Tamsin Kerr Oral History

DETAILS

Overview
Tamsin Kerr provides a wide ranging account of her family history, academic background, and the development of the Cooroora Institute, an arts and environment centre she established near Cooroy. Her narrative begins with multi generational connections to Queensland, describing ancestors on both sides of her family, including early settlers, educators, and her father, heritage expert James Semple Kerr, co author of the Burra Charter and author of The Conservation Plan. Kerr describes a childhood shaped by mobility, including periods in Europe, exposure to heritage conservation, and early experiences that fuelled her later interest in environmental and cultural practice.

Professionally, she worked in environmental policy, community planning, heritage, and cultural development across state and federal governments, including contributions to the Fraser Island Inquiry and early environmental planning frameworks. She later pursued academic work at Griffith University, culminating in a PhD exploring the role of creative practice in understanding place, particularly through the metaphor of the bunyip.

Kerr settled at Cooroy in 1999, founding the Cooroora Institute as a practical expression of “sharing the song of the earth through creative practice.” She details its evolution into a multidisciplinary hub featuring woodworking, ceramics, weaving, writing, soundscape research, and community events such as the “Currency of Birdsong.” She reflects on COVID 19, community resilience, environmental ethics, and the need for more than human approaches to governance and cultural life.

Photograph

Mt Cooroora, 9 June 2020

Piano in nature, Cooroora Institute, 780 Cooroy Belli Creek Rd, Black Mountain, 9 June 2020

Tamsin Kerr

Tamsin Kerr, Cooroora Institute, 780 Cooroy Belli Creek Rd, Black Mountain, 9 June 2020

Tunes and nature, Cooroora Institute, 780 Cooroy Belli Creek Rd, Black Mountain, 9 June 2020

Oral History Transcript

Tamsin Kerr Oral History - Transcript

Audio

Tamsin Kerr Oral History - Audio

IDENTIFIERS

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LocalityBlack MountainPlaceCooroora InstitutePersonTamsin KerrOrganisation & ClubCooroora InstituteMenuDecade | 2020-2029