The Past is a Foreign Country

Authors

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  Natasha Mitchell

  Natasha Mitchell is a multi-award-winning journalist. She hosts ABC Radio National's flagship Big Ideas, was founding host and producer of the blockbuster radio show and trailblazing podcast All in the Mind for a decade, and of Science Friction – awarded Best Science and Medicine podcast at the Australian Podcast Awards. She presented the popular daily show Life Matters for four years, served as vice president of the World Federation of Science Journalists, and was recipient of the prestigious MIT Knight Fellowship, amongst other accolades, including the overall Grand Prize and four Gold World Medals at the New York Radio Festivals.
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  Santilla Chingaipe

  Santilla Chingaipe is a filmmaker, historian and author, whose work explores settler colonialism, slavery, and postcolonial migration in Australia. Chingaipe’s critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary Our African Roots is streaming on SBS On Demand; Black Convicts builds on the research for that, taking it further. The recipient of several awards, she was also recognised at the United Nations as one of the most influential people of African descent in the world in 2019. She is a regular contributor to The Saturday Paper, and served as a member of the Federal Government’s Advisory Group on Australia-Africa Relations. Chingaipe is the founder of Behind The Screens, an annual program supported by VicScreen, aimed at increasing the representation of people historically excluded from the Australian film industry. She is based in Melbourne.
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  Sita Sargeant

  Sita Sargeant is a tour guide, feminist, history enthusiast, and proud Canberran who’s far more at ease talking about the achievements of badass Australian women than her own. In 2021, she founded She Shapes History, a historical tourism company and social enterprise focused on closing the gender respect gap. Through walking tours, digital content, and a podcast, She Shapes History shares the inspiring, unexpected, and often overlooked stories of how women have shaped the places we live, work, and visit. She Shapes History: Walks & Stories About Great Australian Women is her first book.
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  Steve Vizard

  Steve Vizard is a prizewinning writer, broadcaster, lawyer and research professor at Monash University and the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice, University of Adelaide. He has written and edited books on topics ranging from Australia’s Constitutional Convention to Australia’s population challenge to children’s books. Through his production company Artists Services which he co-founded with Andrew Knight, he helped create and produce groundbreaking television shows, including Fast Forward, Full Frontal, Big Girls Blouse, The Micallef P(r)ogram(me) and SeaChange, and hosted his own Gold Logie-awarded TV show Tonight Live. He has also written for theatre, including the operas Banquet of Secrets and The Space Between, and the musical Vigil. He has contributed to public debate as President of Screen Producers Association, National Gallery of Victoria, Major Events Corporation and The Vizard Foundation.

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