Join an expert panel in conversation on the architectural philosophy, design approaches and progressive ideas of Walter Liberty Vernon (NSW Government Architect, 1890-1911). His built legacy includes the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Mitchell Library (part of the State Library), Central railway station and Newcastle Court House along with private commissions and monuments in nearly every town across NSW.

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The panel includes Dr James Broadbent, well known historian, conservationist and author; Dr Noni Boyd architectural historian and heritage specialist whose PhD thesis traces how Vernon created a more informal public architecture, 'an architecture for the people'. Discussion is led by Matt Devine, a registered architect with a passion for architecture, design, community, and history. We’re joined by Charles Pickett, lead curator on the exhibition Imagine A City: 200 Years of Public Architecture in NSW.

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In 2017, historian Grace Karskens stumbled across an astonishing document in the Mitchell Library: a list of over 170 long-lost Aboriginal names for places on Dyarubbin, the Hawkesbury River. The list was compiled early in 1829 by a young Presbyterian minister, the Reverend John McGarvie, incumbent at Pitt Town. Not only did he carefully record the names given to him by Aboriginal informants, in many cases he included locations.

Almost 100 of these names have been relocated and mapped through a collaborative project, Dyarubbin: The Real Secret River, funded by the State Library of New South Wales’ Coral Thomas Fellowship. Bit by bit, these names are revealing lost geographies of river forests, plants and animals, zones of saltwater and fresh, men’s, women’s and ceremonial places, and areas of profound sacred significance.

In this fascinating webinar session, Darug team members Leanne Watson and Erin Wilkins join historian Grace Karskens in a discussion of this significant project.

The HHA manages one of the few remaining intact Arts and Crafts Houses on the North Shore of Sydney. A major aspect of the HHA’s project at Tulkiyan is the conservation of the interiors of the house and its collections. To give insight into this work and into the extent and richness of the collections, we held a special panel discussion with three of the specialists involved in the project.

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Curator Robert Griffin provided background on the house and its collections. He also introduced furniture conservator Ian Thomson and ceramics expert Alan Landis who spoke about their work at Tulkiyan and discussed some of highlights of the collection.