Events

Australia has a rich and diverse literary heritage - but much of it is out of print and unavailable to buy or borrow. Many acclaimed novels, powerful poetry collections, ground-breaking plays, award-winning histories and beloved children’s books are no longer considered commercially viable by publishers. Yet they have enormous cultural value and should be available and accessible to readers. Now more of them will be.

Join us for the online launch of ‘Untapped: the Australian Literary Heritage Project’ to hear how a collective of libraries, authors and researchers are working together to digitise important Australian books to make them available for lending. Hear about the lost culture this work is reclaiming, and how it will support arts workers affected by COVID. Nominate your favourite lost works that you think should be brought back to life!

Hosted by the Hon Julie Dodds-Streeton QC and Associate Professor Rebecca Giblin of Melbourne Law School from Longacres, the historic house of Sir Arthur Streeton, the webinar will feature readings and appearances from some of our most significant authors - some you’ll know well, and others you’ll soon want to know.

How Indigenous people and knowledge can save Australia’s environmental and social unravelling.

Australia is in the midst of both environmental and social crises. With the highest rate of biodiversity loss on earth, the country is facing an ever-increasing barrage of massive catastrophic wildfires that wreak untold environmental damage and its First Peoples are among the most disadvantaged and disaffected demographic. In the 2020 Narrm Oration, Associate Professor Fletcher will argue that many of Australia’s current environmental problems can be traced to the impact of British invasion and the violent and devastating effects this has had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Embedding the Aboriginal world view and notion of Country into mainstream Australia has the potential to benefit the lives and livelihoods of all Australians and our Country.