The E.W. Cole Lecture: Who Gets to Write History?

Napoleon Bonaparte is credited with saying that ‘history is a set of lies agreed upon.’ But whose lies are they? And who agreed upon them?

For the second annual E.W. Cole Lecture, presented as part of the Wheeler Centre’s Spring Fling, historian and author Santilla Chingaipe asks, ‘who gets to write history?’

Drawing on her work exploring settler colonialism, slavery, and post-colonial migration in Australia, Chingaipe scrutinises the process of writing history, questioning what is considered historical truth and whose histories may be erased as a result.

Following a thought-provoking address, Chingaipe will be joined by Zoe Laidlaw, Professor of History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at University of Melbourne. Together they will interrogate the process of recording the past and ask what needs to change to stop history from repeating itself.

Supported by The E. W. Cole Foundation.

Spring Fling returns in 2023, and this year we’re going Above and Beyond.

We’re looking further, delving deeper, and asking bigger questions with outstanding thinkers who are reshaping our world and envisioning extraordinary futures.

Spring Fling is supported by the Victorian State Government.