History Program
Kew Cottages History Project
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Introduction
Established in 1887, Kew Cottages (now Kew Residential Services), Australia's largest and oldest institution for people with intellectual disability, closed at the end of 2006. The story of Kew Cottages has been captured in an innovative research Project. A La Trobe University research team has been successful in gaining a large Australian Research Council Linkage-Grant for a three-year study, now nearing completion.
The Team
The team includes historians Richard Broome, Katie Holmes, Corinne Manning and Lee-Ann Monk; social work academic Christine Bigby; communication specialist Hilary Johnson Cameron Rose and John Tebbutt from Media Studies.
The Project
A scholarly history of Kew Cottages from its establishment to the present.
An oral history that will capture the experiences of people who have lived or worked or have otherwise been associated with the Cottages.
A creative installation using methods such as artwork or photography to represent the perspectives of Kew residents who are unable to take part in ways that rely on the written or spoken word.
The Project will also produce a radio documentary and a web site displaying documents, photographs and a brief history. |
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Kew Cottages History Project Events
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BOOK
Bye-Bye Charlie: Stories from the Vanishing World of Kew Cottages by Corinne Manning.
Bye-Bye Charlie launched on the 23rd August by The Hon Jenny Macklin, Federal Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs at the Melbourne Museum.
Read Review by Belinda Robson, published in Pharos, the newsletter of the Professional Historians Association.
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BROADCAST
Dr. John Tebbutt of La Trobe’s Media Studies Program produced a documentary for ABC Radio National's Hindsight on the history of Kew Cottages (Kew Residential Services), 'Kew Voices'.
This program, orginally aired on Sunday August 24th 2008, 2.05pm, was produced as part of the ARC Linkage project "A great and crying need": A history of Kew Residential Service, (1887 - 2007). The Linkage partners were La Trobe University's History Program and School of Social Work and the Victorian Department of Human Services. You can downlaod teh audio from this program at Radio National's Hindsight Website.
MEDIA
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The Kew Cottages Media Experience was held from the 5 - 29 November 2008 at Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn Town Hall.
The media art installation explored the lives of the residents of the former Kew Children's Cottages.
Through image, video and text, the interactive exhibition allowed the audience to experience what it was like to learn, work and play as a child growing up in the cottages.
This exhibition was part of an ARC linkage grant between La Trobe University and Kew Residential Services.
Kew Children's Cottages c.1970. Photographer Unknown |
>>Upcoming publications
Corinne Manning, ‘Imprisoned in State Care: Life Inside Kew Cottages, 1925-2008’, Health and History, vol. 11, no. 1, May 2009.
Corinne Manning, ‘From surrender to activism: the transformation of disability and mothering at Kew Cottages, Australia’, in Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson & Jen Cellio (eds), Disability and Mothering, Toronto, Demeter Press, Spring 2010.
>>Publications and conference papers
Dr Christine Bigby and Dr Katie Holmes
Kew Cottages History Project
History Program
La Trobe University
Dr Christine Bigby
Tel: +61 3 9479 1016
Email: c.bigby@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Katie Holmes
Tel: +61 3 9479 2427
Email: k.holmes@latrobe.edu.au
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