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Dr. Sue Rosen – Principal Historian, Heritage Consultant and Project Director
Sue Rosen has worked in the history and heritage field since 1988. Driven by a commitment to the effective employment of history in the identification, assessment, management, conservation and interpretation of heritage places Sue founded HAAH in 1991. The vision was to establish a heritage and history consultancy managed by historians, working collaboratively with architects, engineers, archaeologists, planners, fauna and flora and landscape professionals. Sue is the principal Project Director at HAAH, and has managed a large number of multidisciplinary projects for clients such as the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority, NSW Department of Planning, Advance Energy, Sydney Water, Museums and Galleries NSW and various local government authorities.  

Sue has undertaken major studies in a range of areas, several of which have been published as books for a general as well as professional readership. Her study of land use and resource management in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment was published as Losing Ground: An Environmental History of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment . Bankstown:   A Sense of Identity is an urban and social history which provides a history of the area from the period of unimpeded Aboriginal management, through European occupation to contemporary times. We Never Had a Hotbed of Crime ! Life in Twentieth Century South Sydney draws extensively on oral history interviews with residents to facilitate the telling of their stories of the city. Government House Parramatta 1788-2000: A history of the Governors, their Home, and its Domain, Parramatta Park presented new understandings of not only the site but of colonial society via an intensive analysis of early colonial primary source documents.

Sue has also prepared Aboriginal histories (on the Euahlayi, Moorawarri and Gamilaroi peoples of north-west NSW for the NSW Aboriginal Land Council’s Native Title Unit, now Native Title Services) and numerous heritage studies and assessments including studies of the Yerranderie Silver Mining Fields. She has also prepared expert evidence for the NSW Supreme Court on the development of colonial roads. Bibliographic databases and electronic document archives related to the Aboriginal history of NSW Coastal LGAs for the period 1788-1850 which have recently been distributed to Aboriginal communities were developed by Sue for the Department of Planning to facilitate local access to scarce historic resources.

Sue has an MA from Macquarie University and was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy by the University of Western Sydney in September 2006 for her thesis: That Den of Infamy – the No.2 Stockade, Cox’s River: A study of the convict experience. This thesis once again immersed her in the records of the Colonial Secretary and the Surveyor General in the pre 1850s. Sue is a member of the History Advisory Panel to the NSW Heritage Council, the Professional Historians Association NSW and of ICOMOS (Australia).”

She brings 18 years of experience, a client focussed approach, and a commitment to rigorous research to any project she undertakes. Her reports are presented in an economical, coherent and lively style that is accessible to a broad audience. She is interested in using varied media to suit client needs and has dabbled in documentary as well as database development and publications that range from the academic to a more popular culture focus. Sue’s always interested in a challenge.

Emma Dortins – Historian, Heritage Consultant and Project Manager
Emma Dortins has a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in History from Macquarie University. In 2000-2 she project managed two education research studies at Macquarie University and University of Technology, Sydney, undertaking 70 in-depth interviews with students.

Emma has been a full time member of staff at HAAH for three years. During that time she has project managed major heritage studies (the heritage assessment of 78 bridges, and 44 bridges and ferries for the RTA) and prepared Heritage Impact Statements for developments affecting heritage items and Urban Conservation Areas in locations across Sydney including Hunter’s Hill, Mosman, Parramatta, St Mary’s and Newtown. Emma has undertaken historical research in the fields of Aboriginal history, colonial history, and environmental history. She has written a book in collaboration with the Beecroft/Cheltenham History Group, Beecroft Children’s Library. Giving the Gift of Reading 1942-1998 , and in 2005 worked in Southern Wales with GKA, a community development and environmental education consultancy. She is a member of the Professional Historians Association NSW and of the review committee of the PHA’s Register of Historic Places and Objects (ROHPO).

Emma is particularly concerned that history contributes to common understandings of both the urban and natural environment. She sees history as a tool that can guide sustainable resource management and increase social and cultural understandings and equity. She is committed to the careful interpretation of cultural, historical and heritage theory for application in the management of contemporary buildings and landscapes, and the production of more widely accessible public history.

Rosemary Kerr – Historian and Heritage Consultant
Rosemary Kerr has worked with HAAH since 1996 - five years in a full-time capacity and, since mid 2002, as a consultant. She has a B.A. (Hons) degree from the University of Sydney, majoring in history. Rosemary is a Member of the Professional Historians Association NSW (PHA), has served on the Management Committee since 2003, and is a member of one of the editorial collectives which produce Phanfare , the Association’s bi-monthly magazine. With Sue, Rosemary was commissioned to develop criteria and listings for the PHA’s Register of Historic Places and Objects (ROHPO) in 2000.

Rosemary has experience in a variety of heritage and history areas including: health, defence, education, police, hospitality, environmental, social and land use histories. Major heritage projects include: heritage assessments of the Tea Gardens Hotels, Bondi Junction; Palisade Hotel, Millers Point; Pheasants Nest Weir Access Road; historic context report for a Conservation Management Plan of Sydney University Buildings and Grounds; a contextual history of Torrington State Recreation Area, for NSW NPWS, and production of a Plan of Management, involving the integration and analysis of the work of a multi disciplinary team including an Aboriginal archaeologist, anthropologist and historical archaeologist.

More recently she was a crucial part of HAAH’s team in a series of heritage studies of RTA-controlled pre-1948 Concrete Beam Bridges, and Bridges and Ferries. Rosemary’s other projects include a bibliographic database of sources relevant to the Gamilaroi Aboriginal group, particularly women’s heritage and historic sites; and, in 2000-2001, the cataloguing and developing of a database for the collection of corporate and personal historical records, memorabilia and photographs of the Woods Great Peppermint Cure Company and Woods family.

Julie Dinsmor – Historical Archaeologist and Urban Planner
Julie has a BA, MA and MURP from the University of Sydney. She is an Urban Planner with specific expertise and qualifications in heritage conservation and historical archaeology.

Julie has held senior roles at the Sydney Water Corporation, Australian Water Technologies and the Sydney Catchment Authority. In her various roles in these organisations, Julie has managed a number of major environmental projects including heritage assessments for infrastructure upgrades and long-term infrastructure management plans. As the former Manager, Customer, Stakeholder and Regulator Relations and Manager, Strategic Relations, Julie has also been responsible for negotiating high level outcomes for major Government projects and for working co-operatively with a variety of interest groups.

More recently, at HAAH, Julie has been involved in the project management and the undertaking of various heritage studies, including the development of an assessment methodology for Lines of Road, prepared for the RTA in 2004, and the Interpretation Plan and Archival Recording for The Meterhouse, Stanmore. Julie provides the HAAH team with valuable advice on the planning aspects of many of our projects, including Conservation Management Plans and Statements of Heritage Impact.

Robert Anderson - Architect
Bob has been self-employed as an architect since 1957. His experience spans many types of design and construction, including food-processing factories, post-tensioned concrete structures, large caravan parks and unique church designs. Recent projects include small to luxury houses, small commercial premises and church designs. He has developed his expertise in landscape design, as part of a holistic approach to property design.  

Since 2002, Bob has provided architectural and design advice to HAAH on a variety of residential and commercial heritage items, and on infill housing in Urban Conservation Areas. Bob is dedicated to promoting the design of buildings that are sympathetic to their surrounding natural and cultural landscape, and that will fulfil the needs of clients for many years to come.

Bob is committed to good planning, heritage conservation and public understanding of heritage places. Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, Bob served as a committee member on the Parramatta Chamber of Commerce, including two years as President, having special interests in the new town plans, preservation of the historic houses, their easy access for public viewing and the development of the first public information office. He currently serves on the Yerranderie Management Committee - a group of individuals and Government representatives working to preserve this important historic mining town, buried deep in the Blue Mountains Wilderness Area.

Dr Sid French of WorleyParsons – Engineer
Sid French, through WorleyParsons (formerly Burns and Roe Worley), has collaborated with HAAH on a number of studies since 2002.

To our studies of bridges and ferries for the RTA (involving over 250 structures overall) Sid has brought his expertise in understanding the physical nature of such structures, as well as his ability to place each item within the context of history of engineering. He wrote an incisive and interesting overview history of reinforced concrete, and concrete bridges in NSW, for the RTA bridge assessments undertaken with HAAH in 2002-6.

Whilst bridges are a particular interest of Sid’s, he also has expert knowledge of a wide range of structures and their heritage value. One of his earliest roles as an engineer was in construction of the freeway over Darling Harbour, where recovering one of Sydney’s oldest boilers (from the local steam mill, and now in the Powerhouse Museum) gave him an interest in engineering heritage. Much of his engineering practice is in the field of life extension of existing structures, where modern technology (Sid’s PhD was on finite element analysis of multi-storey structures) can assist in demonstrating the ongoing utility of structures from yesteryear. Projects have ranged from bridges and ferries to oil platforms, wharves and copper smelters, giving Sid an unparalleled breadth of perspective on old structures.

Over the past few years Sid has delved more deeply into aspects of engineering history, and in 2002-3, he contributed lectures on the history of bridges and bridge building, and also on the evolution of engineering materials, for a training course run by the RTA for its bridge inspectors. He is a member of the Australian Society for History of Engineering and Technology (ASHET).

Perry McIntyre - Historian and Genealogist
Perry McIntyre has worked as a professional genealogist and historian since 1983, establishing her own consultancy, McIntyre Research Pty Ltd in 1988. She is President of the History Council of NSW, Vice-President of the Society of Australian Genealogists, and a committee member of the Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee and the Australian Catholic Historical Society. She has also served on the council of the Royal Australian Historical Society.   Perry has published and spoken extensively on genealogy and immigration, especially on Irish immigration, and submitted a PhD in July 2006.  

Perry has worked on a large number of family histories, including the family of the Premier of NSW, Bob Carr. In 1993, on behalf of the Australian Ambassador in Ireland, Perry established the native place of the family of the then Prime Minister, Paul Keating. She has also worked with the Community History Programme at the University of New South Wales on a range of broader studies, including a large study of inheritance patterns comparing families in the city and the country; and research on the families of the children at the Female Orphan School at Rydalmere. With Dr Lucy Taksa at UNSW, she is currently working on an occupational, genealogical, demographic and spatial analysis of the Eveleigh railway workshops and its surrounding inner-city suburbs between 1885 and 1989.

Perry gives lectures to community groups on family history methods and sources in Australia and overseas. She has also been co-tour leader and organiser of eight successful tours to Ireland (between 1991 and 2005) under the auspices of the Society of Australian Genealogists. For details of these tours see http://members.optushome.com.au/irishtours

Scott Wajon – Photographer
Scott has a Bachelor of Science (Hons 1st class) from the University of New South Wales and a Certificate of Photography (Distinction) from Sydney Technical College. He is a documentary photographer and digital imaging specialist with a passionate interest in heritage and historical issues and suburban popular culture.

Since 1995 he has been the Photographic Coordinator of the Mitchell Library at the State Library of New South Wales, currently leading a team of 4 photographers and imaging specialists, providing imaging services to archaeological, architectural, historical and heritage professionals. In recent years he has coordinated the introduction of digitisation and electronic delivery of images from the collections of the State Library. In 2005 he acted as technical consultant for the publication “Digital Practice: guidelines for digitising images in NSW Public Libraries”.

In 2002 he documented the archaeological work at Australand’s “Quadrant” site at Broadway and “Bullecourt” in Ultimo. Images from these were used in a number of publications by the NSW Heritage Office. Images from his documentation of a community protest against a development in Erskineville are now incorporated as ceramic murals in the park that was subsequently created.

Since 2003, Scott has provided photographic advice and services to HAAH on a variety of residential and commercial heritage projects, including Archival Recordings of the Star Hotel, Newcastle, and the remains of The Meterhouse, Stanmore. His work been exhibited extensively and is represented in the collections of the State Library, the Australian Museum and the Powerhouse Museum. Scott is a member of the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials and the Association of Advertising Commercial and Magazine Photographers.