Abstract

Anastasia’s Journeys was a temporary exhibition in the Australian History Museum, Macquarie University, Australia. Developed from the oral history of a post-World War Two Russian immigrant who survived Stalin’s policies of forced collectivisation and engineered famine, the display communicated primarily through audio tracks, supported by text panels and objects. This article articulates the creative tensions between theory and practice of public history which were encountered when planning the target audience, content, and design of the exhibition. It describes the process by which the oral history was placed at the centre of the presentation while objects were used both to illustrate changing social situations and introduce an opposing interpretation. The attributes of the oral history which made it suitable for an audio presentation are then discussed.

Highlights

  • Anastasia’s Journeys was a temporary museum display which was developed using the oral history of Katiusha Patryn, a RussianUkrainian woman who migrated to Australia in 1949.1 The display was installed in the Australian History Museum at Macquarie University, Australia, in 2011, where it formed one of three presentations addressing immigration to Australia

  • Anastasia’s Journeys complemented the existing immigration displays as it presented the life-story and experiences behind the arrival of an East European participant in the post-World War Two Displaced Persons scheme, the most culturally diverse cohort of immigrants to arrive in Australia during the twentieth century

  • Gaynor Kavanagh highlighted the need for an exhibition to use the connection and sense of identification engendered by an oral history narrative to act as the ‘rope’ for the audience to build a ‘web’ which ‘allows and encourages lateral thinking and logical connection’ by the audience

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Summary

Introduction

Anastasia’s Journeys was a temporary museum display which was developed using the oral history of Katiusha Patryn, a RussianUkrainian woman who migrated to Australia in 1949.1 The display was installed in the Australian History Museum at Macquarie University, Australia, in 2011, where it formed one of three presentations addressing immigration to Australia.

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Conclusion

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