Event Details

Connections, Community and Culture

23 May 2023

2.00pm – 3.30pm AEST

Gallery Room, State Library of NSW

This event has ended

Free for everyone

Talk

UNSW x Sydney Writers' Festival 2023

History is always on the move, with new ideas and fresh perspectives challenging what we thought we knew and where we think we’re headed. Join winners of the 2022 NSW Premier’s History Awards as they cast light on their thought-provoking works that explore the stories of Australian communities that have been shaped by colonisation and what these reveal about our present and future. Alexis Bergantz, Mina Roces, Katherine Biber and Leroy Parsons (The Last Outlaws) and Yandaarra sit down with Emeritus Professor Grace Karstens.

This event is presented by the Sydney Writers' Festival and History Council of NSW.

UNSW SYDNEY X SYDNEY WRITERS' FESTIVAL

UNSW Sydney is the exclusive university sponsor and proud Premier Partner of the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Featuring UNSW academics and researchers on Sydney Writers’ Festival stages, and events at the UNSW Kensington Campus, this partnership brings together a shared vision of creativity, curiosity and thought leadership.

TICKETS & VENUE INFORMATION

Free – registrations essential.

This event will take place live at the State Library of NSW. For all venue and visitor safety information, please visit State Library of NSW.

ACCESS

Wheelchair Access
The wheelchair and pram-friendly entrance is on Macquarie Street, opposite Hunter Street. There are lifts in the building, accessible toilets and baby change room facilities. If you require assisted entry contact the Library on 02 9273 1414 or find our more here.

Accessible Parking
For patrons with a mobility parking sticker, parking spaces at Shakespeare Place, on the corner of Macquarie Street and the Cahill Expressway, are available.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT & PARKING

The closest train stations are Martin Place (200 metres) and St James (450 metres). Ferries arrive into Circular Quay which is only a short walk away. The Sydney Explorer bus stops outside the Library on Macquarie Street, and the nearest parking station is Sydney Hospital, located on Hospital Road. For more information on transport, visit sl.nsw.gov.au/plan-your-visit or visit transportnsw.info,

CONTACT

Sydney Writers' Festival
For all event enquiries, please call the Sydney Writers' Festival on 02 9256 4200 or email ticketing@swf.org.au.

UNSW Centre for Ideas
For all other enquiries, please call the Centre for Ideas on 02 9065 0485 or email
centreforideas@unsw.edu.au.

National Relay Service
The Centre for Ideas and Sydney Writers' Festival are happy to receive phone calls via the National Relay Service. TTY users, phone 133 677, then ask for the applicable organisations phone number (listed above). Speak and Listen users, phone 1300 555 727 then ask for applicable organisations phone number (listed above). Internet relay users, visit relayservice.gov.au, then ask for applicable organisations phone number (listed above).

Speakers

Alexis Bergantz

Alexis Bergantz is a historian of Australia’s entanglements with France and the French Pacific. His first book, French Connection: Australia’s Cosmopolitan Ambitions was published by NewSouth in 2021. He is the author of several journal articles and has contributed to many cultural outlets such as Inside Story, Meanjin, the Canberra Times, the ABC and SBS. He is a Senior Lecturer at RMIT in the Global and Language Studies program.

Katherine Biber

Katherine Biber and Leroy Parsons (The Last Outlaws) - Winners of the Digital History Prize 2022. The Last Outlaws is a collaboration between Professor Katherine Biber (UTS), and the descendants of Jimmy Governor, represented by family historian Aunty Loretta Parsley, and narrator and co-author Leroy Parsons. Created by a team of audio makers, researchers and First Nations cultural consultants, with web design and digital animation. The Last Outlaws also won Gold in Best History and Podcast of the Year at the Australian Podcast Awards.

Leroy Parsons

Mina Roces

Mina Roces is a PhD graduate from The University of Michigan and Professor of History at The University of New South Wales. She is the author of five books: Women, Power and Kinship Politics in Post-War Philippines (1998), Kinship Politics in Post-War Philippines: The Lopez Family, 1946-2000 (2001), Women’s Movements and the Filipina, 1986-2008 (2012), The Filipino Migration Experience: Global Agents of Change (2021), and Gender in Southeast Asia (2022).

Yandaarra

Yandaarra is a collaboration led by Gumbaynggirr Jagun co-founder, Aunty Shaa Smith under the guidance of the Old Fellas and Gumbaynggirr Country with her daughter Neeyan Smith. Yandaarra includes non-Gumbaynggirr academics Sarah Wright, Paul Hodge and Lara Daley from the University of Newcastle and the Jaliigirr Biodiversity Alliance as partners.

Grace Karskens

Grace Karskens is an Emeritus Professor of History in the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales. Her research areas include Australian colonial and cross-cultural history, Aboriginal history and environmental history. Grace is interested in promoting historical understanding and awareness to wide audiences. She began her career as a public historian, served as a Trustee of the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales and is a founding member of the online Dictionary of Sydney. Her books include Inside The Rocks: The Archaeology of a Neighbourhood, the multi-award-winning The Rocks: Life in Early Sydney and The Colony: A History of Early Sydney, which won the 2010 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for non-fiction. Grace's latest book People of the River: Lost Worlds of Early Australia was published by Allen & Unwin in 2020. She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2010 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 2019. At present she is working with Darug people on the collaborative Dyarubbin: The Real Secret River project, funded by the State Library of New South Wales' Coral Thomas Fellowship.