Epigraphein. History, Editing, Research, Writing

28/12/2025

Finalising my journal article (fixing footnotes mainly!) for the publisher at my all-time fave office. You can’t keep a historian relaxing too long.

18/12/2025

Terrible at self promotion at the moment but if you want a good Christmas gift is a good choice! Get it from the bookshop or head to . This is the shelf at the Hawthorn branch, restocked. Perplexingly in the travel photography section and the author and ex bookseller in me was tempted to pop it face out but, hey … whatever works! If you want me to sign it I can unfortunately only do in the new year … but very chuffed to do so

05/12/2025

Caught up with two of my besties today Gretel Evans and Sophie Loy-Wilson. Both fabulous historians whose work shows how history research can have ongoing impact into the present and future. Okay, so I just listened to them on podcasts but felt like I was in the room with them

Podcast Episode · Archive Fever · 04/12/2025 · 53m

23/10/2025

I've wanted to delve into the connections of Australian retail to enslaved labour but have not yet done this work. Thanks to Joel Barnes for starting me thinking about it again, with the family that part-owned the Strand Arcade. I suspect I won't have to search far to find further connections with the Australian arcade owners and their tenants' commodities.

The legacy of the Dixson family reveals a complicated history of interconnected global capital and racialised exploitation.

08/10/2025

More of ’what I did on my busman’s holiday’ … Copenhagen edition. Walked a lot, visited my friends Le friend HCA, old buildings and palaces, Viking treasures at the national museum. And of course the ubiquitous arcade. This time Jorcks Passage. A great lively arcade with some modern interpretation. ☀️️

04/10/2025

It’s been quite a while since I returned from Europe and finally getting to post all the history-related content. And let’s face it, that is pretty much the whole trip. There are also arcades of course, in every city I found one or hadn’t been to before. First stop, Stockholm and its central historic area, including the Galleria (one of the names used for arcade in Swedish - passage - was another). ❤️

06/08/2025

This was one of the venues for the economic history congress I presented the other week in Sweden. Late nineteenth-century Italianate. Very familiar looking from the outside for someone that works in a similar building but very much Roman villa on the inside.

05/07/2025

Gave my desk a clean to put the shiny new eofy office gear into the workspace. This was the last year to claim an artwork on tax and I agonised about different artists I love for ages. Finally decided on this gorgeous Penang Pool from through Thanks so much John and for the lovely handwritten note. This painting reminded me so much of life in Thailand, visiting Penang, our hotel pool in Singapore. Looking forward to hanging it soon but at the moment I’m loving being able to look at it on my desk

11/06/2025

In honour of – International Archives Week 2025 on the theme I'm remembering to repost the recording of my talk on Businesswomen in Brisbane's Nineteenth-Century Arcades, hosted by earlier this year. Sitting here a bit miserable in bed with a cold and missing my archives fix for this week, this is a nice throwback to how valuable archives are for research, not only for history, but across a range of disciplines (I've used them as both a historian and in sociology research to great effect). This talk was supported by a Harry Gentle Resource Centre Visiting Fellowship. Enjoy it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljlbrVzXfTY

Photograph: Edward Street, Queen Street, 1885. , negative 8772;

09/06/2025

While I actually have half a second to breathe, I'm remembering to post things I've been up to lately ... or this year at least. You might all know I co-authored a book on Melbourne's Lanes last year. This April, I published a little article in the Royal Historical Society of Victoria's History News on my inspirations behind and experiences of researching and writing the book. You can find the more readable version, along with a lot of fabulous articles athttps://www.historyvictoria.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/email-RHSV_April_News_377_2025.pdf

There are still some copies left of the book itself at https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/product/the-stories-of-melbournes-lanes-essential-but-unplanned-by-weston-bate-richard-broome-nicole-davis-andrew-may-helen-stitt/

03/03/2025

Hi folks. Something from me on my arcades research for Old Treasury Building and Melbourne Fashion Festival! Plus a big bonus in my colleague Laura Jocic speaking about her new work!

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 ...

25/02/2025

The beautiful nineteenth-century rotunda at Boroondara Cemetery at Kew. Cast iron was not just for but for all sorts of structures large and small. It is a welcome relief on a hot sunny day if you’re visiting. I’m just wishing I had photographed the lovely tessellated tiles.