces, but some words are defeating me. Full map available from: nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2323... #history #archives

Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry

Love to see that the Tasmanian Aboriginal palawa kani place names map has had a whole makeover. Great user info, a better layout, it's beautiful. tacinc.com.au/map/map (Of course, I discovered the update because an article in press has the old URL in a footnote & it's too late to change it...)

Love to see that the Tasmanian Aboriginal palawa kani place names map has had a whole makeover. Great user info, a better layout, it's beautiful. tacinc.com.au/map/map (Of course, I discovered the update because an article in press has the old URL in a footnote & it's too late to change it...)

I think we can agree this conference catering is putting all others to shame. This is what happens when a conference is at Tasmania's favourite eccentric museum, MONA.

Are you using #maps in research? Want to learn about their history and use as sources? In London in late January? Sign up for @ihr.bsky.social short course, Historic Maps: Interpreting Stories of Place! #maphistory #skystorians 🗃️

Historic Maps: Interpreting Stories of Place

Discovery Course 1

sas.ac.uk

We are reaching the end of semester and the due date for final assignments. I have one phrase running permanently through my head, threatening to come out.

Today I filmed my last lectures in our wonderful media studio. I don't know what we will have in our new building, but it seemed only right to mark this occasion with all due solemnity.

Me reading what was on a block of land in 1826: "A small idiot only on this allotment." Sure, that tracks. Oh, it's hut, not idiot. Well, it was the colonies, there was a high chance of an idiot on the allotment too. #history 🗃️

Me reading what was on a block of land in 1826: "A small idiot only on this allotment." Sure, that tracks. Oh, it's hut, not idiot. Well, it was the colonies, there was a high chance of an idiot on the allotment too. #history 🗃️

My cranky bus driver may have been driving like the road was out to get him, but at least he was blasting ABC Classic so I could get motion sick to the soothing tones of Gabriel's Oboe and then be roused back to jollity by a brass marching band.

Two weeks ago I was writing an intro lecture about tech being hungry for data & desperately scraping the internet. This week: 19th century science was hungry for data & desperately searching for bodies. I guess, spot the difference between an AI corpus and an old ethnology museum?

You're all going to the wrong archives. My local is always amusing. Just last week I was treated to: Gossip about why X has been so grumpy lately. Whispers about a fab historian (umm, me, tucked out of sight). And Mr Ye Olde Sailor: "It's a yellow notebook, don't you know it, can't you find it?"

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 11mo ago

No film gets historians right, but that's only because no audience wants to watch someone quietly work their way through a cardboard box of old papers, in total silence, for eight straight hours.

Everyday Heritage team member Dr Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social takes a walk down Elizabeth St in central Hobart with Joel Rheinberger, ABC Hobart, and tells a few forgotten stories of characters who once lived in this town. Listen to the audio recording here everydayheritage.au/news/voxtrot...

The worst thing students can usually think to say about me in surveys is that I'm "too enthusiastic" and "have the vibe of a kindergarten teacher". Well, I challenge them to find any such vibes in my outfit today.

And they will ask, 'Were there any signs?'

This morning, while internally thinking about how colonists celebrated someone I said aloud "she was apparently the first woman to walk to X", immediately erasing all First Peoples who'd been there before. The whole class called me out & I was so proud of them, but also mortified. Ahh, teaching.

It is 2025, and someone *now* is preparing to publish an 1850s pastoralist’s diary *editing out* all the coded bits where he describes murdering Yamatji people. In 2025. But sure, let’s hear more about how the Great Australian Silence is over.

The killing code: strange symbols in a WA settler’s diaries lay bare frontier atrocities

Exclusive: Stories of murders passed down by Yamatji elders are confirmed by a cipher hidden in the 1850s journals of prominent pastoralist Major Logue. Now descendants on both sides want to break the...

theguardian.com

Me, absolutely hopeless in the music round of a pub quiz, catching up on the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs and surprising myself by knowing every single song. Then spoiling it by needing to double check the artist of this song and discovering it's Kylie or Midnight Oil.

Countdown #1 to #100 - Hottest 100 Australian Songs - triple j

These are the songs you voted from #1 to #100 in triple j's Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.

abc.net.au

While I wait for my university's overzealous spam filters to let my verification email through so my signature is approved, I will encourage you all to sign this petition. openpetition.org/!repealjrg

Repeal Job-Ready Graduates Policy Now: Restoring Equity in Higher Education - Online petition

We sign this petition in solidarity with those who signed the Open Letter to the Prime Minister on 28 July 2025 (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/28/open-letter-to-australian-govern...

openpetition.org

Dr Una McIlvenna@unamcilvenna.bsky.social · last yr.

Top Australian writers urge Albanese to abolish Job-Ready Graduates, calling their humanities degrees life changing theconversation.com/top-australi...