History Trust of South Australia

In 1981 an act of parliament established the History Trust of South Australia as a statutory authority. The larger context of this and its predecessor, the Constitutional Museum Trust of 1978, was a burgeoning historical consciousness throughout Australia in the 1970s. Many people believed existing museums gave too little attention to history. A sign of the times was John Tregenza’s resignation from the University of Adelaide to become curator of historic pictures at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 1976. When Premier Don Dunstan announced in 1978 that the old parliament house would be preserved as museum of constitutional history, many people expected that Tregenza would take charge.

Unfortunately Tregenza feared the heavy hand of the premier and refused appointment. Members of the Liberal Party worried that the museum’s only object was to glorify Dunstan’s campaign for franchise reform. Another problem was the premier’s decision to implement a concept developed by his Department of Publicity and Design Services. Before a single person had been appointed to the Board of the Constitutional Museum, Dunstan told parliament that the whole building would be devoted to a computer-driven, automated tour of South Australia’s history. He also promised that a reputable historian would head the board, but under these circumstances no established Australian historian would accept appointment.

Eventually in June 1978 Norman Etherington, a British imperial historian, accepted the chairmanship of the Trust, conscious that he had no reputation in Australian history to lose. He convinced other board members to alter the concept to incorporate research staff and a capacity to mount changing displays. At a critical meeting, the premier was asked to clarify his statement that a highlight of the museum would be a ‘fully restored Legislative Council Chamber’. Was it possible that what Dunstan really had in mind was the Legislative Assembly Chamber shown in a painting by James Shaw? Yes, said the premier. Restoring that room meant rethinking the whole project. Newly graduated historians hired as researchers, including the first director, Peter Cahalan, were inspired by the vision of a museum where the interpretation of history took precedence over curating artefacts.

By the time the Constitutional Museum opened on 31 July 1980 a Liberal government was in power, raising fears that Dunstan’s project would be scrapped. Happily, the incoming Minister for the Arts, Murray Hill, appreciated the changes that had taken place and decided to build on them. The new government had promised a museum about ethnic groups in South Australia and faced problems with the Birdwood motor museum, recently acquired from private owners. Hill reconstituted the Constitutional Museum Trust as the History Trust and let it develop the three museums. The addition to the new board of John Radcliffe, who had played a key role in developing the South Australian Tramway Museum, ensured that technological history would not be slighted. John Tregenza, too, joined the Trust as the first senior (later state) historian. Soon a maritime and a railway museum were added to the Trust’s responsibilities. A noteworthy feature of the organisation was a strong outreach program intended to strengthen local museums and historical societies throughout the state.

Shortages of funding in the 1980s prevented the History Trust from developing its full potential. Less could be done in basic research and promotion of history as the physical demands of maintaining the museum collections weighed on the organisation. An expansionist State Library succeeded in pushing the Trust out of the old Institute building. In the 1990s parliament resumed control of Old Parliament House and turned most of it into offices. Though the Constitutional Museum died, the Trust’s Migration Museum (formerly Museum of Migration and Settlement) carries on the spirit that inspired the History Trust in its early days. In late 2000 Margaret Anderson, first curator of the Museum of Migration and Settlement, succeeded Peter Cahalan as director of the Trust.