AustLit

During the past university semester, AustLit has been fortunate to have two interns working on two very different but equally fascinating projects. Now that both interns have wound up their projects, it's time for us to reveal the results of their works, in the online exhibitions that they have curated.

Below, Nikita Martinz, whose work you may have been following on the #AustLitDrama hashtag, talks about her experience in researching The First Joanna, recently brought back to the stage by UQ drama students.

You can explore Nikita's exhibition, Dorothy and Her 'First Joanna', here.

Nikita Martinz

As part of my final year of study, I undertook my Public Relations internship at AustLit for the duration of semester one. For my final year I was eager to expand my skills and abilities in researching and writing as I believed this to be an important trait for any successful PR professional. At AustLit I had firsthand experience on how to research, index and collate information from the AustLit database to build my project/online exhibition. I was also introduced to other databases and sources including Trove and AusStage which expanded the quality of research available to me.

As part of my internship I was lucky enough to cover the award winning play ‘The First Joanna’ by Dorothy Blewett which was fantastically performed by the Dramatic Arts students at UQ. For my project I was able to not only access information from the AustLit database but was lucky enough to work with original hard copy manuscripts, images and sketches obtained from Dorothy’s family itself. The process of working with original documents alongside the archived material of the internet was not only fascinating but eye opening to the importance of AustLit’s digitisation process in uncovering forgotten material. Most importantly the event of the student performance exemplified the way in which stories of the past can find modern significance and inspire the generations of today.