Australian Sesquicentennial Gift Trust for Awards in Oral History

Advance notice of changes to scheme – for 2010 only

This is the 20th anniversary of the Australian Sesquicentennial Gift Trust Awards in Oral History. In 1990 the Australian government gifted $1 million to the people of New Zealand to mark the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

This anniversary year we will acknowledge this generous gift and mark its significance.

Instead of accepting applications for general oral history projects, related to New Zealand and the Pacific, we will be calling for applications only for projects that explore any aspect of the relationship between Australia and New Zealand. To this end we will open up the criteria and accept applications from residents of both countries.

Most of the other existing criteria regarding eligibility will apply.

The awards will be paid in New Zealand dollars and upper limit of $35,000 will also still apply.

The closing date for applications will be later than usual and is likely to be the end of May.

Further information will be available on this site by the end of February.

These changes will be for the 2010 Oral History Awards only, and in 2011 applications will again be accepted for general oral history projects, based only in New Zealand.

Eligibility

Awards may be made to individuals, groups, communities or institutions.
Assistance is not available for projects that are eligible for funding from tertiary institutions, nor for university theses.
Video recording is eligible for funding as a component of a project, but neither video nor film projects, in themselves, are eligible for these awards.
If you have already received a grant from this fund, you will not be eligible for further funding until you have completed the previous project within the terms agreed.

Conditions for successful applicants

You are expected to complete the project within twelve months of receiving the grant. (See Information for Applicants below.)
The original recordings must be deposited at the Oral History Centre, Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington.
For each interview you must provide an oral history recording Agreement Form signed by the person interviewed.
A detailed contents summary for each interview must accompany recordings in the Oral History Centre archive.
You will be required to send to the History Group, when requested, regular progress reports until the project is completed.

Information for Applicants

When preparing your application, you should note:

Awards are given for the recording of interviews for oral history projects. This can include money for training, travel and other expenses and buying good quality recording equipment.
The Award will be paid in two stages.
Half the amount granted will be paid at the time of the announcement of successful applicants (unless training is required – see below). The second half of the award will be paid on completion and delivery of the project within one year – this includes all required paperwork.
If the project is not completed at the end of one year, the remainder of the grant will be forfeited and the money will return to the Oral History Trust Fund.
If a project is partially complete, a portion of the money may be paid.
Applicants with no previous experience in oral history should include in their budget a portion for training, to be based on fees charged for a course plus reasonable travel/accommodation, up to a maximum of $500.
This proportion of the grant will be paid when successful applicants are announced. When training is completed, the first half of the remainder of the grant will be paid to begin the interview process – and the one-year deadline for project completion will begin.
From 2009 only projects that use digital recording equipment will be considered – unless you provide your own copies of tapes.

Please also view our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Applications

Further information regarding applications for the 2010 Awards will be available on this site by the end of February.

Awards in Oral History for 2009

Last year a total of $101,500 was granted to the following groups and individuals:

Loreen Brehaut, $5000
Interviews with six Picton train drivers, past and present
Nigel Hampton, Chairperson, $5000
Saving Knowledge – Okains Bay Maori and Colonial Museum
Caren Wilton, $6000
Selling sex: the NZ sex industry
Paulette Wallace, $1500
Somes Islanders: A social history of life on Matiu/Somes 1965 – 2005
Whangarei Libraries (Friends of the Library), $10,000
‘Honouring Seniors’ Whangarei District OHP
Northland Parents of Deaf Children Inc., $12,000
Northland Mothers of Deaf Adults
Rev Rangi Nicholson, $5000
Maori language interviews in the Anglican Diocese of Te Hui Amorangi o Te Manawa o te Wheke
Lyne Pringle, $8000
Riding the Crest of a Wave: Early Members of Impulse Dance Theatre and Limbs Dance Company
Gareth Watkins, $8000
So Now We Are Legal (Post Homosexual Law Reform –Interviews with younger LGBTI community members)
Shelley Seay, $6000
The effect of the Wahine disaster, April 10 1968:Personal stories from survivors, crew and rescuers
Helen Frizzell, Judith Fyfe, Megan Hutching, Pip Oldham, $35,000
Mrs Schumacher’s Gems: Domestic life in New Zealand In the 1940s and 1950s.

Awards in Oral History 1991—2008

Enquiries

Before contacting us, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Any enquiries should be addressed to Alison Parr, Senior Oral Historian.

E-mail: oralhistory@mch.govt.nz
Telephone: (04) 496 6331
Fax: (04) 499 4490
Postal Address:
History Group
Ministry for Culture and Heritage
P O Box 5364
Wellington
New Zealand