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by Claire Tedeschi

With public interest in Australia's history growing in the lead-up to 2001, the National Council for the Centenary of Federation has backed another 14 exhibition projects under the second round of its $10 million History and Education Program.

The program is designed to increase knowledge and appreciation of the development of the Australian nation since Federation in 1901, and leave a lasting legacy of resources for future generations of Australians.

The largest individual grant of $500 000 was awarded to the National Gallery of Australia for a special Centenary Year exhibition to be staged in all States and Territories. The exhibition will bring together 100 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal works of art reflecting the evolution of Australian visual arts over a century. The Centenary Year exhibition will be the first curated by John McDonald, recently appointed as Head of Australian Art.

In another exhibition supported under the program, the Melbourne Museum will focus on the ceremonies and celebrations associated with the opening of the first Federal Parliament on 9 May 1901.

The Australian Maritime Museum in Sydney will mount an exhibition called Smugglers and Sailors: Customs, Communication and Federation, highlighting the role of customs, coastal shipping and rail transport in bringing the six colonies together as a Federation.

Sydney's Powerhouse Museum will present an exhibition, Births of a Nation: Women, Childbirth and Federation, exploring women's experience of childbirth in 1901, and political activities of the 'mothers' of Federation.

As well as the exhibitions, the 40 successful grants announced last month included broadcast projects, publications, online activities, conferences and performance pieces.

One grant involves the production of a radio series, Keeping Mum, which will examine women's contribution to the nation.

One hundred Australians who will be aged 100 or over for the Centenary of Federation in 2001 will be interviewed for a special oral history archive, The Children of Federation.

Ordinary People: Extraordinary Lives will tell the stories of remarkable but unheralded people and communities in rural Australia through a publication of photographs.

A series of three one-hour TV specials, The Ties that Bind, will take nine prominent Australians with migrant parents or grandparents back to the birthplace of their ancestors. They will be personal journeys to help discover the identity of today's Australia.

A total of 400 applications were assessed by a sub-committee of National Council, chaired by Professor Geoffrey Blainey, with 50 grants being approved at an overall cost of $4 million.

'The assessment committee was pleased to fund a range of projects, from scholarly and original works on Australian history to highly popular projects that would attract broad interest from the general community,' says Professor Blainey.

The new round brings to $8 million the total amount now allocated to projects under the National Council's History and Education Program. Successful grants in the first round were announced in February.

Applications for the third and final round of the program have closed, with an announcement of grants due to be made before the end of the year.

Details of projects funded under the first two grant rounds are available from the Council's website at www.centenary.gov.au

Contact

Peter Brown, Centenary of Federation, 02 6720 8160 or email peter.brown@dcita.gov.au

• Document ID: 11379 |
• Last modified: 5 February 2008, 6:01pm