During my placement at Parramatta Heritage and Visitor Centre, I had the wonderful opportunity to create some blog posts as well as a Pinterest board. I’ve enjoyed all my placements, but coming out of a placement with some work to add to my portfolio was extra special. I created a Pinterest board for an event the heritage Centre ran last year and also wrote a research post for their weblog.
- Parramatta Goes Pop – a Pinterest board for the POP goes Parramatta event held in September, 2017. The event allowed residents of Parramatta and surrounding areas to bring in pop culture items and share their memories of Parramatta.
- Sir James Martin (former NSW Premiere, Attorney-General and Chief Justice) – a research post for the centre’s weblog. Martin grew up in Parramatta and wrote an enchanting book, a collection of essays entitled The Australian Sketchbook. You can view this book online via The National Library of Australia.
After completing my practicum placement, I started volunteering at the centre as a Collections Assistant. Currently I am working on a project that involves researching soldiers who served in World War One. A very touching project that makes me sit back and send thanks to all those who served. I also write research blog posts, the latest of which is linked below:
- Edward William O’Sullivan, 1846-1910. O’Sullivan started his career as a ‘printer’s devil’ in Tasmania and, after moving to the mainland, became a journalist, politician and playwright. His main connection to Parramatta was through the Baulkham Hills tramway. The idea for this post came from the chance discovery of a leaflet that was tucked into the back of a ledger in the archives. The leaflet was sent out to request donations for a memorial for O’Sullivan.
Trove was invaluable for the above research, so many wonderful archive collections to dip into. I’m already looking forward to researching and writing my next blog post!
