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Curator Martha Sear discusses objects in the National Historical Collection that once belonged to Sir George Reid, a key figure in Australia’s Federation-era political history. Reid’s story features in the Australian Journeys gallery.

Historian John Maynard leads an informal discussion with some of the original political activists from the Indigenous protests of the 1920s and 1930s, as part of the National Museum’s celebration of the 70th anniversary of the 1938 Day of Mourning.

Curator Rebecca Nason discusses two Staffordshire figurines of nineteenth-century Irish nationalist, parliamentarian and convict William Smith O’Brien. His story is told in the Australian Journeys gallery.

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.

The convergence of history and fiction and the power of archives and objects to inform their work on Australian women and the League of Nations is explored by political historian Lenore Coltheart and author Frank Moorhouse.

Historian Angela Philp explores Aboriginal art and culture, and the tensions between aesthetics, history and politics that have been critical in the institutional histories of the National Museum of Australia and the National Gallery of Australia.