Historical interpretation series

Leading writers and historians discuss their recent books on Captain James Cook and explore Australia’s continuing fascination with the explorer.

Curator Matthew Higgins talks about his book Rugged Beyond Imagination, which explores how people, including stockmen, skiers, scientists and surveyors, have shaped and been shaped by the Australian alpine environment.

Historian Adele Wessell uses cookbooks to draw conclusions about Australian political and social life at the turn of the century, examining British diet and food preferences that were maintained and transformed in colonial Australia.

Researcher, author and Irishman Richard Reid and photographer Brendon Kelson examine the role of the Irish in Australia, to be featured in a forthcoming National Museum book, The Scattered Children of St Patrick.

Historian Adele Wessell discusses cookbooks as historical resources, drawing on the Museum’s collection in her time as a Visiting Fellow with the Museum’s Centre for Historical Research.

Libby Robin talks about the uses of environmental history in museums in Australia and New Zealand as a bridge between the traditions of natural and social history.

Irish archaeologist Michael Gibbons talks about the history and archaeology of Killeany Harbour, Inis Mor on Aran Island off the coast of Ireland, as part of a broader survey of Irish antiquities.

The story of one Australian platoon involved in the 1918 battle of Mont St Quentin, as told by historian Peter Stanley, who follows the 12 men throughout their lives.

Historian Shino Konishi explores the experiences in the 1960s of young Torres Strait Islander men who moved from the Torres Strait to the Australian mainland to work on railway construction.

Oral historian Alistair Thomson explores the experience of migration to Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, through the eyes and life stories of four British women.

Historian Darrell Lewis discusses his research on ‘the outback archive', unorthodox historical records from pre-European times to the present, concentrating on marked water tanks and trees along the Murranji Track in the Northern Territory.

Historian Mickey Dewar talks about her research into Mindil Beach, Darwin and the ways in which this cultural site intersects with complex community history and memory.

American writer and scholar William Fox discusses his research into how humans transform land into landscape, terrain into territory, and space into place.

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.

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.

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.