Photo: Eltham c.1900 (from the collection of EDHS)
History Matters by Jim Connor
“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”
– Martin Luther King Jnr.
History matters… to our sense of place, where we are both physically and mentally, where we fit into the place where we are and how we relate to our surroundings.
History matters… when locating yourself in time, in your part of your own history, whether it is your family, your community, your culture, your lived life experiences. These all form part of our own history we carry with us and build on as we proceed on our life journey.
History matters… to the political climate of the time, what has or has not occurred and how those decisions impact on our past, current and future history.
History matters… to how we honour our own history and of those we relate to.
History matters… to how our built and natural environment evolves, how it reflects and respects the past and how it is developed or changed around us and by us.
History matters… if we think it does, if we believe it does, if we encourage others to understand it does.
History matters… to our memories that retain our history and to the memories of those around us.
History matters… to the stories we know and tell and the stories of other people.
History matters… to how we see ourself in the world.
History just matters!
Stories of history we tell not only shape our past, they shape our future as well.