Taking as its staring point quotes from Elizabeth Fry and Simon Schama's 'Landscape and Memory', Michael Crowley's lecture focusses on the First Fleet in 1788. Michael's lecture merges historical fact with the voices of historical characters like Jane Fitzgerald, James Ruse and the aborigine Bennelong, to poeticise the experiences of people who are ill-served by dry historical enquiry, or who are barely mentioned in the literature of 18th Century Australia. Michael's humane and ambitious project is a collection of poems to give space to these voices, and his lecture argues forcibly and passionately their right to be heard.
Michael's lecture is available at £2 for those who could not make the evening.
A performance of some of Michael's First Fleet poetry can be heard (46 minutes in) on the podcast below.
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