A look at the past

Lovers of Australian history will surely be interested in the upcoming history conference being held in the Blue Mountains later this month. With a conference theme of Colonial Society and Beyond the one-day event will include a broad range of speakers, which include: Paul Ashton, Silas Clifford-Smith, Paul Innes, Ian Jack, Glynis Jones and Jill Roe.

The conference will be opened by former long-time president of the RAHS Professor Ian Jack. The keynote speaker will be Prof Paul Ashton who will talk about the early years of the colony, while historian Silas Clifford-Smith will talk about the importance of gardens to colonial society. Powerhouse Museum curator Glynis Jones will discuss colonial dress and fashion. Professor Emerita Jill Roe will talk about author Miles Franklin and her relationship with the Blue Mountains. As well as these speakers there will be a guided tour of the historic hotel by Paul Innes and John Low will give a musical interlude.

The event will be held at the historic Carrington Hotel in Katoomba on Saturday 20^th October 2012. Tickets are $50.00 (price includes lunch and morning tea).

For bookings contack Jan Koperberg at j.koperberg@bigpond.com

Glamour and Grit

On Saturday 21st July 2012 there will be a study day in Sydney on the history of the plant nursery trade  during the first half of the last century.

The Australian Garden Lover was one of many
magazine titles  that sprung up during the interwar years

The event, formally titled as Glamour and Grit - New Stories for Garden History, will be held at The Mint, 10 Macquarie Street, Sydney and will run from 10am- 4pm. Speakers include Silas Clifford-Smith (on Sydney's lost nurseries), Megan Martin (on WW2: The Commonwealth Vegetable Seeds Committee, and Anderson & Co), Chris and Charlotte Webb (Berrima Bridge Nurseries), Colleen Morris (on Paul Sorensen before WW2), Stuart Read (on Max Shelley and Jocelyn Brown) and Michael Lech (on Wunderlich's garden ornaments). This event is organised by the Historic Houses Trust in collaboration with the Australian Garden History Society and coincides with The Garden of Ideas, a national travelling exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

Several of the speakers at the study day
contributed to the National Trust's 2003
guide on the history of New South Wales
gardening styles between the wars

More information and bookings can be found at the Historic Houses Trust website:
http://www.hht.net.au/whats_on/event/members_events/2012/july/glamour_and_grit_new_stories_for_garden_history