Our speakers include archaeologists, historians and storytellers from a variety of backgrounds and organisations.

Joseph Hullen (Ngāti Hinematua, Ngā Tūāhuriri) is a member of Matapopore a mana-whenua cultural advisory group providing cultural advice to CERA, Ōtākaro Limited and Regenerate Christchurch.

Rosemary Baird is an Outreach Advisor at Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. She has a doctorate in oral history, and her latest work project has been making an archaeology podcast: Aotearoa Unearthed: Archaeology for Everyone.

Clara Watson is an archaeologist and historic artefact specialist at Underground Overground Archaeology. She is responsible for cataloguing the artefacts recovered from Christchurch archaeological sites and interpreting them in reports.

Katie Pickles is Professor of History at the University of Canterbury. Her research and teaching interests include Christchurch's cultural heritage and heroines in history.

Katharine Watson is fascinated by old houses, and the stories of the people who built and lived in them. As such, it's no surprise that she's currently doing her PhD at the University of Canterbury, analysing how class affected the houses people built in nineteenth century Christchurch.

TJ O'Connell is an archaeologist working at South Island Archaeology Ltd, based in Christchurch. His work takes him all around different parts of the South Island, including Canterbury and the West Coast.

Hatesa Seumanutafa has worked for eight years in curatorship and collections management projects focused on Polynesian, Māori, Colonial, Antarctic, Asian and Middle Eastern cultural material.

Jessie Garland is an archaeologist and material culture specialist currently based in Christchurch. She is currently undertaking her doctorate through La Trobe University, Melbourne, on the nineteenth century artefact assemblage recovered from Christchurch over the last decade, researching questions of trade and consumerism in the colonial city from 1850-1900.