Nooks and Crannies

In Nooks and Crannies, the History Council of South Australia showcases its wares.

Celebrating the History Council of South Australia's 20th anniversary is this eclectic collection of short essays by its varied membership - experienced and emerging historians from various fields of academia and institutions - casting a new light on stories of inventions, migration, industry, heritage, museums and associations, both new and old, Indigenous and settler.

Featured are both the well-known and the previously untold or unnoticed narratives of South Australians whose contributions to the state have been significant. The Both brothers from Caltowie saved numerous lives by inventing a cheap and efficient iron lung during a poliomyelitis outbreak, and improving the electrocardiograph and humidicrib. In Mile End, in 1942, a high-ranking American army officer commandeered a small Mile End factory, transforming it into an operation producing more than 100,000 cans of rabbit to help feed American military forces.

Three discussions, histories-within-history, reveal the origins of the Council, which arose from activist concern during the 1990s for the return of history in school curricula and developed into the nongovernment representative body it is today.

Ultimately, through its focus on South Australian history, Nooks and Crannies builds on CEO Greg Mackie's statement of the need to 'reassert the critical importance of the past to our collective future'.