Items

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  2021

  HIST30060 Reflections on working in a supermarket during a pandemic

  Some reflections on the pandemic from my experience working in a suburban supermarket in Melbourne. I share some general feelings about how COVID changed the environment within supermarkets, as well as several pandemic-related interactions with customers.
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  2021-09-21

  HIST30060 Footage of smoke on the Westgate Bridge during anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne

  This video was taken on 21 September 2021, capturing the view of the Westgate Bridge from Williamstown, Melbourne, as anti-lockdown protestors fill several lanes and disrupt traffic. The footage shows smoke coming from the bridge and all traffic brought to a standstill. There were also helicopters hovering and police car lights joining the scene later on. I was on a walk with a friend along the Esplanade at the time this footage was taken. It felt quite scary to be seeing aggressive, violent attitudes manifest so close to home. We knew what was going because of news updates coming through our phones. After the initial shock and fear at witnessing this happening on a few kilometres away, my friend and I walked the rest of the way in silence, too appalled by the behaviour to do more than shake our heads in dismay.
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  2020-05

  HIST30060

  This photo was taken in May 2020, when Melbourne restrictions prevented religious gatherings from taking place. I attend Westgate Baptist Community church in Yarraville in the western suburbs of Melbourne, and it had transitioned to zoom for its church services by this point. On the day this picture was taken, we were meant to organise our own bread and wine for the ritual of communion. It was strange to source these elements on our own and even stranger to just pass them to each other instead of being given them by the pastor. It probably took some sense of gravitas and 'specialness' out of the ritual. At the same time though, it was evident that in a very precarious, unprecedented time, this community was really hanging on to such rituals for some normalcy and comfort in a sense of the divine's presence. We would not be back to in-person services until February 2021.
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  2020-05-03

  HIST30060 Zoom Church

  This photo was taken in May 2020, when Melbourne restrictions prevented religious gatherings from taking place. I attend Westgate Baptist Community church in Yarraville in the western suburbs of Melbourne, and it had transitioned to zoom for its church services by this point. On the day this picture was taken, we were meant to organise our own bread and wine for the ritual of communion. It was strange to source these elements on our own and even stranger to just pass them to each other instead of being given them by the pastor. It probably took some sense of gravitas and 'specialness' out of the ritual. At the same time though, it was evident that in a very precarious, unprecedented time, this community was really hanging on to such rituals for some normalcy and comfort in a sense of the divine's presence. We would not be back to in-person services until February 2021.
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  2020-09-18

  HIST30060 Zoom Family Gatherings

  This screenshot was taken during a zoom call with members of my Dad's side of the family in September 2020, during Victoria's third COVID lockdown. At this point, we hadn't seen each other since early June of that year, which was unusual - in normal times, we would gather in person at least once a month, but lockdown prevented social gatherings with anyone outside one's household. We were zooming in from 8 different locations and with competing voices, technical difficulties and zoom-illiterate older relatives, it wasn't quite the same experience as catching up in person. One thing we realised very quickly was that it was impossible to initiate more intimate, one-on-one conversations with people on zoom. Instead, each screen in the call got a chance to give an update and we missed the more personal conversations. It was also strange seeing families grouped together in this virtual family gathering. In person, certain people in the family would naturally form groups based on age and gender and families wouldn't appear so much like a unit as in these calls. Although it was good to see people's faces again, I think we would all agree zoom calls are a poor substitute for the real deal.
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  2020-07-10

  HIST30060 Texts from a supermarket service manager regarding COVID cleaning

  These are screenshots of text messages sent from a supermarket manager to a group chat of service team members of a major Australian supermarket in Altona North, Melbourne. They detail the new cleaning regime that became part of the responsibilities of working in a supermarket during the pandemic. These include instructions about wiping down surfaces with sanitiser and keeping 1.5m distance from coworkers. These texts came a few days after Victoria's third lockdown was announced. I worked at the supermarket at the time and it was an extremely chaotic period, made more hectic by ever-changing restrictions and developments in COVID-safe practices. We would get texts like these quite frequently during this third lockdown because it was so important that supermarket essential workers kept abreast of COVID developments and worked to make supermarkets as safe as possible.