Colonialism and its Narratives: rethinking
the colonial archive in Australia conference

Story of the rejection of two Patrick White plays by the Adelaide Festival of Arts in the early 1960s from Denise Varney and Sandra D'Urso.

The Colonial Australian Popular Fiction series brings the excitement and diversity of colonial Australian fiction to the attention of contemporary readers - and there is certainly some remarkable fiction to read.

This new volume from Lara Stevens, Peta Tait and Denise Varney, critically engages with ecofeminist scholarship and defines ecofeminism as a multidisciplinary project.

The award-winning Indigenous novelist Alexis Wright has been appointed as the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at The University of Melbourne.

The Australian Centre celebrated this years suite of literary prizes on Saturday 26 August at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

‘Who knew the world could be so awful’: Alice Birch’s apocalyptic feminist theatre is reviewed by Sandra D'Urso for The Conversation.

Performance Feminism and Affect in Neoliberal Times and Colonial Australian Fiction are new releases from the Australian Centre. These publications contribute to our key research strands: Contemporary Australian cultural practice and the colonial Australian archive.

Dr King has championed a world without tobacco, whose harrowing consequences are all too clear in her work as a cancer clinician.

Rebe Taylor's winning manuscript has been published by Melbourne University Press. Into the Heart of Tasmania tells a story of discovery and realisation.

The Australian Centre and Faculty of Arts Literary Awards were announced on Sunday 4 September at Melbourne Writers Festival.

Two Hugh Williamson Foundation fellowships have been awarded to support research using archival collections to Dr Rachael Weaver for her project ‘Literary Influence, Canonicity and the Historical in the Career of William Gosse Hay’ and Mr Alister Sluiter for his project ‘Digital Reconstruction of the lost Gothic Architecture of the University of Melbourne’.

The Australian Centre is pleased to be hosting post graduate student Cao Liwei. Liwei is studying at Inner Mongolia University, Huhhot, Northern China. Liwei is a major in English language literature and is undertaking her Masters by research. Her project title is 'Exploration of Spiritual World: A further study of Patrick White and his major works.'

The Australian Centre is hosting Dr Alberto Gabriele from January - March 2016, Dr Gabriele's visit had been supported by the Macgeorge Bequest.

29-30 September 2016Australian Indigenous Studies Program, The University of Melbourne

Denise Varney considers contemporary relevance of the last collaboration by the Weimar Republic legends Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, the production is being staged by Victorian Opera with cabaret artiste Meow Meow.

Award winning novelist, Richard Flanagan, has been appointed as the Boisbouvier Founding Chair in Australian Literature at The University of Melbourne.

The Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize was established to commemorate the life and work of the late Vincent Buckley; poet, critic and Professor of English at The University of Melbourne. It is a biennial award that is offered alternately to enable an Australian poet to visit Ireland and to facilitate the visit of an Irish poet to Melbourne.

Edited by Ken Gelder and Denise Varney, this special issue of JASAL, 'On Species', comes out of a one day symposium held at the Australian Centre at the University of Melbourne in December 2013.

A special issue of the Journal of Communication, Politics and Culture and an exhibition of photos of war have been launched to mark the centenary of the beginning of World War 1.

The Australian Centre is delighted to announce the winners of this years Literary Awards, following the presentation event at Melbourne Writers Festival on Saturday 22 August.

The Australian Centre's research assistant Dr Sandra D'Urso spent two weeks In Residence with Marina Abramović in July this year.

Cut the Sky will be touring to Mandurah, Broome, Mowanjum and Ardyaloon community in August, followed by performances in Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium in October.

Charles Dickens: shifting the lensKen Gelder joins Susan Martin and Kylie Mirmohamodi on Radio National, the program is produced by Roz Bluett and features readings by Miriam Margoyles.

The award recipient will be announced at the Faculty of Arts Literary Awards event at the Melbourne Writers Festival on Saturday 22 August, 5.30pm at ACMI.

The award recipient will be announced at the Faculty of Arts Literary Awards event at the Melbourne Writers Festival on Saturday 22 August, 5.30pm at ACMI.

The latest edition of Australasian Drama Studies features "Patrick White and aesthetic modernism in mid-century Australia" by Denise Varney and Sandra D'Urso.

Thursday 11 June 2015, 6:00pm. The Dax Centre, Kenneth Myer Building, Genetics Lane (off Royal Parade)

Held on 8-9 May, this conference will explore the impact of books and writing, fiction and non-fiction, authors, readers and publishers in shaping and subverting the British empire.Ken Gelder and Rachael Weaver will be part of the The Colonial Writing World panel, speaking on Colonial Australian Detective Fiction.

Our recent symposium brought together 22 speakers, each addressing different aspects of working with and in the archive. A key objective of the symposium was to investigate the ways in which bodies of knowledge are managed, accessed, and translated for education, and also how archives perform, more broadly, in the production of cultural, literary, virtual, performative and artistic works.

The Australian Centre presents Patrick White and Beyond: Aesthetic Modernism and Australian Theatre

Marrugeku Theatre recently premiered Cut the Sky at Perth International Arts Festival. Marrugeku is an innovative intercultural dance theatre company based in Broome whose latest production draws on a landmark Aboriginal land rights protest and seeks to give an Indigenous perspective on climate change. Cut the Sky will be performed at WOMADelaide on 7 - 8 March 2015

Professor Ken Gelder will be Visiting Professor at King's College London and the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies (MCAS) in January 2015. He will be presenting papers at King's College and at University College, London, and talking to MCAS staff about developing connections with the Australian Centre at Melbourne. The MCAS director, Dr Ian Henderson, will also visit Melbourne in January for discussions with Professor Denise Varney.

The symposium was opened with Welcome to County by Wurundjeri Elder Diane Kerr.