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An examination of the expression of Indigenous culture and identity by a dynamic group of contemporary artists and authors. Explores the impact the ‘art’ movement has had on Indigenous people and how cultural material can be ‘read’ as documentary text.

Environmental historian Libby Robin and novelist Nicholas Drayson share an interest in nature and the history of science and discovery. They explore the dynamic relationship between historical evidence, recollections and the reconstruction of the past.

Darrell Lewis examines German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt’s intended route for his attempted east-west crossing of Australia. Lewis argues that Leichhardt followed his plan and managed to cross two-thirds of the continent.

The fascination of Australian writers with explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, including Patrick White’s Voss, earlier elegiac poems and Lemurian novels, is examined by English lecturer Susan Martin.

Tom Darragh uses Ludwig Leichhardt’s diaries to show the skill and accuracy with which the explorer and naturalist recorded scientific observations and information about plants and geological specimens, in terminology which is still used today.

Scientist Henry Nix argues that had explorer Ludwig Leichhardt lived, he could have published the results of his scientific observations and joined the company of peers including Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin.

Conservator David Hallam outlines the metal and corrosion analysis which helped to authenticate the Leichhardt nameplate. The plate is the only known artefact from Ludwig Leichhardt’s lost 1848 Australian expedition with a corroborated provenance.

Alice Springs historian Dick Kimber proposes an alternative theory for the fate of Ludwig Leichhardt’s expedition, arguing that it was lost in the Simpson Desert, in a closing discussion with earlier symposium speakers.

Curator Matthew Higgins outlines the work undertaken to establish the authenticity of a small brass nameplate, the first object with a corroborated provenance from explorer Ludwig Leichhardt’s lost 1848 expedition.

Curator Martin Woods examines a rare map drawn by Ludwig Leichhardt. Woods says the map of the Balonne and Condamine rivers in Queensland raised hopes of an expanded Darling Downs farming district and funded Leichhardt’s final journey.