While still considered unusual in the Australian context, most of the arguments about masking up at public protests are well-rehearsed. Perhaps the most important point to consider is that, prior to the emergence of the internet, the documentation of protest activity, including the identification of those involved, was largely a matter for the state and media. This is no longer the case. With the advent of social media, what happens at such events is now the subject of intense scrutiny by participants and observers, and there is an ongoing battle to shape the narrative surrounding them.

Some people will ask, ‘What’s your background?’ Others, usually with a drunken drawl, will demand, ‘What’s your nationality?’ even if I’ve explained that I’m Australian. Some will put it simply by asking, ‘Where are you from?’ And this question, without fail, vacillates from the obvious to the awkward. Not Geelong, Blackburn or Carlton – no, these places do not suffice as places of origin. What they want to know is where my coloured skin comes from even if, in a locational sense, I’m not from there.