Presented by Professional Historians Association (NSW & ACT) and Oral History NSW.

Disasters have recently become a major field of study for public historians who explore the roles of history and memory in fostering public understanding of these events and developing resilience in the future. 

Speakers:

Dr Margaret Cook is a history lecturer at the University of Sunshine Coast, Honorary Research Fellows at La Trobe University and University of Queensland and consultant historian who has worked in the heritage, museum, government and private sectors. Her recent books are A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods and an edited collection, Disasters in Australia and New Zealand: Historical Approaches to Understanding Catastrophe. 

Peg Fraser is a Research Associate at Museums Victoria whose award-winning book, Black Saturday: Not the End of the Story is based on oral histories she gathered for the Victorian Bushfires Collection at Museum Victoria. She now lives in the Adelaide Hills and is a volunteer with bushfire relief efforts.  

Chair:

Scott McKinnon is vice president of Oral History NSW and a research associate at the Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space (ACCESS), University of Wollongong. He is co-editor (with Margaret Cook) of Disasters in Australia and New Zealand: Historical Approaches to Understanding Catastrophe and author of Gay Men at the Movies: Cinema, Memory and History of a Gay Male Community. 

Register online for free via the State Library, this is an online event.