Past Matters and Post Party

The Past Matters. Another success thanks to Meera Govil and Eltham Bookshop and the Nillumbik Reconciliation Group. Numerous highlights included Anita Heiss discussing her novel Paris Dreaming and explaining why she uses 'chick lit' as a means of presenting contemporary Indigenous issues and subjectivities and a poetry performance by Aly Cobby Eckerman and the legend, Lionel Fogarty.

Lionel chooses one of his poems while Aly zooms in.

After a long day a photo with Meera.

(Photo courtesy of Sasha Trikojus, Nillumbik

Reconciliation Group)

The Office Warming. Nice to catch up with some of our friends and collaborators who made their way to our new offices through a late autumn rainstorm. A heterodox group of professional staff, academics, philosophers, postgrads and undergraduates filled the rooms with warmth and plus energy.

Two of our friends: undergraduate Torie Mcwilliams-Murray and Steph Batsakis. Steph majored in Australian Indigenous Studies and is now completing the Melbourne Law School's Juris Doctor. Torie is starting to consider the range of possibilities offered by an arts degree at the University of Melbourne.

The Past Matters 2011, May 27-28

The Past Matters 2011, May 27-28. The seventh annual Past Matters series of talks celebrating Indigenous writers, poets and literature kicks off tonight. Convened by the Nillumbik Reconciliation Group and Eltham Bookshop - this year it will be held in The Barn, Montsalvat. Australian Indigenous Studies has had the good fortune to be involved over the years. Featured authors include Nadia Wheatley, Paul Carter, Andrew Stojanovski, Camilla Chance , Anita Heiss, Lionel Fogarty and Adrian Hyland.

A full program can be seen at

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~nrgp/index_files/Past_Matters_2011.pdf

Honouring Indigenous Servicemen and Women. A ceremony honouring Indigenous servicemen and women will be held in the Shrine of Remembrance forecourt next Tuesday at 11.00am.

Right Back Where we Started From

Returning. AIS has moved back to the John Medley Building where we've re-united with other disciplines housed in the School of Culture and Communication. Thanks to the School’s vision we’ve got a suite of offices with a view across the Quad. I’m not invested in appearance but one of the first things visitors do is gauge the relative centrality of an Indigenous program by its offices. Our previous offices in the Elisabeth Murdoch Building were excellent, and ideal during our early development but back in the Medley is to be squarely in the University.


Honours. Our Honours program is up and running. A small but v. good cohort to start with. I’m expecting an intake of around 10 students in 2012.

Masters of Indigenous Studies by Thesis. Approved and quite a saga. Special thanks to Charles Green, the School’s Director of Graduate Studies, for his attention to detail; and professional staff, Sharon Tribe, Ishara Wishart and Kate Rendell who saw it through its final stage.

Exhibition Opening at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre. Black and White: documenting Indigenous Australia
20 May 2011 - 10 July 2011
‘Aboriginal people have featured in the photographic history of Australia since the earliest days of the camera. They have been keen collectors and producers of photography since the late nineteenth century, and, over recent years, Indigenous photographers have been among the most celebrated figures in contemporary Australian art. From the commercial photography of European immigrants in the 1870s, through to the conceptually driven work of contemporary Aboriginal artists, black-and-white photography provides a vehicle for recording, remembering and re-negotiating cross-cultural relations.’

http://bundoorahomestead.com/whats-on/exhibitions