The Lord Mayor of Melbourne, John So, sent me a copy of the book I co-authored on the history of the Melbourne Moomba Festival today (read Prologue). And what a great relief it is to finally see the work in tangible form. We were originally commissioned to write the history in June of 2002 and now here it is! This is now available to download here
Here is a letter that I wrote (17 May 2005) to the sponsors (and publishers) of the work, the City of Melbourne (btw. you need to contact them if you want a physical copy).
I would like to sincerely thankyou for the opportunity that you granted to write the history of the Melbourne Moomba Festival. It was worthy historical investigation and I thoroughly enjoyed researching the event in all its labyrinthine dead-ends, triumphs, contradictions, inconsistencies, and pleasures. Apart from the inevitable frustration here and there, it was fun!
I would like to thank Arts and Culture, and the City of Melbourne for your foresight in commissioning the project wayback in May 2002. It has been a pleasure gaining an insight into arts administration and the city’s archives. And in particular, I would like to thank Martin Paten for his guidance and patience during the projects fruition. Likewise, I would like to thank Ariel Valent for his support during the early stages and for his careful reading of the initial drafts.
During those early stages, whist I was struggling to complete my Ph.D., Gordon Chisholm kept things afloat and later helped sustain the project through his friendship and insights. And Hilary Ericksen re-energised the closing stages of the project with editorial diligence and a merciless historian’s scalpel.
And thanks to Jenny Ford and the Moomba team for marking such an important historical milestone with their community history initiatives during the Moomba Festival.
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