writer & thinker
Liz and I will be chatting about anti-carceral history, Yarra Bend Park and the long-awaited second season of our podcast at Collingwood Library next week, please come join!
Underfoot: The Facility
Monday 7 October 2024
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Collingwood Library
11 Stanton Street, Abbotsford VIC 3066
Free, book here
Okay I am the worst because I keep forgetting to promote anything until it’s already sold out! But if you managed to snag a ticket, Liz and I are doing another local history talk with the beautiful folks at Williamstown Library.
Williamstown, Underfoot
Thursday 18 July 2024
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Williamstown Library
104 Ferguson Street
Williamstown VIC 3016
Book here
Today, Williamstown is best known as a picturesque seaside suburb, but its past was anything but tranquil.
Join local historian Liz Crash and writer Jinghua Qian as they delve into Willy’s hidden histories, uncovering tales of gambling dens, Chinese laundries, lady boxers, waterfront brawls, brothel sponsorship chaos, and Australia’s worst morgue. You can also discover how to unearth these buried stories yourself.
This sold out very quickly so sorry to tease you if you didn’t get tickets, but Liz and I are doing a talk at Chestnut Tree Bookshop in West Footscray tonight!
It’s on reading, researching and writing Melbourne’s West. Liz is bringing a bag of rocks. I am powerless to stop her. See you soon – and if you missed out, we’re doing another event soon at Williamstown Library, so watch this space (hit subscribe!).
Jinghua: Part of what we wanted to do was to find the stories missing from the narrative, but I’m really resistant to the idea of heroes… I don’t want to topple one statue and put up another.
Liz: But it’s much harder to find out much about the lives of people who don’t get a statue… We had to go into our research without a predetermined idea of what the final story would be. And it’s this, I think, that’s more useful for those of us on the Left than mining the past for forebears, or new heroes: seeing its radical unfamiliarity.
Liz and I wrote a feature for Overland on Underfoot (our Footscray history multimedia project) and how everyone can make and write history. Read it here.
Liz and I are running a short course at Maribyrnong Community Centre! Best of all, it’s free for participants.
Over four fortnightly workshops, develop research and storytelling skills with community historians Liz Crash and Jinghua Qian (co-creators of Underfoot, a multimedia project uncovering Footscray’s history). Participants will learn how to write, produce and share their own stories, and contribute to a visual presentation displayed at the centre. This hands-on workshop series is open to participants of all ages and skill levels. Please note: participants will need to attend all four sessions.
Thu 18 Mar, 1 Apr, 15 Apr, 29 Apr 2021
2 pm to 4 pm
Maribyrnong Community Centre
9 Randall St, Maribyrnong, Victoria 3032
free | booking required
Liz and I were on Radio National this morning talking with Jonathan Green about the secret histories of Footscray for Blueprint’s Sense of Place segment. Listen to the show here and check out our Footscray history project, Underfoot.
Jinghua Qian 