Maybe it's because you've never heard the full story. Most of us were never taught to look for it.

In the opening talk of this new event series Sita Sargeant of She Shapes History is joined by filmmaker and historian Santilla Chingaipe, Wiradjuri nurse and researcher Jacinta Mackay, and Chennai-born, Canberra-raised researcher and content creator Harini Rangarajan: three women who between them show what becomes possible when you go looking for the version of Australia that was never put in the textbooks.

Together they explore why so many people don't think history is for them, the extent of what the Library contains when you know how to look, and what it means that it took this long for these stories to find an audience.

About She Shapes History at the National Library of Australia

Where are the women in the story of Australia?

The answer might surprise you. The National Library of Australia holds one of the richest collections of women's history in this country: diaries, court records, photographs, oral histories, union files, objects, and more. Many Australians have no idea what's there. And much of what's in it has never been seen by the general public.

Over four years and twelve talks, She Shapes History founder and CEO Sita Sargeant is partnering with the Library to change that. Along with the events, we'll develop a digital hub with research guides and reading lists so by the end of the series you won't just know more about Australian history. You'll know how to find it yourself.

Join us for the entire journey, or come along to any one (or more!) of the events to hear from incredible speakers shaping history in their fields.

About Sita Sargeant

Sita Sargeant is a social entrepreneur, author, and one of Australia's leading voices in women's history. In 2021, she founded She Shapes History, a company making women's history accessible and engaging through walking tours, digital content, and partnerships with historic sites and cultural institutions. She Shapes History currently operates in four cities: Canberra, Sydney, Wollongong and Melbourne with plans to be in eight by the end of 2027. She published a book by the same name in 2025 sharing the stories of over 250 women who helped shape 31 towns and cities across Australia. In 2026, she was named the ACT Young Australian of the Year.

About the speakers

Santilla Chingaipe is a Zambian-born filmmaker, historian and author whose work excavates the stories of Black and African-descended people in Australian history. Her book Black Convicts, which traces nearly 500 people of African descent transported to Australia as convicts, was shortlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize and the Queensland Literary Awards. Her SBS documentary Our African Roots was the first time an African-Australian journalist interrogated the nation's colonial history on Australian television.

Jacinta Mackay is a Wiradjuri woman, nurse, researcher and oral historian at the National Library of Australia, currently completing her PhD. As a 2024 National Library Scholar, she used the Library's Bringing Them Home oral history recordings to explore how understanding the history of the Stolen Generations can inform more culturally safe nursing care for Aboriginal communities. Her research centres the conviction that listening to Indigenous voices, in archives and on country, is essential to meaningful change.

Harini Rangarajan is a Chennai-born, Canberra-raised storyteller, archivist and musician whose work makes South Indian history, linguistics and culture accessible to contemporary audiences. Drawing on sociology, oral and folk tradition and archival research, she critically decolonises voyeuristic approaches to anthropology while spotlighting hyper-local Dravidian traditions overlooked by systemic injustice. In under a year, her Instagram Reels have regularly reached 200,000 views, drawing audiences to ancient languages, oral traditions and cultural history through accessible, research-backed storytelling.