Audio on demand

Explore the history of the Papunya painting movement and discover the current generation of Papunya artists at a forum held in conjunction with the National Museum’s Papunya Painting exhibition.

The sometimes life-changing, occasionally hilarious and always vital role of the mutukayi – or motor car – in the history of the people of Australia’s Western Desert is explored by an expert panel with firsthand Papunya experience.

Poet and writer Sam Wagan Watson, historian and Indigenous biographer Peter Read and National Museum curator Margo Neale discuss Indigenous issues and the intersection between historical research and imagination.

Geographer Paul Tranter critiques the movie Monsters, Inc. in an entertaining examination of the serious issue of making cities safe, fun and connective for kids. He suggests changes to urban form and transport, neighbourhood design and social values.

Historian and National Museum Director’s Fellow David Day argues that Australian prime minister Andrew Fisher should be remembered for social reforms and infrastructure projects, not just committing ‘the last man and last shilling’ to the First World War.

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton recounts events since her daughter Azaria was taken from a tent in Australia’s Northern Territory in 1980. She speaks about the National Museum’s Chamberlain collection and the public’s fascination with the case.

A set of ten rare glass plates depicting people and places in north Queensland in the mid-1800s reveal much about pioneering geologist and photographer Richard Daintree and life in the colony, according to curator Martha Sear.

Adventurer and author Robyn Davidson joins desert archaeologist Mike Smith for a discussion about her travels in Australia, India, China and Tibet, and 30 years since the publication of her Making Tracks book.

Desert archaeologist Mike Smith on his expedition into the remote southern Simpson Desert in South Australia. Mike recalls the thrill of discovering ancient fossil remains, working with camels and a helicopter rescue for an injured expeditioner.

Fashion designer Jenny Kee, whose story features in the National Museum, explains how her chance survival in the Granville Train Crash in Sydney in 1977 became a catalyst for her art, in a conversation with curator and historian Roslyn Russell.