History in Public: Manning Clark Centenary, 1915-2015

(School of History, Research School of Social Sciences in partnership with Manning Clark House)

Confirmed panellists: Nicholas Brown (ANU), Catherine Freyne (City of Sydney), Mark McKenna (University of Sydney), Anna Clark (UTS)

This year sees the centenary of the birth of Charles Manning Hope Clark (born 3 March 1915), Professor of History at Canberra University College and later the Australian National University, from 1949 to 1974. Manning Clark was one of the university’s most distinguished academics: a gifted teacher, brilliant historian and deeply influential public figure up to the time of his death in 1991.  His pioneering courses on Australian history, magisterial six-volume A History of Australia (1962-1987) and numerous other publications, and long engagement with many of the big questions in Australian culture and society, provide a powerful exemplar of the historian as public intellectual. This panel discussion, organised to mark this centenary, will take up this theme via some more recent projects and examples of ‘history in public’. It will be an opportunity to honour Manning Clark’s contribution and legacy as a publicly engaged historian, and to explore some of the ways that history continues to figure in the public sphere.  

Nicholas Brown is a Professor of History at the Australian National University, working mainly in Australian social, environmental and policy history. His most recent book is A History of Canberra, published by Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Catherine Freyne is a historian and media producer now working at the City of Sydney. She previously produced Hindsight documentaries at ABC Radio National. Other projects she has worked on include the Dictionary of Sydney, 80 Days that Changed Our Lives andAgainst The Tide: A Highway West. Catherine studied Australian history at UNSW. For her work in radio she has received two NSW Premier’s History Awards.

Mark McKenna is a Professor of History at the University of Sydney. He has published widely in many areas of Australian history and biography. His most recent book is An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark, published by Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Publishing, 2011.

Anna Clark is an ARC Future Fellow in Public History at the University of Technology Sydney. Her latest project, Every Now and Then: Navigating History in Australia, looks at the presence of the past in Australian communities today and will be published by Melbourne University Press in 2016.

The Conclusion and a Vote of Thanks will be delivered by Mr Sebastian Clark, President of Manning Clark House.

The event will be followed by a reception and registration is necessary to attend.

Date: Wednesday 4 March
Time: 5.30 p.m.
Venue: Manning Clark  Centre (Theatre 5)