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Speaker Type: Historian

Way Back When Historians

Historian, Online - Virtual Visits

Way Back When Consulting Historians is a team of four professional historians: Sarah Rood, Katherine Sheedy, Lucy Bracey and Fiona Poulton. They work with a range of clients – from schools to local councils and community organisations – on many different projects, including books, exhibitions, oral history projects and digital histories. Way Back When is passionate about uncovering and telling stories, and helping communities make connections to the past that inform and give meaning to the present.

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Fiona Poulton

Author, Historian

Fiona is driven in her work to bring the past to life and to create histories that are accessible and engaging for a range of different audiences. She particularly loves the thrill of research, digging through archives and collections, and working with communities to uncover memories and stories. Fiona is an experienced heritage practitioner and oral historian and is inspired by the potential of digital technologies to transform the way that we present history, using individual voices to add a richly personal quality to a story.

Fiona has co-authored several books, including histories of the Monash Business School, Victorian AIDS Council, and the City of Melton. Boroondara Remembers: Stories of World War I received a Victorian Community History Award in 2015.

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Katherine Sheedy

Author, Historian

Katherine’s passion for making history accessible to a general audience inspired her decision to follow a career as a professional historian. She has broad experience in all aspects of professional history including commissioned histories, heritage, significance assessment and oral history. Katherine is the author of histories on educational institutions, businesses and professional bodies.

In all her work Katherine has been an enthusiastic supporter of oral testimony, in particular its ability to enable contributions from people who may otherwise be unlikely to contribute to the historical record.

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Lucy Bracey

Author, Historian

Lucy enjoys communicating about the past across a wide variety of formats. Her co-authored books include a history of the Children’s Protection Society and a children’s book exploring the history of Boroondara during World War I. Lucy has produced two radio documentaries for ABC Radio National and created audio documentaries using oral history interviews for a range of online history projects, including websites for ChillOut in Daylesford and the Sephardi Association of Victoria. She has curated exhibitions at the City Museum at Old Treasury, Counihan Gallery in Brunswick and State Library Victoria.

Like her Way Back When colleagues, Lucy is committed to giving back to her community. She currently serves as a councillor for the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and is on the collections committee of the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute.

» Read more about Lucy Bracey

Sarah Rood

Author, Historian

In her career as a professional historian, Sarah has experience in all areas of public history, specialising in digital histories and exhibitions. She is motivated by her firm belief that the past shapes the present and the future, and enjoys working with community groups to record and document their stories. Sarah aims to produce interesting and engaging histories by communicating stories in an absorbing way and by using her narrative skills to help communities reconnect with their past, facilitating a sense of achievement and ownership.

Sarah has worked on histories of private companies, community groups, sporting clubs, schools and universities. These histories have taken the form of books, exhibitions and websites. Sarah has also curated exhibitions for MFB, Melbourne Museum, Monash Museum of Computing History, Jewish Museum of Australia, Robert Blackwood Hall and Moreland City Council, and created audio histories for Culture Victoria, VicRoads and ABC Radio National.

» Read more about Sarah Rood