Events

Presenters: Sarah Rood and Alistair Thomson

Dates: Saturday 14 November and Saturday 21 November

Time: 9:30am-4:00pm

Location: Online

Have you always wanted to learn how to create an oral history interview? Or do you have an interest in recording the memories of elders in your family or community?

Maybe you’re wondering whether or not to record remotely, or you’re thinking about conducting face-to-face interviews. Perhaps you’re a student starting an oral history project.

This popular Oral History Victoria two-day online training workshop is for anyone who would like to learn how to prepare, conduct, record and document an oral history interview. Facilitated by two of Australia’s most experienced oral history trainers, and using Zoom technology, you will learn and practice essential interview techniques and discuss important ethical issues.

After the first Saturday sessions, you will conduct your own oral history interview (remote recording or face-to-face), which will be a learning resource in the second Saturday sessions. The workshop will be limited to 18 participants to enable lively discussion and practical work in an online format. Participants will need a computer with Wi-Fi connection – the Zoom link will be provided, along with Zoom instructions.

Feedback from previous participants on this course:

‘The skills I learnt and the discussions that took place were invaluable’

‘I liked it that our activities really tested our comfort zones. It was just terrific.’

‘Al and Sarah are wonderful educators and facilitators!

‘A wonderful learning experience. I’ve definitely fallen in love with oral history too!’

‘I loved the course – learned so much on so many different levels, far more than I would have expected. Well done on awesome Zoom teaching.’

‘Thanks so much for providing us with such a great course. I have already promoted future courses to my friends.’

TRAINER PROFILES

Sarah Rood is a professional consulting historian who has been working in the field for the past 20 years. She has seen the uses and applications of oral history change

drastically. Motivated by a desire to help communicate the past and to help connect individuals and communities with history and identity Sarah has recorded countless

oral history interviews. Firmly believing that everyone has a story to tell, Sarah aims to work with people to record their stories in a way that both documents their

experiences and ensures that (with permission) it can be accessed by others in the future. Exploring the relationship between new technologies and oral histories has

become a particular area of interest for Sarah in recent years. Similarly, the interplay between the tangible and the intangible and how this plays out in oral history is a constant source of intrigue for Sarah.

Alistair Thomson, national award-winning teacher and now Emeritus Professor of History at Monash University, taught his first oral history workshop in 1985 at the

Wangaratta Centre for Continuing Education and has been teaching oral history in both community and academic settings ever since. Al’s oral history books

include: Anzac Memories: Living with the Legend (1994), The Oral History Reader (2016), Ten Pound Poms: Australia’s Invisible Migrants (2005), Moving

Stories: an intimate history of four women across two countries (2011), Oral History and Photography (2011), Australian Lives: An Intimate History (2017), Fathering: An

Australian History (2025) and The Bloomsbury Oral History Handbook (2026).

Contact: Alistair.Thomson@monash.edu if you’d like to discuss the course.

TRAINING PROGRAM FORMAT

Timing: the workshop takes place over two consecutive Saturdays.

On each workshop day the session will go from 9.30am – 4 pm with a lunch break from 12 – 1 pm.

Book here.

Concession fees apply to all OHA state and territory association members.

Presenters: Carla Pascoe Leahy, Sarah Rood and Alistair Thomson

Dates: 4 days over a fortnight: Friday 5 – Saturday 6 March then Friday 19 – Saturday 20 March

Time: 9:30am-4:00pm

Location: Online

Are you a PhD, Masters or Honours student, or a post-doc, about to start a research project using oral history – and need training to get you on the right track? Perhaps you’ve already started a graduate oral history project and want advice and support? You may be a historian, or you work in another social science or humanities discipline that uses life story interviews.

This four-day, online training course could be just what you need.

Three of Australia’s leading oral historians, in partnership with Oral History Victoria, are teaching this popular oral history intensive course aimed at university research students. We will teach you how to plan an oral history project and apply for ethics approval. You’ll learn how to create excellent interviews and document the recordings for use in research. We’ll explore approaches to analysing interviews and interpreting memories. And we’ll consider how to write a thesis using oral history and to create other types of oral history productions.

You will be active participants in the teaching and learning: reading a selection of key texts, bringing examples and issues from you own research, workshopping issues with the group, conducting practice interviews, discussing interview extracts from each participant, and developing a peer support group of graduate oral history researchers from around Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. Each day school will be taught online via Zoom, from 9.30am-4pm Australian Eastern Standard time. The course will be limited to 18 participants.

Feedback from participants in this course in 2024 and 2025:
“Many thanks for a terrific 4 days from the three of you from OHV … so valuable in redirecting and redrafting my research project. Initially I had doubts about the full value of a day zoom meet with 14 or 17 post grads, but it exceeded all expectations.”

“It was terrific to have access to such skilled teachers/facilitators and to come together with other graduate students and to receive such a vast array of helpful resources.”

“I was very happy with the course – expert presenters who were very respectful of/responsive to the participants, great management with everything running on time, different formats to maintain interest, relevant/engaging activities especially listening to everyone’s interview extracts.”

“Al, Carla and Sarah, you made such a warm and welcoming environment! You were all engaging, and passionate and held space for everyone’s opinions and thoughts. Thank you!”

Course outline
Day 1 Friday – Planning Your Oral History Project & Seeking Ethics Approval
Day 2 Saturday – Creating & Documenting Oral History Interviews (fortnight break while participants conduct practice interviews)
Day 3 Friday – Interpreting Oral Histories
Day 4 Saturday – Making (Oral) Histories in Writing and other Media

Course fees:
$500 for Oral History Victoria and Oral History Australia members
$750 non-members
We anticipate participants will draw on funds from their own or departmental graduate research budgets. For students without access to research funds, bursaries might be
available from state and territory oral history associations.
Details at https://oralhistoryvictoria.org.au/ (see the Events page for the course)

Concession fees apply to all OHA state and territory association members.

Registration here
Contact: for further information and to discuss the course, please contact: Alistair.Thomson@monash.edu

The Oral History Society, United Kingdom, will hold its 2027 conference at the University of Essex, Colchester on 9-10 July 2027.

The theme is ‘Oral History and Listening‘.

Potential temes/topics include:

• Listening in the interview encounter
• The impact of listening
• Listening when documenting
• Listening to a body of interviews
• Listening across time
• Exploring the listening experience
• Listening to each other and the wider world.

The deadline for submission of proposals is Monday 25 January 2027. Find out more at: https://ohs.org.uk/2027-ohs-conference/.