The Armidale community will have the opportunity to share in award-winning Indigenous writer and academic Tony Birch thoughts on the relationship between climate, place, history and loss when he delivers the 2019 Judith Wright public lecture at the University of New England on Wednesday, 17 July.
Tony’s talk, entitled “Walking and Thinking: Country and Deep Time”, is a reflection of his research and writing on climate change, land justice and the challenge of communicating ideas of protection of country over the past five years.
“Like many people concerned with the fate of the planet, I have become increasingly frustrated with a lack of action on climate change at a level of government and capitalist development,” Tony said.
“More recently, I have reverted, perhaps in defeat, to a more personal reflection of such issues, informed by walking, writing and listening to country.”
Although he originally trained in humanities, this has not prevented Tony from approaching research areas such as climate change, traditionally more associated with hard science. Since entering the field in 2015, he has published several academic essays, participated in conference panels and delivered numerous keynote speeches on the topic.
“I really take the notion of the public intellectual seriously. I don’t consider it a highfalutin term, it’s an obligation and a privilege. One of the things I wouldn’t have understood when I started university in 1988 is that one day I’d have the opportunity to engage a public around these issues.”
“So, while I’m now in the twilight years of my academic career, I’ve engaged with an issue that reaches out to the global community and I consider myself really fortunate for it.”
Tony, who won the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing with his book Ghost River, is a frequent contributor to ABC local and national radio, and a regular guest at writers’ festivals. He lives in Melbourne and is a Senior Research Fellow at Victoria University. Another book, Blood, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.
Tony was awarded the Patrick White Literary Prize in 2017 for his contribution to contemporary Australian literature — the first Indigenous writer to win the prize. He was also the first recipient of the Dr Bruce McGuinness Indigenous Research Fellowship at Victoria University’s Moondani Balluk Centre in June 2015.
UNE first introduced the Judith Wright public lecture series in 2015 to honour the legacy of Judith Wright - doyenne of Australian poetry, environmentalist and tireless campaigner for Aboriginal land rights – and to extend and enrich the public’s understanding of various Australian writers who helped shape our culture and literary landscape.
The 2019 Judith Wright Lecture will be held in the Oorala Aboriginal Centre, UNE and will start at 6pm, with drinks and finger food available from 5.30pm. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session moderated by UNE academic and author, Dr Anne Pender.
