Items

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  2021-10-31

  (HIST30060) Chess!

  HIST30060. How do you pass the time during a 5km radius lockdown with only four reasons to leave? Chess. After watching the Queens Gambit, my housemates and I spend a few hours a day playing multiple games of chess in person, or on Chess.com. Chess is a great way to pass the time because each game is unique. Every game has thousands of variables that allow alternative moves to ‘one-up’ your opponent. We started off with little no knowledge of the game but built our fundamentals through Youtube tutorials. This has increased a skills rapidly and allowed us to challenge people across the world using Chess.com. Online chess, in fact, is the most used online game in the world and continues to rapidly grow during the pandemic. I like this image because it captures the way my housemates and I have been living whilst full-time students with limited time to earn income. Note the piece of ply we use as an outdoor table, sitting on chairs we found on the side of the road. We managed to furnish our whole house like this, which I think is impressive but really dingy.
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  2021-10-01

  (HIST30060) Disaster Payment: "Getting Payed to Study"

  HIST30060. The COVID-19 Disaster Payment, given to workers unable to earn income due to COVID-19 state or territory health order, was given to construction workers during the two-week construction shutdown in Victoria. Traffic control in the construction sector has been my casual job alongside university for the past three years. The recent construction shutdown, however, allowed me to receive the $750 a week from the Disaster Payment without working at all. My housemates and I called this “getting paid to study”. This was especially true in the lead up to exams were we spent the majority of time at home with very little excuse to do anything other than “hit the books”.
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  2021-10-29

  (HIST30060) Leaving Victoria

  HIST30060. This meme highlights how many Victorians felt after enduring the longest duration of lockdowns in the world. Between March 2020 and October 2021, 254 days in total were spent in some form of lockdown in the pursuit of ‘elimination’ – the attempt eradicate COVID-19 from society completely. Whilst seemingly satirical, this meme alludes to a hidden truth. 43,000 Victorians left the state during the two-year pandemic according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Whilst seemingly small relative to Victoria’s 6.6million population, the amount of people that left Victoria was the equivalent of the entire City of Wodonga leaving the state. No other state or territory recorded a reduction in population, especially on this scale.
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  2021-09-21

  (HIST30060) CFMEU Protests

  HIST30060. Following a state-wide construction vaccine mandate on the 20st of September, 2021, the CFMEU headquarters was violently ransacked. 'Tradies' or construction workers believed the CFMEU had not stood up for their rights. Violent scenes erupted between CFMEU leaders inside the headquarters and union members who had turned up to protest the vaccine mandate. Many Victorians watched the events unfold on livestream via Facebook and YouTube. Commentators noted that these protests were hijacked by far-right agitators attempting to destabilize the state through protests, especially during a pandemic where large gatherings are considered dangerous and illegal. Ultimately, the Andrews Government responded to the event by shutting down the entire construction sector for two weeks. This functioned as catalyst that pushed thousands of construction workers to protest for many days in the CBD. Ugly clashes between protestors and Victoria Police removed any validity or standing they may have had. Most people in the community heavily criticised those present, especially when other sectors (e.g. retail, hospitality, entertainment) had not been able to work for over 18 months.
• 2021-10-01

  Disaster Payment: "Getting Paid to Study"

  The COVID-19 Disaster Payment, given to workers unable to earn income due to COVID-19 state or territory health order, was given to construction workers during the two-week construction shutdown in Victoria. Traffic control in the construction sector has been my casual job alongside university for the past three years. The recent construction shutdown, however, allowed me to receive the $750 a week from the Disaster Payment without working at all. My housemates and I called this “getting paid to study”. This was especially true in the lead up to exams were we spent the majority of time at home with very little excuse to do anything other than “hit the books”.
• 2020-04-11

  (HIST30060) The 'Intimate Partner' Clause

  For many experiencing the pandemic in Victoria, the intimate partner clause meant that our girlfriends, boyfriends, or partners were the only persons many young people were able to see - well at least legally that is. Initially, the intimate partner clause did not exist, which was heartbreaking for many couples that lived apart, facing the prospect of not seeing their partner for an unknown amount time, during an unsettling and unprecedented period. When the clause was introduced, it was a saving grace for couples. For others, it legally introduced a sneaky way to meet people inside their bubble, particularly after connecting online. I was lucky enough to meet my girlfriend during what was her first and my last on-campus class for the last two years - before lockdown was a thing. After facing the scary prospect of not seeing each other during the first stages of Melbourne's first lockdown, the intimate partner clause allowed us to spend every day for months and months between houses, happily isolating in our shared bubble and growing incredibly close.