Making Public Histories is a seminar/webinar series offered jointly by the Monash University History Program, the History Council of Victoria and the Old Treasury Building. Each event aims to explore issues and approaches in making public histories. The seminars/webinars are open to anyone interested in the creation and impact of history in contemporary society.
2025 events
2025 will be the eighteenth year for the Making Public Histories series. The program will be delivered as webinars via Zoom.
NOW OPEN FOR BOOKINGS
Spies and Cold War Australia, Thursday 29 May


Book now: https://www.historycouncilvic.org.au/mph_may_2025_spies
COMING UP
Hearing the news: how ballad singers, pampheteers and orators took the news to the people in the pre-modern world, Thursday 24 May
In an age when we are, literally, bombarded with news from multiple forms of ‘mass media’, it is hard to imagine a time when news was scarce. Before newspapers were published, how did the people find out what was happening in their world? In this seminar we explore the fascinating world of the pre-modern newshound — the ballad singer, the pamphleteer and the public orator. Were there limits to ‘free speech’, and how were they overcome? Historians Una McIlvenna and Ruby Lowe combine analysis and performance as they explore this fascinating topic.
Registration will open soon!
Past events
You can check out all of our past seminars on YouTube.
The Glass Ceiling: Shattered, cracked or subbornly intact? Thursday 27 March
As women joined the paid workforce in increasing numbers in the twentieth century they battled long-established discrimination. Low pay, exclusion from jobs defined as ‘men’s work’, and forced ‘retirement’ on marriage were just a few of the barriers in place. In the 1970s feminists identified a less-visible form of discrimination — the ‘glass ceiling’, the invisible, but equally-powerful set of assumptions that blocked women from promotion and from appointment to senior management. Many companies now promote their commitment to gender equity, but how real is it? Have women really shattered the glass ceiling, or does it continue to block women’s progress?
WATCH: https://youtu.be/M22GGrXx4I0?si=Vos88XUll0M1OWqm
Histories of Australian Childhood, with Isobelle Barrett Meyering (Macquarie), Catherine Gay (Melbourne) and Emily Gallagher (ANU).
WATCH: https://youtu.be/fgtnPGZg1LA
Oral History, Migration, Generations, with Francesco Ricatti (ANU), Tanya Evans (Macquarie), Alexandra Dellios (ANU).
WATCH: https://youtu.be/gaH4kJdgVkM
History in Film, with Peter McPhee (Chair, HCV) and James Findlay (Sydney).
Watch: https://youtu.be/zMl2M1dDtbs?si=2yuhQKeB1StvyxvS
Energy Transitions: Historicising Australia's Nuclear Debate
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttpiMQh1WN0&t=18s
Australia's Housing Crisis
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv35Dy3C-us
2023 events
Behind the Scenes: Making History Exhibitions
Culture in Overseas Embassies: Buildings that Evoke Australia
Australia's Broken Years? Joan Beaumont & Alastair Thomson
2022 events
Refugee Lives, Memories and Communities, November 2022
Doing Environmental History in Urgent Times, September 2022
Making Australian History, July 2022
Historians on Australian Politics, May 2022
Unpicking the gendered body: new research in the history and material culture of clothes, March 2022
2021 events
Child Labour and Slavery - Thursday 25 November at 5pm
Women's Lives, Women's Bodies - Thursday 23 September at 5pm
Populism, Democracy and Covid-19 on Thursday 27 May, 2021 from 5pm - 6:30pm
Teasing Women's Stories from the Archives on Thursday March 04, 2021 from 5pm - 6:30pm
Admission is free of charge but we ask you to RSVP to register your participation. For the webinars, a Zoom link will be sent by email to all who register.
We acknowledge our partners and the generous sponsorship provided by Old Treasury Building, the Monash University History Program and Monash University Publishing.
and the support offered by our event sponsors, Monash University Publishing.
Making Public Histories explores contemporary issues in historical research and production. The audience is diverse, ranging from professional, academic and community historians through to anyone interested in the creation, use and impact of history. The seminars respond to themes such as: new exhibitions or historical anniversaries; historical controversies; innovative ways of researching, producing and disseminating history; and history in different media. From time to time the seminars showcase visiting historians from overseas or interstate whose work will engage a Victorian audience.
Over time, Making Public Histories has explored a range of issues and approaches in the making of public histories. The program was initiated in 2008 by Monash University, State Library Victoria and the History Council of Victoria. From 2008 to 2016, the seminars were presented at State Library Victoria. Since 2017, the Old Treasury Building has been the venue for all face-to-face seminars.
To read about past programs, click the year: 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020
To find out how to stay in touch with the three organisations that present these events, click HERE.
The chair, Alison Inglis, congratulates panellists
(L-R) Sasha Grishin, Jan Croggon and Andrew Lemon
at the conclusion of the ST Gill seminar
at State Library Victoria, 29 September 2015.
Photo credit: History Council of Victoria