7 Nov – Patrick West & Monika Schott – Seminar > Social History

Cultivating Community: A Social History of the Sewerage Farm at Werribee, 1892-1980

Speakers: Monika Schott and Patrick West

When: Wed 7 November, 1-2 pm

Where: Burwood campus, Room C2.05; Geelong campus, Room IC3.108

All welcome, but please RSVP: [email protected]

Abstract: Deakin’s relationship with Melbourne Water has spawned a range of projects with a shared interest in community as historical construction and the foundation of creative arts practice. Presented as a dialogue between Monika Schott and Patrick West, this illustrated paper will elaborate and explore shared and individual approaches to these projects, while also reflecting upon the unique institutional friendship developing between university and public utility. The current rhetoric of impact and benefit to research end users hardly captures the richness and potential futures of the overlay between the Deakin and Melbourne Water communities.

Monika Schott is a PhD student at Deakin University, writing about a community that lived for more than 80 years at the site of Melbourne’s first sewerage farm during the 1900s. Read about the project here > Monika also works as a consultant in stakeholder relations in the water and environment sector. She has spoken at the International Oral History Congress (Finland), Great Writing Conference (London) and History Week at Wyndham (2018), and for Engagement Australia, IAP2 Australasia, and PRIA. She has published several short stories, with one shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prize. Read more here >

Patrick West has been the HDR Coordinator in Deakin’s School of Communication and Creative Arts since 2015. His research focuses on the value of practice-led research as a way of addressing “wicked” real-world problems, especially around the inhabitation of place, space, architecture, and buildings. At Deakin, Patrick is a member of the HOME Research Hub, which has a single core aim: “a home for all”. He is a widely published and awarded creative writer, especially in the short story form. Read more about Patrick here >