Philippa Moore: "Make a map, not a tracing": Searching for Maria Lord in colonial and modern-day Hobart

Between 1811 and 1814, a house was built on Hobart’s Macquarie Street which, over 200 years later, is still standing and has the distinction of being the oldest extant town house and four-storey residence in Australia. Known as Ingle Hall since the late 1890s, it was the residence of Edward and Maria Lord from roughly 1816 to 1823. Mydoctoral research, the result of which will be a creative work based on the life of Maria Lord, is primarily concerned with how to write about historically obscure women in creative and provocative ways, that go some way to restoring their rightful place in the public narrative. I have developed a unique methodological approach which incorporates elements of deep mapping, where I've used place/space as a conduit for biographical revelation and connection with my subject. In this presentation, I will use Ingle Hall as the primary illustrative example of my approach and demonstrate how it has enabled me to explore and recreate an historically overlooked life in colonial Australia. I argue that place, when engaged with, can be a valuable tool for biographical revelation, even if one cannot make the same truth claim as a traditional biography. Deep mapping is just one of the many tools we have at our disposal in this exciting new era of research and historiography where we can think about and explore the past, and lesser-documented lives, in different, inclusive and creative ways. 

Jointly sponsored by the State Library and Archive Service of Tasmania and the Professional Historians Association Vic & Tas, the Libraries Tasmania Talks are a series of monthly public lectures held at the Hobart Library. They can be attended free at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts or viewed online via the Webinar.

To register for the event visit the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can listen to all previous lectures on their Soundcloud website.