Download the History Week 2016 program here

History Week 2016 begins this Sunday and Sydney's history lovers are going to be busy! Now in it’s 19th year, History Week is a significant event that engages local communities on the NSW cultural calendar. Each year members of the History Council of NSW collaborate to host events that explore a particular theme. This year's theme of Neighbours is crucial to our understanding of the past’s impact on the present. It includes stories of individuals, families and communities living near one another and links between adjoining suburbs, regions and countries. As the success of the Australian television program Neighbours shows, the theme has long been a significant component of popular culture. It shaped imagination and memories, created identities and was a source of both conflict and friendship. How important were class, the economy, gender, governments, the media, race, religion and sport in the formation of ideas regarding neighbours? How have attitudes regarding a nation’s geographic neighbours determined defence, foreign, immigration, refugee and trade policies? Did new types of communication and transport from the nineteenth century onwards radically alter how neighbours and neighbourhoods were perceived? In 2016 History Week focuses on these and other related questions. The Annual History Lecture 'Neighbours - and Heroes' will be presented by Professor Heather Goodall at The Mint on Wednesday evening (7 September). How have Australians thought of themselves as ‘neighbours’ in the Asia-Pacific region? Professor  Goodall's talk will look at how many Australians have had the courage to cross borders – taking risks to build relationships across old borders and new borders, cultural borders and ethnic borders. Drinks and canapés and neighbourly chats will follow the lecture. Bookings are essential and tickets are going fast! Find out more here. The other feature event is a symposium and film screening on Monday 5 September at the State Library of NSW, being presented by the History Council in collaboration with the Modern History Department of Macquarie University. Community Sporting Histories: Inclusion, Exclusion and Authority will draw together historians working on local, community and intimate histories of sport in Australia to ponder the tensions between the ideal of community, the politics of difference and the writing of history. The critically acclaimed documentary Scrum will also be screened. Again, bookings are essential - find out more here. From talks to exhibitions, tours to online engagement, there is something for everyone. During History Week, community groups, local councils, libraries, archives, museums, universities, cultural institutions, professional and amateur historians across NSW open their doors to present the latest in today’s historical research – fascinating stories, artefacts and experiences about both our past and ourselves today. With all of the talks, exhibitions and walking tours around Sydney, we can't possibly choose favourites, so have a look at the downloadable program here on the History Council of NSW website, and browse through their What's On to get an idea of what's available. We've been doing our best to keep up with the History Council of NSW and share events via our social media streams on Twitter & Facebook, but if you have an event you'd like us to share that we may have missed, please let us know!