RHSV Staff

Portrait image of Rosemary Cameron

Executive Officer: Rosemary Cameron

Rosemary has spent most of her career in not-for-profit arts management – more specifically, theatre and, more latterly, literary festival management. Her work in theatre took her overseas where she worked for both the English National Opera and the Royal Opera House in London and the Oslo Early Music Festival in Norway. She is the former director of the Melbourne Writers Festival (2005 – 2009) and the Brisbane Writers Festival (2003 – 2005). Rosemary has twice been a judge of both the WA Premiers and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Prizes for Fiction and, in 2023, a judge of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize for Non-fiction. She was involved in the successful bid to make Melbourne a UNESCO City of Literature and in the development of the Wheeler Centre.

Jillian Hisock

Photo Credit: Nico Keenan

Collections Manager/Volunteer Coordinator: Jillian Hiscock

Jillian qualified as a librarian at Melbourne University after doing a Bachelor of Arts at La Trobe University. She has had a career working in public and special libraries, and managing government department libraries and intranets. She ran the Department of Transport library which supported Heritage Victorian and the Planning portfolio, this in role particular has given her relevant experience in managing collections that span manuscripts, ephemera, books, images and non-print materials.

Photo Credit: Nico Keenan

Collections Officer (Images): Helen Stitt

Helen began her career in heritage working as a historian for a Melbourne-based architectural conservation practice. Her formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Public History and Heritage from the University of Melbourne.

Helen has taught architectural and urban design history at the University of Melbourne for over a decade. Over the same period, she worked as RACV’s Heritage Curator, managing a large and diverse collection including a fleet of historic vehicles. This role gave her experience in making collections more accessible through producing exhibitions and publications, delivering talks and tours, assisting researchers and digitising photographs, film, manuscripts and printed materials.

Marketing Officer: Sean Reynolds 

Sean is the creator of the Melbourne Ghost Signs project, aiming to capture the ephemeral signs and stories behind Victoria’s weathered shopfronts. Sean, hailing all the way from the States, holds a degree in Cinema & Photography from Southern Illinois University. In a career spanning over two decades, he has worked in television, video games and marketing, earning him two nominations for the prestigious Emmy Award.

Beyond his professional accolades, Sean fervently advocates for Victoria’s heritage by hosting engaging talks, making appearances on radio programs and within the soon-to-be-released pages of his forthcoming book.

 

Bookkeeper: Kristen Adnams 

Kristen has completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Monash University and has also successfully completed the Chartered Accounting program. Her career began working for a professional services firm – gaining experience in audit and management accounting.  More recently she co-founded a small business offering professional organising services to older clients and those needing support in the home.

Now a registered BAS Agent, Kristen enjoys working with not-for-profits.  She believes this allows her to use her professional skills and give back to the community at the same time.

 

Project Officer: Susannah Beardsell 

Susannah graduated with her B.A from the University of Melbourne. She completed a double major in History and Anthropology, focusing around areas such as local history, and gender and feminism. Susannah began with us as a volunteer in our Images Collection, and now works as our Project Officer for the Victorian Community History Awards, and History month.

Gidleigh Archivist: Cathy Dodson

Cathy’s passion for history was sparked when, as a teenager, she had the opportunity to volunteer at a local National Trust property. She has since worked and volunteered in a wide range of heritage settings and gained a BA Hons in History and a Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies. For seven years Cathy managed a School Archive, working to make its diverse collection more accessible and secure through publication, digitisation and improved collection management. She joined the RHSV as Project Archivist for the Jones Collection which documents a century of one family’s day-to-day life in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg. Cathy now holds the position of Gidleigh Archivist, managing the recently acquired archive of Heritage Consultant, Graeme Butler.

 

 

Archive Officer: Bronte Laffin-Vines

Bronte has worked with historical archives for over a decade assisting a wide variety of organisations. Her interest in social history and preservation of design and technology has led her to gain graduate degrees in Cultural Materials Conservation from the University of Melbourne and in Audiovisual Archiving from Charles Sturt University. Her work has involved assisting academic and family history researchers, digitising photographic and printed materials, and improving access to collections. At RHSV, Bronte is assisting with the collections of Heritage Consultants, Graeme Butler and Allan Willingham.

 

 

Administration Officer: Chelsea Pinkard

Chelsea completed her Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University in 2024, majoring in History with a double minor in English Literature and Creative Writing. Her main areas of interest are Australian maritime and naval history, military history, and historical fiction as a literary genre. Chelsea has a professional background in bookselling and bookshop administration, and holds a Certificate III Retail qualification.