History Reflected: about the exhibition

From important colonial-era documents and curious collectables to records of events that reshaped society, you’ll be surprised by what you can find in the archives.

The new Museum of Sydney exhibition History Reflected takes audiences on a journey through the NSW State Archives Collection to see what these unique historical records reveal about the past and to reflect on what they might mean to us today. The exhibition has been developed by Museums of History NSW and NSW State Archives to celebrate the coming together of two of the state’s signature cultural institutions. 

History Reflected presents a curated selection of 25 items from the Collection spanning a period of 213 years, from 1787 to 2000. Each of the selected items represents or symbolises an event, social movement, issue, cultural phenomenon or moment of change that impacted on NSW people – individually and collectively – with a resonance that ranged from the local to the global. 

Accompanying each of the items is an explanation of its historical significance as well as a reflection on its meaning today. These reflections give voice to a range of perspectives that explore questions about who we are; what we believe and understand about ourselves and others; our values, aspirations and hopes; how we express ourselves; the places we live, work or visit; our relationships with others; and our discoveries.

Opening up history and the archive

The idea of generating reflections in this way follows an approach that extends the research and interpretation of a subject or primary source record such as an archive across intuitive, creative and imagined perspectives, or through memories, public accounts or associated histories. It differs from the more conventional deep dive into official sources to substantiate the origins, provenance and documented trail of an item, and an interpretation that often takes a chronological or didactic form. It’s an approach that opens up history and historical research to a broader and more diverse range of perspectives and audiences, ensuring that the power of archives can be fully harnessed and enjoyed by everyone. After all, history isn’t a unilateral experience.

The NSW State Archives Collection is one of the most complete and important collections documenting colonisation in the world. With over 14 million items and valued at $1 billion, this vast cultural archive contains multiple items included on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. It details the development of NSW from before European settlement in 1788 through the wielding of colonial power to responsible government and statehood.

Reflecting on the unusual

A number of commissioned writers, artists, commentators and creatives have contributed to creating reflections for the History Reflected exhibition, as has MHNSW's entire curatorial team. 

One of the State Archives Collection’s most unusual pieces, featured in the exhibition, is a sample of a cap worn by women working in the Leeton cannery in the interwar years. It was initially found by archivists among paperwork in a Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) file that details the specifications and costs for cannery workers’ uniforms. The cannery was established as a government-run enterprise under the MIA nation-building scheme to irrigate the arid south-west region of NSW and create a food bowl that could nourish the population. It later became the Letona Co-operative Cannery, and operated in Leeton until the mid-1990s.

MHNSW invited Henrietta Cheshire, a textiles artist and member of MHNSW’s highly regarded volunteer soft furnishings group, to reflect on the Leeton cap. She engaged with a number of sources and accounts that detailed employment at the cannery, and the role of women there, and more broadly, in the post- World War I workforce. What intrigued Cheshire was the way in which young, unmarried women were recruited to factory work with promises of a career and independence, and whether the reality of the day-today grind on the production line lived up to the dream. Cheshire’s reflection is a textiles work re-creating the cap. Embroidered into the fabric are direct quotes from the promotional material that drew women to seek employment at the cannery, interwoven with strands of human hair that Cheshire sourced ethically from young NSW women today. It’s a reminder that behind the production cycle and its workforce is the woman, both the worker and the human being.

Reflecting on the iconic

MHNSW historian Jane Kelso has explored the first census held in NSW, in 1828. One of the Collection’s most iconic items, the census was inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register in 2019. The census exists as six leather-bound tomes, housed in a lockable wooden cabinet, that list the details of 36,500 inhabitants of NSW some 40 years after the British Crown established the colony. Its purpose was to count the population – although the land’s Indigenous people were generally not included. Kelso reflects on its value and compares it to the role of censuses today, considering how governments and decision-makers collect, use and retain information about their populations, and how such data isn’t just a snapshot of the present but also a resource for the future.

The earliest item in the exhibition, and one of the oldest documents in the Collection, is the 1787 Charter of Justice. The charter, issued by King George III, is the authority for the establishment of the first NSW Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction. The most recent item in History Reflected is a selection of promotional and informational publications from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Although most material in the Collection isn’t open to public access until 30 years from its creation date, Olympics publications such as these were opened last year for the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the games. These publications will, no doubt, trigger memories for people who experienced, contributed to and participated in the Olympics or Paralympics in Sydney. 

From films to posters, letters, photographs and even a 67-metre-long public petition, there are so many fascinating items in History Reflected. Take a journey through the archives and be surprised by what you find. You may even discover a new passion and appreciation for the power of archives as you reflect on history as told through the NSW State Archives Collection.

Published on 
Dr Penny Stannard

Dr Penny Stannard

Head, Curatorial

Originally from Dareton, a small locality on Barkindji country in western NSW, Penny has carved out a multi-faceted career as a curator, historian, educator and creative producer, working on behalf of organisations spanning culture and the arts, education, health, veterans and disability spheres. Her curatorial approach aims to connect diverse communities, audiences and stakeholders through ideas and creativity to deliver strategic outcomes that build capabilities, generate new knowledge and enable change. Penny has substantial non-executive director experience of publicly funded arts companies and has served on NSW and Australian government arts funding and advisory committees. Penny holds a PhD from the University of Technology Sydney in cultural policy and public history, and has published in Australia and internationally. She is currently our acting director, Collections.

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Past Exhibition
Past exhibition

History Reflected

Past exhibition

'Day of Mourning' Aboriginal meeting on 26 January 1938 at Australian Hall, Sydney, NSW
First Nations

Day of Mourning

January 26 has long been a day of debate and civic action. Those who celebrate may be surprised of the date’s significance in NSW as a protest to the celebrations of the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet on what was then “Anniversary Day” in NSW

https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_square_thumbnail/public/Galleries/Sydney%20Opera%20House/12708_00004.jpg?itok=nuDilYgu

The Sydney Opera House Books

Significant publications and reports on the Sydney Opera House project, including the rules for the design competition, plans, drawings and photographs at various stages of the construction

Original glass plate negatives from the NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive arranged on a lightbox.

Glass-plate photography

The collection of glass-plate negatives held in the State Archives and Justice & Police Museum are endlessly fascinating and revealing