Urban Indigenous History

The city is a dazzling and complex place. But who belongs in the city, and who has been excluded from its history? This subject explores how cities are sites for the production and consumption of Indigenous histories. It asks, first, what historical, political, cultural and Indigenous-led narratives have made the Australian city? And, second, how can we understand emerging urban Indigenous histories and identities? Case studies – of sites, objects and stories – will allow students to critically reflect and actively engage with Country and history. They include significant Indigenous sites and landmarks like the Blacktown Native Institute in Western Sydney and the relationship of Coranderrk to Melbourne. Students will explore how place-based narratives have been shaped by Indigenous and settler constructions of landscape, design and architecture, Indigenous-led storytelling, settler-history and truth-telling. They will ask how to better know Indigenous histories in urban places, using archives, storytelling and object-based learning.