Rate My Professor Ceri Austin-Hart

Ceri Austin-Hart is the Senior Collections Assistant at Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago Library in Dunedin, New Zealand. Her contact details include the email ceri.austin-hart@otago.ac.nz and phone DDI +64 3 479 5028 ext. 5028. In this role within the library's special collections division, she assists with researcher services, access to published and special collections, archives, art, photography, and the digital capture unit.

Austin-Hart contributes to public engagement and historical research through articles published in the Otago Daily Times. Her piece 'Maidens fielding in their slips' (28 February 2022) traces women's cricket history in New Zealand's South Island, from the 1867 Wairarapa match and 1930s growth to the Otago Ladies Cricket Association founded in 1932, the national New Zealand Women’s Cricket Association in 1934, and the 1935 English Women’s Cricket Tour. It draws on Hocken holdings like Hallensteins Ltd records including fabric swatches and cricket blazer advertisements, and Albion Cricket Club minute books, photographs, and the 1951/52 O.W.C.A Woolworths Shield-winning team photo.

In 'In a league of their own' (13 January 2024), she spotlights the Otago Rugby League records chronicling the Samoana rugby league team from the mid-1960s, which she discovered via a familiar name on a 1964 team photograph. This led to family connections including Elena Lome of the Samoana Oral History project. The team achieved dominance in Otago competitions from 1964 to 1966, winning local and South Island titles and the Ellis and Joe Brown Cups while undefeated, before withdrawing in 1967 amid fights. The story underscores the team's role in Dunedin's Samoan community as a hub for families, migration, integration, and future leaders in business, arts, and academia.

Austin-Hart's discovery inspired the 'Samoana: In a League of Their Own' exhibition at Hocken marking the club's 60th anniversary (August 2024), displaying team photos, newspaper clippings, diary entries, and oral histories. She also provided research assistance to The Thistle Archive for details on footballer Willie Murray's time in New Zealand. Other contributions include coverage of local celebrations in 'Lots to celebrate in Ōtepoti' (29 June 2024).