Three cast members on a stage, a woman reciting in the foreground, and two musicians with their instruments on a raised stage in the background.

3 Jun

Finding Fanny Finch

Based on the research of historian Kacey Sinclair and performed by Sinclair alongside Finch's descendants, Bill Garner and his daughter Alice, this performance seeks to understand the life and legacy of an extraordinary woman who was for a long while lost to history.

Alice and Bill Garner learnt only recently of their ancestor Fanny Finch, a woman of colour who refused to be patronised and used her wits to triumph against heavy odds in colonial Australia. She is now becoming publicly recognised for her important role in Victorian history as an enterprising businesswoman, voting pioneer and defender of the vulnerable in her community.

The show, featuring live musical accompaniment by Friends of Wendy Cotton, has won a Victorian Community History award for innovative historical interpretation, and is now brought to Melbourne audiences at the Victorian Archives Centre.