Join us for this discussion about the growing popularity of Dark Tourism. Established histories have romanticised the Victorian Goldrush, obscuring the stories of the marginalised and notably omitting the displacement and dispossession of Indigenous peoples. In recent years, sites of death and tragedy have become a popular focus for Dark Tourism. Dark Tourism is seen as exploitative and unethical, or alternatively as claiming space for marginalised histories in public discourse. This panel discussion will consider the problematic histories of such sites, and the challenges and opportunities that Dark Tourism brings to heritage management and interpretation.
Chair: Anthony Camm, Manager Eureka Centre Ballarat
Panel: Bonnie Chew, Wadawurrung Traditional Owner and Director, Mirriyu Cultural Consulting
Tara Calaby, PhD candidate at La Trobe University, Melbourne, researching the social worlds of women in Victoria's lunatic asylums between 1860 and 1914.
Nathaniel Buchanan, Managing Director of Eerie Tours
A Ballarat Heritage Festival event presented by the Eureka Centre in partnership with Tales from Rat City.
Thank you to Dr David Waldron, Senior Lecturer in History at Federation University for research and guidance in the development of the forum.
