Visions of Sydney
How have visions of Sydney shaped the city? From Lachlan Macquarie to Clover Moore, the visions our leaders have of Sydney have a lasting impact. To celebrate the Macquarie Bicentenary the History Council of NSW and the Historic Houses Trust are co-presenting a series of lectures throughout 2010 exploring the legacy of Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie. The talks will feature historians and contemporary experts discussing everything from dispossession to green spaces.

Development and dispossession
Did Macquarie’s vision for Sydney represent development or dispossession? Hear prominent historian Professor Peter Read discuss the history of Aboriginal Sydney with a particular focus on Macquarie. Professor Larissa Behrendt will then reflect on the same topic from a contemporary perspective.

A Macquarie 2010 event presented in conjunction with the History Council of New South Wales

Speakers

Professor Larissa Behrendt
Professor Larissa Behrendt is a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman and Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney. Professor Behrendt is admitted to the Supreme Court of the ACT and NSW as a barrister, is a Land Commissioner at the Land and Environment Court, the Alternate Chair of the Serious Offenders Review Board, a member of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia and a founding member of the Australian Academy of Law. She is also Chair of the Humanities and Creative Arts panel of the Australian Research Council College of Experts, the author of several books on Indigenous legal issues and was named 2009 NAIDOC Person of the Year.

Professor Peter Read
Professor Peter Read is the Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow at ANU. He lectured in Australian and Aboriginal history, held a Research Fellowship in the Urban Studies Program, an ARC Research Fellow, an ARC Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Cross Cultural Research, and was Deputy Director of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies. Professor Read is working on a history of Aboriginal Sydney. and is particularly interested in returning historical materials and information back to the Sydney Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities in attractive and useful ways. He works with an Indigenous and non-Indigenous team in a variety of electronic and print display forms. Some of these innovative projects include developing an interactive website and time line, initially in the Gurringai-speaking areas of Sydney, a series of three posters for schools on Gurringai history, family-history 'wikis' and an interactive historical map for the whole of Sydney.