2020 Tom Stannage Lecture

White Australia has a Black History

The 2020 Tom Stannage Memorial Lecture by Professor John Maynard, Chair of Aboriginal History, University of Newcastle and Director, Purai Global Indigenous History Centre.

White Australia has a Black History - a powerful slogan first brought to national attention by the late great Aboriginal activist Rob Riley with a 1987 brochure for NAIDOC week. Tom Stannage whose memory is honoured through this lecture felt the long entrenched celebratory history of discoverers, explorers and settlers was a flawed history because it had ‘very little to say about Aborigines.’ 

This lecture will examine the Aboriginal voice over many decades challenging understandings and interpretations of Australia’s past since 1788.

The lecture will be chaired by UWA Professor Jane Lydon, Wesfarmers Chair in Australian History. 

Professor John Maynard is a Worimi Aboriginal man from the Port Stephens region of New South Wales. He is currently Chair of Aboriginal History at the University of Newcastle and Director of the Purai Global Indigenous History Centre. He has held several major positions and served on numerous prominent organizations and committees, including Deputy Chairperson of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), Executive Committee of the Australian Historical Association, New South Wales History Council, Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council (IHEAC), Australian Research Council College of Experts, National Indigenous Research and Knowledge Network (NIRAKN) and a Fulbright Ambassador. He was the recipient of the Aboriginal History (Australian National University) Stanner Fellowship 1996, the New South Wales Premiers Indigenous History Fellow 2003, Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow 2004, University of Newcastle Researcher of the Year 2008 and 2012 and Australian National University Allan Martin History Lecturer 2010. In 2014 he was elected a member of the prestigious Australian Social Sciences Academy. He gained his PhD in 2003, examining the rise of early Aboriginal political activism. He has worked with and within many Aboriginal communities, urban, rural and remote. Professor Maynard’s publications have concentrated on the intersections of Aboriginal political and social history, and the history of Australian race relations. He is the author of several books, including Aboriginal Stars of the Turf, Fight for Liberty and Freedom, The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe, Aborigines and the Sport of Kings, True Light and Shade and Living with the Locals.

The Annual Tom Stannage Lecture

This memorial lecture commemorates the exceptional contribution made by Professor Tom Stannage (1944-2012) to the Western Australian community. Professor Stannage was a prominent Australian historian who worked hard to foster a wider understanding of Western Australian history and heritage. He is remembered as an inspiring teacher and a passionate advocate for the study of history.