GUEST POST: In the Archives with Nicolas Baudin

Posted on 1 June 2022 by Maddy Sexton

Edited by Jean Fornasiero and John West-Sooby ‘Roaming Freely Throughout the Universe’: Nicolas Baudin’s voyage to Australia and the pursuit of science is a collection of essays written in the context of the French explorers’ belief that studying in situ was the only way for science to move forward.

Drawing on a range of archival sources, the essays presented here offer fresh perspectives on Baudin’s scientific voyagers, their work and its legacy. What emerges is a deeper appreciation of the Baudin expedition’s contribution to the pursuit of science, and of those who pursued it.

In a special three-part guest series on the blog, John West-Sooby discusses how the book came to be, and the discoveries made along the way. In this first instalment, we discover the important role that historical archives played in shedding light on the voyage.

Read on below.

Banner image: Terre De Diemen: Ile Maria. Tombeaux des Naturels, (detail) by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur

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GUEST POST: Noris Ioannou on Thylacines, Dingoes, and the Eureka Flag

Posted on 3 May 2022 by Maddy Sexton

Drawing on the research he conducted for Vernacular Visions: A Folklife History of Australia – art, diversity, storytelling, Noris Ioannou discusses the links between thylacines and dingoes, and the way that modern media mirrors the past.

In this special guest post, learn about how the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger is linked to the plight of dingoes in our current times; how the earliest Australian women’s communal artwork is under threat, and how it all links back to folk art.

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HIDDEN HISTORIES: Causing a stir with Arcadian Adelaide

Posted on 23 December 2020 by Poppy Nwosu

In this third installment of Hidden Histories, we travel back in time to 1905 Adelaide, when Scottish-born actress and satirical writer Thistle Anderson first published Arcadian Adelaide to quite a stir in sleepy Adelaide.

Published again in 2020 for a modern audience, this hilarious little volume, intended by its author as ‘a playful skit’, is to be taken with a pinch of salt … or perhaps savoured, stubbornly, with a glass of excellent Adelaide wine.

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HIDDEN HISTORIES: Medieval recipes for today with food historian Barbara Santich

Posted on 17 November 2020 by Poppy Nwosu

In this second installment of Hidden Histories, we are traveling back in time to discover The Original Mediterranean Cuisine and delve into the recipes (and food culture) of medieval times.

Acclaimed culinary historian Barbara Santich tells the story of authentic medieval Mediterranean food, and brings to the table recipes translated and adapted for modern kitchens from fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italian and Catalan manuscripts.

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HIDDEN HISTORIES: Ivan Polyukhvoich’s case to answer

Posted on 4 November 2020 by Maddy Sexton

In the first instalment of our new series, Hidden Histories, intern Reem Ernst, recent Law graduate, takes a look at the shocking trial of Ivan Polyukhovich in Adelaide in 1990.

Written by journalist David Bevan, and based on his observations as a court reporter, court transcripts and witness statements,.A Case to Answer serves as a record of an astounding case in legal history both in Australia and the world.

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BEHIND THE BOOK: Valerie Volk and her search for Anna

Posted on 15 July 2020 by Maddy Sexton

In a new series on the Wakefield Press blog, we’ve asked authors to write about the background, inspiration, research and work that goes into writing a book.

This week, Valerie Volk writes about her search for her distant relative Anna Werner, who in 1889 left the German town of Lewin to search for her son in the distant colonies of Australia. This search culminated in Valerie’s novel, In Search of Anna, a story that Valerie describes as a journey book, historical fiction, a study of motherhood, a detective novel, and a romantic tale all rolled into one.

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BEHIND THE BOOK: Anne Black on George Isaacs

Posted on 7 July 2020 by Maddy Sexton

In a new series on the Wakefield Press blog, we’ve asked authors to write about the background, inspiration, research and work that goes into writing a book.

This week features Anne Black, author of Pendragon: The life of George Isaacs, Colonial wordsmith. Anne writes about her first encounter with little-known literary icon George Isaacs, and the death certificate that sparked an obsession and a biography.

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GUEST POST: Stephen Orr on Auschwitz, guilt, and responsibility

Posted on 4 June 2020 by Maddy Sexton

What right do I have to talk about this place? What do I know about it? How much can I feel, can I see and smell and hear the suffering?

These are the questions author and teacher Stephen Orr asked himself after visiting the remains of the Auschwitz prison camp. In this guest post, Stephen writes of the importance of feeling pain that is not necessarily yours, and of remembering what has happened in the past as a way of improving the future.

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