Study history to connect to ourselves and the world around us.

[Music]

well

good morning everyone before i begin i

just want to say what an absolute

pleasure it is to be here today

so like i said my name is lydia and i am

an old girl

and there’s kind of a large part of me

that wants to fling on my old uniform

and come and sit alongside you all up

there

i’ve spent so many hours of my life in

this very room

at various choir rehearsals exams

concerts

the list goes on it feels very natural

to be back

having said that though i also can’t

help but feel like an entire lifetime

has passed since i was at school

so i finished school at the end of 2013.

i’m 25 now

since 2013 we have had five prime

ministers

we’ve had three u.s presidents we’ve had

brexit we’ve had

mexit we’ve had trade wars military

coups the rise of tick tock

and that’s even yet without mentioning

the pandemic

i feel it would be remiss of me not to

acknowledge the impact that covert 19

has had on you all

high school’s hard enough to navigate as

it is without the added trauma that this

last year’s had on so many

and i want to commend you on your

resilience and your perseverance

that you are here today as a testament

to your dedication to your education and

i don’t want you to forget that

so when i compare myself to you i can’t

help but feel like you all must be much

more worldly and mature than

me when i was at school not only because

of the pandemic but you have things at

your disposal that i didn’t have

you’ve exposure to world news and

current events which is completely

unprecedented

as well as social media which has

exploded since my time

so i feel you probably have a lot you

could teach me

but it’s me up here and i’m going to

talk to you about my

most important life learning

it’s actually something i began to learn

at school it’s something i then

studied further at university and upon

realizing what i’m about to tell you

i’ve been able to practice it in every

single aspect of my life

it’s the best way to connect yourself

the best way to connect to others and

the best way to connect to the world

around you

it is in my opinion the only way that

you can effectively understand

critique and challenge the present in

order to change the future

you need to study history you need to

connect with the past

now i promise i have not been bribed by

a history teacher to come and talk to

you all in this today

this is not a joke this is not something

that i thought of last minute

this is the most valuable piece of

advice i can give you in order to be an

engaged citizen

a critical thinker and an effective

political

social cultural and economic commentator

in the modern day

now i don’t mean learning history in

terms of memorizing timelines or

reciting kings and queens in

chronological order

i mean critically examining things that

we take as truth

i mean asking why we do things the way

that we do

i mean looking at the traditions that we

have and questioning the purposes that

they serve

i mean understanding where we have come

from and why we have changed

in order to visualize and lead progress

this is because history teaches you

three things history teaches you about

the future

history teaches you about identity both

that of your own

and of others and history forces you to

question what is important

teaches about the future i hear you ask

well let me give you an example

look at this map of europe so this is a

satellite image

taken at night time so the lights are

indicative of bigger cities

the yellow lines they represent 80 000

kilometers worth of roads built by

the ancient romans now a group of danish

economists from the university of

copenhagen

they realized that many modern european

cities laid upon ancient intersections

that were built

thousands of years ago upon further

statistical analysis

they found that areas that tended to

have a greater density of ancient roads

were more prosperous economically in the

modern day

now why does knowing this matter why are

economists of all people looking at

history

it’s because by understanding how the

past has shaped the present you can

better plan for the future

these economists by understanding how

these roads have shaped how we live

do business exist today are making

better and more informed

decisions about policy resourcing

housing

and more you can understand and

all sorts of life questions by taking

the time to study the steps we’ve taken

to get to the present

and you can apply this to anything the

english language for example

so the ancient english people the saxons

they spoke a type of german

that’s why we have words like brother in

our language from the german buddha

then the vikings invaded we get words

like thursday

which break down to thor’s day yes

we have a day of the week named after

the norse god

of chris hemsworth marvel fame

then the normans invade in 1066 and we

reintroduced latin into the mix

we get words like july from julius

caesar august from caesar augustus

we’re living proof of how social

politics a thousand years ago is still

impacting how we communicate today you

can begin to think about what

language might look like in the future

for example

what might be the impact of social media

and technology have on language

words like lol and selfie are already

well and truly integrated into our

vocabulary

how might it change further what might

history tell us

so what else can we learn from history

when you ask someone about themselves

they will tell you their personal

history why is that

because the events in someone’s past

shape their present gives you an idea as

to what they’ve stood against

what they have overcome so that they and

their families could be where they are

today

imagine then if you could scale up this

understanding that what someone’s past

impacts their present when i started

this speech for example

i spoke about what’s happened since i

left school pandemics politics world

events

those things have shaped our shared

history they therefore shape our

worldview and our sense of self as a

result

imagine then how much better you can

connect with people

by taking the time to study the past of

the societies and the cultures that they

belong to

studying history means you will never

again judge a person the same without

taking the time to consider their

context

it can take you to the far-flung corners

of the earth meet people you have never

met before

recognize similarities and differences

between you as well as give you an idea

as to why those differences might exist

understanding people and the present

better will help you

in every single aspect of your life even

in my career in banking

you might think it has nothing to do

with history but it has everything to do

with history

i can better navigate the corporate

sphere by taking the time to understand

why it exists in the form that it does

today by studying the history of the

company i work for

i can better implement their corporate

strategy because i know the reasons

behind its existence

economic history i’m better equipped to

recognize

early signs of economic depression or

recession and make better decisions off

the back of it

by understanding the history of women in

the workforce i know how hard

women before me have fought so that i

could be where i am today

therefore i’m better able to also fight

for equal representation

and equality

now don’t get me wrong i’m not saying

you shouldn’t study other

things i would not dream of steering

such a capable room full of students

away from other fields such as

medicine language mathematics because

all knowledge is valuable

what i’m saying is that paired with the

study of history

knowledge goes from being valuable to

being powerful

because it forces you to question what

is important

everything else i studied taught me what

what is an interest rate and what does

it do history is unique

in its ability to get you to ask why

not what is an interest rate but why

does our economy function with them and

why were they ever designed

why is australia democracy why does it

look so different to ancient

democracies like that that was

originally built in athens or other

modern democracies like the usa or india

why are the countries not democracies

and how does that impact how we interact

with them

why were women only given the vote in

1902 and why might that help explain why

to this day

there exists a gender pay gap

why do we celebrate certain public

holidays and why might there be

controversy about these dates

why are we pulling down statues of

historical figures and why are we

cancelling people

why is it that what these people stood

for at a certain point in the past is no

longer compatible in the modern day

and why does that matter

why is there such a life expectancy gap

between indigenous and non-indigenous

australians

why do land borders exist where they do

why do we fight

wars over religion why was the great

wall of china built why did the berlin

wall fall

why do we drive on the left side of the

road why does game stop matter

not asking why and accepting things the

way that they are

will doom you to complacency and

inaction

saying this is the way that we’ve always

done things is a cop-out

and i know that every single student in

this room

is so much more capable than that

so therefore i challenge you

to go out and to learn learn

good history learn humanity’s

accomplishments

study who the leaders were in movements

and events that you admire

who the change makers were and model

yourself off them

find out the battles they face so that

you could sit where you are today

and never take that for granted

learn bad history people say history

repeats itself

study humanities mistakes so that you

can hold yourself

personally accountable to making sure

that they never happen again

learn history that makes you

uncomfortable and upset

learn to recognize the early rumblings

of a dictatorship or a genocide

learn to recognize changes in political

tides that you know where you want to

align yourself

learn to understand the forms that

inequality has historically taken in our

world

so that you can call it out when you see

it

learn forgotten history people say

history was written by the winners

find out who the losers were minority

groups women

lgb qti groups find out what they had to

say

find out those who have written out of

history who weren’t given a seat at the

table

and think about what might be different

if they had been given the same

opportunities

finally learn your own history

find out what’s happened in the past to

make you you

ask your grandparents about their lives

study the past of the institutions you

belong to and the political party that

you vote for

befriend people with radically different

life experiences to you

mental those less privileged than you

never stop yearning to understand

what it is that makes others who they

are

it is always important and it is always

relevant

to study the past by connecting with the

past

you can lead change by studying history

you know who you are

you know who others are and you know how

to better connect with them

you can see how far we have come but you

can also see

how much further we have to go and in

doing that

you can be a more effective empathetic

and visionary leader

into the future thank you

[Music]

you