2008 events at Sydney University Museums
KIDS’ MUSEUMS. Discover the world of ancient Egyptian mummies these school holidays. Meet archaeologists who will talk about mummies, wrap yourself up as an ancient Egyptian, discover the true stories about curses, see our real ancient bodies and handle Egyptian archaeological artefacts. Ages 4–15.
12 noon each day of the week
Free entry
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Self-guided worksheets and other kids’ activities are available at the Nicholson Museum throughout the summer school holidays.
Light and Vision: An Introduction to the Macleay Museum’s Historic Photograph Collection
Sunday 20 January
Macleay Museum, 2pm
To celebrate the re-opening of the Macleay Museum following recent renovations, Senior Curator Dr Jude Philp, and Rebecca Conway and Jan Brazier, Curators of Ethnography and History respectively, will speak on the many and varied historic photographs in the Macleay collections (approximately 50,000 images dating from the 1840s).
A great way to discover the breadth of the photographic collection, and a taste of the forthcoming exhibition People, Power, Politics (opening 1st February).
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Public Talk: Dr Adam Geczy. "Video = 'I See': consolations of a new medium
Sunday 27 January
University Art Gallery, 1pm
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition Greatest Hits/Previously Unrealeased Tracks, Sydney College of the Arts lecturer Dr Adam Geczy will speak. Geczy is both an artist and critic/historian, and has exhibited in both Australia and overseas.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9351 6883
Chinese New Year
Sunday 3 February
In conjunction with the City of Sydney’s 2008 Chinese New Year Festival, celebrate the Chinese New Year in the Macleay Museum with a series of children’s events examining Chinese culture and Rattus rattus as we welcome in The Year of the Rat with children’s stories in Mandarin and English.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Carillon Recital: Chinese New Year
Sunday 3 February
Quadrangle, 2 – 3pm
In conjunction with the Macleay Museum’s celebrations of The Year of the Rat, there will be a performance by University Carillonist, Dr Jill Forrest.
For a full program of Carillon Recitals in 2008 visit: www.carillon.org.au/usyd
Public Lecture: Maurice Whelan
Imagining Freud
Thursday 7 February
Nicholson Museum, 6 for 6.30pm
What if Sigmund Freud came among us today? What might he have to say to us, about us? Through the use of Freud’s own words and stories about his life, and a few speculations of his own, Maurice Whelan imaginatively recreates the presence of the founder of psychoanalysis by reading a letter that Freud might have written in 2008!
Whelan is a practicing psychoanalyst and Chairman of the Sydney Institute for Psychoanalysis.
Click here for invitation
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum, $15 Students
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Click here for related events.
Public Talk: Janine Burke
The Gods of Freud
Sunday 17 February
Nicholson Museum, 2pm and 3.15pm
The 2pm talk is now booked out, please reserve seats for the 3.15 presentation
Meet and hear Dr. Janine Burke, author of The Gods of Freud: Sigmund Freud’s Art Collection. Burke will speak on the Freud collection of antiquities and its role in Freud’s life and work.
Click here for invitation
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9351 2812
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Mardi Gras Fair Day
Sunday 17 February
Nicholson Museum, Macleay Museum, University Art Gallery, 12 noon – 4pm
Sydney University Museums will be open during the Mardi Gras Festival’s Fair Day, held in Victoria Park.
Public Lecture: Dr Robert Kaplan
Freud, Jews and Judaism
Wednesday 20 February
Nicholson Museum, 6 for 6.30pm
In conjunction with the Sydney Jewish Museum. Author, historian and forensic psychiarist, Dr Robert Kaplan, explores the life of Freud.
Arguably the most famous Jew of the 20th century, Freud was deeply ambivalent towards his Jewishness.
This talk will explore Freud’s Jewish paradox and look at the wider Jewish contribution to the cultural explosion in fin-de siecle Vienna.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum and Friends of the Sydney Jewish Museum, $15 Students
Bookings: (02) 9351 2812
Click here for invitation
Click here for related events.
People, Power, Politics
Friday 22nd February
Macleay Museum 4pm
Public talk: Dr Joe Neparranga Gumbula and Dr Aaron Corn
“Recovering the Music of Arnhem Land”
Dr Gumbula and Dr Corn have been working with the Anthropology Department archives held at the University of Sydney unearthing the stories, photographs and songs recorded in North-East Arnhem Land.
Come and hear music and learn more about the continuing importance for peoples of the region.
Free entry
Click here for invitation
(Please note, this talk was originally scheduled for the Sunday 17th Febraury but the date has been changed to the Friday 22nd February)
Putting the Penis into Envy: On the Couch with Sigmund Freud
Sunday 24 February
Nicholson Museum, 2 – 4pm
To celebrate Mardi Gras, the Nicholson Museum will be hosting a Sunday afternoon champagne cream tea and entertaining panel discussion on the relevance and influence of Sigmund Freud.
The panelists are:
Professor Louise Newman - Chair of Perinatal and Infant Psychiatry at the University of Newcastle www.wpa2007melbourne.com/newman.php
Diana Simmonds - commentator, art critic & University of Sydney Alumni magazine editor www.stagenoise.com/about.php
Mark Pesce inventor, educator and regular panellist on the ABC’s New Inventors www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors
Vras Karalis - Assoc Professor of Modern Greek
www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/moderngreek/vrasidas
Anastasia Mavromatis - writer & editor Lucrezia magazine on-line www.lucreziamagazine.com
Click here for invitation
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum and New Mardi Gras Members
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Click here for related events.
Native Curios, Natural Patrimony, Primitive Art
Museum Tour with Dr Jude Philp and Seminar by Professor Robert Foster
Friday March 7
Tour 2.15-3pm; Macleay Museum
Seminar 3.15-4.30; Macrae Room, Main Quad
Click here for more information
A talk by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Governor of New South Wales and Chancellor of the University
The Legacy of Freud
Tuesday 11 March
Nicholson Museum, 6 for 6.30pm
NSW Governor, and University of Sydney Chancellor, Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir takes a look at Sigmund Freud and his lasting legacy.
Click here for related events.
Curator’s Choice #4: Michael Turner
The Mystery of the Death of Freud
Sunday 16 March
Nicholson Museum, 1pm
Senior Curator of the Nicholson Museum, Michael Turner, examines the death of Sigmund Freud and events following his cremation.
Free entry - Bookings: (02) 9351 2812
Click here for related events.
Exhibition launch: Djon Mundine
Footprints in the mythic landscape
Sunday 16 March
Macleay Museum, 2pm
To mark the new selection of bark paintings on exhibition, Djon Mundine, Indigenous Curator of Contemporary Art at Campbelltown Regional Gallery, will talk about the history of Aboriginal painting from the ceremonially oriented work exhibited in Footprints to the contemporary masterpieces of the MCA.
Free entry
Public Lecture: Assoc. Prof. Vrasidas Karalis
Freud and Oedipus: A Family Romance
Tuesday 18 March
Nicholson Museum, 6 for 6.30pm
Explore the relationship between Freud and Classical mythology with Assoc. Prof. Vrasidas Karalis, Head of the Department of Modern Greek at the University of Sydney.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Click here for related events.
Performance: Music and Memory in Northern Australia
Sunday 30 March
Macleay Museum, 2pm
Over the past year, Joe Gumbula and Aaron Corn have worked in the University of Sydney Archives to unearth stories, photographs and songs recorded in Arnhmen Land by early anthropolgists. They will perform traditional Manikay from Arnhem Land and present photographs discovered in the University of Sydney Archives. Joining them is Allan Marett, who will be accompanied by Joe Gumbula in singing mesmerising wangga from NW Australia.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Click here for invitation
Exhibition launch: Prof Jane Goodall with Karin Findeis
“Taxonomies of wonder”
Sunday 6 April
Macleay Museum, 2pm
Jane Goodall will talk about a variety of traditions of collecting and the appeal of collecting and order in the popular imagination now and in earlier periods of history. She will be joined by Karin Findeis who has explored similar themes in her exhibition samples. Professor Goodall is author of Out of the Natural Order: Performance and Evolution in the Age of Darwin and has written widely on performing arts and the natural sciences.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Click here for invitation
Free Heritage Tours: Guided Walking Tours of the Quadrangle
Tuesday 8 April, Wednesday 9 April and Thursday 10 April
University Quadrangle Clocktower,
12 noon sharp
For NSW Seniors Week (6 – 13 April), University Heritage tours offer three free one-hour tours of the Quadrangle building and of Sydney University Museums.
Free tours
Bookings essential: or (02) 9036 5409
The lives of the city: people and places in Sōsaku hanga
A talk by Rhiannon Paget
Sunday 13 April, 2pm
In association with the exhibition Cuts both ways - linocuts and woodcuts from the 1920s-40s and the rise of modernism currently showing at the University Art gallery, Rhiannon Paget will present a talk on the Sōsaku hanga (creative prints) art movement in early 20th century Japan.
This art movement saw the evolution of the artist/printmaker as the sole creator of an artwork. This talk will examine figures such as workers and youth that emerged in prints through the interaction with post-earthquake Tokyo.
Click here for invitation
Bookings: 9351 6883 or
Kids' Museums. Ancient Greek Myths – A School Holiday Program
Monday 14 – Friday 18 April
Nicholson Museum, 11am
Discover the world of ancient Greece, through the myths of the gods, goddesses and heroes of Olympus. Each day you can hear our bards recite the stories of ancient Greek myths and be transported back in time. Dress up as a god or goddess, and see the myths painted in ancient Greek art with an archaeologist.
Ages 4–12.
In conjunction with the Greek Festival of Sydney.
11am each day of the week
Free entry
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Self-guided worksheets and other kids’ activities are available at the Nicholson Museum throughout the school holidays.
Kids' Museums. What is Anthropology? – A School Holiday Program
Monday 14 – Friday 18 April
Macleay Museum, 1pm
Discover anthropology at the Macleay Museum.
Each day you are invited to put on your explorer’s pith helmet, and explore the cultures you meet in the exhibition – People, Power and Politics. Keep a journal of your travels and of the people you meet and draw maps of your journey.
Ages 4–12.
1pm each day of the week
Free entry
Bookings essential: (02) 9036 5253
Self-guided worksheets and other kids’ activities are available at the Macleay Museum throughout the school holidays.
Public talk: Dr Gillian Cowlishaw and Dr Diane Austin-Broos
“The Aboriginal Question: race, anthropology and things that endure”
Wednesday 16 April
Macleay Museum, 6pm
Gillian Cowlishaw, ARC Professorial Fellow, Faculty of Humanities at the University of Technology, Sydney and Diane Austin-Broos, retiring Professor of Anthropology at the University of Sydney will explore this central theme of 19th and 20th century anthropology.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Click here for invitation
Ancient Greece Family Day
Sunday 20 April
Nicholson Museum, 12 noon–4pm
A day for the family – discover ancient Greece, with child-friendly talks, arts and craft activities for kids and a chance to handle artefacts from ancient Athens and Sparta. Discover what a hoplite did, what an ostraka was, and how much influence ancient Greece has on the modern world.
In conjunction with Greek Festival of Sydney
Free entry
Information: (02) 9351 2812
Carillon Recital: All Greek
Sunday 20 April
Quadrangle, 2pm
In conjunction with the Nicholson Museum’s Ancient Greece family day, carillonists Louise and Edward Grantham perform Greek music, including pieces by M. Theodorakis and M. Katzidakis.
Visit: www.carillon.org.au/usyd for a full program of Carillon Recitals in 2008
Public Lecture: Dr Craig Barker
Indiana Jones and the Portrayal of Archaeologists in Pop Culture
Tuesday 6 May
Oriental Studies Room, Main Quad, 6 for 6.30pm with reception to follow in the Nicholson Museum
This light-hearted illustrated talk, takes us on a journey through cinema, novels and other forms of popular culture, looking at the way archaeologists have been portrayed. From romantic action adventure heroes, such as Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, through to the bumbling harbingers of doom in mummy movies and science fiction, discover the reality of the hat, whip and gun.
In conjunction with National Archaeology Week 2008.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum, $5 students
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Public Lecture: Dr Brian Brennan
How Spartan were the Spartans? Beyond the mirage of austerity and conformity
Dr Brian Brennan presents an overview of Spartan society using new archaeological material, recent scholarship and a reappraisal of literary evidence. How much of the Spartan military myth is real, and how can archaeological evidence provide a new way of shedding light on Spartan daily life?
In conjunction with National Archaeology Week 2008.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Click here for invitation
International Museums Day at Sydney University Museums
Sunday 18 May
Nicholson Museum, Macleay Museum,
University Art Gallery, 12 noon – 4pm
We celebrate ICOM International Museum Day at Sydney University Museums with a series of events looking at the role of museums as agents of social change and development.
Free entry
Public talk: Dr Diane Losche and Dr Jude Philp
Margaret Mead in the Sepik
Sunday 18 May
Macleay Museum, 2pm
Diane Losche, Senior Lecturer at NSW University’s COFA and Jude Philp,
Senior Curator at the Macleay Museum will talk about the work and collections of the infamous anthropologist Margaret Mead who, with her ex-husband Reo Fortune and future husband Gregory Bateson, received funds from Sydney’s Anthropology Department to conduct research in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea in the 1930s.
Click here for invitation
Curator’s talk: Rebecca Conway
Sunday 18 May 3pm Macleay Museum
The Macleay Museum’s Curator of Ethnography, Rebecca Conway, will lead a tour of the exhibition People, Power, Politics exploring some of the hidden stories behind the exhibition and the anthropologists of Australia’s first Anthropology Department at Sydney University.
Public Lecture: Professor Roland Fletcher
The Archaeology of Angkor and the Khmer Empire
Thursday 22 May
Nicholson Museum, 6 for 6.30pm
In conjunction with National Archaeology Week, Professor Roland Fletcher will talk on the archaeology of Angkor from the 12th to the 16th centuries AD, and on the recent work by the Greater Angkor Project (GAP) investigating the decline of urbanism.
In conjunction with National Archaeology Week 2008.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Click here for invitation
Museum. A Sydney Writers' Festival Event
With Robyn Stacey and Ashley Hay
Friday 23 May 2pm
Macleay Museum
Sneak into the Macleay Museum with photographer Robyn Stacey, who enjoyed unprecedented access to the Museum's peerless natural history collections over more than five years.
Join Robyn Stacey and her co-author Ashley Hay as they reveal some of the wonderful creatures and stories they found in this little known repository while making their book, Museum: the Macleay's their collections and the search for order (CUP 2007).
Copies of Museum will be available at the event.
Click here for invitation
RSVP or 90365253
Archaeology Day
Sunday 25 May
University Museums and the Australian Museum, 9.30am – 4pm
A day for the whole family! The Nicholson and Macleay Museums join forces with the Australian Museum for our annual Archaeology Day. Hear talks about archaeology in Australia and abroad. Handle artefacts from the Nicholson and Macleay collections: Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Australian and Pacific artefacts. Kids’ activities include workshops and excavations. Discover what a dig is all about.
Cost: Free after general entry fee to the Australian Museum.
See the Australian Museum or www.archaeologyweek.com for more details.
Please note that this event will take place at the Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney.
In conjunction with National Archaeology Week 2008.
Public talk: Dr Gaynor Macdonald with Marina Gold and Vicki Grieves
Government and the Anthropologists
Wednesday 28 May
Macleay Museum, 6pm
From the kinship studies of the flamboyant Radcliffe-Brown to the engagement of the more dour Elkin with the Aborigines Welfare Board, Sydney’s Department of Anthropology maintained a commitment to research and policy inputs regarding Aboriginal peoples of NSW. Gaynor Macdonald will lead discussion of the value and purposes of this often controversial work, and its significance for the relationships between Anthropology, Aboriginal peoples and Government at the time and since.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
42 books about Art
Artist David Sequeira discusses his work
Sunday 1 June
University Art Gallery, 2pm
David Sequeira will discuss his works currently exhibited at the University Art Gallery. These works were commissioned to coincide with Sydney Writers' Festival.
The talk will be followed by refreshments to celebrate the opening of the exhibition.
Click here for invitation
Celebrate Mabo Day at the Macleay Museum
Tuesday 3 June
Macleay Museum, 4pm
This year for Mabo Day Professor N Martin Nakata (B.Ed.Hons.PhD) will talk about his book Disciplining the Savages-Savaging the Discipline. Martin is Chair of Australian Indigenous Education & Director of Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney and Honorary Research Fellow Mitchell Library. He is the first Torres Strait Islander to receive a PhD in Australia.
Download the flyer here.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Mabo Day is held every year on 3 June to celebrate the achievements of the Murray Island Land Case and Mabo Decision which altered the foundation of land law in Australia by overturning the doctrine of terra nullius (land belonging to no-one) on which British claims to possession of Australia were based.
Mabo Day is named in honour of one of the five Meriam-le plaintiffs, Eddie Koiki Mabo, James Rice, Dave Passi, Sam Passi and Celuia Salee. Mabo Day acknowledges all Indigenous Australians who have empowered and inspired each other.
Antique Fair
Sunday 8 June and Monday 9 June
Great Hall
University Museums will be open over the long weekend as the 12th Annual Antique Fair is held in the Great Hall at the University of Sydney.
Public talk: Dr Jim Specht and Dr Ian MacLean
Frank Hurley, J.P. Murray and colonial rule
Wednesday 11 June
Macleay Museum, 6pm
When Papua was an Administrative Territory of Australia, enormous interest about its peoples, and their so-called ‘savage’ way of life, was generated by showmen like photographer Frank Hurley. At the same time the people of the Territory were being counted, measured, and documented and new systems of education, health and work were implemented. Curator Jim Specht and anthropologist Ian MacLean will discuss the intricacies of these often conflicting goals.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Public Talk. Professor Peter Sutton, University of Adelaide
Ursula McConnel as Public Intellectual
Sunday 15 June
Macleay Museum, 2pm
Through the lens of McConnel's life it is possible to see the interconnected nature of modern psychology, sexual liberalism, female emancipation, secularisation, unconventional spirituality, modern gardening, Indigenous welfare reform, environmental protectionism, the hiking, bushwalking and other vitalist movements, the arts and crafts movement, and modernist Australian letters. McConnel's life is in many ways a personal reflection of these various but intertwined and incipient 'decolonisations' and modernistations that, in her time, were occurring across broad spectrum Australian culture.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Mummies Alive! Day
Sunday 22 June
Nicholson Museum, 12 noon – 4pm
KIDS’ MUSEUMS. Explore the world of ancient Egypt and come face to face with ancient mummies in this fun day of activities.
Talks on mummification, a chance to handle ancient Egyptian artefacts, take part in our archaeological digs, and learn how to wrap a mummy. Find out if curses are real, and why Egyptians buried their dead for the journey to eternity.
Free entry
Information: (02) 9351 2812
Carillon Recital: Mummies Day
Sunday 22 June
Quadrangle, 2-3pm
In conjunction with the Nicholson Museum’s Mummies Day, hear a soundtrack guaranteed to raise the dead! A performance by carillonist Liz Cartwright.
Visit: www.carillon.org.au/usyd for a full program of Carillon Recitals in 2008
June
Curator's talk and exhibition opening: Dr Kyla McFarlane, Monash University Museum of Art
Siri Hayes: Landscapes
29 June
University Art Gallery, 2pm
Dr Kyla McFarlane, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, from Monash University Museum of Art, gives a guided tour of the exhibition, followed by refreshments.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9351 6883
July
Kids' Museums: School Holiday Activities
Monday 7 - Friday 11 July and
Monday 14 - Friday 18 July
Children's activities focused on the world of archaeology and anthropology.
11am in the Nicholson Museum:
Ancient Olympic Games
Talks, work sheets, and activities designed to bring the Ancient Greek Olympic Games to life.
1pm in the Macleay Museum:
What is Anthropology?
Discover how anthropologists learn about cultures different from their own.
Programs are aimed at children 5 - 10 and run for one hour.
Free entry but bookings essential as spaces are limited.
Bookings: (02) 9351 2812
Public Lecture: Dr Elena Govor and Dr Chris Ballard, Australian National University
N.N Miklouho-Maclay as Anthropologist: the 1879 New Hebrides Trip
Wednesday 9 July
Macleay Museum, 6pm
This talk outlines the intellectual context for Miklouho-Maclay’s anthropological and ethnological fieldwork, and explores some of the interpretive potential of his New Hebrides sketches, particularly through interviews with living ni-Vanuatu communities.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Public Lecture: Professor Costas Fotakis, University of Crete
Optical Sciences in the service of the future of our past: Lasers in the preservation of cultural heritage
Thursday 10 July
Nicholson Museum, 6.30pm
In this lecture Professor Fotakis discussed the ways in which laser based analytical techniques have been used successfully on cultural heritage material. Explore how optical sciences have contributed new non-intrusive techniques of analysis and diagnosis of heritage, and discover the use of modern laser science and technology on cleaning and restoration of cultural material.
In this talk Professor Fotakis will discuss how pulsed laser systems have been successfully implemented for the cleaning of artefacts and of ancient monuments, especially the Parthenon of Athens.
Professor Fotakis is in Australia to present a plenary lecture at the 21st Congress of the International Comission for Optics and to visit MQ-Photonics, Department of Physics, Macquarie University. His visit is supported by the International Science Linkages program of the Department of Education, Science and Training and a Macquarie University Research Development Grant. Hist talk at the Nicholson Museum is presented in conjunction with the University of Sydney's School of Physics.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
click for invitation
Public Lecture: Dr Denise Donlon, University of Sydney
Physical and Forensic Anthropology: Past and Present
Thursday 17 July
Macleay Museum, 6pm
This talk will explore how forensic anthropology in Australia grew out of physical anthropology and anatomy, as well as its rich history at the University of Sydney. Denise will discuss how research in the field has been based primarily on collections of Australian Aboriginal skeletal remains. Recently there has been a rise in the interest in forensic anthropology and the police and the Australian Defence Forces are now using it in a variety of cases.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
click for invitation
Classical Fantasies Lecture Series 1: The Great Artists and their Patrons
Thursday 17 July
Nicholson Museum, 6.30pm
Public Lecture: Dr Monica Jackson, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
The Castellani Genius: The Lost Art of Italian Archaeological Jewellery
The 2008 Alexander Cambitoglou Lecture and official opening of the exhibition Classical Fantasies
The rise of the Castellani, a 19th century Roman family of goldsmiths and jewellers, is one of the most fascinating and remarkable stories in the long history of jewellery and luxury arts. This lecture follows the fortunes of the Castellani family set against the changing face of 19th century European Grand Tourism and the turbulent politicaql events that resulted in the unification of Italy. It discusses the remarkable achievements of the family in reviving and replicating jewellery styles and techniques of the ancient Etruscans, Greeks, Egyptians and Romans.
Talk presented by the Nicholson Museum in conjunction with SoMA: The Society of Mediterranean Archaeology.
Cost: $40, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
click for invitation
Exhibition Talk: Judy Annear, Art Gallery of NSW
Ideas of place in Australian Contemporary Photography
Sunday 20 July
University Art Gallery, 2pm
A talk on the exhibition Siri Hayes: Landscapes by Judy Annear, Senior Curator Photography at the Art Gallery of NSW.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9351 6883
Public talk: Vicki Grieves, University of Sydney
More than Family History: Aboriginal Families and Australian History
Sunday 20 July
Macleay Museum, 3pm
In the last of the series of lectures to accompany the exhibition People, Power, Politics Vicki Grieves will talk about the potential of Indigenous Knowledges and the difference of Aboriginal history.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Public lecture: Dr John Armstrong, University of Melbourne
Goethe's Italian Journey: Travels in Search of Beauty, Sex and the Meaning of Life
Wednesday 23 July
Nicholson Museum, 6.30pm
John Armstrong is the author of the best selling Love, Life and Goethe: how to be happy in an imperfect world (2006)
This talk will look at the extraordinary two years (1786-88) that Goethe spent travelling in Italy - much of the time incognito. Goethe's very personal description of his adventures in Venice, Rome, Naples and Sicily in particular rank as one of the finest examples of travel writing and its intimacies.
Cost: $25; $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Exhibition Talk: Dr Chiara O'Reilly, University of Sydney
Photography and Landscape: Composing Nature
Sunday 27 July
University Art Gallery, 2pm
A talk on the landscape photography in conjunction with Siri Hayes: Landscapes, by Chiara O'Reilly, Lecturer in Museum Studies.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9351 6883
Public Lecture: Professor Oliver Taplin, Oxford University, 'Theatre and Vases in the Greek World of South Italy'
Thursday 7 August, 6.30pm
Nicholson Museum
A chance to hear one of the world's great Classical scholars. Professor Taplin will speak on the depiction of theatrical themes on South Italian red figured vases of the fourth century BC, including the Nicholson Museum's world famous Tarporley Painter vase.
Presented by the Nicholson Museum in conjunction with the Department of Classics.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings: (02) 9351 2812
Click for pdf invitation
Kids Museum: Ancient Olympic Games Day
Sunday 10 August
12noon - 4pm
Nicholson Museum
A family day in the Nicholson Museum exploring ancient Greek culture and the Ancient Olympic games. While modern athletes compete at the Beijing Olympics, discover more about their ancient counterparts with a series of talks for kids, dress-ups and hands-on activities.
Free entry
Information: (02) 9351 2812
Les Murray reads Les Murray
Join Australian poet Les Murray as he reads and discusses his work.
Opening of New Victorians
University Art Gallery
Tuesday 19 August, 6.00pm
The exhibition New Victorians will be opened by John Harwood, author of the best selling Victorian era ghost novels The Seance 2008 and The Ghost Writer (2004).
Free entry
Phone: (02) 9351 6883
Behind-the-scenes at the Electron Microscope Unit
A behind-the-scenes tour of the University's Electron Microscope Unit. Join this very special tour with the people who make it all work.
Click for invitation and more information
Public Lecture: Dr Gerard Vaughan: 'Charles Townley' - The 'genius' of the 18th Century grand tourist, antiquarian and collector
Nicholson Museum
Thursday 21 August, 6.30pm
Dr Gerard Vaughn, Director of the NGV takes us on the Grand Tour and introduces us to Charles Townley, the famous antiquary and collector of marble sculptures.
Cost: $40, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Indigenous Lecture Series: 'Being Collected'
Macleay Museum
Monday 25 August, 5.30pm
Darlene Johnson, a NSW film maker from the Dunghutti tribe will introduce her recent film River Of No Return about the work of Yolngu actress Frances Djulibing.
Free entry
Booking essential: (02) 9036 5253
Click for invitation
Frances Djulibing in River of No Return
Public Lecture: Dr Judith Field (Electron Microscopy Unit)
Plant Use in Prehistory and How it Changed the World
Wednesday 3 September, 6pm
Macleay Museum
The development of particular plant processing technologies has been argued as one of the key prerequisites for the colonisation of new environments by modern humans. Using examples, Judith will talk about how the microscopic analysis of ancient starches has contributed to our understanding of the past and human uses of plant life.
Free entry
Booking: (02) 9036 5253
Click here for invitation
Public Lecture: Associate Professor Steven Ellis (University of Cincinnati)
My Life in Ruins: Excavating Pompeii in the 21st Century
Thursday 4 September, 6.30 pm
Nicholson Museum
Associate Professor Steven Ellis (co-director of the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project at the Porta Stabia) speaks about his work excavating Pompeii during the past decade, and explains how recent fieldwork is shining new light on the ancient city.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings Essential: (02) 9351 2812
Click here for invitation
Pompeii: City of Life and Death
The Inaugurual Sydney University Museums Course in a Day
Saturday 6 September, 10am - 4pm
Nicholson Museum
The Adult Education Program of Sydney University Museums presents its inaugurual Study Day, focusing on the archaeology of the Roman City or Pompeii, the city of Life and Death.
Cost: $100 per head (incl a catered lunch and morning and afternoon tea
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812 or email: m.turner@usyd.edu.au
Click for invitation and further details
National Threatened Species Day
Sunday 7 September, 12noon - 4pm
Macleay Museum
To mark National Threatened Species Day 2008, the Macleay Museum will put on display a Tasmanian Tiger specimen and host a children's art day.
At 2pm join the Macleay Museum's Curator of Natural History, Liz Jefferys, as she talks about some of the current issues threatening species today and answers questions.
Free entry
Public Forum by University of Sydney's Department of History
Electing the US President
Tuesday 9 September 5.30 - 7pm
Nicholson Museum
Spend an evening with American historians as they discuss exciting US elections, the meaning of race and gender in US politics and society, and why the current race for the White House is so compelling.
Panellists are George Winterton, Emeritus Professor who is an expert on comparative constitutional law and issues relating to the republic; Shane White, Professor of American History, and Stephen Robertson, Senior Lecturer in History, who are currently working on a large research project, Black Metropolis: Harlem 1915-30; Frances Clarke, lecturer in history, who writes on US cultural and gender history; and Clare Corbould, lecturer in history, who writes on the history of African American racial relations.
Free entry
Pubilc Lecture: Associate Professor Guy Cox (Electron Microscopy Unit)
Macleay Museum, 6pm
The Hidden World of Nature - 400 Years of Discovery with Microscopes
The invention of the microscope in the 17th century revealed an unknown world of micro-structure and micro-organisms. Guy Cox will talk about how the history of the technology or microscopes went hand-in-hand with the history of discovery and learning about living organisms.
Bookings: 9036 5253
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Public Lecture and Film by Alessandro Furlan (Director of Altair4 Multimedia, Rome)
The House of Julius Polybius: A Virtual Reconstruction
Thursday 11 September, 6.30pm
Nicholson Museum
The aim of this talk is to recreate a 'living' house in Pompeii just moments before the eruption of Vesuvius, and in doing so, tell the story of its deconstruction and subsequent rediscovery.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings Essential: (02) 9351 2812
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History Day at Sydney University Museums
Sunday 14 September, 12 - 4pm
Sydney University Museums
Celebrate NSW History Week 2008 by attending a series of events at Sydney University Museums on our annual family day. There will be activities for children and adults, such as a mock archaeological excavation and a chance to handle artefacts and specimens.
Public Talk: Jan Brazier (Macleay Museum)
New Marvel of a Marvellous Age
University Art Gallery
Sunday 14 September, 2pm
Photography was one of the great innovations of the 19th century. Jan Brazier, Curator of History Collections at the Macleay Museum, will talk about photographic processes developed in the 19th century. From daguerreotypes to sterographs, photography provided a new way for Victorians to see their world.
Talk Presented in conjunction with the New Victorians exhibition.
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Thursday 2 October 6.30pm
Nicholson Museum
Public Lecture: Amanda Dunsmore (National Gallery of Victoria)
Josiah Wedgwood and the Creation of the Neo - Classical Ideal
Josiah Wedgewood, together with the furniture designers Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite, was one of the most important figures in the development of the Neo Classical ideal in the Decorative Arts at the end of the 18th Century. His production methods and design aesthetic were to transform the pottery industry.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential
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Sunday 5 October
Macleay Museum, 12 noon - 4pm
Kids Museum: 'Small Matters' Family Day
A chance for kids to observe the world up close. Fun activities will be held throughout the afternoon, along with short talks on microscopes.
Free entry
Information: (02) 9036 5253
Wednesday 8 October
Nicholson Museum, 6.30pm
Public Lecture: Professor Michael Fulford (University of Reading)
The Silchester Town Life Project: seeking the Iron Age origins of urban life in Britain
Discover life in a Romano-British town, as Professor Fulford takes us on a journey through the University of Reading excavations at Silchester in Hampshire (the Roman town of Calleva Atrebum).
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
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Sunday 12 October
University Art Gallery, 12 noon - 4pm
Kids Museums: New Victorians and Old Victorians
A series of arts-and-crafts activities, based on the New Victorians art exhibition. Kids will also get to see the gargoyles and other original Victorian features of the University's architecture.
Free entry
Information: (02) 9351 6883
Sunday 18 October
Great Hall, 1pm - 4.30pm
International Organ Day
A celebration of International Organ Day featuring the following:
1pm: Children's introduction to the organ.
2pm: Picnic (BYO) during carillon recital
3.30pm: Organ recital by Amy Johansen
Free entry
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Sunday 19 October
University Art Gallery, 2pm
Curator's Choice #5: Connie Tornatore-Loong (University Art Gallery)
Join us for the latest instalment in our very popular series of talks, where Sydney University Museums staff members speak about the items in the collection that inspire or fascinate them. Art Gallery Curatorial Assistant, Connie Tornatore-Loong turns her eye to the exhibition Foresight: Works from the University of Sydney Union Art Collection, and takes us on a journey through works in the collection by the artists Angelina Petyarre, Michael Riley and Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9351 6883
Wednesday 22 October
Macleay Museum, 6pm
Public Lecture: Dr Anya Salih (University of Western Sydney)
Fluorescent proteins of reef corals - natural sunscreens and biotechnological tools
Microscopic analysis of coral is a vital part of understanding the health of the Great Barrier Reef. In this talk Anya will speak about what her research reveals about this international natural wonder.
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Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Wednesday 22 October, 12noon
University Art Gallery
Free Lunchtime Art Tour
Join us for a free tour of the University Art Gallery’s latest exhibition Foresight: Works from The University of Sydney Union Art Collection. Spend an hour learning about the works, and your lunchtime with art.
For more information or to book: (02) 9351 6883
Sunday 26 October
Nicholson Museum, 2pm
Curator's Tour: Dr Elizabeth Bollen (Nicholson Museum)
Shattered Glass: A Curator's Tour
A chance to be guided around the Nicholson Museum's beautiful exhibition with its curator. Learn more about the Nicholson Museum's collection and the stories of glass through time.
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9351 2812
Sunday 2 November
Macleay Museum, 2pm
Public Talk: Dr Allan S Jones (Australian Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis)
Seeing the World in 4-dimensions
Forget about the third dimension, Allan Jones will take you on a scientific but truly magical journey into the inside of things. Jouney through a lung, take a worms view of rocks, and find out what's inside a bee's abdomen in this fun and beautiful presentation.
Free entry.
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Click for Invitation
Sunday 2 November
Macleay Museum, 2pm
Public Talk: Dr Allan S Jones (Australian Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis)
Seeing the World in 4-dimensions
Forget about the third dimension, Allan Jones will take you on a scientific but truly magical journey into the inside of things. Jouney through a lung, take a worms view of rocks, and find out what's inside a bee's abdomen in this fun and beautiful presentation.
Free entry.
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
Click for Invitation
Wednesday 5 November
Nicholson Museum and Maclaurin Hall, 6pm
A celebration of the Bicentennial of Sir Charles Nicholson's Birth
The Friends of the Nicholson Museum are pleased to present a gala evening commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Sir Charles Nicholson, founder of the University of Sydney's museum of antiquities.
Cost: $50 per person
Information and bookings: (02) 9351 2812
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Saturday 8 November
Sydney University Museums, 12 - 4pm
Spring Back to Sydney
Sydney University Museums will be open to the public to celebrate the Alumni Relations' annual Spring Back to Sydney Day. This includes a full program of events and activities across campus for alumni who graduated from the University in a year ending with '8'.
Cost: Free entry to University Museums all day
Saturday 8 November
Nicholson Museum, 2pm
Public Talk: Michael Turner (Nicholson Museum)
The Portland Vase: A Materpiece in Glass
The Portland Vase is one of the most famous pieces of decorated glass in the world. Ever since its discovery in teh early 1600s, the method of its production and the meaning of its imagery have confounded craftsmen, artists and scholars alike. At the same time its aesthetic beauty has attracted millions of admirers.
Nicholson Museum Senior Curator Michael Turner's free Saturday afternoon talk will look at the Vase's colourful history and the intriguing attempts to recreate the lost craftsmenship of Augustan Rome.
Free entry.
Bookings: (02) 9351 2812
Wednesday 19 November
Nicholson Museum, 6.30pm
Public Lecture: Ross Burns (Former Ambassador to Syria and Council Member of the FNM)
Beyond the Grand Tour: Palmyra through the eyes of Louis-Francois Cassas
Louis-Francois Cassas (1756 - 1827), was a French draughtsmen, engraver, sculptor and archaeologist, who travelled widely in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, sketching everything he saw. His illustrations profoundly influenced the development of New Classicism. In this talk, Ross Burns explores Cassas' work at Palmyra, and compares them with what is now visible at the site. See how the enlightenment drew inspiration from the Roman remains of the Middle East, which were much more intact than those of Europe.
Cost: $25, $20 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum
Bookings essential: (02) 9351 2812
Sunday 23 November
Nicholson Museum, 12 noon - 4pm
Bicentennial of Sir Charles Nicholson's Birth
Kid's Museums: Family Day at the Nicholson Museum
To commemorate the 200th birthday of Sir Charles Nicholson, the museum he founded is hosting a family day. There will be talks on archaeology and history, hands-on artefact workshops and the chance to participate in a mock archeological dig.
Free entry.
Information: (02) 9351 2812
Tuesday 2 Decemeber
Old Geology Lecture Theatre, 6pm
Public Lecture: Prof. Dr. H.J. Tanke (Leiden University)
Jubilee Symposium Launch
In celebration of 50 years of advanced microscopy at the University of Sydney, Professor Tanke will launch the Jubilee Symposium with this public lecture. As he writes, "the world of the cell is increasingly fascinating, since it has become rapidly clear in the past years how those thousands of macromolecules togther cause a cell to grow, divide and do its job. Due to the knowledge of genetics and molecular cell biology and using advanced microscopy, it is now possible to demonstrate genes in chromosomes, and to unravel the molecular mechanisms that they control."
Free entry
Bookings: (02) 9036 5253
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