About various views of the past (the "personal past" and the past of assorted places, etc.) - to give consideration to the ways and methods that people use to interpret and shape the past; and plan to know the past more fully.   This was somewhat inspired by an American "Project Past" as noted here. 

The name, and possibly the idea, of Project Past is borrowed from something which  commenced in the USA as an initiative providing free web space for those interested in the PAST ... attempts to make contact with the USA PP'ers were not successful however.  

Using it at present (in the USA) is a loose network of anthropologists, archaeologists and historians interested in the past and in historical memory:

 Project Past Description:  http://www.projectpast.org/index.html

Links will be added here to local sites considered interesting.

If you would like to work on any of the New South Wales sites as will be noted, please contact the owner, as below, of the current site http://geo-sites.zoomshare.com with a view to jointly working up webpages which could be suitable for hosting at Project Past (and/or at other suitable hosting services).

CONTACT:  

 John Byrnes (Geologist)

THE PERSONAL PAST:     Click here.

SOME PLACES AND PROJECTS OF CURRENT INTEREST:

 Castlereagh conversations  - Considering the past at Upper Castlereagh ( a strongly historic area north of Penrith ), from recent developments, back to early settlement, Aboriginal habitation, and the geological formation of the land.

Penrith Lakes

Sydney etc.

Tempe etc.

CURRENT PROJECTS

Great lost river  (Pondering 40+ million years of history of what is considered the greatest river of the Sydney region and likely antecedent of the modern Nepean-Hawkesbury river.) 

The history of one rock - (shorter version, the 'philosophy')

The history of one rock - (longer version, observations, details)

( The "History of one rock" is a Project Past small project about the potential role or place of 'lookout' rocks as instructive points in thinking about the past.   It is based at a lookout in Little Switzerland Drive at Kings Tableland (Wentworth Falls), on the "Blue Mountains" west of Sydney - a favourite tourist destination.)

Government information policies:

Click here for:  A year 2000 review of policies concerning the aquisition, preservation and accessibility of information deriving from mineral exploration and mining.

History of Sydney's MINING MUSEUM

LOCAL STUDY AREA REFERENCES (LGAs)

Penrith  

 - At Penrith Library works by J.L. Kohen

INTERESTS

1) Mystery mounds and curious craters, etc.

2) How do snames form (effects of fire)?

A sname at Somersby.   Some think these regular  circles found on Hawkesbury Sandstone are related to Aboriginal fire maintenance, others think they are incipient solution pans  (cf. gnammas).

A survey of snames and gnammas

3)  Various effects of surface heating

- Baking/melting of soil, ash, stone

4)  Geology at universities 

-  Theses at University of Sydney

SOME SUGGESTED PROJECTS

Project:  Old Heritage - An Assessment of Planning and Policy. 

Maroota - "Great Lost River" (the recognition of deposits of a former major river, older than 45 million years, which perhaps connected once with a river that still flows today under the name of Nepean River).

Jenolan Caves - "Jenolan Caves are world's oldest"

Molong - "When Molong was an island"

(Some of the project work in mind is not necessarily to do any more original research into the physical objects involved but could be more of a review nature with special look at how and why people come to think the ways they do about the past .... )