Attend Talking History in person at the Eureka Centre (no booking required) or stream live from home via Facebook.
Join Dr David Waldron as he explores the surviving historical traces of the practices of cunning men and women (folk healers) in colonial Australia. David will draw on his recent field work in Western Victoria with the Australian Magic Research project, led by Prof Ian Evans and supported by the Vernacular Architectural Society and the University of Hertfordshire, as well as drawing on previous research undertaken in England, Scotland and Wales.
Dr David Waldron is a Senior Lecturer in History at Federation University Australia with a research focus on folklore and community heritage. He is the author of ‘Sign of the Witch: Modernity and the Pagan Revival’ (Carolina Academic Press 2008), ‘Shock! The Black Dog of Bungay – a Case Study in Local Folklore’ (Hidden Press 2010) and ‘Snarls from the Tea-Tree: Victoria’s Big Cat Folklore’ (Australian Scholarly Publishing 2013), editor/contributor of ‘Goldfields and the Gothic: a Hidden Heritage and Folklore’ (Australian Scholarly Publishing 2016) and author of ‘Aradale: the Making of a Haunted Asylum’ (Australian Scholarly Publishing 2020). He is regularly involved in public engagements, festivals and multi-media displays including Ballarat Heritage Festival and is the co-writer and researcher for the award-winning historical podcast series, ‘Tales from Rat City’.
