Researching and writing history can be one of the most challenging, interesting and creative activities you will ever do. An understanding of the types of sources available, how to find them, and how to interpret them and the context in which others have used them are at the core of good historical research. Explores the different types of sources available and discusses how they can be used in the context of a real research project.

1. Extension History Seminar: The Project, 2013
Research Skills in Practice

2. Dr Matthew Stephens, Reference Librarian
Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection,
Sydney Living Museums
sydneylivingmuseums.com.au

3. Today’s Session
The session will be divided into two parts:
1. Discussion of key aspects of research
2. Case study: Rediscovering a lost convict
building

4. Two Key Factors
Creativity
Being original
Choosing your
sources
Which research
approach?
Discipline
Referencing &
Bibliographies
Choosing your
sources
Applying critical
thinking
Being ethical

5. Key Aspects of Research
Being original
Think for yourself
Weigh up the results of your
research and say what you think

6. Key Aspects of Research
Locating Sources – some examples:
Online
In a library
In an archive
At a museum
Talking to people

7. Key Aspects of Research
Some useful online sources:
Trove
(http://trove.nla.gov.au/)

8. http://trove.nla.gov.au

9. Key Aspects of Research
More useful online sources:
State Library of NSW
(http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/)
Manuscripts, Oral History &
Pictures (State Library of NSW)
(http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/s/search.
html?collection=slnsw)
Google books
(http://books.google.com.au/)

10. http://books.google.com.au

13. Key Aspects of Research
Choosing your research approach
A study of documents
A study using pictures
A study of objects
A series of interviews
A combination of all the above and
more

14. Key Aspects of Research
Referencing & bibliographies
 Referencing
Because you are expected to refer to the
work of others in the course of your research,
you are required to document where this
material comes from.
 A bibliography is a list of all works used to
write an essay and appears at the end of
the paper.
 For more info google “ASLA Referencing
Guide”.

15. Key Aspects of Research
In Summary:
There is scope for being creative in
your research but this needs to be built
on a foundation of methodological
discipline.
There are many online sources
available but it’s important to assess
which are the most authoritative and
trustworthy.

16. Case Study
Rediscovering a Lost
Convict Building

17. Case Study
Hyde Park Barracks Museum, Sydney Living Museums
Photograph (c) Nicholas Watt, Historic Houses Trust of NSW

18. Case Study
Background:
 A kitchen garden is known to have existed
next to Hyde Park Barracks in the 1820s.
 The life of the garden was short-lived and
was abandoned by the end of the 1820s.
 There is evidence from plans of the site that
there was a small building in the garden.

19. Case Study
Research Question:
What was the building in the garden
like and what was its function?
What was its architectural form?
What materials was it made from?
How was it used?
When was it demolished?

20. Case Study
Getting Started:
What research approach shall we
take?
What sources can we use and where
shall we find them?

21. Case Study
Research approach:
Establish what is already known
Published material – books, newspapers,
periodicals
Consider a combination of sources:
Documentary
Pictorial

22. Case Study
Sources:
Books, reports, periodicals, online documents
Newspapers
Maps and plans
Archives
Paintings
Photographs
Aerial surveys

23. Google
Possible information sources:
Heritage reports about Cook +
Phillip Parks
Heritage Reports about the
Australian Museum site
Plan of Hyde Park Allotments
House of Lords Sessional
Papers (Google Books)

24. Casey & Lowe Pty Ltd 2004, Sydney CityGrid Project: Non-Indigenous Archaeological Assessment
for PlanCom Consulting Pty Ltd on behalf of Energy Australia, p. 35, viewed 4 November 2013, <
http://www.ausgrid.com.au/Common/Network-projects/Network-projects/Sydney-CBD-and-East/Sydney-CityG
>.
Footnote: 23.Wendy Thorp. Heritage Assessment, Phillip and Cook Parks, Sydney. March 1997. p.13.

25. Newspapers

29. Maps, Plans & Aerial Views

30. Esquisse de la Ville de Sydney, 1823
Source: Louis de Freycinet, Voyage Autour du Monde … Atlas Historique par Mrs. Js. Argo, A. Pellion & Ca., Paris,
1825, pl. 94. Caroline Simpson Collection, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales.

31. Detail: Jardin Potagér de la Caserne des Convicts

32. Plan of the Town and Suburbs of Sydney, 1822
Source: Mitchell Library M1 811.17/1822/1

33. Detail: Garden attached to Convict Barracks

34. Survey of Wooloomooloo and the Convict Garden, 1830
Butler, 1831, SG Map S.696, State Records of New South Wales. Reduced plan of SG Map
S.696, 1830.

35. Detail Showing Gardener’s Lodge

36. Six Maps: http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/

37. Six Maps: http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/

38. Six Maps: http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/

39. Pictorial Evidence

40. John Carmichael, Sydney from Woolloomooloo Hill, 1829
From Select Views of Sydney, New South Wales. Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, SLM.

41. Fanny Macleay, View of Sydney when St Mary's
was building, ca. 1830
State library of New South Wales. http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/itemDetailPaged.cgi?
itemID=844892

42. Frederick Garling, View of Sydney from
Woolloomooloo, Looking West, 1839
Dixson Galleries, State Library of New South Wales. http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=423603

43. Robert Russell, Sydney from Wooloomooloo, c1837
National Library of Australia. http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an2982901

44. Painting Details

45. An Unexpected Surprise!
Source: T.H. Braim, A History of New South Wales: From its Settlement to the Close of the Year 1844, London: R.
Bentley, 1846, frontispiece, Vol. 2, Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, SLM.

46. Similar Examples?

47. An Important Discovery

48. Photograph c1880, Australian Museum Archives
Australian Museum Archives AMS512/5.

49. Detail of Gardener’s Lodge

50. How was the Building Used?
• In the 1840s the octagon was inhabited by a Constable
Brown and his wife. The Browns’ idyllic view down a
grassy slope towards Woolloomooloo Bay was
obliterated by the construction of the Australian Museum
in 1846, and the couple was evicted by the Museum
trustees in 1850. The octagon was used by the museum
as taxidermist’s workshop until 1865 when it was
converted into a kitchen and wash house.
Sources: Sydney Morning Herald, 5 April 1845, p.3.
Various correspondence, Australian Museum Archives.

51. Research Question:
• What was the building in the garden like?
– What was its architectural form?
• It was single storey, octagonal in shape with a
central chimney.
– What materials was it made from?
• Brick and stucco with a shingle roof.
– How was it used?
• Police constable’s house; taxidermist’s workshop.
– When was it demolished?
• Between c1880 and 1885.

52. Insites, Summer 10,
Issue 62