MTalks
Time travel: can inspiration from our past save our holiday future?

Free!

All visitors over the age of 12 must show their COVID-19 vaccination certificate as a condition of entry.

For full details on staying COVIDsafe at MPavilion 2021, read our Covid-19 Safe Plan

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When getting away from it all feels more vital than ever, the future of vacationing looks set for a bumpy ride. Major shifts of COVID and climate change require that we transition to a new mode of taking a break—and there is much to be gleaned from our near and distant past to help us adapt.

During the COVID era, hopping on a plane became a distant memory for most, and even crossing a state border a challenge. COVID reframed how we recharge from expensive trips elsewhere, to deeply exploring, appreciating and caring for the places around us. With the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report’s dire warning of a ‘code red’ for humanity, limits on high emission flights seem here to stay.

Might these trends help us reimagine how we recharge? What lessons are echoing from our past we could be drawing on? It was not so long ago that holidays were enjoyed closer to home or perhaps by train, instead of by plane. Deeper in our past, did our work lives, connections to community, place and country provide more balance in our lives and a way to recharge day to day?

This panel discussion interweaves themes of resilience, tourism, place, culture, technology, transport and history to explore how we might still get away from it all—looking to lessons from our past that can help us to reinvent our future. We will roam into the imagination of train trips across the landscape, road trips to regional attractions and small towns, and exploring our local places and country.

Join a lively discussion exploring these questions and more—proving that the journey can be as important as the destination.

Images referred to during the talk can be found here. 

Due to unforeseen circumstances, collaborator Kate Berry is no longer able to participate in this event.

In collaboration with

Wominjeka (Welcome). We acknowledge the Yaluk-ut Weelam as the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet. Yaluk-ut Weelam means ‘people of the river camp’ and is connected with the coastal land at the head of Port Phillip Bay, extending from the Werribee River to Mordialloc. The Yaluk-ut Weelam are part of the Boon Wurrung, one of the five major language groups of the greater Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to the land, their ancestors and their elders—past, present and to the future.