Making Histories is a three-year project funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council. The project addresses a growing gap between how young people experience change in their cities and how Australian cities are represented in official histories, archives, and public collections.

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Young people are at the forefront of unprecedented change in Australian cities. Populations are diversifying rapidly, economies are shifting, and young people are driving demands for action on climate change, social equity, and decolonisation. Yet the images of Australian cities held in public records, archives, museums, and school curricula remain largely dominated by settler colonial representations. For many young people—especially those from First Nations, migrant and diasporic communities—this means their cultures, histories, and lived experiences are simply not reflected in public institutions.

This gap is particularly urgent in Narrm/Melbourne and Djilang/Geelong, where migrant and diaspora communities now make up a demographic majority but remain marginalised in official accounts of urban history, culture, geography, and civic life. Disinformation, biased curricula, and political movements that reassert the dominance of settler histories—as seen during the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum—deepen this divide. 

Making Histories addresses this gap by engaging young people as Visual Historians to create counter-histories of their changing cities, working with First Nations creative partners, cultural and education sectors, and intercultural experts across Narrm/Melbourne and Djilang/Geelong.

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