It’s never too late to start recording your precious heritage. Three historians tell Will Brodie why the past matters so much and how it can inform our present.
Staff in schools and members of unions often have little understanding of the stories and struggles which inform their organisation’s values and policies.
As ACTU historian Dr Liam Byrne says, “Without our history, how do we know who we are?”
He says history is the “northern star” which can help “guide and orient” organisations like unions and schools.
“We can’t return to the past (and we shouldn’t try to) but we can learn the important lessons from it. These lessons include things we got right, but also those things we got wrong. If we ignore our history, we will be constantly trying to reinvent the wheel, ignorant that we have a store of knowledge and experience to build upon,” Dr Byrne said.
Alistair Thomson, Professor of History at Monash University, agrees that history “can show you what failed in the past, why it failed, and how you might need to do things differently to be successful”.
Professor Thomson is President of Oral History Australia, and his favourite question is, “Tell me your story”. He’s always enjoyed listening to people talk about their lives.
Oral history is defined simply as “the recording of memories of people’s life experiences”, and Professor Thomson says such testimonies often provide more insight than the “official” version of an event.
“Oral history can transform the historical record by including the stories and experiences of people who have not documented their lives or whose documents have not survived in the historical record, thus transforming the histories we create, making them more inclusive and often challenging of the accepted histories of the more powerful.
“A school history that includes the accounts of past and present students will be very different to a school history written by and for the school council. A union history of a trade will be very different to the corporate history.
“I also love oral history because anyone can do it, though you need some training to do it well.”
Researcher, historian and former teacher Alice Garner, President of Oral History Victoria, says history helps humanise our institutions.
“A school or a union may seem monolithic but delving into its history reveals the human dimension in its creation and development.
“Historical research reminds us that institutions are the product of people and their ideas and actions.
“You don’t have to dig too deeply to find extraordinary stories – sometimes in the most unlikely places.”
Dr Garner says good history acknowledges flaws and embarrassments.
“If you want to produce meaningful history, you can’t just focus on all the victories and good news stories. Historians have to acknowledge the difficult parts of the past too and try to make some sense of them. The complex stuff and how we deal with it is usually what intrigues people. They are a more truthful representation of life and work, and they also make for the best stories.”