Events

Ever wondered how translation works? In this literary showdown, our translators will go head-to-head, each translating the short story Dua Pengantin from Indonesian novelist and sociologist Okky Madasari into English. As they compare and defend their choices live on stage, join us to discover just how intricate and subjective literary translation can be. Madasari joins the conversation to reflect on seeing her work translated and the challenges and possibilities of writing across languages.

Our translators, Professor Pamela Allen and current PhD candidate Stefanny Irawan, will be expertly moderated by Professor Michael Ewing.

Expect a 60-minute panel discussing Indonesian translation with excerpts read by current University of Melbourne students.

Indonesian Translation Slam is the second session in the New Humanity Makers program from the Melbourne Public Humanities Initiative bringing visionary leaders whose work defies disciplinary boundaries to illuminate their practices.

“The trouble with the women of my generation is that we thought if we knocked the doors down, success would be inevitable: the trouble with the men of your generation is that so many still think that, if they hold the doors open, we will be forever grateful”- the late Mary Gaudron, first woman Justice of the High Court of Australia, speaking at the launch of Australian Women Lawyers.

More than 120 years after Flos Greig became the first woman admitted to legal practice in Australia, women have entered every level of the profession. Yet formal inclusion has not always made progress inevitable. What happens when gains show signs of retreat?

In this lecture, Fiona McLeod AO SC asks what equality before and within the law really looks like, and whether formal access to institutions is enough. From the experiences of Australia’s earliest women lawyers to continuing inequality in the profession, reproductive rights, and the failures of justice systems to protect the vulnerable.

She draws on an extensive career in advocacy, law reform, and pro-bono human rights matters to call for lawyers and the society they serve, to remain informed, active, and not to look away from the uncomfortable stories that move us.

About the lecture series

The Flos Greig Lecture is named after Grata Flos Matilda Greig, the first woman to be admitted to legal practice in Australia. Greig’s determination advanced gender equality in the legal profession in Australia in the early twentieth century, paving the way for other women to follow suit. Upon graduating from the Melbourne Law School in 1903, Greig undertook her articles with Frank Cornwall, later continuing her career with Cornwalls law firm.

We are delighted to have Cornwalls’ involvement in this lecture series, recognising Greig’s pioneering spirit which transformed the basis of admission to the Australian legal profession.