Committee & Roles

The work of Treasury of Country Australian History Inc (TOCAH) is guided by a volunteer committee whose members bring lived experience, professional expertise, and a shared commitment to preserving Australia’s regional, rural and remote history.

The Committee provides governance, strategic direction, and oversight to ensure TOCAH operates with integrity, purpose, and respect for the stories and communities it serves. Members come from diverse backgrounds, including rural industries, education, management, administration, research, archiving, and community engagement — reflecting the breadth of experience that underpins TOCAH’s mission.

TOCAH Committee Members

Mary Bishop

I grew up on a mixed farm in the South Burnett region of Queensland. My primary schooling took place in a one-teacher school which was situated in the middle of farmland. After that it was five years of boarding school. I worked in various locations along the extended J-curve from Cairns to Adelaide. Each area had its own variety of agricultural pursuits which extended my knowledge of the challenges involved. I am now retired and living on the Sunshine Coast.

Cynthia Dodd

A rich, happy childhood on my family’s Central Queensland beef cattle property was the springboard for a varied and interesting life. Primary correspondence school was followed by boarding school, then Economics and Japanese at Queensland University. Early career work with Nippon Steel’s Sydney Office, then key operators in the Japanese steel industries’ dealings with Queensland coal companies, led to an Investment Analyst role in Consolidated Gold Fields Australia Sydney. Marriage and parenthood took me back to Brisbane where I raised my children, trained as a teacher and taught Japanese for many years. Noting the stories of people from regional Australia, their resilience and innovation, has been a constant thread, all the more compelling as so many are being lost.

Jan Partridge

I was born in the Upper Murray, Victoria and the family moved to a property in Central Queensland where I grew up. After schooling in Rockhampton and Brisbane, I moved to Brisbane to work and study. My father drew a block in the Chase Syndicate in Esperance and we overlanded to Esperance in the 1960s.

I worked and married in Esperance and relocated to Perth with husband and one child in the early 1970s. I divorced and with three small children I returned to study and graduated as a librarian, worked for several years in Perth and regional Western Australia until a career move to teach at the Department of Library Studies at Curtin University.

I became involved in the Local Studies Section of the Australian Library and Information Association, concentrating on the importance of local history collections in public libraries. We ran conferences, published proceedings, and promoted the importance of local history. Today most public library systems in Australia have Local Studies sections, although our emphasis on the need to employ oral historians to record the history of the local area seems limited to WA.

My interest in oral history began before full-time retirement, but after retirement I was employed as an oral historian by a local Council in Perth. I have also done contract and voluntary work. I feel that oral history honours the individual by giving a voice to their personal story, and that these stories bring new perspectives to Australian history and are powerful extensions of official documents.

Robert Peirce

I was born in Brisbane in 1948 and lived in a house at Rainworth build by my father after the Second World War. My first year of education was at the Rainworth State School before the family moved north to Bundaberg and Mackay. My secondary education was at the Church of England Grammar School in Brisbane before undertaking a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Townsville University College and the University of Queensland.

My professional career was spent with the Australian sugar industry, primarily with CSR Ltd in various roles within the CSR sugar business. I also spent two years at the Sugar Research Institute in Mackay.

I believe the recording of Australia’s grass root history is important. Much is written about “big picture” history while the many smaller, but no less important, items of our history are not formally recorded.

Janelle Wilkie

I grew up in Chinchilla and attended primary school there. My secondary education was completed at St Margaret’s School in Brisbane. On finishing my teaching degree, I was posted to Goondiwindi State High and for many years I taught at a number of schools in the region.

Our family business is very much focused on rural Australia and I see first hand the wonderful and sometimes colourful contribution that many people have made to the history of our country. TOCAH’s vision to collect and preserve as much of this part of our heritage as is possible is a vision I share.

Kate McNicholl

My early childhood was spent in Mount Isa before moving to Dulacca with my family where we have been graziers for the past 36 years. I attended boarding school in Toowoomba and completed my tertiary education at UQ, graduating with a BEng (Environmental) and BSc (Geographical Sciences). Following graduation and a brief stint working with the Queensland Murray Darling Basin Committee (QMDC), I headed overseas where I became a wife and mother while working in energy management and sustainability in the UK and Hong Kong. I believe the art of story telling, sharing our history, is intrinsically linked to the art of conversation, both of which critical to the health and vitality of regional Australia.

Committee roles support:

Responsible stewardship of the TOCAH Collection
Ethical and culturally respectful practices
Long-term sustainability and organisational governance
Collaboration with contributors, members, volunteers, and partner organisations

All committee members serve in a voluntary capacity and are united by a shared belief in the importance of recording and preserving country Australia’s lived history.

Together, the Committee ensures TOCAH remains focused on its purpose: safeguarding stories of significance for current and future generations.

Meetings and member participation

TOCAH is member-led. Key decisions are made through general meetings, including the AGM.

The AGM is held within three months of the close of the financial year.
AGM business includes receiving the committee report and financial statements, receiving the auditor’s report, electing the Management Committee, and appointing an auditor.
Special general meetings can be called in accordance with the Constitution, including when requested by members under the required thresholds.
The Constitution also provides for quorums, voting processes, proxies, and formal minutes for transparency.

Interested in membership or have history to share?

Contact TOCAH Committee