Annual Lectures

Each year, the History Council of Western Australia presents a public lecture that shares fresh thinking and new evidence on an historical topic.

2021 History Council Annual Lecture

Truth-telling and 2029

In his latest book, Truth-Telling: History, Sovereignty and the Uluru Statement, Henry Reynolds has called historians to arms:

"...the last twenty or so years have seen a remarkable growth of historical awareness and a far more realistic understanding of the whole process of colonisation. There is now a better chance than at any time in the recent past to initiate a process of truth-telling."

In this year's annual lecture, the History Council invited three special guests - Emeritus Professor Simon Forrest, Adjunct Associate Professor Lenore Layman, and History Teachers Association of WA and Australia Cathy Baron with students of Lakeland Senior High School - to discuss two important questions:

What does historical truth mean, and what do you hope for 2029?

And, the team from Danjoo Koorliny joined us to share their vision for 'walking together' to 2029. Danjoo Koorliny is an innovative and collective Indigenous network led by Richard Walley, Noel Nannup, Colleen Hayward and Carol Innes. Positioned at the Centre for Social Impact at UWA, Danjoo Koorliny argues that it will be the sum of our collective actions that will create a 2029 we can all be proud of.

Previous Lectures in this annual series

2004 - Professor Geoffrey Bolton OA, ‘The Next Assignment’
2005 - Panel discussing ‘The Next Assignment’
2006 - Professor Richard Bosworth, ‘Doing Europe from Australia: an idiosyncratic historian’s journey’
2007 - Governor Lieut General John Sanderson AC, ‘Role of the Military in Indigenous Affairs’
2008 - Kim Beazley AC, ‘The influence of good history studies on a career in public life’
2009 - Professor Ed Jaggard, on ‘Beyond the Flags: Surf Lifesaving and History’
2010  - Forum discussing ‘Making the most of the Boom: Arts, Heritage and History in Western Australia’
2011 - Dr Jim Cameron, ‘The Great Land Grab of 1837’
2012 - Professor Philippa Maddern, ‘”The Past Is Not What It Used To Be”: the future of Western Australian History’
2013  - Associate Professor Charlie Fox, ‘Writing Radical Perth: a hidden history’
2014  - Professor Peter Veth, ‘Evidence in Australian Rock Art’
2015  - Dr Michael McCarthy, ‘Finding HMAS Sydney’
2016  - Professor Jane Lydon, ‘Humanitarians in Western Australia’
2017  - Professor Ann Curthoys and Dr Shino Konishi, ‘Reflections on the 1967 Referendum’

2018 - Alec Coles OBE, 'The New Museum for WA: Whose museum, whose history?'

2019 - Bill Bunbury OAM, ‘Words to be Heard’

2020 - Associate Professor Andrea Gaynor, ‘Radical Remembering: doing environmental history in a time of ecological and climate crisis’