Breakthrough:                                   

a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development.

Do you know that euphoric feeling of discovery while in the depths of research? Or that wonderful moment of making a connection that no one had seen before? At Emerging Historians this year, some of our newest PHA (Vic & Tas) members share their stories of a history breakthrough.

Rebecca Le Get has just completed her PhD on the environmental history of tuberculos sanatoria in Victoria, and will show us a snapshot of the inside working of Greenvale Sanatorium in the 1910s, and the archival research that made this possible.

Deb Lee-Talbot is a PhD candidate, exploring the archival materials of the London Missionary Society relating to Oceania. This archive, despite having two catalogues and two guides, still offers up surprises.

Natasha Joyce is a PhD candidate examining the lives – and deaths – of Bendigo’s 19th century children of the goldrush. Last year she travelled to Edinburgh to examine an immigrant family’s collection of personal letters. Held at the National Library of Scotland, the original letters revealed details and allowed insight into triumphs and sorrows not obvious in digital copies.

Nikita Vanderbyl has just passed her PhD on Wurundjeri artist and diplomat William Barak. She explores how his paintings ended up in European museums and will speak about the key concept that defined her argument.

Gwyn McClelland’s PhD explored the lives of Catholic survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, through oral histories. During his research, as part of a Japan Studies Grant at the National Library of Australia, Gwyn made vital discoveries in older literature, that helped him bring together his research.

Brought to you by the Professional Historians Association (Vic & Tas) and the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.