Historians in Conversation - Series 1
Historians in Conversation - Series 1 (June/July 2026)
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there” LP Hartley 1953
‘What do we want to know? What can we know?’
In Series 1 of Historians in Conversation, five Australian historians will discuss those questions in a series of sessions at Manning Clark House (Forrest ACT). Each session will start with a conversation between the guest historian and the project interviewer, Daniel Connell. After a break for refreshments the audience will be invited to join in.
Tickets are available for individual sessions or all sessions in Series 1. All-session tickets for Series 1 are available under the selection tab for Session 1.
Session 1 - Thursday 4 June, 6-8pm - Professor Frank Bongiorno AM – Director, Centre for Public Ideas, University of Canberra
Frank is the Donald Horne Professor of History and inaugural Director of the University of Canberra’s Vice Chancellor’s Centre for Public Ideas, which will draw on Australian history to inform contemporary Australian politics and policy making. He is also the immediate Past President of the Australian Historical Association. In this the opening session of the Historians in Conversation series Frank will expand on questions raised in his recent National Library oration, Does history have a future in Canberra?
Session 2 - Thursday 11 June, 6-8pm - Professor Peter Stanley UNSW (ADFA)
Peter worked with the Australian War Memorial (where he was Principal Historian) and at the National Museum of Australia (as the inaugural head of its Research Centre) before commencing at UNSW Canberra in 2013 as Research Professor. As a public historian Peter worked on exhibitions, publications, public programs and education as well as in research. His book Bad Characters: Sex, Crime, Murder, Mutiny and the Australian Imperial Force was jointly awarded the 2011 Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History. Peter also writes historical fiction as a hobby, with Simpson’s Donkey (a novel for children) appearing in 2011 and The Cunning Man, set in the 1845 Anglo-Sikh war in 2014, with more on the way.
Session 3 - Thursday 18 June, 6-8pm - Associate Professor Ruth Morgan – Director, Centre for Environmental History, ANU
Ruth is an environmental historian and historian of science with a particular focus on Australia, the British Empire and the Indian Ocean world. She is studying the water cultures of the Murray-Darling Basin. Her work highlights the wide range of cultural values demanding recognition in the current ten-year review of the MDB Plan.
Session 4 - Thursday 25 June, 6-8pm - Professor Carolyn Strange – History ANU
Carolyn's research has focused on the history of crime and justice, gender, sexuality, medicine, and environmental studies. As a transdisciplinary historian of modern Canada, the United States, Australia and Britain, her work has crossed the fields of media studies, law, criminology, and environmental studies. In connecting the past to the present she has published on such contemporary concerns as homicide and its representations (including the so-called mushroom murders).
Session 5 - Thursday 9 July, 6-8pm - Emeritus Professor Mark McKenna - History, ANU
Mark writes mainly about the history of Australian republicanism and monarchy, and Aboriginal history. This session will focus particularly on his biography of Manning Clark. What did Clark’s public impact reveal about Australian society during the second half of the twentieth century? Why was his approach to research and writing questioned so severely by fellow historians?
Dr Daniel Connell - Interviewer
Daniel’s background includes time at the Crawford School ANU, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (now Authority), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Social History Unit) and Papua New Guinea's National Broadcasting Commission.
His PhD focused on the political history of the Murray-Darling Basin and made recommendations for its future governance which were very different from those subsequently incorporated into the MDB Basin Plan.
He has recorded many interviews for the Australian National University, the War Memorial, the Bureau of Statistics and the National Library of Australia’s Oral History Collection.
Recording of the conversations
With the generous support of the National Library of Australia, transcription-quality recordings of the conversations between the guest historians and Daniel Connell will be made and placed in the NLA's Oral History Collection for future reference.
Series 2 of Historians In Conversation will be conducted in October and November 2026.
Bookings for Series 2 will open in July.
The guest historians for Series 2 will be:
Thursday 29 October, 6-8pm - Bill Gammage, Humanities Research Centre ANU
Thursday 5 November, 6-8pm - Professor Nicholas Brown - Centre for Biography, ANU
Thursday 12 November, 6-8pm - Distinguished Professor Ann McGrath AM - History, ANU
Thursday 19 November, 6-8pm - Associate Professor Romain Fathi – History, ANU
Thursday 26 November, 6-8pm - Dr Ruby Ekkel – History, ANU
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there” LP Hartley 1953
‘What do we want to know? What can we know?’
In Series 1 of Historians in Conversation, five Australian historians will discuss those questions in a series of sessions at Manning Clark House (Forrest ACT). Each session will start with a conversation between the guest historian and the project interviewer, Daniel Connell. After a break for refreshments the audience will be invited to join in.
Tickets are available for individual sessions or all sessions in Series 1. All-session tickets for Series 1 are available under the selection tab for Session 1.
Session 1 - Thursday 4 June, 6-8pm - Professor Frank Bongiorno AM – Director, Centre for Public Ideas, University of Canberra
Frank is the Donald Horne Professor of History and inaugural Director of the University of Canberra’s Vice Chancellor’s Centre for Public Ideas, which will draw on Australian history to inform contemporary Australian politics and policy making. He is also the immediate Past President of the Australian Historical Association. In this the opening session of the Historians in Conversation series Frank will expand on questions raised in his recent National Library oration, Does history have a future in Canberra?
Session 2 - Thursday 11 June, 6-8pm - Professor Peter Stanley UNSW (ADFA)
Peter worked with the Australian War Memorial (where he was Principal Historian) and at the National Museum of Australia (as the inaugural head of its Research Centre) before commencing at UNSW Canberra in 2013 as Research Professor. As a public historian Peter worked on exhibitions, publications, public programs and education as well as in research. His book Bad Characters: Sex, Crime, Murder, Mutiny and the Australian Imperial Force was jointly awarded the 2011 Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History. Peter also writes historical fiction as a hobby, with Simpson’s Donkey (a novel for children) appearing in 2011 and The Cunning Man, set in the 1845 Anglo-Sikh war in 2014, with more on the way.
Session 3 - Thursday 18 June, 6-8pm - Associate Professor Ruth Morgan – Director, Centre for Environmental History, ANU
Ruth is an environmental historian and historian of science with a particular focus on Australia, the British Empire and the Indian Ocean world. She is studying the water cultures of the Murray-Darling Basin. Her work highlights the wide range of cultural values demanding recognition in the current ten-year review of the MDB Plan.
Session 4 - Thursday 25 June, 6-8pm - Professor Carolyn Strange – History ANU
Carolyn's research has focused on the history of crime and justice, gender, sexuality, medicine, and environmental studies. As a transdisciplinary historian of modern Canada, the United States, Australia and Britain, her work has crossed the fields of media studies, law, criminology, and environmental studies. In connecting the past to the present she has published on such contemporary concerns as homicide and its representations (including the so-called mushroom murders).
Session 5 - Thursday 9 July, 6-8pm - Emeritus Professor Mark McKenna - History, ANU
Mark writes mainly about the history of Australian republicanism and monarchy, and Aboriginal history. This session will focus particularly on his biography of Manning Clark. What did Clark’s public impact reveal about Australian society during the second half of the twentieth century? Why was his approach to research and writing questioned so severely by fellow historians?
Dr Daniel Connell - Interviewer
Daniel’s background includes time at the Crawford School ANU, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (now Authority), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Social History Unit) and Papua New Guinea's National Broadcasting Commission.
His PhD focused on the political history of the Murray-Darling Basin and made recommendations for its future governance which were very different from those subsequently incorporated into the MDB Basin Plan.
He has recorded many interviews for the Australian National University, the War Memorial, the Bureau of Statistics and the National Library of Australia’s Oral History Collection.
Recording of the conversations
With the generous support of the National Library of Australia, transcription-quality recordings of the conversations between the guest historians and Daniel Connell will be made and placed in the NLA's Oral History Collection for future reference.
Series 2 of Historians In Conversation will be conducted in October and November 2026.
Bookings for Series 2 will open in July.
The guest historians for Series 2 will be:
Thursday 29 October, 6-8pm - Bill Gammage, Humanities Research Centre ANU
Thursday 5 November, 6-8pm - Professor Nicholas Brown - Centre for Biography, ANU
Thursday 12 November, 6-8pm - Distinguished Professor Ann McGrath AM - History, ANU
Thursday 19 November, 6-8pm - Associate Professor Romain Fathi – History, ANU
Thursday 26 November, 6-8pm - Dr Ruby Ekkel – History, ANU
Thursday 4 June 2026 - Thursday 9 July 2026 (UTC+10)
Location
Manning Clark House
11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest ACT 2603
Contact Details
Sessions
SESSIONS
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Historians in Conversation - Series 1
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