The Living Histories’ team played a major role in the planning and organisation of the recent ‘Working History’ conference for professional historians.
Jill Barnard records her personal highlights:
There were so many highlights of the 2016 Working History conference that it is hard to focus on just a few. Our guest speakers, Tim Sherratt and Lisa Murray, stimulated our senses with keynote addresses to begin each day. Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Blainey, the first practitioner of public history in Australia, held the room spell-bound with reflections on his own journey as a historian. There were so many stimulating papers, demonstrating the depth and breadth of the work as professional historians and providing ample evidence that, as practitioners of history, we are constantly assessing and reassessing aspects of our professionalism. On reflection, however, the major highlight of the conference for me, was the respect for each other’s work and the sense of collegiality that bathed both the conference room and informal discussions between colleagues during breaks.