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Imogen Wegman

@imoweg.bsky.social

2.3K followers 1.6K following 310 posts

Tea drinker. Cartophile. Lecturer in History at University of Tasmania. Currently writing a book about colonial land granting in Van Diemen's Land (lutruwita Tasmania) & crawling around archival rabbit holes. plotsandacres.wordpress.com

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Nov 11

These skies are looking mighty busy, greetings to you all.

I'm a historian based in nipaluna lutruwita (Hobart, Tasmania) where I flit between colonial, spatial, environmental & other histories to try to understand how colonisers interacted with place.

And I adore old manuscript maps, like this.

An old map showing the land along the edge of a river. The land is depicted in dark shading, suggesting it is very steep and hilly, with narrow peaks. Names and numbers reveal the identities of the Europeans who have taken over this land. The map is called Monmouth 42, and it comes from the Tasmanian Archives.

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, that was me 4 months ago—they said they were waiting for one review & needed a little longer.

I went with them (not "Loxford") because they were one of few who were accepting at the time (several Aus UPs told me they have "too much Australian material"), but perhaps now I have more options.

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · 6d

Today I filmed my last lectures in our wonderful media studio.

I don't know what we will have in our new building, but it seemed only right to mark this occasion with all due solemnity.

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · 7d

Ooh, no I don't. I don't often use KML files so I haven't had to fiddle with their inner workings very much.

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · 8d

Or geojson.io, if you have a KML file already?

geojson.io | powered by Mapbox

A quick, simple tool for creating, viewing, and sharing spatial data.

geojson.io

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · 8d

Ah right, you need something web-based. I've just come across Allmaps, which looks interesting but I haven't tested it so I can't say if it's useful...

allmaps.org

Allmaps

Curating, georeferencing and exploring for IIIF maps

allmaps.org

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · 8d

It's been a few years, but I am pretty sure you can add a georeferenced layer into GoogleEarth - would that suit the needs of your class?

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Reposted by Imogen Wegman

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · 15d

Me reading what was on a block of land in 1826: "A small idiot only on this allotment."

Sure, that tracks.

Oh, it's hut, not idiot. Well, it was the colonies, there was a high chance of an idiot on the allotment too.

#history 🗃️

A clipping of a handwritten record that says "A small hut only on this allotment (P)". The cursive writing makes the word "hut" look a little like "idiot".

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · 15d

🤣

The transcriber must have been using the Monty Python book of ancient professions.

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · 15d

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Sep 5

My cranky bus driver may have been driving like the road was out to get him, but at least he was blasting ABC Classic so I could get motion sick to the soothing tones of Gabriel's Oboe and then be roused back to jollity by a brass marching band.

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Sep 5

Oh no, I don't need more writing ideas!

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Sep 5

Two weeks ago I was writing an intro lecture about tech being hungry for data & desperately scraping the internet.

This week: 19th century science was hungry for data & desperately searching for bodies.

I guess, spot the difference between an AI corpus and an old ethnology museum?

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Aug 29

You're all going to the wrong archives. My local is always amusing. Just last week I was treated to:

Gossip about why X has been so grumpy lately.

Whispers about a fab historian (umm, me, tucked out of sight).

And Mr Ye Olde Sailor: "It's a yellow notebook, don't you know it, can't you find it?"

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · Aug 28

No film gets historians right, but that's only because no audience wants to watch someone quietly work their way through a cardboard box of old papers, in total silence, for eight straight hours.

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · Aug 28

an interesting subtopic! which shows/movies are beloved by the profession for Getting It Right! Lawyers famously love MY COUSIN VINNIE, doctors I believe love SCRUBS, apparently Aussie barristers are surprisingly fond of RAKE's depiction of some aspects of the law.

Reposted by Imogen Wegman

Everyday Heritage @everydayheritage.bsky.social · Aug 26

Everyday Heritage team member Dr Imogen Wegman
@imoweg.bsky.social takes a walk down Elizabeth St in central Hobart with Joel Rheinberger, ABC Hobart, and tells a few forgotten stories of characters who once lived in this town. Listen to the audio recording here everydayheritage.au/news/voxtrot...

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Aug 13

The most recent variation of that one was "Imogen is too enthusiastic, doesn't she realise this unit is compulsory and I have to do it?"

I must remember to apologise sincerely for trying to make core units enjoyable while being a woman.

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Aug 11

The worst thing students can usually think to say about me in surveys is that I'm "too enthusiastic" and "have the vibe of a kindergarten teacher".

Well, I challenge them to find any such vibes in my outfit today.

I am wearing a bright yellow shirt, under a chunky handknit cardigan that is green, edged with purple, and has bright pink buttons. My lipstick matches the buttons and my glasses are bright green. To top it all off, if one peers closely, you would see that my dangling earrings are goldfish in a blue bowl. The look is quite Ms Frizzle from the Magic Schoolbus.

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Aug 7

And they will ask, 'Were there any signs?'

Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Aug 4

This morning, while internally thinking about how colonists celebrated someone I said aloud "she was apparently the first woman to walk to X", immediately erasing all First Peoples who'd been there before.

The whole class called me out & I was so proud of them, but also mortified.

Ahh, teaching.

Reposted by Imogen Wegman

Patrick Stokes @patrickstokes.com · Aug 3

It is 2025, and someone *now* is preparing to publish an 1850s pastoralist’s diary *editing out* all the coded bits where he describes murdering Yamatji people.

In 2025.

But sure, let’s hear more about how the Great Australian Silence is over.

The killing code: strange symbols in a WA settler’s diaries lay bare frontier atrocities

Exclusive: Stories of murders passed down by Yamatji elders are confirmed by a cipher hidden in the 1850s journals of prominent pastoralist Major Logue. Now descendants on both sides want to break the...

www.theguardian.com

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Jul 29

I have face blindness, but for music. Everything reminds me of something else, so I'm always that person going "oh it's the intro to Sesame St" only to discover it's actually Kraftwerk with a similar rhythm.

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Jul 29

Me, absolutely hopeless in the music round of a pub quiz, catching up on the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs and surprising myself by knowing every single song.

Then spoiling it by needing to double check the artist of this song and discovering it's Kylie or Midnight Oil.

Countdown #1 to #100 - Hottest 100 Australian Songs - triple j

These are the songs you voted from #1 to #100 in triple j's Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.

www.abc.net.au

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Jul 28

While I wait for my university's overzealous spam filters to let my verification email through so my signature is approved, I will encourage you all to sign this petition.

openpetition.org/!repealjrg

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Jul 23

When considering what toys to put into the household of a three year old who lives in an apartment block, why would "karaoke machine" ever even enter the equation?

Reposted by Imogen Wegman

Alyssa S. @drsepinwall.bsky.social · Jul 16

Can any #skystorians 🗃️ play with me: are these different people's handwritings? I think 1 & 4 are the same person but want to double check. And I'm wondering if #3 is the same person as 1 & 4.

#2 seems to be a different person from #1, right?

Author #1: Loopy handwriting: Has any other straightforward reconstruction of his life been prepared?

#2: Different author from Author #1? Téléphoner - écriver, Joe Landry, Catherine, Crusader, Gary Amer.

#3: handwriting says: the acre might even be nearby the park and leased to the city

#4: handwriting: different person? handwritten part says: the little that & ameliorate

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Imogen Wegman @imoweg.bsky.social · Jul 16

I'm in walking distance of two polling stations. One has cake stalls and sausages, but also long queues.

The other one only promises a "strong chance" of snacks, but also has a lower chance of queues.

It's the most Australian of election quandaries. #politas #tasvotes

A screenshot from a map of all the polling stations with details about what election day fundraising stalls each has (sausage sizzle, cakes, car wash etc). The data is self-reported, and this one says "This booth has a STRONG chance of having food. Based on reports from past elections."

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