OHT seminar

This Oral History Tasmania seminar features three speakers:

• Garry Wakefield, Queer Life Stories
• Emma Hill, Verbatim Theatre: Everyone has a story to tell
• Jennifer Jerome, Community Archives and Oral History

Garry is the founder and president of North West Pride Inc, and the producer and host of the podcast Queer Life Stories. Queer Life Stories is an LGBTIAQ+ lived experience podcast recording the lives of everyday queer folk in Tasmania. So many queer stories are hidden or lost over time; this podcast is an attempt to preserve and share these stories for the community to hear the lessons and lives of these amazing people who often struggle with adversity and societal stigma.

A drama teacher of sixteen years, Emma has run several Verbatim Theatre projects in school curriculum to produce live theatre based on oral histories. Emma will speak to her methodology of capturing stories and guiding students from page to stage. Verbatim Theatre is a vital Theatre style that provides students with important skills whilst honouring voice and people. Emma is the Drama Teacher at Riverside Primary School.

Jennifer is an Archivist with the State Library and Archives, Libraries Tasmania, and oversees the ‘Community Archives’ which includes records/archives created by non-Government entities such as clubs, sporting groups, churches, individuals, families, businesses and not for profit organisations. In her presentation Jen will introduce the Community Archives collection, highlighting oral history elements. She’ll demonstrate how to find the collection online and will explain how the Tasmanian Archive collections are developed, including how members of the community can add their oral history recordings and transcripts to the Archives.