Late March Update

The blog has been quiet these past few weeks as all through March I’ve been working on short videos for my TikTok account for Women’s History Month. I joined TikTok last year to learn how it worked so I could tell other historians about it. It's been a personal challenge to see if I could step outside my comfort zone to talk to a camera and put myself out to the world. I also have to try and keep my videos to 90 seconds and it's helped me really sharpen my focus.

The videos sparked lots of positive and interesting feedback. The one about Gina Rinehart certainly prompted a lot of discussion! It was heartening to hear from people of all ages interested in the topics and sharing their personal connections to some of the women featured.

If TikTok is still the sound of a clock for you, I've put them all up on YouTube too:

Week One: Edith Cowan, Sally Rippin, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Professor Elizabeth Blackburn, Vida Goldstein

Week Two: Joan Kirner, Annabella Boswell, Professor Helen O'Connell, Madame Brussels (Caroline Hodgson), Gail Kelly

Week Three: Julia Gillard, Miles Franklin, Helen Rubenstein, Dame Annie Jean Macnamara, Ruby Langford Ginibi, The women of the AFLW

Week Four: Gina Rinehart, Lindy Chamberlain, Margaret Court, Kathleen Folbigg, Germaine Greer

Next year I want to write about women of historical significance in Boroondara but it's a much bigger project than I currently have spare time for. I expect I'll have to start now to have it done in time.

In other video news: My son has been busily filming his latest train video on the Aboriginal station names on the Melbourne train network. We learned that most take their name from nearby waterways. At the time the lines were built there was local advocacy for more Aboriginal words to be used for train stations. In the end, there’s about 10 per cent of stations with an indigenous language name.

During April, I'll be doing some work for the Ashburton Community Centre for their 40th anniversary celebrations so if you have anything to tell me about that (or photographs) do get in touch. It's election time too so I'll try and crank out a post about how Ashburton votes. It's far more interesting than you think.

Finally, I'm currently putting together a plan for a book of memoir on life in Boroondara as part of my role coordinating the Boroondara Writers Group. If you want to try your hand at writing a short piece, standby for more on that one.

Enjoy the cooler weather and leaf-sweeping endeavours!

Sarah