Symposium Part 1 Oral History

Interviewed by

Nov 03 2011

The Queensland Speaks Symposium, held on 3 November 2011 at the University of Queensland, gathered together about 30 thinkers and practitioners involved in Queensland’s political history.

Part 1 Oral History

In this session Danielle Miller delivers a reflective paper on the practice of oral history. This is followed by a discussion from other interviewers on their approach to oral history throughout the Queensland Speaks project. General discussion is concerned with the varying approaches to oral history in Queensland.

Note that due to the symposium format, on occasion part of a question or comment from the audience may be temporarily inaudible and that the audio has been recorded through a single microphone.

Biography

Time	Summary	Keywords
00:00:00	Peter Spearritt welcomes people to the Queensland Speaks Symposium and introduces the project.	Robin Sullivan, Roger Scott
00:05:55	Mary Seefried (Queensland Parliamentary Librarian) introduces Danielle Miller and the oral history session.
00:06:34	Danielle Miller delivers a paper on oral history, 'Interviewing the interviewers'.
00:27:59	Questions and general discussion followng Danielle Miller's paper. Mary Seefried discusses with Roger Scott the importance of the interviewer for future researchers. Mary Seefried discusses with Danielle Miller how interviewers were chosen for each interview. Peter Spearritt discusses the issue of where the person was interviewed.
00:31:55	Symposium participant Paul Reynolds compares the methods of the Queensland Speaks project to his own project which interviews past parliamentary members.	Paul Reynolds
00:34:32	Roger Scott discusses the paper presented by Danielle Miller and reflects on his experience of the interview process.
00:39:17	Chris Salisbury discusses the relationship between interviewer and interviewee and the importance of preparation.
00:41:20	Symposium participant Katie McConnell asks about the process of linking up interviewees and interviewers. Roger Scott responds. Peter Ellis comments on his experience of the interview process.	Peter Ellis
00:45:08	Symposium participant Harold Thornton asks about the interview process and how questions were formulated by the interviewers. Peter Spearritt responds and discusses the focus of the project, the interview process and possible future interviews.
00:50:21	Symposium participant Harold Thornton discusses administrative law reforms and the on-tape versus off-tape discussions in the interview process. Roger Scott comments on the off-tape discussions and how researchers use such information. Mary Seefried discusses the new committees that have been developed and the changes to the way that current public servants can be questioned. Peter Spearritt discusses key moments in Queensland political history and future interviews for the project.
00:56:26	Danielle Miller and Peter Spearritt discuss some possible future directions for the Queensland Speaks project.
00:59:34	Symposium participant Geoff Ginn and Roger Scott discuss political partisanship in the interview process. Roger Scott discusses the key insights he took from the interviews. Peter Ellis comments on his experiences of change in the Public Service.	Peter Ellis, Roger Scott
01:07:52	Symposium session ends.

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