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This lecture is the first online offering of the 2024 First Nations Stories Series, facilitated by the History Council of New South Wales' Project Officer for First Nations' Histories. For more information about the HCNSW First Nations programs, please see our website: https://historycouncilnsw.org.au/abou...

"History and Memory: Oral Histories and the Science of the Dreaming
The power of recall in oral societies is phenomenal … but many scientists have only just started to understand this and think about its implications. In Australia, some of the stories that have been told longest are about ocean rise after the last ice age and the effects of volcanic eruptions, both topics which are covered in this talk.

Geologist and climate scientist, Patrick Nunn, Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, has written extensively about how many ‘myths and legends’ are not fictions but culturally-filtered memories."

Many thanks for Patrick for sharing his work and his insights. For more information about Patrick's work, see his website: https://patricknunn.org/

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Credits:
- Music by licence with Canva: Ecg, Blackout Memories.
- Red dirt background by licence with Canva.
- All images and text in lecture slides supplied by Patrick Nunn.

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HCNSW Cultural Partners:
City of Sydney
Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts
Museums of History NSW
National Archives of Australia
Placemaking NSW
Reserve Bank of Australia
State Library of New South Wales
University of New England
University of Newcastle, School of HCISS
University of New South Wales, School of History & Philosophy
University of Technology Sydney, Australian Centre for Public History

The History Council of NSW is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.

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In this panel, staged by the History Council of NSW at the 2024 Sydney Writers Festival, three award-winning Australian historians discuss the dual art of crafting histories and captivating narratives for diverse audiences.

Our authors, Dr Margaret Cook, Dr Shannyn Palmer and Nicole Cama, explore the dynamics of writing and presenting histories that respond to questions and ideas with relevance to national or local interest, as well as seeking to tell stories that resonate with larger audiences. Chaired by A/Prof Jan Láníček, the authors delve into the nuanced artistry required to bridge the gap between academic excellence and accessibility.

Our esteemed panelists share insights into their approaches, discussing the challenges of balancing scholarly integrity with storytelling prowess. They explore strategies for making complex historical contexts accessible without oversimplification and maintaining authenticity while appealing to diverse reader interests.

Panelists:

Dr. Margaret Cook

As an historian, Margaret Cook is fascinated by water and its interaction with humans, animals and the environment over time. She writes about climate-related disasters with a particular focus on rivers and floods and is the author of A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods. Margaret is a Research Fellow at the Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University and La Trobe University.

Dr. Shannyn Palmer

Shannyn Palmer is a community-engaged practitioner, cultural consultant and award-winning writer. She works with cultural institutions and communities to facilitate ethical community engaged practice and enable meaningful intercultural collaborations. She is particularly interested in community engaged practice as a methodology for disrupting settler colonial systems and knowledge. She has a PhD in History from the Australian National University and her first book, Unmaking Angas Downs: Myth and History on a Central Australian Pastoral Station, won the 2023 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Australian History and the 2023 Northern Territory Chief Minister’s History Book Award.

Nicole Cama

Nicole Cama is an historian with the City of Sydney Council with experience in museums, heritage and public history. Her work has been published across a range of platforms including radio, websites, print publications, social media, mobile applications and exhibition displays. In 2023, she was awarded the History Council of NSW’s Macquarie University-PHA Applied History Award for her work, ‘Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst’, a digital history project mapping the people and places of the street from the 1840s to the 1940s using the City of Sydney Archives, produced for the Australian Centre for Public History, University of Technology Sydney.

Chair: Associate Professor Jan Láníček

Jan Láníček is Associate Professor in Modern European and Jewish History at UNSW Sydney. He received a PhD from the University of Southampton in Britain in 2011 and has published widely on the history of the Holocaust and Central Europe. He is currently completing a study of post-Holocaust judicial retribution in Czechoslovakia and also researches Jewish migration to Australia before World War II. Jan is also a member of the General Council of the History Council of New South Wales.

Thanks to the Sydney Writers Festival for enabling our participation in the festival, the State Library of NSW for providing the venue and audio recording services, and the NSW Government, through Create NSW for their funding support.

Music: Inspiring Classical by PineAppleMusic. License purchased from AudioJungle.

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Historians Professor Catharine Coleborne and Dr James Dunk discuss the depth of historical writing about mental illness in Australia and reflect on its resonance in the present moment; how can we write the history of mental health now?
Chair: Dr Effie Karageorgos

This event is held in partnership with the University of Newcastle’s Future of Madness Network.

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