Research Reflections from the SLNSW fellowship

June to August was spent researching in Sydney—in the State Library of NSW, and in the homes and clubhouses of … More

Heritage Making and Migrant Subjects in the Deindustrialising Region of the Latrobe Valley

This blog went on the backburner in 2020, like most things. But some of the research (or, at least, the … More

IWD talk: The limits of the archive – revisiting histories of multiculturalism and women’s voices

In an effort to trick myself into being (feeling?) ‘productive’, and thus keep that all-pervading panic and fear at bay, … More

Remembering Migrant Rights Activism

But I wanted to access community memories. How do implicated community groups remember this period of ‘migrant rights activism’ and the prominent activists associated with the movement?

Indigenous and Migrant Heritage Places: ‘Immigration Park Australia’ design

In a 2002 article for the Journal of Intercultural Studies, Joseph Pugliese argued that migrant communities, working within heritage legislation, … More

Challenging State Multiculturalism: industrial heritage, migrant labour and Gippsland Immigration Park

This ‘phantasmatic diversity’, this multiculturalism ‘for all of us’, dissuades recognition of diversity as structural difference with historical antecedents… While the political struggles over migrant rights aren’t at the centre of Gippsland Immigration Park, the local history of the coal industry and its implications for working life and mobility, are. Here, the Park challenges celebratory state multiculturalism and histories of industrial progress.

That photo: the migrants?

I use this photo a lot, the one that features in the ‘banner’ for this blog and on my Twitter … More

Europeana Migration Collection and Australian infrastructure

Large, well-funded digital archives provide the means to facilitate not only the collection and preservation of migrant-related collections, but also their promotion and uptake by researchers and other members of the public. This requires a coordinated effort on the part of large institutions, like the National Library of Australia—and I would argue, given the topic is migration, it calls for transnational collaboration. Enter: Europeana Migration Collection, a new initiative as part of the Europeana digital archive.

Community Consultations, Heritage Practice, and Migration Histories – Heritage Victoria 2011

for cohorts who were denied the opportunity to openly express othernesss (beyond trivial renditions of ethnicity), it’s not unexpected that their ‘internal worlds’, rather than clearly identified public spaces, should be richer and unarchived.