Dr Mickey Dewar

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(Duration 31:20, file size 14.5mb)

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Mindil Beach, Darwin: the casino (left) and the beach at sunset. Photo: Mickey Dewar.

Dr Mickey Dewar's talk outlines her current research on the many layers of meaning and history of Mindil Beach, Darwin in the Northern Territory.

Currently the site of major tourist attractions such as the casino and the markets, in the past the beach and the areas around it have served a variety of human needs: Aboriginal burial site, Chinese gardens, European Botanic Garden, Kahlin Aboriginal compound, rest and recuperation camp for the military during World War II and temporary caravan accommodation for those displaced by Cyclone Tracey.

Tracing the various uses and meanings of the beach through time, Dewar explores the ways in which a cultural site intersects with complex community histories and memories.

This presentation was recorded in the Friends Lounge at the National Museum of Australia on 27 May 2008.

Dr Mickey Dewar

Mickey Dewar has worked on Northern Territory history for nearly 30 years. Two of her books have been short-listed for the New South Wales Premier's History Awards for Community and Regional History. In 1998 she also received the Jessie Litchfield Award for Literature.

For many years she was Senior Curator of Territory History at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and curated a number of exhibitions, including the development of a permanent gallery on Cyclone Tracy. In 2007 she was appointed Frederick Watson Fellow at the National Archives of Australia and also received a history grant from the Northern Territory government.

Mickey Dewar is passionate about the role of museums as custodians of community heritage and public history. Her current research interests include the social history of Darwin in the post-war period; housing and built heritage; and memory, identity and its relationship to a sense of place.

The National Museum of Australia Director's Fellowship in 2008 provided an opportunity to extend her research on the role of community memory in representations of public narrative, identity and artefact.

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