The Royal Historical Society of Victoria and Gender Equity Victoria’s Put Her Name On It campaign have released a free, downloadable toolkit enabling anyone to run a session recognising outstanding women in their community.
Across Victoria, countless women shaped our communities, our streets, our suburbs — yet their names are missing from the public spaces they helped build. A new, free toolkit by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV) and Gender Equity Victoria’s Put Her Name On It campaign is designed to change that, putting the tools and knowledge to research and advocate for women’s recognition directly into everyone’s hands.
The ‘Reclaim Her Name’ toolkit, now available for free download, provides a comprehensive step-by-step guide for individuals and organisations to run their own research education sessions. The workshop helps participants learn how to uncover unsung women from history and advocate to have public places named in their honour.
The toolkit includes a sample session agenda, a history of commemorative naming in Victoria, a thorough list of research tools, a practical guide to submitting a place name nomination, and more.
“You don’t need to be a naming officer or a planner or a decision maker to write someone’s history and put more women on the map. All it takes is a spark, an email, a nomination. We want you to help put her name on it, because representation in our streets and public spaces matters. Because visibility is power. And because our communities were built by women, too.”
— Kerry Wilson, Director of Put Her Name On It at Gender Equity Victoria
“History belongs to all of us, and so does the responsibility to tell it fully. For too long, the women who shaped our communities have been absent from our streets and public spaces. This toolkit puts the power to change that in everyone’s hands — making it simple for any individual, school, or community group to research and celebrate the women who helped build this state. The RHSV is proud to be part of work that turns knowledge into action.”
— Dr. Steven Cooke, Executive Director, Royal Historical Society of Victoria
The toolkit is available for free download now. To access it, visit https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/resources/reclaim-her-name-free-community-research-toolkit/
About the Royal Historical Society of Victoria
The RHSV was formed in 1909 and is a community-based organisation committed to collecting, researching and sharing an understanding of the history of Victoria. It is the historical society for the City of Melbourne and the umbrella organisation for more than 350 affiliated societies state-wide. For more information, visit historyvictoria.org.au.
About Put Her Name On It
Put Her Name On It is a Gender Equity Victoria campaign to promote commemorative justice and transform Victorian public spaces to be more gender equal. By empowering community members and decision-makers alike, Put Her Name On It uses a collaborative approach to bring women’s achievements out of obscurity and into our public spaces.
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For media inquiries contact:
| Molly Hyndman Gender Equity Victoria 0491 709 211 mol**@swellcommunications.com.au |
Dr. Steven Cooke Executive Director Royal Historical Society of Victoria 0493 736 596 exe**************@historyvictoria.org.au |
239 A'Beckett Street Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 
03 9326 9288 
office@historyvictoria.org.au 
Office & Library: Weekdays 9am-5pm
