Over 100 people attended the annual Dr Rex Stubbs History Symposium on Saturday, 17 February at Hawkesbury Central Library in Windsor.
Presented by the Arts and Culture team at Hawkesbury City Council, the event commemorates Emeritus Mayor, Dr Rex Stubbs OAM, who was passionate about local history and Council’s longest serving Councillor, serving the Hawkesbury community for 26 years, including ten terms as Mayor.
Dr Stubbs OAM had an abiding interest in art, history, and culture, and championed the development of the Hawkesbury Regional Museum and the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery. History was his first love, and as well as writing several books and articles on local history, he was a member and President of Hawkesbury Historical Society for nearly 30 years. He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2001.
At the 2024 Symposium, author and public historian Stephen Gapps spoke about his research on the Frontier histories and early conflict in NSW and the narrative that these were ‘not real’ wars. He focused on Gudyarra the Wiradjuri war of resistance in the Bathurst region.
Conservation specialist Tegan Anthes gave handy tips on caring preserving personal collections, and museum and society collections. The main take home hint was reducing the deterioration of collections through understanding the vulnerabilities and risks.
The Hawkesbury Regional Museum Curator gave an update about current exhibitions and plans for upcoming projects and the Local History Librarian provided an update about the past year including making more photographs available via the online catalogue https://aurora.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/library/Gallery.aspx and plans for local history in 2024. There was also a brief update on Council’s Strategic Heritage Projects.
After lunch, representatives from local historical and heritage groups met for an informal information exchange with numerous networking opportunities. A great day was had, giving the hosts, speakers and attendees plenty to consider.
