The Oral History Association of Australia

The OHAA is a non-profit body formed in 1978 with Branches in all states.  The aims of the Oral History Association of Australia are:.

  • to promote ethical practice and methods of oral history
  • to educate in the use of oral history methods
  • to encourage discussions on all aspects of oral history
  • to foster the preservation of oral history records

National conferences are held biennially which include discussions about oral history projects and issues such as ethics and copyright.  The OHAA Journal is published annually.


OHAA NSW (Inc) welcomes applications for membership from those living in NSW and ACT.

Click here for details of Membership and Activities.

What is Oral History?

  • Oral History is the recording of memories of people's unique life experiences. Often the only way to find out about the past is to ask someone who knows about it.
  • Oral history creates a record or supplements existing ones. Through oral history the past comes alive. People can be much more interesting than documents.
  • Oral history preserves the past for now and for the future.
    The recording of oral history is a two-way process in which someone shares memories with an interviewer who has carefully planned an interview.
  • Oral history preserves voices, accents and vocabularies of individuals
    interviewed.

How may Oral History be used?

  • for the life histories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other groups who may be poorly represented in written sources
  • to trace the history of a local community
  • for family history
  • to encourage children to treat people as living history books, at the same time increasing understanding between generations
  • for research purposes in tertiary education studies
  • in corporate and institutional histories
  • in museums to enliven displays
  • in publications to capture reader's imaginations
  • in radio, television and plays to promote authentic voices of the past.
Melissa Edwards SL NSW
Melissa Jackson, interviewer
photographed by Scott Wajon
State Library of NSW

Latest News

NOT TO BE MISSED -OUR FIRST ORAL HISTORY SEMINAR FOR 2010

Saturday February 20  Master Class for Oral Historians with well known broadcaster/documentary maker and Life Member of OHAA, Bill Bunbury   10am - 3 pm  Register Now Click here
Other Seminar Dates for your Diary -   May 8,  July 31,   Nov  6

2 SCHOLARSHIPS FOR TERTIARY STUDENTS TO ATTEND IOHA CONFERENCE PRAGUE 7-11 JULY 2010

Applications must be submitted by 30 April 2010
Successful applicants advised by 30 May 2010

OHAA Journal No.32 2010 Contributions Invited

Closing Date for Peer Review Process
                 31 December 2009
Closing Date for submissions 1 April 2010

 

JANIS WILTON WINNER HAZEL DE BERG AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ORAL HISTORY 2009 Click here

2010 INTERNATIONAL ORAL HISTORY CONFERENCE Click Here

Theme : Between Past and Future - Oral History, Memory and Meaning July 7-11, Prague

DID YOU KNOW THAT OHAA HAS DIGITAL EQUIPMENT FOR HIRE TO MEMBERS? Click here