As part of their Local History Study elective, the Year 11 General Modern History class visited the State Library of Western Australia and the Western Australia Museum Boola Bardip.

The excursion started with a special tour of the State Library led by Tricia McKenzie, who explained that the State Library is more than just a place to access books. Students visited an exhibition of photographs by Abraham ‘Izzy’ Orloff, a photographer based in Fremantle who captured local sights and faces between the wars. It was a perfect starting point for thinking about change and continuity in our area.

Tricia then led us to the J S Battye Library where much of Western Australia’s historical records and original publications are kept. She showed us how we can identify change and continuity in the local area by looking at newspapers, maps, photographs, and even ephemera such as bus tickets and cordial labels. Tricia also showed us how we could use a microfiche reader to look at the newspaper printed on the day we were born. We finished our State Library visit with a seminar on how to research local history using Trove and the SLWA website.

After a break for lunch in the beautiful Cultural Centre, we made our way to WAM Boola Bardip. For many, this would be their first visit to the new museum – very exciting! Our focus was on the Changes gallery which exhibits the different impacts that people have had upon the landscapes of Western Australia. Students could see how industries such as logging and agriculture may have changed their own local area. They also saw evidence of the contrast between Noongar perspectives and European colonial perspectives of the land. The Changes gallery gave many students inspiration for their local history project.

With half an hour to spare, we visited two more galleries. It was a fantastic opportunity for students to get a sense of the depth and breadth of our state collection with many commenting that they would love to come back. It was wonderful to hear students get excited about an artefact they had spotted or make a connection between an exhibit and their own history and experiences. Students are now working on their local history projects in which they are investigating change and continuity in the City of Kalamunda area.

The Year 11 General Modern History class would like to extend their thanks to Tricia McKenzie and the staff at the SLWA, as well as the staff at WAM Boola Bardip. We also thank Mr Charles Macgregor and Mr Julian Spencer-Greyling for joining our excursion.

Ainsley Cusman
Humanities Teacher