From 2023 to 2025, the National Library of Australia undertook a major project to document Australian experiences of COVID‑19 through 260 oral history interviews. Interviewers travelled to every state and territory, speaking with a diverse cross-section of Australians about their lives before and during the pandemic.  

Who did we select to interview when literally every Australian has a COVID story? How did we approach this subject when people’s experiences can be fraught with anxiety, grief or even indignation? Why did we decide it was important to capture these stories and what legacy do we hope to achieve?

Now preserved for future generations are the voices of nurses, doctors, teachers, students, politicians, retirees, artists, medical researchers and many others, each reflecting on how they navigated an extraordinary moment in history.  

Attend in person

Entry to this event is free but bookings are essential.

Watch online

The presentation will also be available online. Please make a booking and we will send you a direct link to the livestream event via email. Or you can join anytime through the Library's YouTube channel.

About the speakers

Dr Barbara Lemon

About Dr Barbara Lemon

Dr Barbara Lemon is the co-Director of Curatorial and Collection Research at the National Library of Australia and is responsible for managing the oral history collection. She has held senior roles in the National and State Libraries Australasia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. 

Dr Lemon completed a doctoral thesis in Australian history in 2008 and her work as a professional historian has been published in a wide range of journals, online exhibitions and radio documentaries.

Bronwyn Ryan

About Bronwyn Ryan

Bronwyn Ryan is the Assistant Director within Curatorial and Collection Research at the National Library of Australia. In this role, she manages a team responsible for commissioned oral history and photography projects, and curatorial oversight of the Australian Web Archive. 

Bronwyn holds an Honours degree in Australian History and a Graduate Diploma of Arts (Museums and Collections). She has experience working with archival collections at the ABC Archives and the National Archives of Australia. She has spent most of her career at the National Library of Australia, where she began as a Library graduate in 2003. She has also coordinated several major oral history projects, including Women in the Space Industry, Women in Football and She Gives: Australian Women Philanthropists for Social Change.

About Dr Scott McKinnon  

Dr Scott McKinnon is the Assistant Director of Rights Management at the National Library of Australia. As an award-winning oral historian, he has led oral history projects for universities, libraries and community groups, including the Library's Responses to COVID-19 in Australia oral history project.

Dr McKinnon has published books in a wide range of areas of Australian history, including Gay Men at the Movies: Cinema and Memory and the History of a Gay Male Community (Intellect, 2016). He was also co-author of Australian Queer Screens: Diversity and Social Change in Film and TV (Bloomsbury, 2026). He is the Vice President of Oral History New South Wales.