I am a researcher living and working primarily on the lands of the muwinina people in lutruwita. This nation did not survive colonisation. My work examines the processes by which colonised lands were systematically taken over, and through which the palawa, pakana and other First Peoples in other nations were dispossessed. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waterways on which I have grown up and continue to live, and pay my deepest respect to the continuing and future custodians who fight to reclaim knowledge and recognition everyday.
Dr
Imogen
Wegman
I am a Lecturer in Humanities at the University of Tasmania, where I have spent many years teaching in the Family History program and the Bachelor of Arts, and popping up in surprising other places as well.
I am a historian who interrogates colonised environments to see what stories they can tell us about the people living on those lands. I use digital tools like GIS (mapping) and regularly nerd out about maps with my students, teaching them how to find and interpret them for their own research.
At the moment, I’m writing a book about colonial land granting in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania, Australia), and looking forward to starting something new and comparative.
I grew up in nipaluna Hobart, and have a strong connection to my island home. I completed a BA LLB at the University of Tasmania, before moving to the UK to join the University of East Anglia’s Landscape History MA program. My dissertation examined the creation of ‘isolated’ parish churches – those that stand in the middle of a field, far from their village. In 2013, I returned to Tasmania and started my PhD in History at the University of Tasmania. By reconstructing the historic landscape, using land grant records, maps, environmental data, art work, journals and various other sources, I was able to see the differences between land grants given to convicts and free settlers.
Today, I’m interested in the practicalities of the life in the early years of a colony at each end of the journey: how did those in the Colonial Office (or the relevant equivalent) see the colony’s environment from afar, and how did the ordinary coloniser experience it up close? How was the difference in experiences translated as instructions were handed down the chain, and how did the physical environment affect the decisions that were made in the moment on the ground? Often these decisions weren’t recorded in detail or at all – commonplace experience was taken for granted, but they left traces in the visual records of land use if we look carefully.
I have long had a keen interest in public history and have held a range of non-academic roles that connect my research with the public. As a tour guide I converted my thesis into a commentary designed for tourists with little to no background knowledge. I also worked behind the help desk in a public library, helping clients research their family history, find information about their house, or pursue other historical questions. I am a popular public speaker and am regularly invited to speak to diverse audiences. In 2016 I co-founded A Pint of History – a monthly pub-based history event in Hobart, which continued until 2021 to a provide a space for academics and experts to present their historical research to a large general audience.
While geeking out over digitised maps, land ownership data and aerial photography, I’m usually found with a cup of tea close to hand. When not mapping, you’ll find me in a comfy chair with a book or knitting, or making something in the kitchen that prioritises taste over appearance.
Plots & Acres 