Annual lecture

2024 Academy Lecture

Event details ‘Australians—the aristocrats of Asia?’ Donald Horne dedicated a full chapter of The Lucky Country to challenge Australians to take Asia more seriously. In 1964, Australians clearly needed reminding that, rather than being just off the coast from Portsmouth, in fact, we were just off the coast of Denpasar. In the sixty years since […]

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How should we conceptualise the human in an Anthropocene world?

Event details This lecture occurred on 15 November 2023. A recording is available here.  The Anthropocene is understood to be a new geological epoch in which human activities dominate Earth’s surface processes. If the Anthropocene is defined by the activities and impacts of people, it is paradoxically also a period that may shortly be out

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Being Humane: A Contested History

Photo: T.J. Thomson“I reference two areas: our demonisation and inhumane treatment of refugees and asylum seekers; and our inability to recognise the distinctive rights that Indigenous Australians hold as the original peoples of this land” Professor Damousi said. “Under Menzies, post-war Australia evoked an unprecedented humanitarian response, opening its arms to those dispossessed, largely from

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Australian Academy of the Humanities recognises Australia’s First Nations Peoples as the traditional owners and custodians of this land, and their continuous connection to country, community and culture.