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Tom Griffiths will be in conversation with Mark McKenna on his new book Alice's dreaming. An astonishing work of history about a girl and the Indigenous world she encountered.

Early last century, Alice Duncan-Kemp grew up on a remote Queensland cattle station. Later she would write down her childhood memories of learning from Aboriginal women and men at home on their own Country. In her books, she evoked a rich parallel universe of storytelling and lore, which she felt privileged to witness. She also spoke of an informal local treaty that curbed the violence of the frontier.

What are we to make of 'Alice's dreaming' today? Master historian and writer Tom Griffiths takes us into – and beyond – this revelatory encounter. Through it we glimpse the turmoil of a complex and tragic frontier, and a remarkable story of survival and cultural resilience. In recent years, the Mithaka people Alice lived among and wrote about have reclaimed their Country, drawing in part on her writing to support their claims.

Alice's dreaming is at once biography, literary thriller and stunning evocation of Country and place.' —Mark McKenna

Tom Griffiths reveals how 60,000 years of First Nations history is intricately woven into the fabric of contemporary Australian values. Alice's dreaming is a work of the greatest importance to our understanding of who we are. It is also great literature, an epic story told with imaginative distinction.' —Alex Miller

Tom Griffiths AO is Emeritus Professor of History at the Australian National University. His writing has won prizes in literature, history, science, politics and journalism, including the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History and the Douglas Stewart and Nettie Palmer prizes for non-fiction. His books include The Art of Time Travel, Hunters and Collectors, Forests of Ash and Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica.

Mark McKenna is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Sydney. He is the author of several prize-winning books, including Looking for Blackfellas’ Point: An Australian History of Place and the multi-award winner An Eye for Eternity, The Life of Manning Clark, winner of the 2012 Prime Minister’s Prize for Non Fiction. His most recent book, From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories, won the NSW Premier’s Australian History Prize.

The vote of thanks will be given by Associate Professor Ruth Morgan, Director, Centre for Environmental History. Australian National University

Books will be available for signing from 5.30pm and again after the event. 

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A podcast will be made available after the event.

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