Making Sense of History

University of Sydney School of Humanities

Making Sense of History asks how the present connects to the past. In each episode, Nick Eckstein and a guest turn back the clock, tracing current themes and events to their historical source.

Last refreshed: July 28th, 2025 at 5:24 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

Making sense of COVID through History

The COVID pandemic is and was a health crisis. So why talk to a historian, and when does a medical emergency become a historical event? How can we all become historians, and what does Gardening Australia have to do with any of this? Nick Eckstein talks to Peter Hobbins to find out. Host: Nick Eckstein Guest: Peter Hobbins Series Producer: Peter Adams...

Apr 26, 2025•33 min•Season 2Ep. 4

Making Sense of Anzac Part 3

In the final episode of Making Sense of Anzac, Nick Eckstein and Brad Manera discuss the impulse which, almost since the battle ended, has driven so many Australians to revisit the scene of the military disaster at Anzac Cove. What knowledge do older and younger Australians carry with them on this pilgrimage? What is the power of individual stories, and how does the experience of literally 'being there' change those who make the journey? The Ode of Remembrance reading is voiced by Dr Vanessa Wit...

Apr 15, 2025•23 min•Season 2Ep. 3

Making Sense of Anzac Part2

Many, perhaps most, 21st-century Australians believe that a phenomenon known as 'the Australian character' was forged amid the carnage and chaos of Gallipoli in 1915 and 1916. How accurate is this myth? What is the actual relationship between Gallipoli and the ideals of Australian manhood celebrated to this day in film, sport and popular memory? In episode 2 of Making Sense of Anzac, Nick Eckstein and Brad Manera talk about how the historical significance of the Anzac legend has changed in over ...

Apr 08, 2025•23 min•Season 2Ep. 2

Making Sense of Anzac Part 1

In this first part of a three-part conversation, Making Sense of Anzac, Nick Eckstein and Brad Manera go back to the very beginning. Where does the word 'Anzac' come from, and what does it mean? How and why did soldiers from Australia and New Zealand find themselves on the beaches and dunes of the Dardanelles in 1915? Why were Australians involved in the Great War at all? And how did the campaign at Gallipoli go so disastrously wrong? Host: Nick Eckstein Guest: Brad Manera Series Producer: Peter...

Apr 01, 2025•29 min•Season 2Ep. 1

Speaking from the Heart: Why Indigenous Australians Need a Voice - Pt 2

In Part 2 of “Speaking from the Heart”, Nick Eckstein and Mark McKenna continue their discussion of the history behind Indigenous Australians’ call for a Voice to Parliament. What are the human consequences of White Australia’s failure to listen to its First Peoples? What is the Great Australian Silence? Can it be broken once and for all? Will White Australia finally start listening in October 2023? Find out more about the Uluru Statement from the Heart . Read more about Mark McKenna's book Retu...

Aug 28, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Speaking from the Heart: Why Indigenous Australians Need a Voice - Pt 1

In this first part of a two part show, Nick Eckstein talks to Emeritus Professor Mark McKenna about Australia's upcoming referendum on an Indigenous Voice. How has the Australian Constitution silenced Australia’s First Peoples? What is the Uluru Statement from the Heart ? Why does Australia need an Indigenous Voice to the Federal Parliament? This two-part show will try to make sense of the history behind these questions. Voice-Overs: Professor James Curran; Dr Vanessa Witton. Read more about Mar...

Aug 18, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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