THE DOCTOR IS IN
“SKIING IS AN ACTIVITY WHICH CROSSES EVERYDAY BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE NATURAL AND CULTURAL, TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE.”
Dr Michelle Stevenson can’t write you a prescription but she’s the sort of doctor most of us would prefer to have an appointment with; she holds the first PhD ever awarded for study in Australian skiing history. Yes, a Doctor of Australian Skiing history is a thing and she’s the only one in the land.
Michelle's day job is at Museums Victoria where she heads up History & Technology and she is the Curator at the National Alpine Museum on Mt Buller. She's a skier, did a stint instructing in her twenties and instead of bingeing Netflix during COVID she got her head down and worked on a thesis that brings together “two entangled passions and parts of my identity, that of skier and cultural heritage practitioner.”
Her PhD, poetically titled “Snowflakes in a sunburnt country”, kicks off with a delicious glossary of terms including ‘chookfooter', ‘punter' and ‘spring corn' and you know you're in for an interesting read when the table of contents has sections titled; Skis, Snowgums, Schnapps, Snowflakes and Ski Like a Girl.
Even when the topic is as close to the scholar's heart as this is for Michelle, a PhD is a weighty academic undertaking and her exploration of ski culture reveals interesting perspectives on how it all started, what we do on snow, why we do it and what it all means to us.
“Studying skiing in Australia is a way to examine broader Australia in many ways and can help us to understand elements that have shaped our country and the people we are today; migration, our interactions with the environment and our engagement with the wider world…. It looks at how we've taken some of those overseas influences and made them our own. In studying Australian skiing, we see the co-mingling of Australian and particularly European cultures that shows up in the snowfields in a way that is more visible than in the big cities,” she explains.
Snowgums get a special mention in the thesis and it seems if you ask anyone what makes Australian skiing unique, our favourite bendy trees are high on the list. “Snowgums came up again and again… most of the skiing we are doing here is at or just above the tree line and we are immersed in landscapes with snowgums so they come to define these places we love.”
Her study spans things, the facts and happenings of Australian ski history but also the feelings and meanings we make in the mountains. She uses a lovely word, liminality, which is about transitions, inbetween moments and breakdowns to ‘normal' boundaries; liminal moments it seems are often woven into our alpine experiences. She explains, “when people come to alpine areas it's usually a place they transition into, and there's a journey to arrive. We might step into a different ‘version' ourselves in these special places. Skiing also offers us a different set of experiences; après ski moments, a place of escape, moments of danger and adventure – these are liminal moments that are offered to us in the mountains.”
Talking to Michelle it's clear she lives and breathes this topic, and that she's quietly stoked about being the first PhD in her field. She broken the trail and is hopeful others will follow her bootpack to build on and record Australia's evolving alpine history. Visit the Museum when you are next on Buller to see some very cool alpine artifacts, flip through a copy of “Snowflakes in a sunburnt country” and take a moment to reflect on what it means to ski in Australia. Dr Stevenson might even show you around.