Oral History Interviewing for Beginners

Training Program Format

Timing: the workshop takes place over two consecutive Saturdays the 18th AND 25th October.

On each workshop day the session will go from 9.30am – 4pm with a lunch break from 12 – 1.15pm.

Ticket registrations close 16 October, 5pm.

What do expect

• Have you always wanted to learn how to create an oral history interview?

• Or do you have an interest in recording the memories of elders in your family or community?

• Maybe you’re wondering whether or not to record remotely, or you’re thinking about conducting face-to-face interviews?

• Perhaps you’re a student starting an oral history project?

This popular Oral History Victoria two-day online training workshop is for anyone who would like to learn how to prepare, conduct, record and document an oral history interview. Facilitated by two of Australia’s most experienced oral history trainers, and using Zoom technology, you will learn and practice essential interview techniques and discuss important ethical issues.

After the first Saturday sessions, you will conduct your own oral history interview (remote recording or face-to-face), which will be a learning resource in the second Saturday sessions. The workshop will be limited to 18 participants to enable lively discussion and practical work in an online format. Participants will need a computer with wifi connection – the Zoom link will be provided, along with Zoom instructions.

Feedback from previous participants on this course:

‘The skills I learnt and the discussions that took place were invaluable’

 ‘I liked it that our activities really tested our comfort zones. It was just terrific.’

 ‘Al and Sarah are wonderful educators and facilitators!

 ‘A wonderful learning experience. I’ve definitely fallen in love with oral history too!’

 ‘I loved the course – learned so much on so many different levels, far more than I would have expected. Well done on awesome Zoom teaching.’

 ‘Thanks so much for providing us with such a great course. I have already promoted future courses to my friends.’

Speaker profiles

Sarah Rood is a professional consulting historian who has been working in the field for the past 20 years. She has seen the uses and applications of oral history change drastically. Motivated by a desire to help communicate the past and to help connect individuals and communities with history and identity Sarah has recorded countless oral history interviews. Firmly believing that everyone has a story to tell, Sarah aims to work with people to record their stories in a way that both documents their experiences and ensures that (with permission) it can be accessed by others in the future. Exploring the relationship between new technologies and oral histories has become a particular area of interest for Sarah in recent years. Similarly, the interplay between the tangible and the intangible and how this plays out in oral history is a constant source of intrigue for Sarah.

Alistair Thomson, national award-winning teacher and now Emeritus Professor of History at Monash University, taught his first oral history workshop in 1985 at the Wangaratta Centre for Continuing Education and has been teaching oral history in both community and academic settings ever since. Al’s oral history books include: Anzac Memories: Living with the Legend (1994), The Oral History Reader (2016), Ten Pound Poms: Australia’s Invisible Migrants (2005), Moving Stories: an intimate history of four women across two countries (2011), Oral History and Photography (2011), Australian Lives: An Intimate History (2017) and Fathering: An Australian History (2025). Al is currently co-editing The Bloomsbury Oral History Handbook.