An historian based at the Australian Centre for Public History, Professor Anna Clark uses storytelling to transform research into stories people connect with, remember and use across classrooms, podcasts and public debate. Her public history work spans books, children’s histories and the award-winning Hey History! podcast, created at UTS Impact Studios.
Storytelling for research dissemination
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Prof Anna Clark speaking at Research Cafe
Anna joined Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Anika Gauja in the Research Café to explain how narrative can extend the reach and influence of research. Having researched how history is taught in Australian classrooms for over twenty years, Anna was aware that most primary teachers have not completed a history degree.
“Primary teachers might have completed just a few weeks of Australian history as part of their teacher education, but there's an assumption that they have knowledge and expertise about the subject,” she explained.
“They are expected to teach Indigenous history, colonial history, social history and environmental history. The expectations are really high.”
The question that I was asking in the course of preparing this work was: how do you translate Australia's complex history to kids in a way that's engaging, immersive, curiosity-led as well as aligned with the curriculum?
To address this gap, Anna wanted to produce a resource to help primary teachers by giving them an Australian history conversation starter that they could present to their classrooms.
“The question that I was asking in the course of preparing this work was: how do you translate Australia's complex history to kids in a way that's engaging, immersive, curiosity-led as well as aligned with the curriculum?”
Bringing Australia's rich heritage to life
In thinking about how to engage primary school teachers with the body of research about how Australian history is taught in a way that would appeal to both them and their students, Anna and colleagues from Impact Studios used stories to create the Hey History podcast.
“Hey History combines the powers of immersive storytelling with the expertise of historians, archaeologists and Indigenous knowledge holders,” Anna explained, adding that each episode is intended for primary students to listen to in class.
The podcast connects kids and educators alike to Australia's rich heritage and brings history to life for students.
“Our goal in creating this series was that a teacher could, at the beginning of a class on a particular topic, walk into the classroom and press play, to not only hook kids in, but also be able to use a resource that is mapped to the curriculum,” Anna said.
Hey History combines the powers of immersive storytelling with the expertise of historians, archaeologists and Indigenous knowledge holders.
“Hey History allows them to begin conversations with their students and feel more confident about teaching Australian history.”
Extending research impact
With more than 40,000 downloads, Hey History has been used in hundreds of classrooms across Australia. Anna says teachers value the resource because the series was designed specifically to support classroom practice.
Hey History was recognised as Best Children’s Program with a Gold Award in the 2025 New York Festivals Radio Awards.
The podcast was also awarded Gold in the Signal Awards for its ‘Walk for Truth-Telling’ episode made possible with support from the Dusseldorp Forum, sharing the story of Travis Lovett who walked 513 kilometres to shine a light on truth-telling and the impacts of colonisation of First Peoples in Victoria through the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
Building on this success, Anna and colleagues at UTS Impact Studios have recently developed a new resource for high school history teachers, Hey History Teacher, with support from the History Teachers Association of NSW.
Plans are also underway to produce a podcast series about democracy, aimed at reaching a much broader audience.
In reflecting on how storytelling can change the way academic research is understood, and what other disciplines can learn from narrative approaches to engaging the public, Anna said it’s a question of how we translate our expertise in ways that benefit the broader community.
“Right now, one of the most pressing issues we face in education and Australian society is how we help connect people to the shared social contract that comes with being part of our extended community.”
What’s next?
- Listen to Hey History.
- Listen to the first episode of Hey History Teacher.
- Connect with the Australian Centre for Public History.
- Connect with UTS Impact Studios.
- Learn more about Anna’s research.