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?
Nanette Carter completed a master’s degree in art history focusing on the development of modern design in Melbourne in the 1930s. She subsequently researched and wrote on postwar interiors by designer and artist Clement Meadmore. Her 2015 PhD on the emergence of DIY culture in the postwar period in Australia was jointly supervised by the School of Historical Studies and the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. In addition to researching and writing about Australia’s design history, Nanette has curated exhibitions for Swinburne University of Technology—‘Pen to Pixel’—and for Heide Museum of Modern Art—‘Savage Luxury: Modernist Design in Melbourne 1930–1939’. Nanette is an adjunct scholar connected to the School of Design, Swinburne University.
Independent scholar Robyn Oswald-Jacobs completed a diploma in textile design at RMIT before undertaking a research master’s degree on textile designer Frances Burke. In part as a result of this research the Textile Resource Collection: Australian Fashion and Textile Design was established by the Department of Fashion and Textile Design at RMIT. Managed by Oswald-Jacobs, the centre collected, exhibited and published archival material, later forming the foundation of the RMIT Design Archives. Robyn also designed and delivered cultural heritage projects for RMIT, including re-opening the RMIT Capitol Theatre in 1999 and the development of the RMIT/National Trust Heritage Legal Precinct, Russell Street, Melbourne. Robyn was subsequently appointed business development director (new business) for FutureBrand Australia.
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
Why has Antarctica long loomed large in Australian psyche? How did Australia come to see Antarctica as a natural extension of our territory and why…
Posted on 11 Jun 2025
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We started the year by moving tens of thousands of physical books across state lines, swam through oceans of metadata and updated our back-end systems…
Fri 27 June at 12:00PM
Four Seasons Hotel, 199 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Join Chris Hammer in conversation with ABC's Fran Kelly to discuss the updated edition of The River.
Thu 26 June at 6:00PM
Readings Carlton, 309 Lygon St, Carlton VIC 3053
Join us to hear Steve Vizard in conversation about Nation, Memory, Myth.
Tue 08 July at 6:00PM
Readings Hawthorn, 687 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn VIC 3122
Join us to hear Chris Hammer in conversation about his bestselling classic book, The River.
Thu 10 July at 6:30PM
Burnside Library, 401 Greenhill Road Tusmore, SA 5065
Learn more about author Chris Hammer's prize-winning non-fiction book about the Murray Darling Basin.