Deb Renaud: Sydney's Storyteller

At high school, I opted not to do history. I was daunted by dates, convinced I’d forget them and certain I’d be bored by them. It wasn’t until I left school that I discovered history isn’t about remembering dates. It is about people, what they did, why they did it, and what happened as a result. That’s when my love of history emerged.

That love eventually led me into Sydney’s cultural sector, where I spent two decades working at the Art Gallery of NSW and the Powerhouse Museum. It gave me a strong sense of the importance of keeping the heritage fires burning through storytelling, visually and orally.

Studying Guiding was the best and most satisfying move of my career. It was when I really came into my own. I could now bring history to life through the people and characters who shaped it, in my own personal way.