She Shapes History

30/01/2025

Thank you HerCanberra for the lovely shout out!

"Learn about the love stories that shaped the nation

Running for only three days, She Shapes History Tours returns with its most scandalous tour just in time for Valentine’s Day and Galentine’s Day.

Discover Canberra’s hidden romantic side on this eye-opening journey into the heart of the capital, revealing its lesser-known history of love, passion, and scandal. Grab your date or some friends and uncover the stories that rocked the city, from power couples to secret love affairs, and everyday romances that thrived despite government policies."

From where to book a table for two to fun activities that will woo your boo, here are 15+ ways to spend Valentine's Day in Canberra.

28/01/2025

We are absolutely delighted to bring back our very popular Love in the Capital tour this February for three NIGHTS only: 13th (Galentine’s Day), 14th (Valentine’s Day), and 15th (because Saturdays deserve some love too) 🌹💕

Your ticket includes a complimentary glass of bubbles 🥂 and two hours of incredible stories that will absolutely transform how you view Canberra and Australia’s political history forever.

This is one of our absolute favourite tours to run (and we’re so excited to offer it as an EVENING tour!), so hopefully we’ll see you there. We personally couldn’t think of a better way to spend Valentine’s Day! 💗

14/01/2025

So, I quit my part-time job (Engagement Manager at the amazing women-owned social enterprise ) AND made my first non-tour guide hire today (Zev is coming on as our new part-time Operations Manager). And holy sh*t, am I really nervous and low-key second-guessing myself.

December and January are ALWAYS super quiet months for us (Canberra empties out, and the locals who stick around don’t want to be outside), so I’m making this move knowing the next couple of months will be a bit tough in terms of cash flow.

But after a really good break where I thought a lot about what I wanted my life and She Shapes History to look like, I’ve fully decided to go all in. I have so much faith in She Shapes History (it’s already so much bigger than I imagined) and I really do think a few slightly painful months will be worth it because I get to work on something I love every day and I also get to contribute to making Australia a better place by reshaping how we think about our history.

I don’t know exactly what I’m trying to say here. I guess, just keep me in your thoughts as I scale up a women’s history tourism company to the point where quitting my fairly well paid and flexible job and hiring someone for operations feels like the right call 😅. (Right now, I low key feel like I need a drink, but instead, I’m going to go for a walk with a friend as I’m trying to not go to the pub as my default post-work activity).

My goal for 2025 is to expand She Shapes History to two other Australian cities, grow our corporate and school tour offerings, and to keep amplifying women’s stories through digital content. I honestly just couldn’t see that happening while working part-time elsewhere, or without someone else dedicated to operations and customer service.

But it’s still a MASSIVE leap, and one that I *really* hope I won’t regret.

Keep shaping history,
Sita

17/12/2024

Look, we dropped the ball on marketing this year and left it pretty late to remind you we do gift cards. But maybe you also dropped the ball on getting a gift...

If that’s the case, we’ve got you. A She Shapes History gift card is the perfect Christmas gift—for literally anyone.

Your partner, mum, best friend, grandma, colleague, even your misogynistic dad. We’ve got you.

It supports a small business, celebrates women, is good for the environment and your soul, and leaves you feeling incredibly inspired (or, on our spy tour, questioning whether you missed your true calling as a spy). Honestly? It’s just the ultimate gift.

Our tours are the kind of gift that doesn’t disappoint. We’ve got a way-higher-than-average redemption rate, and there’s almost always someone on tour who’s there because it was a gift (and they love it!).

Okay, going to stop selling now—but seriously, our gift cards are great, and you should grab one.

25/11/2024

Thank you everyone who braved the hot weather and joined us on a tour weekend! ❤️🫶🏽🌞

22/11/2024

Pretty soon after Eleri started running the tour last year, she was asked to create a comic for a children’s event in Sydney.

Drawing inspiration from the tour, she developed an incredible comic about Dorothy & Enid (the first women elected to federal parliament) and the lack of female toilets . It was such a fantastic comic that Allen & Unwin is turning it into a children’s book (out next June!).

Honestly, this is one of my favorite outcomes from starting She Shapes History—knowing the tours inspired (an amazing) children’s picture book is pretty damn awesome.

But this post isn’t just to brag about how amazing Eleri and the tours are (though they are). It’s to let you know that Eleri will be doing a live comics reading at Old Parliament House on Friday, November 29, at 6pm.

I went to my first live comic reading a couple months ago, and it was such a delightful, unique experience—I genuinely can’t recommend it enough. If you’re free on Friday, I can’t think of a better way to spend your evening (especially since it’s ridiculously well-priced at just $10).

This is your chance to experience Eleri’s brilliant feminist toilet commentary in the very building where the history ACTUALLY HAPPENED. And if you ask really nicely (no promises), she might even take you to the infamous toilet itself. 🚽

It’s also your last chance to see the unsanitised OG version before it’s polished for print as a children’s book.

Eleri promises you won’t regret coming.

22/11/2024

Eleri’s absolutely fabulous tour group from this morning!

PSA the rose gardens are in full bloom at the moment, so are STUNNING 🌹

Still time to book your spot for this weekends tour!

07/11/2024

We are launching a podcast!! And we're hosting a small Sunday afternoon get-together to celebrate! 😆🥳🤩

This podcast is a deep dive into Canberra’s q***r history, and the process of working on and researching it has helped both Zev and I (Sita) feel so much more connected to our identity as q***r Canberrans. We really do hope it does the same for you ❤️

We are so excited for this to be out in the world. We’ll be launching the first two episodes next Tuesday and then we’ll be dropping them weekly for the next months (only 8 episodes!). For now, you can go and listen to the podcast trailer—available on all streaming platforms 😎

Please enjoy the launch party invite I made using historic fonts from the late '90s and early 2000s. It will be hosted at Cafe Stepping Stone in Dickson and there will be food and drinks available to purchase from the incredible Q***r Food (the dishes will speak directly to the history shared in the podcast!). There will also be cake. It should be a really chill and lovely afternoon and honestly just a 10/10 way to finish up your weekend.

And if you’re worried about coming solo, please don’t be as either Zev or myself will personally introduce you to some people.

Register for free via the link in our bio! We’re so excited to celebrate with you.

Keep shaping history,
Sita, Zev & Team SSH

P.s. The INCREDIBLE podcast cover art is by the amazing Emma Rowland.

04/11/2024

It was such a joy to take the fabulous team Thylacine on our Badass Women of Canberra tour!

We absolutely love running private tours so reach out if that’s something you’re ever interested in (we can run one at any time/date that works for you!).

25/10/2024

Running a tour is easily the best way to spend a Friday morning ❤️

See you this weekend!

20/10/2024

What a fantastic way to start a Sunday!! Our tours were featured in the Sunday Times!

Eleri took the absolutely fabulous Sarah Rodrigues on our Badass Women of Canberra tour a few months ago and the article has *finally* made it's way into the world.

Shout out to the excellent PR & Media team at Visit Canberra for always putting She Shapes History forward for some pretty amazing opportunities.

17/09/2024

Really looking forward to this!

I’ll be speaking about why local women’s history is so important & all the amazing things that happen when we share women’s historical contributions.

Hopefully I’ll see you there 💖

- Sita

🌟 Speaker announcement 🌟

We are excited to welcome Sita Sargeant, a passionate storyteller and activist, to the TEDxCanberra 2024: ILLUMINATE stage!

As the founder of She Shapes History, a Canberra-based tourism company, she has been promoting gender equality through historical walking tours.

She's on a mission to highlight the overlooked contributions of women and q***r people, and reshape how history is told.

Join us as Sita inspires change by shedding light on the untold histories that deserve to be heard.

🎟️ Early bird sale ends on 22 September. Don't miss out! https://buff.ly/3B4iXNh

30/08/2024

Hello! 💕🌈 We’ve been a bit too busy (overwhelmed?) running tours & working on some other major things behind the scenes to post much lately 🙈😅. But this photo was honestly too good not to share.

This incredible shot of Zev was taken on one of the many amazing Pride in the Capital tours we ran for Pride Networks in Canberra this week for Wear It Purple Day 💜🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

If you ever want to organise a tour for your team, email or DM us 🫶🏽. The only thing better than joining a tour? Getting paid by your employer to join a tour 😎

📷 Shout out to Jared from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water (what a long agency name…) for sending this through 🌈🫡

01/08/2024

It was an absolute privilege to MC the launch and unveiling of Lis Johnson’s fabulous sculpture of Senator Susan Ryan.

It was such a special event to be part of and I am so grateful to the wonderful team at ArtsACT for asking me to MC it (even though making eye regular eye contact with Dame Quentin Bryce and Anne Summers who were both sitting in the front row was DEEPLY intimidating 😅).

On this day, forty years ago, the 1984 S*x Discrimination Act was passed. Susan Ryan was the driving force behind the Act.

I’m a big believer that Australian history has been shaped by lots of small moments that have added up. But then occasionally, you get a big moment, like the S*x Discrimination Act, that completely changes the course of Australian history.

I don’t think enough people realise just how much the Act and the work of Susan Ryan have shaped their experience in the workplace.

I genuinely could not think of a more deserving person to be immortalised in bronze, and our whole team looks forward to sharing inspiring Susan’s story on many future tours to come ❤️

P.s. For those of you who don’t know much about Susan Ryan, don’t stress, as I’m going to make a reel (soonish) sharing why she’s such a badass.

26/07/2024

Eleri’s badass tour from this morning 💕✨

There’s still time to book if you want to join us on a tour this weekend 🫶🏽

While there are no spots left for Saturday 🥲, there are a few left for both tours running on Sunday🕵🏽‍♀️

18/07/2024

Zev spent most today recording the first of ‘Q***rs Past’, our soon to be released q***r history of Canberra podcast! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

To be honest, it has been a JOURNEY to get here and at one point we thought the entire podcast was cursed.

So we are feeling extremely grateful to have finally begun the process of recording 🙏🏽😅😂

P.s. We’re running our Pride in the Capital: Canberra’s LGBTQIA+ History tour this weekend if you’re keen to get a sneak peak of some of the stories we’re going to share (+ quite a few we won’t share!) 😉

17/07/2024

Technically it is true that she did not shape history on a random light pole in Canberra’s inner north 😂😅

For some context, our team + tour guests have placed these stickers all around Canberra 🕵🏽‍♀️🕺🏻

If you ever spot one around, please please please let us know! 💖

Huge shout-out to Tash for spotting this one 👀🫡

P.S. Can we have more unintentionally funny counter messages written in sharpie on poles and fewer misogynistic emails, please? 🙏🏽