National Library of Australia

While Bennelong is a name well known – the truth of the man is still misunderstood by many. In her presentation, Professor Kate Fullagar aims to explore the truth of his history by presenting neglected evidence about his latter life. She will also compare the work of Bennelong to that of some of his contemporary First Nations negotiators in other parts of the Pacific. Professor Kate Fullagar is a 2021 National Library of Australia Fellow.

Learn the extraordinary story of the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia and its impact on the Australian art-world between 1885 and 1900. At this event you'll hear from Dr Gary Werskey, co-curator of the Library's current exhibition A Nation Imagined: The Artists of the Picturesque Atlas, who will explore why a group of American artists and entrepreneurs joined forces with Sydney's artist-illustrators in the production of this landmark publication, and how they ultimately shaped the direction of Australian art and put it on the world's stage. A Nation Imagined: The Artists of the Picturesque Atlas is presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of New South Wales and will be open until Sunday 11 July 2021. The exhibition was co-curated by Dr Gary Werskey, Honorary Associate in the Department of History at the University of Sydney and author of Picturing a Nation: The Art and Life of A.H. Fullwood, and Natalie Wilson, Curator of Australian and Pacific Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Dr Andrew Levidis explores the transnational network of bureaucrats, soldiers and propagandists, who served the Japanese and Manchukuo empires and their role in shaping right-wing and socialist politics in Cold War East Asia. It rethinks the transitions from empire to Cold War beyond the binaries of superpower conflict and national experience of decolonization.

What do you expect when graduating with a science degree? To disarm militia in war-torn Mogadishu? To search out Iraq's elusive weapons of mass destruction? Do you wonder what a spy does? Join former Australian intelligence officer and author Rod Barton in conversation with ABC journalist and author Michael Brissenden, as Rod discusses his new memoir, The Life of a Spy. Rod Barton is a former Australian intelligence officer. After starting his career with the Australian Government as a junior scientist, he led an extraordinary life of espionage, working with the UN and several spy agencies, searching for illegal weapons and Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction

“For generations my family wanted to conceal their Aboriginal roots. Our darker complexions, I was told, harkened back to Spanish sailor shipwrecked near Scotland, or invading Moors…The lie was only a few generations back, but it took me almost twenty years to uncover”. Dr Judith Crispin, the 2020 Honorary National Library Creative Arts Fellow for Australian Writing, shares her journey to uncover the truth about her ancestry, and the Hidden Generations. Join us as Judith reveals how she came to write an imaginary biography in honour of her Grandfather's Grandmother, Charlotte, informed only by entries in a ledger, a single photo, and the drawings of Charlotte's countryman, artist Tommy McRae. Dr Judith Crispin is a poet and visual artist with a background in music. She has two published poetry collections, The Myrrh-Bearers (Sydney: Puncher & Wattmann, 2015) and The Lumen Seed (New York: Daylight Books, 2017). Judith founded the poetry reading series at Manning Clark House and is currently poetry editor for The Canberra Times. Much of Judith's writing is centered around the experience of searching for her Bpangerang ancestry, and her long-term friendship with Warlpiri people.

The colonial heritage of Norfolk Island is little known to most Australians. 2020 NLA Fellow, Alisa Bunbury's recent research comprises a careful and structured examination of visual imagery created during the various stages of its settlement during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These images show the difficulties of contact and communication with its steep cliffs and dangerous reef; the clearing of the land for agricultural purposes; the indigenous flora and fauna, including rare documentation of species driven to extinction; and the built environment, including the long-demolished first settlement and the later penitentiary buildings, the ruins of which are now World Heritage listed. Written records and recollections complement the visual material, ranging from diaries, letters and naval journals to published accounts of visits, official appointments or the horrendous treatment endured by convicts imprisoned there. Alisa's research aims to bring the numerous stories of this tiny island to light in time for the 250th anniversary of the Resolution's crew sighting Norfolk Island in 2024.

Trisha Dixon is joined in conversation by Fleur Flanery, Philip Cox and Max Bourke to discuss the enigma of 'spirit of place' and it's place in the world of landscape design. The panel discussion was facilitated by Alex Sloan

Over 400,000 men enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces to fight in World War I. Nearly one in every five of them was never to return. As every strata of society searched for meaning amidst such cataclysmic loss, many turned to Spiritualism — a fringe religion built on the belief that “death is not a cessation of life but a mere change in condition” and that those who had passed on could communicate with the living. Why did so many rational men and women place their faith in Spiritualism? How did spirit mediums convince them that communication with the dead was possible? And what was the impact of Spiritualism on the Australian experience of the Great War? Author Nadia Bailey is drawing from her research in the Library's collections for her historical novel in progress. Nadia Bailey is a Melbourne-based author, journalist and editor. She was the 2019 UNESCO City of Literature Creative Resident in Kraków, Poland, and a 2018 Midsumma Futures Fellow. Her essays, short fiction and poetry have been widely represented in anthologies and journals, and she has published several books on popular culture with Smith Street Books.

Jack Waterford AM delivers the 2021 Canberra Day Oration, Canberra: Part of the Nation's Capital, presented by the Canberra & District Historical Society. From its foundation in 1953, the Canberra & District Historical Society has promoted the annual observance of Canberra Day on 12 March. In the years that follwed, the Society celebrated Canberra Day in a variety of ways, including Pioneer Gatherings, exhibitions, essay competitions, orations and commemorations at the Commencement Stone. In 2002 the Society re-introduced the Canberra Day Oration, with Professor Don Aitkin as the first orator. Since then the Canberra Day Oration has been an annual event, held on 12 March. Image: Valentine & Sons. (1910). Canberra the capital of Australia, sketch view looking west Retrieved January 27, 2021, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-153091444

2021 Creative Arts Fellow for Australian Writing, Dr Jordie Albiston, discusses her research process at the National Library for her new poetry project ‘Frank'. ‘Frank' comprises of poems based on the diaries of James Francis Hurley from two Antarctic expeditions (under Mawson, and then Shackleton) and his subsequent picture-show tour. Approximately 120 poems offer a poetic mosaic of Hurley's experiences as man and Antarctic photographer, at the end of the heroic age of exploration. Individual diary entries will be redacted to poetry while honouring the unique specificities — vocabulary, rhythm, tone — of Hurley's voice. This transformative shift aims to generate a fresh viability for such documents, enabling a contemporary audience to interact with, and appreciate archival accounts on a completely new range of levels: from the formal and literary level of 'text', to the universal and philosophical level of what it means to be human. Image: Hurley, Frank (1910), [Frank Hurley photographing from the tip of the jib-boom of the Discovery, Banzare, 1929-1931] [Antarctica], (detail), nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn92416

Learning Webinar 2021 Audio

NLA Fellow, Dr André Brett uses the development of railway networks to interrogate the strong and enduring linkages between economic growth and environmental change.

Inspired by the folk traditions and the unique socio-cultural identity of his home in the Northern Rivers, 2020 National Folk Fellow, musician Luke Byrnes, has been investigating the musical heritage and folklore of the region – searching the National Library's oral history and folklore archives to find songs, yarns, tunes, poetry, dance, craft and folk stories collected from the region over the last 80 years.  Rediscovered Northern Rivers songs and tunes from the Library's collections have revealed a colourful and complicated history defined by a diverse range of people's relationship to place. From the experiences of the many peoples of the Bundjalung nation; to the first waves of colonisation by squatters and cedar-getters in exploitation of land, people and timber; to the legacy of the Terania Creek Protests and the regions ongoing environmental struggles – Luke's attempt to ‘tell' a neat conclusive narrative of the Northern Rivers through music proved as impossible as an attempt to bail out the Clarence with a bucket. Instead, Luke's fellowship presents many different pails from the never-ending stream of Northern Rivers stories in hopes of inspiring a richer appreciation for the region's complex history.  Stylistically Luke has reinterpreted source recordings of solo singers, box-players and fiddlers into contemporary compositions arranged for a new 7-piece ensemble: The Big Scrub Revival Band.

‘Just one scribbled note from Marcie Muir led us to this amazing discovery … If we hadn’t had that serendipitous moment where Belinda [Murrell] was discovering in one book that Charlotte [Waring Atkinson] had written more than one published work, and then I almost simultaneously found this note, we would never have put the two things together and made that amazing discovery … It was a series of astonishing, serendipitous findings that led us to many of our most exciting insights.’ - Kate Forsyth. Join bestselling authors Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell for the second installment of their pre-recorded, two-part author talk – a discussion about researching and finding collection material at the National Library, as they had to do when writing their new book, ‘Searching for Charlotte’.

In Conversation with Michelle Grattan 2020: The Year That Changed Us

Monday 16 November 2020 — the Anniversary of the apology to the 'Forgotten Australians' and Former Child Migrants—join The Australian National University Lecturer and author of Goodna Girls, Adele Chynoweth, and National Library of Australia Director of Indigenous Engagement, Marcus Hughes, as they reflect on the lives and stories of the women of Goodna and the role of cultural institutions in preserving the stories and experiences of marginalised communities. Goodna Girls tells the story of children incarcerated in Wolston Park Hospital, an adult psychiatric facility in Queensland. It contains the personal testimonies of women who relate—in their own no-holds-barred style and often with irreverent humour—how they, as children, ended up in Wolston Park and how this affected their adult lives.

Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell are the sisters behind the latest NLA Publishing title, ‘Searching for Charlotte’. Join the bestselling authors as they discuss the process of writing a book and what ‘Searching for Charlotte’ means to them in part one of this two-part author talk.

On the anniversary of Walter Burley Griffin’s 1913 appointment as Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction, join Peter Graves and Liz Lea for an online talk connecting the Griffins’ design of Canberra, with Indigenous dance, and traditional Indian dance.

Join Peter Freeman and Dr Rachael Coghlan as they explore the lives of early Canberra architects Malcolm Moir and Heather Sutherland – their work, their impact on the developing city, the times in which they lived, and the legacy that remains. Peter Freeman is an author and Conservation Architect. His new book, 'THOROUGHLY MODERN: Moir + Sutherland Architects', studies the life and work of these two architects pivotal in the development of Canberra. Peter will be launching his book on Friday 20 November at the DESIGN Canberra Festival. More information about the book launch can be found online at: https://designcanberrafestival.com.au/ Dr Rachael Coghlan is CEO of Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre, and Artistic Director of the DESIGN Canberra Festival. This partnered online event has been produced by the National Library in association with Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre, and the Design Canberra Festival.

Join National Library Exhibition Curator Dr Grace Blakeley-Carroll, and Director of Exhibitions Dr Guy Hansen, for an online tour of our latest exhibition, Birds of Paradise: Ellis Rowan in New Guinea. Best known for her striking wildflower paintings, Ellis Rowan also had an interest in birds and produced a stunning collection of New Guinea's Birds of Paradise (Paradisaeidae) in circa 1917. This must-see exhibition is on now and also viewable online, showcasing 13 of Ellis Rowan’s most exquisite watercolour paintings of Birds of Paradise. Also on display are a selection of plate designs featuring smaller representations of the Birds of Paradise and other biographical items relating to Ellis Rowan.

Stalin's Wine Cellar is billed as 'the Raiders of the Lost Ark of wine'. Join authors John Baker and Nick Place, in conversation with Genevieve Jacobs, and uncover the search for a cellar full of wine believed to be that of former Georgian revolutionary and Ruler of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin.

Did you know the National Library has a board games collection? Not only do we have hundreds of board games dating as far back as the 1700s, the National Library is also home to the world's LARGEST board game, 'World in Flames'–we have the Guinness Book of World Records certificate to prove it! Join board game enthusiasts Stuart Baines and Aaron Minehan, with illustrator and game designer Sam Milham Art, as they take a look at some of the unique board games hiding away on the shelves at the National Library.

Australia is home to breath-taking landscapes, as rugged as they are beautiful. Some are driven to explore these places on foot, some from the air, but this book tells the story of the courageous men and women who explored this beautiful country on two wheels. Grab your helmet and join long-time cycling enthusiast Daniel Oakman alongside National Library curator Susannah Helman as they talk about Daniel’s latest book, Wild Ride: Epic Cycling Journeys Through the Heart of Australia, and the collection material that tells the stories of the people behind these great cycling adventures.

Join father and daughter, and Gamilaroi and Dunghutti people, Rod and marlee.silva (Co-Founder of Tiddas 4 Tiddas) as they share their hopes for the future of Indigenous Australia with reference to their own experiences, stories and dreams. Marlee and Rod explore the importance of truth-telling in fostering cultural understanding and the cultural shift being driven through the Black Lives Matter movement. Although National NAIDOC week has been moved to 8-15 November 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marlee and Rod also touch on the 2020 NAIDOC theme of 'Always Was, Always Will Be'.

“The more we are taking care of nature, the more we are taking care of ourselves.” Last summer’s bushfires left Australia profoundly changed. Lives and homes were lost; almost 13 million hectares of bush was incinerated. Food and fuel systems broke down, and city-dwellers choked on toxic smoke. From this tumult and devastation, what new vision will emerge? How have the fires forced us to rethink ourselves, our communities and our relationships with nature? Join social scientist Petra Buergelt, animal ecologist Dale Nimmo and planning expert Barbara Norman – whose family sadly lost a home in the fires – as they explore what will rise from the ash in the months and years ahead. Chaired by Nicole Hasham, Environment + Energy Editor at The Conversation. Presented by The Conversation, the world's leading free, fact-based news source written by academics and edited by journalists and The National Library of Australia.

Join author of The Catch: The Story of Fishing in Australia and avid fisher, Anna Clark, and senior lecturer at Macquarie University, Dr Leigh Boucher as they discuss the role of fishing throughout Australian history, from indigenous innovations and practices through to fishing for sport and recreation today.

From traditional print news to social media, television to blogs—modern media operates in a complex and hyper-connected environment, and it plays a huge part in our lives every single day. Michelle Lipkin and Gavin Sundwall examine the many ways—positive and negative—that media consumption and digital citizenship affect our lives, and discuss how we can become more literate media users. Michelle Ciulla Lipkin is the Executive Director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education and an adjunct lecturer at Brooklyn College in media criticism and media literacy. She launched the first ever Media Literacy Week in the U.S. in 2015 and has developed strategic partnerships with media companies including CNN, NPR, The New York Times, Al Jazeera English, Nickelodeon, and Twitter. Gavin Sundwall has worked throughout his career to deliver the State Department's mission to new audiences in the U.S. and internationally. He has driven media coverage by publications including VICE News Tonight, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Daily Beast, and Vogue, and managed the first-ever documentary television series about the work of a U.S. ambassador and embassy. I am the Ambassador won the Danish equivalent of an “Emmy” in 2014 and became a Netflix and iTunes feature.

Join us as we celebrate the release of internationally bestselling author Kate Grenville’s first novel in nearly a decade - A Room Made of Leaves. In this special online event, Kate Grenville appears in conversation with award winning historian, author, broadcaster and public commentator Professor Clare Wright OAM. This event is delivered in partnership with Text Publishing.

What is the Australian dream, and does it mean the same thing to us all? Join us as cross-cultural consultant and author Tasneem Chopra OAM leads a thought-provoking discussion between writer and appearance activist Carly Findlay OAM, founder of YARN Australia Warren Roberts, and writer, gender equality and mental health advocate Tarang Chawla, on what the Australian Dream looks like for people from diverse cultural backgrounds and life experiences.

First woman to head an Australian state or territory government, and first ACT Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett AO, has had a diverse career in both politics and the public service. Following the dismissal of the Whitlam government, Rosemary became President of the ACT ALP. Her negotiation skills proved of great use during the transition to ACT self-government, where she served two terms as Chief Minister: 1989-1990 and 1991-1995, and as ACT Discrimination Commissioner from 1996 to 2004. Not only has Rosemary served as Vice Chancellor at the University of Canberra, and Chair of the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies, she was also instrumental in bringing Nara as Canberra’s twin city and led a trade mission to Japan. Image: Greg Power, Portrait of Rosemary Follett during an Oral History Interview at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, 28 February, 2012, nla.cat-vn6186349

We often don’t realise we’re living through a major historical moment until the time has passed. The pandemic we find ourselves in now is one such historical moment. Dr Chris Wallace and Professor Frank Bongiorno AM talk about why it’s so important to document everyday life during irregular times. Learn about what you can do now to help the historians of the future piece together what it was like to live through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Are you still a liar? From its first icy scenes in the Arctic Circle, Felicity Volk’s new novel tells an epic story of a compulsive, unconventional love that spans decades and crosses continents. Desire Lines sets its exploration of truth and lies against society’s uneasy relationship with its own truth-telling in history, war and politics. Canberra’s coming of age, the construction of its institutional landmarks and milestones in Indigenous relations are the backdrop for the novel’s moving reminder that even truths that seem lost forever can find their way home. Join award-winning author Felicity Volk and Karen Viggers for the launch of Volk’s latest novel, Desire Lines.

Join Paul Sharrad as he explores some of the delights found while researching Thomas Keneally's papers, including the forgotten highlights from his career. Paul will explore the conditions under which writers in the 1960’s and 1970’s worked to survive, and how writers fit within the drive to create a national culture. How does a writer attempting to create a living from his work assemble a long-lasting career in negotiations with editors, agents, reviewers and markets? He will also question what the place of the writer who becomes a public celebrity is, and how 'middlebrow' writing is valued. Image: Robert McFarlane, Author Tom Keneally back stage at the Nimrod Theatre, Sydney, 1980 nla.gov.au/nla.obj-152397918

Join Chet Van Duzer, Cartographic Historian and Board member of the Lazarus Project at the University of Rochester, as he explores the early modern belief that there had to be a substantial landmass in the south to counterbalance the continents in the north. This hypothetical landmass was depicted on many maps beginning from c.1508, when such a continent appeared on a world map by Francesco Rosselli. Rosselli’s map showed a very large island at the South Pole, yet many maps from the sixteenth century illustrate a remarkable variant of this geographical myth: a continent-sized landmass that forms a ring of land around the South Pole, with open water at the pole itself. Chet will discuss the sources of this unusual view of the Southern Polar Regions found in classical, medieval, and Renaissance hydrographical theories and geographical texts. Image: Urbano monte world map 1587 David Rumsey Collection Stanford

The need for a grand narrative in the life and obsessive collecting of Rex Nan Kivell is telling. His collecting stories, invented or elaborated, are engaging and, when examined, often untrue. Without doubt however, was the significance of the items he collected and frequently ‘boosted’ through imaginative tall tales. Examining key acquisitions made over decades, this illustrated lecture will test the stories surrounding them and what this can tell us today. A Treasures Gallery Access Program, supported by National Library Patrons.

Join Professor Lyndall Ryan, AM FAHA, from the University of Newcastle, as she discusses her continuing work on documenting the frontier massacres across colonial Australia. Her project includes mapping these sites, to create a historically accurate record of the Frontier Wars (1788-1930).

Join two world-class writers and old friends, Garth Nix and Felicity Packard as they discuss their childhood and University years growing up in Canberra, to their most recent venture together, working on a pilot adapted from Garth’s Old Kingdom books for Amazon Studios. Having sold more than five million books around the world, you will often see Garth Nix books listed in the New York Times bestseller lists, the Guardian and the Australian, with his work being translated into forty languages. His award-winning fantasy novels for young adults include Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen and Clariel, Shade’s Children, A Confusion of Princes and Newts Emerald. Garth has been a full-time writer from 2001, having previously worked as a literary agent, book editor, book publicist, bookseller and part-time soldier in the Army Reserve. Felicity Packard is a freelance screenwriter, script editor and producer with her name frequenting Australian screens. Felicity was one of the creators and writers of the true-crime drama franchise Underbelly, wrote and associate produced Wolf Creek season one for Stan, and most recently created and wrote for the Netflix political spy miniseries Pine Gap. She has won the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for screenwriting and has won five-Australian Writers’ Guild Awards. Over her career spanning more than two decades, she has written hundreds of hours of Australian television drama for shows including Janet King, MDA, G.P. Blue Heelers and Home & Away.

Join award-winning author Helen Ennis as she shares her experience with Alex Sloan about writing the moving and powerful biography of modernist photographer, Olive Cotton. Olive Cotton was a significant artist and pioneer whose talent was recognised as equal to her first husband's, Max Dupain. Olive and Max could have been Australia's answer to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, but in the early 1940s, Cotton quit their marriage and Sydney studio lifestyle to live with second husband, Ross McInerney and raised their two children in a tent on a farm near Cowra. Despite the barriers of this new lifestyle and not having access to a dark room, Olive continued her photography away from the public eye until she was shot back to fame in 1985 by a landmark exhibition in Sydney, and a major retrospective at the AGNSW in 2000. A moving story about talent and creativity, Emeritus Professor Ennis explores the life of Olive Cotton and what it means for an artist to manage the competing demands of art, work, marriage, children and family. Helen Ennis won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction for her biography Margaret Michaelis: Love, loss and photography, which was also judged Best Book by the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand. Her research on Olive Cotton has been supported by the Australia Council Literature Board, a Peter Blazey Fellowship, and the ABR/George Hicks Foundation Fellowship. Formerly Curator of Photography at the National Gallery of Australia, Helen went on to become Director of the Centre for Art History and Art Theory and Sir William Dobell Chair of Art History at ANU School of Art & Design. Since 2000 she has curated eight major exhibitions for the National Library of Australia, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery of Australia and other cultural exhibitions. Now Emeritus Professor, Helen is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. Alex Sloan AM has been a journalist for 30 years, including over 27 years as a broadcaster with the ABC. An award-winning journalist, Alex is highly regarded as an MC, interviewer and facilitator including: The ANU Meet The Author events, The National Library, National Museum of Australia, National Gallery of Australia and National Portrait Gallery. In 2017 Alex was named Canberra Citizen of the Year and is a member of the ACT Architects Board. At the national level, Alex is a director of The Australia Institute and The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

Anyone who has a book collection and a garden wants for nothing.” – Cicero Bibliophile Rex Nan Kivell agreed with Cicero. He spent his life collecting rare books now generously shared with Australians through the Library, and he gardened at his a mansion El Farah, in Tangier. Hear about some of the exceptional books and printed items acquired by one of the greatest collectors of the 20th century and his gardening interests. A Treasures Gallery Access Program, supported by National Library Patrons.

Join us as Morris Gleitzman outlines why young people need stories now more than ever. Stories to delight, stories to beguile, stories to inspire, stories to move deeply. And through these experiences, stories that equip young readers to embrace an often dark and uncertain world with optimism, resolve and creativity. Stories have always been at the centre of our discourse. They help us explore what is it to be human, and what might be possible in our lives. Our young people face many challenges in the decades ahead as they explore what is possible for our human enterprise. Central among the things that will help equip them for this journey are stories. Morris Gleitzman has been a bestselling Australian children’s author for more than thirty years and is the current Australian Children's Laureate. His books explore serious and sometimes confronting subjects in humorous and unexpected ways. His titles include Two Weeks With The Queen, Grace, Doubting Thomas, Bumface, Toad Rage, Give Peas A Chance, Extra Time, Loyal Creatures, Help Around The House, and the series Once, Then, Now, After, Soon and Maybe. Morris lives in Brisbane and Sydney, and his books are published in more than twenty countries. Supported by the Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust

Think about the children’s books that you see on the selves of Australian bookstores. How many of these books provide insight into non-Western cultures? How many are translations? Multicultural books are important because they can provide windows into other cultures and introduce readers to new ideas. They can also help readers from under-represented groups see themselves reflected in literature. This talk will highlight a range of multicultural picture books that celebrate cultural diversity, focusing on the relationship between word and image and how the verbal and the visual elements work together to produce a dynamic story.

In conversation with writer Chris Hammer, internationally best-selling crime writer Michael Connelly brings to life - once again - Harry Bosch and LAPD Detective Renee Ballard in the impalpable case of The Night Fire. In association with Allen & Unwin.

Burbang is the Wiradjuri word for Ceremony. In a ceremony, the ritual repeats unchanged, however, the participant arrives each time with greater wisdom and hierarchical standing and can 'peel back' the significance of the ceremony's embedded knowledge. Independent choreographer and dancer, Joel Bray, will share his research into traditional Indigenous ceremonial practices and how it will inform his new project, Burbang, a work of immersive dance-theatre. Joel Bray is the National Library’s 2019 Creative Arts Fellow. He a choreographer, a performer with CHUNKY MOVE, a NEXT GEN creator of BlakDance, and a proud Wiradjuri man whose work and performances have been seen and toured nationally and internationally. The 2019 Creative Arts Fellowship is generously supported by the Friends of the National Library of Australia Inc.

We are despised, yet we grow. We are tortured and crucified and yet we flourish. We are hated and still we multiply. Why is that? You must wonder, how is it we survive?' Christos Tsiolkas' stunning new novel Damascus is a work of soaring ambition and achievement, of immense power and epic scope, taking as its subject nothing less than events surrounding the birth and establishment of the Christian church. Based around the gospels and letters of St Paul, and focusing on characters one and two generations on from the death of Christ, as well as Paul (Saul) himself, Damascus nevertheless explores the themes that have always obsessed Tsiolkas as a writer: class, religion, masculinity, patriarchy, colonisation, refugees; the ways in which nations, societies, communities, families and individuals are united and divided - it's all here, the contemporary and urgent questions, perennial concerns made vivid and visceral. In Damascus, Tsiolkas has written a masterpiece of imagination and transformation: an historical novel of immense power and an unflinching dissection of doubt and faith, tyranny and revolution, and cruelty and sacrifice.

Dr Laura Millar, independent consultant and scholar in records, archives, and information management, discussed her new publication A Matter of Facts: the Value of Evidence in an Information Age. The safeguarding of authentic facts is essential, especially in this disruptive Orwellian age, where digital technologies have opened the door to a post-truth world in which “alternative facts” can be so easily accepted as valid. As Dr. Millar argues in her book, because facts matter, evidence matters. In her talk, she made the case that authentic and accurate records, archives, data, and other sources of documentary proof are crucial in supporting and fostering a society that is respectful, democratic, and self-aware. Dr Millar has consulted with governments, universities, professional associations, and other agencies around the world, from advising national governments on electronic records management to consulting with aboriginal communities on the preservation of indigenous sources of evidence. She is the author of several award-winning publications and has taught in several universities in Canada and internationally.

Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Wiradjuri woman, writer, artist and activist, passed away on July 2019 shortly before her memoir and final piece of writing was published. Fellow writers and activists, Yvette Holt and Samantha Falkner, joined us to pay their respects to Aunty Kerry. Reflecting on and celebrating her life and writing, they spoke to Kerry’s latest and final piece of work The Cherry Picker’s Daughter. The Cherry Picker’s Daughter explores Kerry’s story of love and loss, repeated dislocation, dispossession and the impact of life as an Aboriginal state ward living under the terror of Protection laws. During her childhood, fruit-picking meant the difference between going hungry or having a roof over your head. Kerry’s final piece of writing encompasses her early life, leading us through memories of losing her mother, her father imprisoned for her the murder of her mother, and the vital strength of family ties in Aboriginal communities while surviving the White Australia Policy and everyday racism. Kerry Reed-Gilbert was a Wiradjuri woman, writer, artist and activist and the inaugural Chairperson of the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN). She was a member of the ACT Us Mob Writing (UMW) group and was FNAWN co-editor for the Ora Nui Journal collaboration between First Nations Australia writers and Maori writers. Kerry conducted writing workshops nationally and internationally and her poetry and prose have been published in many journals and anthologies internationally. Yvette Henry Holt is a national multi-award-winning poet, academic, serial photographer and habitual hiker, heralding from the Yiman, Wakaman and Bidjara Nations’ of Queensland. Her poetry has been widely published, translated and anthologised in both in print and online. In 2005 Yvette was awarded the Queensland Premier’s David Unaipon Award for her manuscript, anonymous premonition (UQP), the Victorian Premier’s Literary for Indigenous Writing in 2008, Scanlon Poetry Prize NSW 2008, Kate Challis RAKA Award 2010. Samantha Falkner is the current Chairperson for US Mob Writing Group of which Kerry was a member. Samantha is a Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal woman from the Wuthuthi / Yadhaigana peoples, Cape York Peninsula and Badu and Moa Islands, Torres Strait. She is the author of Life Blong Ali Drummond: A Life in the Torres Strait, published in 2007 by Aboriginal Studies Press. She has performed at several festivals and conferences and has had poetry and prose published: locally and nationally.

Why did Mr Chicken go to Paris? Why do two blankets change the way we see the world? Why do animals give us insights into ourselves? Join our star-studded panel as illustrators Freya Blackwood, Leigh Hobbs and Alison Lester discuss the ways in which characters are created and go on to warm the hearts of children and readers worldwide. As children, the ways in which we see the world are often shaped from our favourite children’s books and characters, leaving us with a nostalgic vulnerability well into adulthood. Take the opportunity to hear about the creative process from three industry leading illustrators. Image 1. Leigh Hobbs at Drawing board, photo by Robert Littlewood

NAIDOC Week celebrations (NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’) on 7-14 July are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. We were joined by Dr Lynette Riley, Aunty Diane Riley-McNaboe and Shannan Dodson for part two of our NAIDOC Week event. They discussed the struggles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in campaigning for their rights and recognition of their cultures.

NAIDOC Week celebrations (NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’) on 7-14 July are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Join Dr Elizabeth Burrows in part 1 of this presentation as she discusses her research. Carry on to Part 2 with Shannan Dodson, Lynette Riley and Diane Riley-McNaboe for a seminar about the struggles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in campaigning for their rights and recognition of their cultures.

Public Life, Private Man: Writing the Biography of Alfred Deakin The core challenge of political biography is to answer the question, ‘why politics?’. What inner need did it fulfil, and what emotional and psychological resources were mustered for its accomplishment? These questions are harder to answer for Alfred Deakin than for less complex political leaders. Deakin was a gifted orator and successful politician who was a father of federation and Australia’s most significant prime minister until the Second World War. Yet he was also a deeply private man, with an intense intellectual and spiritual life, who wondered often if politics was the right path for him. The 2019 Seymour Biography Lecture was delivered by emeritus professor and political historian Judith Brett, who will discussed the tensions and synergies between Deakin’s public and private lives. In 2017, Brett published The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, the final addition to her trilogy of books on the history of Australian Liberals. The first full-length study of Deakin in more than 50 years, The Enigmatic Mr Deakin went on to win the 2018 National Biography Award. Brett’s prior publications include Robert Menzies' Forgotten People, Australian Liberals and the Moral Middle Class: From Alfred Deakin to John Howard and this year’s From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting. The Seymour Biography Lecture is supported by Dr John Seymour and Mrs Heather Seymour AO.

In this passionate and timely account, Emily Maguire charts a course through the history of Australian feminism—from the First Wave to the Fourth, from suffragists to Riot Grrrls, from equal pay to #metoo. Along the way, she pays tribute to those who’ve spoken up and taken action in the face of ridicule, dismissal and violence. This Is What a Feminist Looks Like shows us how we got to where we are today—and reminds us that some battles must be fought over and over again. Author, Emily Maguire and Zoya Patel joined us in conversation to further investigate these themes. Emily Maguire Emily Maguire is the author of five novels, including An Isolated Incident which was shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year and the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her 2008 non-fiction book Princesses and Pornstars: Sex, Power, Identity was a frank, personal examination of what it meant to be young and female in Australia. A Young Adult version of this book titled Your Skirt’s Too Short: Sex, Power, Choice was published in 2010. Emily works as a teacher and as a mentor to young and emerging writers and was the 2018 Writer-in-Residence at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney. Zoya Patel Zoya Patel is a writer, editor and communications professional, based in Canberra. Her debut book, No Country Woman, a collection of memoir essays on race, identity and the diaspora is out now through Hachette Australia. In 2015, Zoya was named ACT Young Woman of the Year for her commitment to raising the profile of women’s voices in the media. She is the founder and editor of Feminartsy, an online feminist arts and literature journal, and is the former Editor-In-Chief of Lip Magazine. She has written for a number of publications, including The Canberra Times, Right Now, Junkee, Women’s Agenda, and more.