Talk: World War One in the City: Melbourne 1914-1918

The Australian experience of World War One is often examined through the focus of the battles fought and the individuals doing the fighting. But, as with cities in Europe, the war permeated every facet of urban life in Melbourne, despite its geographical distance from the front.

In this paper Nicole Davis (University of Melbourne) will discuss the experience of the war in the context of an Australian city through the medium of the Town Clerk’s Correspondence, held in the archives of the Melbourne City Council. From the day-to-day running of the city, its economy, public spaces, social relationships, as well as broader understandings of loyalty, patriotism and citizenship, she utilises the collection to shift historiographical attention from the global to the local to tell some of the big and small stories of war in the city.

Event details
Free event, register here: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/education/research/domus/events/2016/world-war-one-in-the-city.aspx
Tuesday 27 September 2016, 5pm
School of Education, Room G59
University of Birmingham

Biography
Nicole Davis is a PhD student in the School of Historical & Philosophical Studies and a Research Fellow in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. She has a Masters in Museum Studies from the University of Sydney and spent a number of years working within cultural institutions. Her work explores the urban environments of nineteenth and twentieth-century Australia and is highly influenced by interdisciplinary ideas, including the convergence of history, heritage, material culture, tourism and urban studies.

Image shows Victoria infantry embarking on HMAT Hororata at the Port Melbourne Pier