Misremembering and Misrepresenting our Past

Australians have a complex relationship with their history – a history that is misreported, misremembered and misrepresented. Why have we ignored, forgotten or selectively reconstructed our past? And what are the consequences for Australians today?

David Hunt is an Australian history communicator and satirist. His first book, Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia, won the 2014 Indie (Independent Booksellers) Award for non-fiction book of the year. The sequel, True Girt, was shortlisted for Audiobook of the Year at the 2017 Australian Book Industry Awards and the 2017 Russell Prize for Humour Writing. Literary prize judges for David's 2021 Girt Nation were less discerning.

David spoke on Australians’ relationship with their past at TEDx Sydney 2017, hosted the ABC Radio Australian history podcast Rum, Rebels & Ratbags, writes and narrates the Defining Moments in Australian History animated video series for the National Museum of Australia, and co-wrote and co-presented Aussie Inventions That Changed the World for the History Channel and ABC, as well as featuring in several other documentaries on Australian history and culture. He also writes children’s picture books.  David has a birthmark that looks like Tasmania, only smaller and not as far south.