Justice and Conflict Symposium with Angela Davis!
Register now for the Symposium on Justice through Conflict, Conflict through Justice, A conversation between scholars, practitioners, activists and community organisations working with histories of violence, The University of Melbourne, 24-25 October 2016. Featured speakers: Angela Davis, Jackie Huggins, Mary Graham, John Patten, Celeste Liddle, Debbie Kilroy, Adrian Little, Mark McMillan, Hugh de Kretser, Phoebe Wynn-Pope, Tamar Hopkins, Shelley Mallett, Shen Narayanasamy, Meghan Fitzgerald, Mammad Aidani, Denise Cauchi, and with a Welcome to Country by Aunty Diane Kerr. View the full program and register. For enquiries, email jcr-network@unimelb.edu.au.
Coranderrk: We Will Show The Country at La Mama Courthouse Theatre and at the Institute of Koorie Education, Deakin University, Geelong
In 1881, the people of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Station took on the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in a fight for justice, dignity and self- determination. Today, we bring their voices back to life through a verbatim reading and live performance of their testimonies before the Coranderrk Parliamentary Inquiry. Coranderrk: We Will Show The Country pays tribute to the resilience and adaptability of a people who rose to the challenge despite all odds, and celebrates the spirit of friendship and genuine collaboration between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in pursuit of justice.
By Giordano Nanni and Andrea James. Directed by Giordano Nanni
Performed by Uncle Jack Charles, Jim Daly, Richard Bligh, Glenn Shae, David Patterson, Greg Fryer, Pauline Whyman, Peter Finlay and Liz Jones.
Design by Bronwyn Pringle. Stage management by Sarah McKenzie. Image by Steven Rhall. Based on the original 2010 production directed by Rachael Maza.
Presented as part of the Minutes of Evidence project.
Some performances will be followed by a Q & A. For details, contact La Mama www.lamama.com.au.
At La Mama Courthouse Theatre:
- Wed 3 August 6.30pm
- Thu 4 August 6.30pm
- Fri 5 August 6.30pm
- Sat 6 August 7.30pm
- Sun 7 August 4pm
Regional Tour/ Geelong
Hosted by the Faculty of Arts-Education at the Institute of Koorie Education, Deakin University
July 26 | 6.30pm at Harold Mitchell Performance Space at the Institute of Koorie Education, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds.
Tickets through La Mama www.lamama.com.au.
Coranderrk: We will show the country
Barak Lane, Coranderrk
February 21, 6.30pm (Gates open at 5pm)
With the support of the Minutes of Evidence Project, this special, one-off performance will be staged on Country, at Coranderrk itself, on the very land where many of the witnesses at the Inquiry gave their evidence 134 years ago.
Following the performance, find out how this story continues today as the descendants of William Barak talk about plans to develop and rejuvenate Coranderrk into a self-supporting farming community, thereby fulfilling the dream Barak and the Coranderrk residents fought to achieve in their own lifetime.
Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country was first presented at La Mama Courthouse in 2010. Back by popular demand, La Mama is delighted to present this re-staging of the original reading of this very important work, on Country at Coranderrk where this story belongs.
For info and bookings go to: www.lamama.com.au/coranderrk
Proceeds go to maintenance of the Coranderrk property.
Melbourne University Symposium!
Lilly Brown from the Minutes of Evidence Project will be speaking at the Barry Symposium in Criminology - 'On the Intersections Between Crime, Culture and Memory' - on Tuesday 10 November at 3.15 pm. All welcome, please click here to register for the event.
Following the Symposium, Professor Katherine Biber, from UTS Law School will present this year’s Barry Memorial Lecture in Criminology. The lecture is entitled 'The Cultural Afterlife of Criminal Evidence’, and takes place at 6.30- 7.30pm in the Public Lecture Theatre, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne. All welcome, please register for the lecture here.
Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country hits the road!
After a SOLD OUT season at La Mama Courthouse, Coranderrk: We Will Show The Country goes on the road to visit 6 regions across Victoria. If you missed this absolutely groundbreaking production, here is your chance to see it again!
Touring dates:
- Friday 11th September: Stratford Courthouse
- Monday 14th September: Braybrook (Carolyn Chisolm Catholic College)
- Tuesday 15th September: Pakenham (Beaconhills College)
- Wednesday 16th: Upper Yarra Arts Centre, Warburton
- Friday 18th September: Memo Hall, Healesville
- Saturday 19th September: Carolyn Theatre, Cororooke
Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country at La Mama Courthouse Theatre
We are excited to announce that La Mama will be re-staging the original production: Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country at the La Mama Courthouse from Wednesday 12th August - Sunday 23rd August. Many of the original cast members will re-create this highly anticipated return performance. Tickets available from 12th June at www.lamama.com.au. The season will be followed by a small regional and school-based tour of the work. For information about the regional tour, please email Caitlin at La Mama, phone 03 9347 6948.
Book Publication: Letters From Aboriginal Women of Victoria, 1867-1926
Chief Investigator Patricia Grimshaw, together with co authors Elisabeth Nelson and Sandra Smith, have published through University of Melbourne Press the second edition of Letters from Aboriginal Women of Victoria, 1867-1926. This edited collection of women’s correspondence constitutes an important historical record of the experiences of Aboriginal women during a crucial period of social change. In particular the letters are valuable for the insight they offer into the impact on Aboriginal communities of government legislation and mission policies and the women’s assertion of their entitlement to freedom and agency. Written by 81 different women, the letters cover such issues as children, family, religion, land, housing and material assistance. The book is available online. (Click here for link)
Australian Parliament House Panel- Corranderk: We Will Show The Country
Members of the Minutes of Evidence Project research team, including Chief Investigator Joanna Cruickshank and authors Giordano Nanni and Andrea James, together with actors from the La Mama theatre production, presented a panel discussion and Q & A for audience members about staging the production of Corranderk: We Will Show The Country at a free public event at Parliament House, Canberra on 28 June.
Two Chapters Published: Settler Colonial Governance in Victoria, 1851-1900 (Aboriginal History Monographs, Canberra, 2015).
Two book chapters written by members of the research team have just been published in Lynette Russell and Leigh Boucher (eds) Settler Colonial Governance in Victoria, 1851-1900 (Aboriginal History Monographs, Canberra, 2015). Joanna Cruickshank and Patricia Grimshaw have written ‘Gender, Authority and Power on Ramahyuck Mission, Victoria, 1890-1910’, while Jennifer Balint, Julie Evans, Nesam McMillan and Giordano Nanni, together with Corranderk: We Will Show The Country actor Melodie Reynolds-Diarra, have written a chapter called ‘The ‘Minutes of Evidence’ project: Creating collaborative fields of engagement with the past, present and future’. This chapter discusses the project’s multiple spaces of collaboration including between Indigenous and non-Indigenous team members and communities; between scholars, creative artists and educators; and between the disciplines of law, socio-legal studies, history, and criminology. The chapters and the book as a whole can be read online here: http://press.anu.edu.au?p=316011
Book Publication: Indigenous Communities and Settler Colonialism: Land Holding, Loss and Survival
We are excited to announce the publication by Palgrave McMillan of Indigenous Communities and Settler Colonialism: Land Holding, Loss and Survival in an Interconnected World as part of its Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series. The book was edited by our international partners Zoë Laidlaw and Alan Lester and arises from a workshop held at the University of Sussex in July 2013. It includes chapters by Joanna Cruickshank and Patricia Grimshaw; Julie Evans and Giordano Nanni; and Mark McMillan and Cosi McRae. The book covers Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the USA and identifies the multi-faceted ways that Indigenous communities across the world tenaciously held land against the forces of dispossession and explores how Indigenous peoples also pursued interconnectivity as part of this struggle. For more information please visit: http://tinyurl.com/o44kny2
Conference: Colonial Christian Missions and their Legacies at the University of Copenhagen
After attending the Just Encounters public forum at the State Library of Victoria (MoE Partner) in 2014, historian Dr Claire McLisky invited Dr Julie Evans and MoE Early Career Indigenous Researcher Lilly Brown to speak at an international conference called Colonial Christian Missions and their Legacies. The event took place at the University of Copenhagen on 27-29 April 2015 and both presentations were very well received.
Julie’s keynote talk, ‘Attending to place in academic life: living with settler colonialism’, discussed the importance of academics engaging with matters of justice in their own local contexts and communities. She introduced the audience to the collaborative processes and achievements of the Minutes of Evidence Project across each of its dimensions – education, research, and performance.
Lilly’s paper, ‘Australian teachers on the frontline: unarmed and unprepared to teach the colonial past and its legacy in the present’, reflected on the challenges and opportunities facing educators who attempt the difficult task of incorporating the complexity of Australia’s shared history in their classrooms. Lilly’s important research for MoE will eventually inform guidelines to help teachers implement the Coranderrk Minutes of Evidence curriculum and Teacher Resource Package currently being developed.
Rethinking Transitional Justice, Redressing Indigenous Harm: A New Conceptual Approach
An article written by Minutes of Evidence Chief Investigators Dr Julie Evans, Dr Jennifer Balint and Dr Nesam McMillan, ‘Rethinking Transitional Justice, Redressing Indigenous Harm: A New Conceptual Approach’ has been chosen by the editor of International Journal of Transitional Justice to be made free to read online and featured in an upcoming collection of the American Society of International Law meeting.
The theme of this year’s conference, and the article collection, is ‘Adapting to a Rapidly Changing World’. Dr Julie Evans, Dr Jennifer Balint and Dr Nesam McMillan were also invited to write a reflection on the theme.