Speaking our history

Written by Dr Nicholas A. Sparks is Team Leader of Archival Collection Development, State Library of South Australia, and Visiting Research Fellow, School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics, University of Adelaide. 

"In a quiet moment over Christmas, I listened to the oral histories of my late grandfather. Grandad died some years ago, and my Mum recorded his words on old tapes that haven't been played since. The power of his voice was arresting, its effect, immediate." ~ Nicholas Sparks

For thousands of years the Kaurna people of the Adelaide plains (Tarndanya) have told stories, yurringarnendi (listened deeply) and kept culture strong via oral tradition at the site of the State Library - a place of enlightenment - as Uncle Lewis Yarlupurka O'Brien explains in Yara: wisdom of reciprocity oral history project - The Art of Learning (SLSA: OH 1181). 

Culture is living and the sharing of stories, of learning, of culture from Kaurna tradition at this site may be seen as a precursor for the development of the State Library of South Australia's oral history collections.

The J.D. Somerville Oral History Collection was founded via bequest in 1987. The nucleus of the collection is the Jubilee 150 oral history project,  SA Speaks: an oral history of life in South Australia before 1930 (SLSA: OH 1), conducted by Beth M. Robertson, former president and life member of Oral History Australia SA/NT.

Since its initial foundation, the J.D. Somerville Collection has become nationally recognized as one of the richest and most wide-ranging collections of oral histories in Australia. It holds over 9,000 interviews and unpublished audio documenting all aspects of South Australian life, particularly recent history through the experiences of those who lived it and whose voices are traditionally underrepresented in the public record, including First Nations people, low-income earners, people of non-English speaking background, women, LGBTQIA+, and regional, rural and remote people of Australia. 

The J.D. Somerville Collection also contains some major projects of state significance, just to name a few:

History of Nursing in South Australia (SLSA: OH 17)

History of Christies Beach Women’s Shelter (SLSA: OH 255)

Life on Swan Reach Mission, 1925-1956 (SLSA: OH 358)

Oral Histories concerning War Service Land Settlement at Loxton after the Second World War (SLSA: OH 550)

Treading out the vintage: National Wine Centre Oral History Project (SLSA: OH 692)

Living in Woomera Oral History Project (SLSA: OH 1123) 

During 2025-2027, as we prepare to move offsite collections to a new purpose-built storage facility, the Library will have a reduced capacity to acquire material for the collection. During this time, our oral history program will continue but with a focus on representation for groups not currently in the collection. 

We must balance our capacity to collect with ensuring that what we do collect is described, discoverable, and available for use for all South Australians. 

We are working on some exciting oral histories for 2025, which we will be thrilled to share on the State Library catalogue, website and social media. Stay tuned!