Material Histories: Wearable Protest

We live surrounded by material things. Some are mundane and utilitarian, others exotic objects of desire, but all our belongings have something to say about who we are and how we live. Objects reflect both culture and history. Individually and collectively, they shape our lives, link us to others and connect us to the past. Yet objects are often strangely absent from accounts of past lives. This seminar series aims to unpack some of the stories that objects can tell about the present and about the past.  We also hope to provide a forum for discussion for those of us interested in material histories. We aim to cast the net widely, with no limitations on either time or space.

First speaker:

Why are we dropping Holt on Hanoi? How the creation and wearing of protest badges underpinned anti-Vietnam protest

Dr Hannah Viney

The Vietnam War and conscription was one of the most divisive debates during Harold Holt’s brief time as Prime Minister, so it's no wonder his name appears on many creative protest badges from the 1960s. Protest badges have been around for a long time, but the number exploded during the Vietnam War years. This talk will ask why badges became such a popular protest tactic during the war, and what studying these badges can tell us about the daily realities of activism.

Dr Hannah Viney is a history consultant and museum professional who specialises in Australian social and cultural history, with a particular interest in the intersections between Cold War politics and gender history.

Second speaker:

Subverting Femininity: Unpicking Activist Aprons

Margaret Anderson

If we think about wearable protest, many of us will think first of t-shirts. Now produced in huge numbers, t-shirts with political slogans are created in support of a bewildering range of causes, across the entire political spectrum. Many are gender neutral. But there is an older history of protest garments, dating to the early-twentieth century in Australia. Some, like protest aprons, were everyday, feminine garments, recast as activist objects. In this guise they both challenged and subverted traditional gender roles.

Margaret Anderson is Director of the Old Treasury Building. A public historian, she researches and writes on Victorian history, women’s history, the history and demography of the family and the practice of public history.

Material Histories is presented by Old Treasury Building in partnership with Deakin University and Australian Catholic University.