History.
Reimagined.
Every place carries a past—traces of people, industry, and community layered into its ground. Brad Buller, PhD is a historian specialising in heritage placemaking and storytelling. Working within the built environment sector, Brad combines the discipline of history with the art of storytelling to create work that grounds people in place, builds trust, and endures in memory.
Former Peatt Boot Factory
Site History & Heritage Storytelling
A heritage-led redevelopment anchored by the adaptive re-use of a former boot factory in Collingwood. Research-driven storytelling translated the site’s manufacturing past into a clear, credible narrative to inform placemaking, design conversations, and future interpretation.
SELECTED WORK
VerSo Place
Site History & Heritage Storytelling
An over-55’s residential redevelopment grounded in the layered history of the former Australian Road Research Board headquarters. Detailed archival research shaped a narrative of public purpose, technical rigour, and continuity, providing a considered historical foundation for the site’s next chapter.
Upheaval: Disrupted Lives in Journalism
Contributing Author
An oral history of Australian journalism told through the voices of more than fifty reporters and editors. My chapters document lived experiences of job loss, newsroom culture, and gender discrimination and sexual harassment during a period of profound structural change in the media industry.
HERITAGE
AND PLACEMAKING
Stories that anchor place
When history is treated as more than background, it becomes a working part of place. Developments that acknowledge and interpret the stories embedded in a site gain depth. They become more than projects; they become part of the city’s memory.
I work with development, design, and branding teams to bring those histories into active use so they can inform design intent, support council and community-facing conversations, and shape public narratives with confidence.
The outcome is cultural as well as practical: clearer foundations for decision-making, trust with stakeholders, and stories that feel integral to place rather than applied after the fact. This is how developments earn their place—not just completed, but remembered.
ABOUT
ME
I’m the kind of historian who lingers—poring over photographs, ledgers, and the overlooked details that shift how a story is told. Trained in history but working beyond the academy, I bring rigour and imagination together to shape narratives people can use with confidence.
HOW I
WORK
The way I practise history is shaped by values I hold constant. They remind me to look harder, to question, to listen, and to create work that is both rigorous and alive. Curiosity, integrity, collegiality, boldness, and storytelling run through everything I do.
HERITAGE & PLACEMAKING
Stories that anchor place
Earn trust with councils and communities.
Smoother approvals.
Tie marketing narratives to authenticity.
Every site carries a past: traces of people, industry, and community layered into its ground. When developers acknowledge and interpret those stories, places gain depth. They become more than projects — they become part of the city’s memory.
I help bring those histories to light — with rigour and imagination — so they serve today’s project as well as tomorrow’s city.
This is how developments earn their place. Not just completed but remembered.
COMMISSIONED
HISTORIES
A record that guides.
Preserve institutional memory.
Strengthen identity and reputation.
Inspire future generations.
A family business can’t chart its future without knowing the story that brought it here. The values, decisions, and turning points of earlier generations aren’t just background — they’re the compass that helps today’s leaders steer.
I work closely with family companies to uncover and shape these histories through research and collaboration. I balance rigour with storytelling to create work that is practical as well as enduring.
A commissioned history isn’t about looking back. It’s a foundation for what comes next.
GHOSTWRITING
STORY. VOICE. LEGACY.
Captures the subject’s voice with clarity.
Distils values and lessons with precision.
Reaches readers with authority and impact.
The most powerful books are true to the person behind them. I work with leaders, reformers, and thinkers to turn lived experience into writing that is both authentic and enduring.
Ghostwriting is not PR or polish. It’s memoir written with rigour and imagination — so it stands the test of time.
MY SERVICES
The way I practise history is shaped by values I hold constant. They remind me to look harder, to question, to listen, and to create work that is both rigorous and alive. Curiosity, integrity, collegiality, boldness, and storytelling run through everything I do.
I'm wired to wonder — to ask, explore, and uncover what’s been overlooked. I follow both evidence and instinct, because curiosity deepens my work. I want to understand the full picture, not just what’s on the surface. For me, curiosity isn’t optional — it’s a responsibility.
I'm wired to wonder — to ask, explore, and uncover what’s been overlooked. I follow both evidence and instinct, because curiosity deepens my work. I want to understand the full picture, not just what’s on the surface. For me, curiosity isn’t optional — it’s a responsibility.
01.
Curiosity
I'm wired to wonder — to ask, explore, and uncover what’s been overlooked. I follow both evidence and instinct, because curiosity deepens my work. I want to understand the full picture, not just what’s on the surface. For me, curiosity isn’t optional — it’s a responsibility.
I work with care, clarity, and respect for the historical record. Guided by evidence, ethical responsibility, and collegiality, I navigate complexity with clients and subjects alike — producing work that is honest, considered, and enduring.
02.
Integrity
I work with care, clarity, and respect for the historical record. Guided by evidence, ethical responsibility, and collegiality, I navigate complexity with clients and subjects alike — producing work that is honest, considered, and enduring.
I work with care, clarity, and respect for the historical record. Guided by evidence, ethical responsibility, and collegiality, I navigate complexity with clients and subjects alike — producing work that is honest, considered, and enduring.
I believe the most thoughtful work emerges from relationships grounded in trust, generosity, and shared purpose. By working collegially — with clients, subjects, and peers — I create space for open dialogue, diverse perspectives, and solutions that honour complexity. Collegiality is a way of thinking together, toward something deeper and more lasting.
03.
Collegial
I believe the most thoughtful work emerges from relationships grounded in trust, generosity, and shared purpose. By working collegially — with clients, subjects, and peers — I create space for open dialogue, diverse perspectives, and solutions that honour complexity. Collegiality is a way of thinking together, toward something deeper and more lasting.
I believe the most thoughtful work emerges from relationships grounded in trust, generosity, and shared purpose. By working collegially — with clients, subjects, and peers — I create space for open dialogue, diverse perspectives, and solutions that honour complexity. Collegiality is a way of thinking together, toward something deeper and more lasting.
I trust my creative instinct — even when it leads me away from convention. I push myself to keep going through discomfort. I show up and stay with the hard stuff when it would be easier to turn away.
04.
Boldness
I trust my creative instinct — even when it leads me away from convention. I push myself to keep going through discomfort. I show up and stay with the hard stuff when it would be easier to turn away.
I trust my creative instinct — even when it leads me away from convention. I push myself to keep going through discomfort. I show up and stay with the hard stuff when it would be easier to turn away.
05.
Storytelling
I shape history into stories that draw people close, giving them a sense of being present as events unfold. I aim to show rather than tell — to let moments, voices, and textures speak for themselves. Storytelling is how I make the past vivid and alive, so that meaning is felt as much as it is understood.
I shape history into stories that draw people close, giving them a sense of being present as events unfold. I aim to show rather than tell — to let moments, voices, and textures speak for themselves. Storytelling is how I make the past vivid and alive, so that meaning is felt as much as it is understood.
I shape history into stories that draw people close, giving them a sense of being present as events unfold. I aim to show rather than tell — to let moments, voices, and textures speak for themselves. Storytelling is how I make the past vivid and alive, so that meaning is felt as much as it is understood.
Storytelling
“What drives me is uncovering meaning in what others might overlook — and turning it into stories that people can carry with them.”
Brad Buller, PhD - Historian.
