Harold White Fellows Conference

Conference Program

See also: An Open Book program (PDF format)

An Open Book:
Research, Imagination and the Pursuit of Knowledge


Friday 29 April – Sunday 1 May 2005
National Library of Australia , Canberra

Day One—Recollection and Transformation—Friday 29 April

9.30–10 am Registration
10.00–10.05 am Welcome
Jan Fullerton
Director-General, National Library of Australia
10.05–10.15 am Welcome and Opening Remarks
Sir James Gobbo AC
Chair, National Library of Australia Council

Morning Theme: Absence and Memory

10.15–11 am

Keynote Address: Kenneth Binns Lecture
The Problem of History
The complex nature of history, its connections to research and ways of reading the 'collective memory' represented by the Library's diverse holdings.
Speaker: Geoffrey Bolton
Chair: Margy Burn

11–11.30 am Morning tea
11.30am–12.20 pm Session 2: Panel Session
People, Politics and the Historical Record
How do the public and private lives of people connect, and what do major research collections reveal about important public figures?
Speakers: Ian Hancock, Carl Bridge , Ross McMullin
Chair: Iain McCalman
12.20–2 pm Lunch

Afternoon Theme: The Creative Impulse

2pm–2.50 pm Session 3:
An Imaginative Life
Diverse reflections on how writers use research material to invent fictional worlds or to explore another's life.
Speakers: Frank Moorhouse, David Branagan
Chair: Bruce Bennett
2.50–3.30 pm Afternoon tea
3.30–4.20 pm Session 4:
A Critical Record
Material relating to Judith Wright, Ray Mathews and Lisa Fitch features in the Library's collections. How have writers and critics made use of such material in writing about their subjects?
Speakers: Tom Shapcott, Sara Dowse, Veronica Brady
Chair: Marie-Louise Ayres
4.30–6 pm Conference Reception
National Library of Australia Foyer

Day Two: The Research Adventure—Saturday 30 April

Morning Theme: The Road Less Travelled

10–10.50 am Session 5:
Personal Records, Vital Insights
New insights to Nettie and Vance Palmer and Christina Stead have been made possible through the Library's holdings.
Speakers: Maryanne Dever, Margaret Harris
Chair: Linda Groom
10.50–11.30 am Morning tea
11.30am–12.20 pm Session 6:
New Perspectives in Research
Received views about Indigenous Australians, Australian folklore and the French Revolution are reconsidered in this session about how researchers make fresh conections and reassess established ideas.
Speakers: Michael McClellan, Carole Carpenter, Martin Thomas
Chair: Pam Gatenby
12.20–2 pm Lunch

Afternoon Theme: Places and People

2–2.50 pm Session 7:
Researching a Landscape
The Australian environment in the 1960s and 1970s, and river navigation charts, provide opportunities to consider our connections to place.
Speakers: John Warhurst, Jane Roberts
Chair: Warwick Cathro
2.50–3.30 pm Afternoon tea
3.30–4.20 pm Session 8:
Researching a Life
The panellists discuss how they have approached the task of writing about Rosa Praed, Germaine Greer, Barry Humphries, Clive James, Robert Hughes and the wrestler, Big Chief Little Wolf.
Speakers: Patricia Clarke, Ian Britain, Barry York
Chair: Ian Donaldson
6 pm Conference Dinner
Venue: The Ottoman Restaurant, Barton. A fine dining experience with an entertaining after-dinner performance by the dynamic duo Shortis and Simpson.

Day Three: Patterns of Change—Sunday 1 May

Morning Theme: Diversity and Difference

10–10.50 am Session 9:
Exploring Difference
The lives of Christian missionaries in China; language and cultural differences in the Torres Strait – both are examples of how all communities are composed of various and sometimes divergent parts.
Speakers: Ryan Dunch, Anna Shnukal
Chair: Robyn Holmes
10.50–11.30 am Morning tea
11.30am–12.20 pm Session 10:
Crossing Cultures, Crossing Languages
People journey in all sorts of ways. A discussion of how different cultures intersect and are changed in the process.
Speakers: Keiko Tamura, Christa Knellwolf, Andrew Hassam
Chair: Ian McCalman
12.20–2 pm Lunch

Afternoon Theme: Research and Renewal

2–2.50 pm Session 11:
The Researcher as Contemporary Commentator
Current debates and contemporary issues are at the heart of a great deal of research, whether it is about religious belief, the media or science and technology.
Speakers: Benjamin Penny, Bridget Griffen-Foley, Ann Moyal
Chair: Peter Rose
2.50–3.30pm Afternoon tea
3.30–4.20pm Session 12:
Researching Lore of the Land
An understanding of key aspects of the past can illuminate contemporary issues and help everyone to imagine the future.
Speaker: Henry Reynolds
Chair: Peter Read
4.20–4.30pm Closing Remarks
Jan Fullerton
Director-General, National Library of Australia

Back to the top