A partnership between the Chifley Home Education Centre and Charles Sturt University has been forged with Australian history and politics students making their first visit to the facility.
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The first-year students heard a lecture from CSU’s associate professor of political science Dr Dominic O’Sullivan and a tutorial by Australian history and politics tutor Sam Malloy.
Mr Malloy is the former manager of the Chifley Home and was instrumental in the creation of the education centre.
Eighty students got a feel for Chifley’s life both as prime minister and member of the Bathurst community.
“Seeing we have this great facility in Bathurst, it is a good idea to do this lecture here,” Dr O’Sullivan said.
“Hopefully it will give them a sense of Chifley the person as much as Chifley the prime minister.
“I see it as a way of bringing local political history to life.
“Chifley obviously was a strong local identity with an important role on the national and international stage.”
He said it was beneficial for the students to see Chifley in context, rather than just reading about him in books or talking about his policies.
Dr O’Sullivan said the students have learned about austerity and the frugal way people lived in the 1940s.
“Here they can see a prime minister who lived that way. The 1940s room brings him to life,” he said.
“Politics is a part of everyday existence. To see how it was in the 1940s deepens our understanding of the present.
“As mostly journalism students, it is important that they get a sense of this site as an important community asset and the social and political history that comes with it,” Dr O’Sullivan said.
Mr Malloy said this was the very purpose the Chifley Home Education Centre was built for – to engage students on all levels.
He said it is the first education centre attached to a prime ministerial home in all of Australia.
Mr Malloy said he would be speaking about Ben Chifley from a community aspect.