As 1995 ended, Professor Matthews had discussions with Western Australian Agent-General, Mr Bill Hassell, concerning a WA Government contribution to the Centre's Mabo Conference and had preliminary discussions with Rebecca Hossack and Deputy High Commissioner, David Goss, to plan the 1996 Literary Links program.
On resumption in January, he invited award-winning Australian children's author, Gillian Rubenstein, to visit the Centre and also met newly arrived Australian Ph.D. student, Ms Anne Genovese, who will be working from time to time at the Menzies Centre. On 15 January, Professor Nicholas Zurbrugg, Simon de Montfort University, Leicester, visited Professor Matthews to establish connections with the Centre and provide information on developments at De Montfort in media and related studies. On 16 January, Professor Matthews had substantial discussions with Professor Margaret Clunies Ross, newly elected President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, on matters of general mutual interest and in particular, on recent plans for closer ties and joint actions between the Centre and the Academy which Professor Matthews had been discussing with outgoing Academy Secretary, Professor John Mulvaney. On 17 January, Professor Matthews was the guest of South Australian Agent-General, Mr Geoff Walls, at an Australia House function marking the impact of Barossa Valley Wines in the UK and he had further consultations with winemaker, Mr Peter Lehman in the interest of exploring sponsorship opportunities. On 30 January, he chaired the Centre's annual Trevor Reese Memorial Lecture (see elsewhere this issue), given by Dr Peter Read and on 31 January he continued editorial consultations with Lord Williams of Elvel, author of a forthcoming biography of Don Bradman.
On 2 February, Professor Matthews resumed chairmanship of the NILE Committee (National and International Literatures in English) in order to set in motion sub-committee consideration of the content of the proposed MA course. On 5 February he travelled to Leicester University where he gave a paper entitled 'Hoax and Sensation in Australian Cultural Life' to staff and postgraduates. On 6 February, at the invitation of the Oxford University Australia-New Zealand Society, he gave a talk at their annual function at New College and on 7 February he welcomed participants and audience to the Centre's half-day Conference - 'Australia Goes to The Polls' - convened by Nick Economou. On 8 February he was a guest of the Australian Film Festival for its launch at the Barbican Cinema; on 9 February he had discussions with Mr Matt Trinca, journalist, currently Ph.D. student (and, incidentally, brother of former Australian European correspondent and loyal SRMCAS supporter, Helen Trinca who has now returned to Sydney), who will be working from time to time with the Centre. On 12 February he welcomed Ms Allison Jones, MUP Marketing Manager, to the Centre to discuss possible joint projects and on 15 February, at the invitation of the Literary Links Committee, he gave a reading of his own work at Australia House (see elsewhere in this issue). From 17 to 23 February, Professor Matthews was in Prague where he visited Charles University and met Dr Martin Prochaska - one of the moving spirits behind the successful Australian lectureship in Prague - and Dr Tim Mares, formerly of the University of Adelaide, who is the present incumbent and who played a crucial role in getting the co-operative venture started. Closer connections between the Centre and Charles University were discussed and Professor Matthews was happy to offer whatever advice he could on the future strategies of the program. On 27 February, with Menzies Centre Management Committee Chair, Michael Cook AO, Professor Matthews attended a lunch hosted by His Excellency Dr Blewett, the Australia High Commissioner, at his residence, The Lodge, to address guests from Australian industrial and other business interests in London on the Menzies Centre's future plans and aspirations. Guests included: Mr David Goss, Deputy High Commission, Mr Ian Strachan, Managing Director, BTR plc, Mr Graham Dytor, Managing Director, Boral Operations Europe, Mr Glenn Barnes, Chief General Manager, National Australia Bank, Mr Peter Roennfeldt, Qantas Regional Manager UK& Ireland, and Mr Graeme Irving, General Manager and Risk Management ANZ Bank (representing Mr A Bommakanti). On 28 February, Professor Matthews welcomed Dr Norbert Platz, University of Trier, to discuss contributions which Dr Platz was keen to propose for the Literary Links program; and also, former Editor of the Melbourne Age, Observer journalist and biographer, Michael Davie, to brief him on his coming visit to Australia to carry out research for current writing projects. On 29 February, Professor Matthews travelled to the University of Wales at Lampeter to give a public lecture to a large audience from the University and the town on issues related to the so-called Demidenko Affair.
On 4 March, Professor Matthews welcomed Professor Tim Nelson, University of New England, on a visit to the Centre and, over the next few days, consulted with the Australia-France Foundation at the Australian Embassy in Paris concerning the organisation of the Foundation's annual Australian Studies conference. On 8 March, Professor Matthews arranged for Australian writer, Gillain Bouras, to attend this conference. On 21 March he was interviewed by THES journalist, Huw Richards, on aspects of the Australian election result and on 22 March he welcomed Dr Syd Harrex (Flinders University) and Dr Sudesh Mishra (USP) on their arrival at the Centre from which base they will be working in London and attending conferences in Warwick and Oviedo. On 28 March Professor Matthews and his wife, Jane Arms, hosted a farewell at their home for Nick Economou and his family.
On 2 April, Professor Matthews was the luncheon guest of Mr Peter Roennfeldt, Qantas Regional Manager for the UK and Ireland, to discuss formalisation of a sponsorship relationship between Qantas and the Centre and on 3 April he travelled to Paris at the invitation of the Australia-France Foundation to speak at the third annual Australian Studies conference - a gathering of which he was an initiator, along with Ms Lyn Tuit, in 1994.
Tom Griffiths spent part of November and December in Australia working with Dr Tim Bonyhady on the organisation of a conference and book in honour of Professor John Mulvaney (see conference report in this issue). He also met with the following people to discuss future funding options for the Menzies Centre: Professor Deryck Schreuder, Professor Alan Gilbert, Professor Anthony Low, Professor Pat Grimshaw, Professor Peter Spearritt, Mr John Arnold, and officers of the International Division of the Department of Employment, Education and Training (Mr John Rowling, Ms Ruth Bayley and Ms Ellen Wood). Dr Griffiths also met with Mr Paul Wand, Vice President - Aboriginal Relations, CRA Limited, to discuss the Centre's Aboriginal Land Rights conference, and CRA agreed to financially support the conference and to send Mr Wand as a speaker. On 25 January, Dr Griffiths attended the Admiral Arthur Phillip Memorial Service and Lecture at St Mary Le Bow Church. The annual lecture was given by the Australian scientist, Professor Robert May. On 7 February, Dr Griffiths spoke at the Centre's half day conference entitled 'Australia Goes to the Polls'. On 28 February, Dr Griffiths gave a public lecture in Dublin for the Irish Centre for Australian Studies on `Secrets of the Forest: Writing Environmental History'. From March 3 to 10, he visited Hungary at the invitation of Dr Dorottya Hollo of Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, and Dr Agnes Toth of Kossuth University, Debrecen. Dr Griffiths took classes in Australian Studies at both universities, and gave a public lecture in Budapest on `European collectors and Australian Aborigines'. In Debrecen, he met with Dr Zoltan Abadi-Nagy and Dr Istvan Racz, both great supporters of Australian Studies at Kossuth University.
On 11 March, Dr Griffiths gave the after-dinner speech at the Annual General Meeting of the University of Melbourne Alumni Association (UK Branch) in London. The Menzies Centre and the Alumni Association are currently exploring closer links. On 12 April, Dr Griffiths attended the Society of Natural History's Oxford conference on `Empires of Nature'. He also continued organisation of the Aboriginal Land Rights Conference in April, and has been working with Libby Robin on the forthcoming Qantas 'Ecology and Empire' conference, to be held on 19-20 September.
And farewell....
Nick continued the great tradition of the Monash Lectureship at the Centre by being a dynamic presence, a great teacher and innovator and a well-known and respected media commentator on Australian political life. He will be very sorely missed and all at SRMCAS and ICS wish him success in his resumed career at Monash. Meanwhile, negotiations are under way to ensure that there is a successor . . .
Ruth Brown continues to work on a range of topics within Australian and New Zealand studies. Recent articles include 'Australian heritage and English Culture: The Church and Literature in England in Oscar and Lucinda' in Australian Literary Studies vol 17 no 2 1995, and 'The Country, the City and The Tree of Man' in The Modern Language Review vol 90 no 4 1995. 'The Australian Suburb from Nino Culotta to Simon During' in Australian Studies no 9, and 'From Keneally to Wertenbaker: Sanitising the System' in a Cassells/Leicester University press publication are forthcoming. At the EASA conference in Copenhagen in October she gave a paper on 'European-style farming by Aborigines in nineteenth century Australia'
In January she was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 about British perceptions of New Zealand, and she has held seminars on the New Zealand film Once Were Warriors at the Commonwealth Institute in January, and Kingston University in March. She is co-organiser of a seminar series on New Zealand held at ICS, and a day conference to be held at New Zealand House on May 30.
She is currently working on the relationship between new information technologies and national identity, and hopes to be on-line herself before participating in 'Australian Studies and the Shrinking Periphery: Surfing the Net for Australia' at Lampeter in June.
Sara Joynes is currently in Australia.
Ros returned from Australia in late December. On 9 November, in Darwin, she gave the Northern Territory Library Oration (the successor to the Eric Johnston Lectures), titled Lost Conversations: Recovered Archives, in which she discussed the making of the 1940s film Namatjira the Painter in relation to the Territory as a site for image-making in the post-war decade. She considered the significance of the subsequent re-inscriptions of the film as palimpsest.
While in Canberra she worked on the design stage of the book: Encounter at Nagalarramba, to be published mid-year, by the National Library of Australia. The core of the book is a visual narrative of the photographs taken by Axel Poignant (her late husband) on the Liverpool River, Arnhem Land, in 1952. It draws on his diary notes, and Aboriginal recollections, and positions the encounter in a broader history of encounter on the Arnhem Land coast. (The research for this project was grant-aided by AIATSIS.)
Since her return she has continued with the research and writing for the project: Captive Aboriginal Lives, in preparation for a book, and an exhibition in collaboration with the National Library of Australia, towards the end of 1997. It is about the removal overseas , in the late 19th century, of two groups of North Queensland Aborigines, who were exhibited in circuses, dime museums, international exhibitions and in the anthropological laboratory. (Research in America was partly sponsored by the British Academy.)
She returned in time for the launch of the exhibition Impossible Science of Being, at the Photographers' Gallery, which she co-curated with Chris Pinney and Chris Wright on behalf of the Royal Anthropological Institute. It explored 19th century anthropology's photographic legacy in conjunction with 3 contemporary artists who use photography: Zarina Bhimji, Faisal Abdu'Allah and Dave Lewis, who are members of Autograph, the black photographers' cooperative.
Concurrently: The exhibition Mangrove Creek 1951, curated by Ros, is showing at Australia Post Gallery, Melbourne; the exhibition It's About Friendship: Rom, a ceremony from Arnhem Land, is showing at the Australian Museum, Sydney. Also co-curated by Ros, this exhibition is a collaboration between AIATSIS, The National Museum, and The National Library.
Before leaving for Australia in October 1995, Dr Libby Robin presented a paper entitled `Urban Politics, Wild Places: the Story of the Little Desert National Park' at the Menzies Centre conference on People and Place (soon to be published as part of the Menzies Centre publications program).
Libby Robin spent October�January in Australia, working on archival sources in Canberra and Melbourne. She presented a paper on `Conservation, Ecology and Antiscience Politics: Reflections on Environmental Activism in 1950s Australia' at her home department of Politics, at La Trobe University. Whilst in Canberra she participated in a one�day seminar on `The Literature of Australian Natural History', at the Australian Defence Force Academy, presenting a paper on Professor Jock Marshall entitled `Blowing the Whistle: The Great Extermination and political nature writing', which is to be published in a collection edited by Nick Drayson.
Libby has continued her work on the editorial board of Metascience, an international review journal for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science, commissioning reviews of books in the field of the history of ecology and the environmental sciences. Her own review of Richard Grove's Green Imperialism was recently published in Metascience.
Since returning from Australia, Libby has been working with Tom Griffiths on the forthcoming conference, Ecology and Empire: Environmental History in Australia and other Settler Societies, to be held at the Australian High Commission on 19�20 September, 1996. She has also attended a conference on the `Empires of Nature' at Oxford University in April.
Jane Samson is in Canada on a Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship.
The Menzies Centre was delighted to continue its support for Australian Studies in Hungary through a recent visit to Budapest and Debrecen by Tom Griffiths. There has been great enthusiasm for Australian Studies in Hungary since it was established with the assistance of the Menzies Centre in 1991-2. It remains a successful and vital initiative due to the efforts of talented and committed local teachers. Tom Griffiths' visit was coordinated by Dorottya Hollo, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of English and Applied Linguistics in the School of English and American Studies at Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, and Agnes Toth, Assistant Professor in the Institute of English and American Studies in the North American Department of Lajos Kossuth University, Debrecen.
Those wishing to learn more about the origins of Australian Studies in Hungary can consult earlier issues of this Newsletter, or read the special 1992 issue (volume XXIII) of Hungarian Studies in English, which is devoted to Australia. That journal, which is published at Kossuth University, is now entitled Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, and solicits articles relating to Australia.
The Menzies Centre is delighted to note that the three winners of the Age Book of the Year awards for 1995 were signed up for various London activities well before their recently enhanced fame. Chris Wallace-Crabbe, whose Selected Poems won the Age Book of the Year award, performed at one of our `Literary Links' functions, organised jointly with the Australian High Commission, last May. Rod Jones, whose novel Billy Sunday won the Age Fiction Book of the Year award, was Writer-in-Residence at the Menzies Centre in September-November 1995. And Tim Flannery, whose ecological history The Future Eaters won the Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year award, will be one of the speakers at the Centre's forthcoming Ecology and Empire conference on 19-20 September this year. The Menzies Centre congratulates these three writers - and itself for picking the winners!
The Sir Robert Menzies Centre maintains a small library of Australian material, for which books are collected on an ad-hoc basis through donations. If you would like to donate Australian books to the library please contact Ms Louise McSeveny at the Centre.
Thank you to the following people who have donated to the library and the work of the Centre:
Australian High Commission
Margaret Millar
Isabelle Devereux
Tom Griffiths
Clare McKenna
Heather Rae & Chris Reus-Smit
Beth Wilson
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