Revitalising Victorian Studies in the Antipodes

This paper reflects on the interdisciplinarity and collegiality of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association's Melbourne hub of EVENT 2024. It weaves together the narrative of the papers and panels, which engaged across an array of disciplines as diverse as musicology, history, medicine, psychology, and literary studies. In particular it notes how being a part of EVENT 2024 revitalised AVSA both in terms of its own identity in the antipodes but also on the global stage. This aspect was important for the organisation, which has existed for over half a century, after a number of challenging years due to cuts to institutions at home followed by the COVID pandemic. The hub refined the theme of ‘event’ to ‘exhibits’, bringing to the fore a range of views on material culture, audiences, creators and performers, and understandings of cross-disciplinary connections.