Making Histories is a three-year project funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council. The project addresses a growing gap between how young people experience counter-histories of their changing cities and how Australian cities are represented in official histories, archives, and public collections.

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Young people are at the forefront of unprecedented change in Australian cities. Populations are diversifying rapidly, economies are shifting, and young people are driving demands for action on climate change, social equity, and decolonisation. Yet the images of Australian cities held in public records, archives, museums, and school curricula remain largely dominated by settler colonial representations. For many young people—especially those from First Nations, migrant and diasporic communities—this means their cultures, histories, and lived experiences are simply not reflected in public institutions.

This gap is particularly urgent in Narrm/Melbourne and Djilang/Geelong, where migrant and diaspora communities now make up a demographic majority but remain marginalised in official accounts of urban history, culture, geography, and civic life. Misinformation, biased curricula, and political movements that reassert the dominance of settler histories—as seen during the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum—deepen this divide. Together, these forces widen the gap between the diverse realities of urban life and what officially counts as Australian history and identity, and undermine progress on the Australian Government's cultural inclusion priorities and national plan to end racism.

Making Histories addresses this problem by engaging young people as Visual Historians to create counter-histories of their changing cities, working with museum and cultural sector partners and intercultural experts across Narrm/Melbourne and Djilang/Geelong.

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David Rousell (RMIT)

Eve Mayes (Deakin)

Kelly Hussey-Smith (RMIT)

Gideon Boadu (RMIT)

Julianne Moss (Deakin)

Merinda Kelly (Deakin)

Jacina Leong (RMIT)

Penelope Thornton (Deakin)

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Visual Historians

Stavroula-Efthimia Lampropoulou

Minh An Pham

Batoul Munsour (Patricia)

Duaa Jbawi
 

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