"Adelaide is a thoroughly modern town, with all the merits and all the defects attaching to novelty. It does not possess the spirit of enterprise to so adventurous a degree as Melbourne, but neither does it approach to the languor of Sydney." - R. Twopeny, 1883

Wednesday 9 May 2012

About This Blog

Hello reader, 
This is a quick post to explain the motivation behind this blog.
Firstly, the majority of the information on this blog comes from newspapers. I know the limitations of using newspapers as historical documents (including bias and the kinds of stories reported in them - like there's unlikely to be a newspaper story about a family having dinner or something incredibly mundane like that) but newspapers are also incredibly useful. They give an insight into the kind of information people were exposed to - like how court cases were reported verbatim in daily newspapers, including divorce hearings (you just don't get that anymore!) and they present the news. Also, newspapers are easy to access. The National Library of Australia has a vast collection of digitised newspapers, which are easy to navigate and accessible from home. 
I have a collection of South Australian history books, which are very useful and informative, but they don't really go into the everyday lives of people. Being a blog, I'm not restricted by academic writing style or a thesis question - I can write about anything and everything, and anyone and everyone. I want people to learn about the people who are not written about anymore. 
I'm doing this blog partly to educate people about different aspects of South Australian social history - the aspects that aren't extensively written about - but also for my own amusement. Researching and learning about history is a little like being a detective. I get excited when I learn something new and love getting to the bottom of a story. I'm also doing this blog because I enjoy writing, and I know that if I want to continue writing I have to let people read my writing!
So, thank you for reading. 



1 comment:

  1. Love your blog! Look forward to reading more from it :)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments; I really appreciate them :)