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.
Join me, Tony Birch, Harry Saddler and Meyer Eidelson at Willy Lit Fest next week for a seaside chat about our fave rivers.
The confluence of the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers is of great ecological, psychogeographical and cultural significance—in particular to the Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung Peoples of the Kulin Nation. Take an armchair journey along the river with Harry Saddler (A Clear Flowing Yarra), Meyer Eidelson (Melbourne Dreaming), Tony Birch (Ghost River) and Jinghua Qian (Underfoot).
Where two rivers meet
Saturday 15 June 2024
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
The Chamber, Williamstown Town Hall
104 Ferguson Street, Williamstown VIC 3016
Tickets from $20
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!).
I just realised that I had this post sitting in drafts for more than a year after I posted my first ‘Friends of Underfoot‘ roundup! Well, it’s never too late. If you’re into audio journeys, hyperlocal history, site-specific art and Underfoot, here are some other projects to check out:
Six Walks is a series of audio walking tours that was commissioned by the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) in 2020 as part of the multi-platform project Who’s Afraid of Public Space?
I think Underfoot fans will particularly enjoy Episode 5 with Timmah Ball, ‘Exploding the Maribyrnong‘.
Yalinguth is a mobile app that delivers an augmented audio experience reflecting the oral storytelling tradition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Queer-ways maps the queer cartography of Australia, combining the queer stories and voices of past and present into a permanent, interactive record of being queer in Australia. It’s curated by Luciano and Georgia Keats and supported by the Australian Queer Archive and there’s also a delicious interactive map you can add your own footprint to.
Another beautiful queer history project with a place-making focus, this project was commissioned by Heritage Victoria and it’s full of intriguing surprises.
Speaking of history through objects, here’s one I loved being part of: Powerhouse’s Oscillations six-part series, which takes unassuming objects in the collection as departure points for all sorts of reflections and investigations. Listen at the link above or view the illustrated transcripts on the Powerhouse website.
Here are some other local history and place-inspired art projects to check out.
Sun 27 Mar, 2 – 3:30pm
Artist Roberta Joy Rich’s exhibition The Purple Shall Govern explores the resilience of people during Apartheid-era South Africa, alongside those living on the unceded sovereign lands of Australia. As part of the exhibition program, you can join the artist and Elders Uncle Larry Walsh and N’arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs AM as they guide you through the rich landscape of Kulin Country along the Maribyrnong river banks. More info and bookings here.
Thu 20 Jan, Wed 16 Feb and Fri 4 Mar 2022
Artist Hoang Tran Nguyen presents these participatory karaoke performances as part of his ongoing series, Labour. With a list of songs that are themed and or titled in relation to work, working and workers, the repertoire spans trade union songs to pop music, and includes tracks in both English and Vietnamese. The sites are also all connected to histories of labour – the ANA Building, University Square, and the Westgate Bridge. Register here.
Check out Hoang’s past work too, or you can read about it in Liminal or in this incredible essay by Scott Brook for Meanjin, ‘Footscray, for example‘ – I think Underfoot listeners will really appreciate it!
Wander the Wood is a self-guided walking tour through the flats of one of Melbourne’s most well worn neighbourhoods, starting from the iconic Smith and Stanley Street corner in Collingwood. As you walk the grounds of the public housing estate, listen to stories of the area’s creative history and hear about its residents’ talents and journeys. Created by Izzy Brown, Joshua Tavares, Mini Miller and Viv Malo with producer Annaliese Redlich, as part of Rising festival.
Created by Bec Fary on Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung lands in Footscray, this durational listening experience is algorithmic and shifts through the night, and day to day. You’re invited to come and go as you please, whether you choose to forefront these listenings or use them as background soundtracks.
A blog and now book by Nick Gadd based on a series of walks he and his late wife Lynne took around Melbourne’s suburbs, forming a circle around the city. Gadd says, ‘The walks are an experiment in psychogeography – which I define as an attempt to understand a place by experiencing it at close range, and seeking to make a connection with the lives and the stories embedded in the place.’
Please add your suggestions in the comments! I know I had a couple of other things bookmarked that I can’t find anymore.
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.
Finally it’s launch day!
Underfoot presents four virtual audio tours through Footscray’s past. Liz and I bring an intimate lens to local history as we wander the streets and the archives looking for people like us: queers, migrants, radicals and artists. There are some big conversations about capitalism, nationalism and settler nativism, as well as some finely aged gossip.
Each track comes with a map, transcript, photos and notes so you can either explore these places in real life (observing social distancing!) or just enjoy the stories while staying home. You can even dive into some historical research yourself if you’re so inclined.
Jinghua Qian 