The past is a foreign country — Santilla Chingaipe, Sita Sargeant, Steve Vizard with Natasha Mitchell

When Santilla Chingaipe stumbled on the names of enslaved Africans who arrived on the First Fleet in 1788 she couldn't look away. For Steve Vizard, an argument with his adult kids lead him to the battlefields of Gallipoli. When Sita Sargeant threw a mattress in a car and drove around Australia, what hidden herstories did she unearth?At school, the history we learn is often incomplete, mythologised, or is riddled with silences and absences. But when you start looking, the ghosts of lives past start speaking.

They join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell live at the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival. Explore more of the festival at mwf.com.au 

SpeakersSantilla ChingaipeZambian-Australian film-maker, historian, writerAuthor, Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia

Steve VizardPofessor, Monash University and University of AdelaideAuthor, Nation, Memory Myth: Gallipoli and the Australia Imagination

Sita SargeantFounder of the history walking tour social enterprise She Shapes HistoryAuthor of She Shapes History

Thanks to Veronica Sullivan, director of the Melbourne Writers Festival, for curating this event.