Five Words That Shaped Australia

Where’s All the Community?: Aboriginal Melbourne Revisited (2026 Launches at the Library)

In this important and engaging conversation Professor Julie Andrews discusses her new book, Where Are All the Community? Aboriginal Melbourne Revisited, published by La Trobe University Press, an imprint of Black Inc. Professor Andrews is in conversation with Professor of History at La Trobe University, Kat Ellinghaus. Recorded 25th August, 2025.

Shared Reading

La Trobe University lecturers Sarah James from Sociology and Juliane Roemhild from English discuss the practise of shared reading, a group experience in which a facilitator can guide a discussion using a written text, to bond a group and enhance a therapeutic discussion.

Creative Freshness

In 2024 acclaimed Australian writer and La Trobe University Adjunct Research Fellow Christos Tsiolkas was one of the judges of the Melbourne Prize for Literature Writers Prize. This prize is awarded to an essay demonstrating outstanding originality, literary merit, and creative freshness. The prize was won by Dr Carrie Tiffany, lecturer in English and Creative Writing at La Trobe University, with Dr Judith Bishop, Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University, winning the civic choice award. In this discussion Christos, Judith and Carrie discuss the essay form. Can the essay be fresh? What makes a great essay and, why do they write them? They discuss Carrie’s essay – ‘Seven Snakes,’ published in Meanjin, Judith’s essay, ‘History repeats (A tale of artificial noses),’ published on the Melbourne Prize website and Christos’ most recent essay, ‘Politics is Not Religion,’ published in The Monthly.

Prove It (2025 Launches at the Library)

Award-winning science journalist and former Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at La Trobe University, Elizabeth Finkel, discusses her latest book, Prove It: A Scientific Guide for the Post-Truth Era, with science educator and La Trobe’s own Douglas Bair. They delve into the role and function of the scientific method in a post-truth era, exploring how evidence-based theories underpin our legal, academic, and political institutions, and public conversations. Recorded 19th August, 2025.

Five Words That Shaped Australia

Dr Alexis Harley and Dr Tom Ford like to yabber – that’s a Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung word – and they are both fascinated by the etymologies and lives of the words we use. From Rose Hill’s claim on the Rosella, to the Darug word corrobboree, to the Dumb and Dumber confusion between Austria and Australia, we discover the bizarre and fascinating stories of five words that shaped our country.