Extract: Nation, Memory, Myth by Steve Vizard
Posted on 11 Jun 2025
How does myth generate meaning for a nation and its citizens? How does a national myth transform into symbolic performances of cultural memory and kinship?
Harold Mitchell was born in 1942 in the remote west Gippsland town of Trafalgar. Wanting to work in radio, he successfully applied for a job at an advertising agency in Melbourne. Rapidly working his way up the ranks, Harold soon became successful in the media-buying operation of several agencies before starting out on his own in 1976 with just $2000. He pioneered the idea of taking the buying and placing of advertisements for clients out of the advertising agencies into a separate operation, and today is an icon and market leader of the media-buying industry.
He set up the Harold Mitchell Foundation, which disperses money to an array of causes, and is the Executive Chairman of the Mitchell Communication Group. In 2004 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia. He has been married to Bevelly Mitchell for nearly fifty years.
Posted on 11 Jun 2025
How does myth generate meaning for a nation and its citizens? How does a national myth transform into symbolic performances of cultural memory and kinship?
Posted on 11 Jun 2025
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Fri 27 June at 12:00PM
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Join Chris Hammer in conversation with ABC's Fran Kelly to discuss the updated edition of The River.
Thu 26 June at 6:00PM
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Join us to hear Steve Vizard in conversation about Nation, Memory, Myth.
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