Event | She Carried On: Women’s Power, Erasure, and Legacy in Victoria’s History | 25 March

She Carried On: Women’s Power, Erasure, and Legacy in Victoria’s History brings together Dr Scarlette Nhi Do, Professor Zoë Laidlaw and PhD candidate Kacey Sinclair for a timely conversation about women’s influence in shaping Victoria’s past. From Lady Gladys Nicholls’ overlooked Indian-Australian heritage and activism, to Janet Biddlecombe’s pastoral wealth and philanthropic power rooted in colonial dispossession, to Fanny Finch’s resistance as a woman of colour in gold-rush Victoria, this event interrogates how women’s labour, leadership and legacies are remembered. Together, these historians ask: whose histories endure, whose are erased and how should we reckon with them today?

When: 6:00pm -7:15pm Wednesday 25 March 2026

Where: Victorian Archives Centre, 99 Shiel Street, North Melbourne + Online

Price: $10

Santilla Chingaipe is a Zambian-born filmmaker, historian and author, whose work explores settler colonialism, slavery, and contemporary migration in Australia. Chingaipe’s first book of non-fiction Black Convicts was shortlisted for The Stella Prize and long-listed for the prestigious Cundill History Prize, and the critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary inspired by the book, Our African Roots, is streaming on SBS On Demand. Our African Roots marked the first-time on Australian television that an African-Australian host interrogated the nation’s colonial history.