What are the important anniversaries in Queensland during 2012? We would like the “What’s a name worth in Queensland” is be a regular column for the PHAQ e-Bulletin. Here is an opportunity to name that anniversary. You will be surprise how many of us ponder upon a name and wish to know more. If there is a place name or…

By the Editor (yet again) Regularly readers of the e-Bulletin would see that the editor is running “re-prints” of previous published articles for this first web-based edition. It is somewhat regrettable but it cannot be helped. The PHAQ needs regular writers for its e-Bulletin. I am sure we are all a bit over the editor’s by-line appearing in the e-Bulletin…

By Geoff Wharton

Coen is one of the oldest European place-names in Queensland. The name ‘de rivier Coen’ (Coen River) first appeared on a chart compiled by the Dutch sailor Arent Martensz de Leeuw of the discoveries of the Pera expedition along the coast of western Cape York Peninsula in 1623.  Hence this is one of the oldest European place-names in Queensland.  The river, which may have been the river now known as the Archer, probably was named after Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC – United East India Company), often referred to as the Dutch East India Company.

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By the Editor

The Management Committee of the Professional Historians Association (Qld) has commissioned a project to look at the state of the history profession in Queensland.

As an association of professional historians, it is natural to be concerned to get an accurate understanding of the state of its profession and of the heritage-history market. The project will incorporate a series of statistical and other analytic studies to assess history research higher degree (RHD) graduate numbers, employment opportunities for historians, and numbers of contracts or work positions available to historians. The important question is the pattern that these indicators form over the past decades to provide a conclusion about the state of the profession in Queensland.

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By Chris Dawson

Last year I reluctantly set up a Facebook account in order to create a Facebook page for the Historical Society that I am a member of. Like other longstanding skeptics I viewed the social networking platform as being largely inane, but closer experience has shown that some Facebook pages can be surprisingly valuable tools for historical research.

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From time to time members of the PHAQ Management Committee get contacted, not about contract bids, but about informal enquiries on various projects. We are then usually asked for members we know that are specialists in particular history fields.

When formal job or contract opportunities are on the table the PHAQ ensures that there is an equality of opportunity for all members, and in such cases, there is no separate liaison between members. Notifications for jobs or contracts are sent out as soon as possible by general email to members. However, where there are enquires that relate to identifying a specialist the Management Committee believes that there is a role in liaison which could be formalised in a PHAQ members’ research area register. Although the PHAQ has a consultants’ register, there is a need for a larger register to cover (at least) most members and a wider range of fields.

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Lorna McDonald is our former Patron of PHAQ and a member of our association. Lorna’s recent book is a history on life in Rockhampton. The following is from the flyer:  Wonderfully illustrated with priceless photographs, period paintings, drawing and postcards, Treasures in a Tea Tin is brought to life by Central Queensland historian, Dr Lorna McDonald, in such a way…

By the Editor

I was looking for a couple of newspaper stories published in the Brisbane Telegraph during late 1970 and I happened to glanced at this intriguing report on the computer industry and privacy.

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