About the Conference

A National Library of Australia conference, incorporating the Kenneth Binns Lecture.

Supported by the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) Cultural Fund and the Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust .

Saturday and Sunday 2-3 April, NLA Theatre, LG1

How do we share the stories of our past? Join some of Australia’s finest writers, historians and creative artists as they explore the way we write about, interpret and share our history. What happens when the historical record meets the imagination? Is journalism history’s first draft? How do personal accounts shape and reshape the historical record? What do we do when history gets turned on its head? And just what does it mean when a story is ‘true’?

The conference will open with the Kenneth Binns Lecture, which is generously supported by Alison Sanchez. The keynote address is by Christopher Koch AO.

Featured speakers include: Edwin Barnard, Michael Caulfied, Andrew Croome, Gideon Haigh, David Horner, Grace Karskens, Robert Kenny, Malcolm Knox, Anna Krien, Kristina Olsson, Joanne Scott, Alistair Thomson.

Due to unforeseen circumstances neither Kate Grenville nor Kim Scott are able to participate in True Stories: Writing History. The program will be updated shortly.

 

Conference Program

Saturday 2 April 2011

9 am                 Registration

9.50 am            Welcome and Opening Remarks

The Hon James J Spigelman, AC

Chair, National Library of Australia Council

10 am               Kenneth Binns Lecture: History and Imagination

Christopher Koch AO

Chair: Warwick Cathro

11 am               Morning Tea in the Foyer

11.30am           Session 2: Writing the Past

How do we share the history of first contact and European settlement?

Grace Karskens, Robert Kenny, James Boyce

Chair: Martin Thomas

12.30 pm Lunchbreak

2 pm                Session 3: Eyewitnesses – The Personal View

How do eyewitness accounts shape and influence the retelling of events, the making of history?

Anna Krien, Kate Darian-Smith, Michael McKernan

 

Chair: Matthew Ricketson

3 pm                Afternoon Tea in the foyer

3.30 pm           Session 4: Breaking News - History’s First Draft

Can journalism tell us the ‘whole story’?

Malcolm Knox, Christine Wallace, Fenella Souter

Chair: Ben Neparstek

 

Sunday 3 April 2011

9.30 am              Registration
10 am                 Session 5: Inspired by History: A Conversation

What happens when history meets fiction?

Kim Scott

Chair: Morag Fraser

11 am                  Morning Tea in the Foyer

11.30 am              Session 6: Behind Closed Doors – Corporate Stories

From James Hardie to ASIO, are corporate histories significant and compelling?

Gideon Haigh, Joanne Scott, David Horner

Chair: Richard Eccles

12.30 pm             Lunchbreak

1.30 pm               Session 7: Missing Pieces – Writing the Unwritten

How do we fill the gaps and speak the silences in the historical record?

Alistair Thomson, Kristina Olsson, Edwin Barnard

Chair: Susan Hall

2.30 pm                Afternoon Tea in the Foyer

3 pm                    Session 8: Turning History on its Head – Re-imagining the Past

What would have happened if? Imagining other pasts and new futures.

Andrew Croome, Shirley Shackleton, Bryce Courtenay

Chair: Zoe Rodriguez

4 pm                     Closing Remarks

Anne-Marie Schwirtlich

Director-General, National Library of Australia