Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Nicholas, Fisher Library & a sense of sadness

That old chestnut...

Mathew Endacott's Is it best to let sleeping states lie? made me a little sad. Not sad because it shows that new state agitation continues - the New England New State Movement Facebook page is up to 131 members with 62 new. Sad as a New England historian.

The Nicholas Report is one of the seminal documents in New England's history. It lives today in the continuing debate about boundaries, about one state or two. For a long dead report, it's actually mentioned remarkably often in posts and comments threads. It's not available on-line, so it is often misreported. It also has a small place in the history of the University of Sydney. At the time, academics like Professors Bland and MacDonald Holmes were active proponents for new states and supporters of the New England cause.

In throwing it out to clear space, Sydney University's Fisher Library took away another little piece of our own history. See why I'm sad?  

3 comments:

Nathan Lindorff said...

Jim, would it be possible for someone like Google to digitise some of these works to preserve them? They have done this sort of thing world wide. I know this may be a bit tricky from the 'outside', but it could be a good option, particularly if destruction is the only other option.

Anonymous said...

The idea of the State of New England was told to me when I was very young by my grandfarther. I am the sixth generation to grow up on a cattle property in the area. Ever since, watching the decline of Northern NSW, I have become more and more passionate about turning this from that idea to a reality. A place with a real voice, not a whisper, where an economy can one day prosper again and the people can be proud of what they built as they wanted and not as they were told. I am currently working in politics within another state, but will oneday return to reframe the plan, and with local collabration go back to the drawing board to give the people, of what will be the State of New England, what they need and deserve.

Jim Belshaw said...

Hullo Anon and thanks. I look forward to your return. But we expats can still keep the flag flying. In fact, we need too!