We are delighted that esteemed historian Barbara Minchinton will deliver our September lecture based on the research for her latest book.

Madame Brussels was Melbourne’s most vilified brothel-keeper of the nineteenth century, but little has been known about Caroline Hodgson, the woman who played the role. There were no Visitors’ Books to reveal her networks, and few letters written in her own hand. Family material that came to light in 2018 provided some clues, and a German genealogist found others, but for her biography the details of her life in Melbourne were largely sourced from newspapers and government records. The story that emerged was the story of Melbourne’s sex industry from 1871 to its criminalisation in 1908.

Barbara Minchinton is a historian and independent researcher who has worked extensively with the collections of the Public Record Office Victoria as a volunteer. Her first book The Women of Little Lon: Sex Workers in Nineteenth-Century Melbourne won the Victorian Community History Publication Award for 2022. Barbara’s latest book, published in July 2024 by La Trobe University Press, is Madame Brussels: The Life and Times of Melbourne’s Most Notorious Woman.

Barbara’s books will be available for purchase on the night and Barbara is happy to sign copies.

Housekeeping

This event will be hybrid so presented in person in our rooms and also via ZOOM. Those purchasing Zoom tickets will be sent the log-in details 24hrs before the event.

An automatically generated confirmation of booking email is sent on booking – please check your Trash or Spam folders if this email does not turn up in your In Box.

As with most of our events, refreshments will be served from 5:30pm – 6pm when the lecture starts (the Zoom session also starts at 6pm). There will be Q&A at the end of the lecture.

Don Watson will be in conversation with Mark Kenny on his quarterly essay High Noon. Trump, Harris and America on the brink, in which Don offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

This is a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.

An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson was Prime Minister Paul Keating’s speechwriter and adviser 1992- 1996. He is the author of many award-winning and critically acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys, The Bush and The Passion of Private White.  He has twice won The Age Book of the Year, in addition to the National Biography Award, the Courier-Mail Book of the Year, the Alfred Deakin Essay Prize, the Australian Literary Studies Association Book of the Year, a Walkley Award, the New South Wales Premier’s Award, the Queensland Literary Award, and the Independent Booksellers Book of the Year (twice). 

Professor Mark Kenny is Director at the ANU Australian Studies Institute, where he hosts the popular podcast series 'Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny'. Mark is the Canberra Times political analyst and a regular on the ABC's Insiders program, Sky News Agenda, and radio programs across the country.

Hear Joelle Gergis in conversation with Rod Campbell, Research Director Australia Institute to discuss her book Humanity's Moment and Quarterly Essay Highway to Hell.

Entry includes one signed copy of the book, wine and cheese.

Join us for a conversation with Don Watson about his Quarterly Essay High Noon.

Don Watson's High Noon offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

This is a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.

An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson is the author of many acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys and The Bush.

We are all watching the pending election in the US with great interest. Join us for a lively discussion as Don Watson offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

In his latest Quarterly Essay High Noon, Watson offers a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.

Sean Kelly will join Watson in conversation.

Tickets for Quarterly Essay subscribers will be $10.00

Is the United States disintegrating?

High Noon is a historically informed, mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a country approaching democratic high noon. From Los Angeles to New York, from Detroit to Kalamazoo, Watson observes America in all its diversity and conflict, reality and unreality.

Above all, he sees the threat posed by Trump and his movement, with its blend of menace and glee, Great Replacement theory and electoral malpractice. Do Harris and the Democrats have what it takes? Can America mend its divisions? Do enough of its voters even want to?

An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson is the author of many acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys, The Bush, Watsonia and The Story of Australia.

Organised in partnership with Constant Reader Bookshop.

Don Watson offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

This is a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.
An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson is the author of many acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys and The Bush.

Don Watson offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

This is a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.

An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson is the author of many acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys and The Bush.

Bookoccino will host an evening to discuss and dissect what the US Election means. Why is America so polarized? What explains Trump’s popularity? Is the country ready for a woman president? The electoral college? And what does it all mean for Australia?

The panel:
- Nick Bryant, author of The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict With Itself
- Michael Green, head of the United States Studies Centre at Sydney University who once worked in the White House
- Don Watson, author of forthcoming Quarterly Essay High Noon 'that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other’
- Julia Baird, journalist, author of Bright Shining, former anchor of 'The Drum'

The moderator:
- Raymond Bonner, former New York Times correspondent and co-owner of Bookoccino

A full 90 minutes, with plenty of time for questions. Submit your questions when you buy your tickets.

Drinks from 5.30pm, main event at 6:00pm.
 

One of the great mysteries of Australian life is that a land of sweeping plains, with one of the lowest population densities on the planet, has a shortage of land for houses. As a result, Sydney is the second most expensive place to buy a house on Earth, after Hong Kong.

The escalation in house prices is a pain that has altered Australian society; it has increased inequality and profoundly changed the relationship between generations – between those who have a house and those who don’t. It has caused a rental crisis, a dearth of public housing and a mortgage crunch.

Things went seriously wrong at the start of the 21st century, when there was a huge and permanent rise in the price of housing. This updated and expanded edition of the bestselling Quarterly Essay adds material on homelessness, how much house prices in each city need to come down to be affordable, and lessons from overseas.

Alan Kohler is the founder of Eureka Report, which has been integrated into the website Intelligent Investor. Alan is also the finance presenter on ABC News and a columnist for The New Daily. A former editor of The Age and The Australian Financial Review, he has written for The Australian, AFR, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Organised in partnership with Constant Reader Bookshop.

From prehistory to now, this is the fascinating story of why music is vital to the human experience.

Award-winning broadcaster and composer Andrew Ford joins PFSMF co-artistic director Monica Curro to talk about Ford’s latest book, The Shortest History of Music – a lively, authoritative tour through several thousand years of music. Packed with colourful characters and surprising details, it sets out to understand what exactly music is, and why humans are irresistibly drawn to making it.

This is not a traditional chronological account. Instead, Andrew Ford focuses on key themes in the history of music and considers how they have played out across the ages. How has music interacted with other social forces, such as religion and the economy? How have technological changes shaped the kinds of music humans make? From lullabies to concert halls, songlines to streaming services, what has music meant to humans at different times and in different places?

In a meeting of two monumental hearts and minds, international singing sensation Josh Piterman reveals the secrets of his success to PFSMF’s very own Letterman – the composer, author and broadcaster Andrew Ford. This is a rare opportunity to gain insights into the dedication and desire required to forge an impactful path in the arts, and the versatility, resilience, and mindfulness needed to sustain a long and rewarding career.

Andrew Leigh  will be in conversation with Lin Hatfield Dodds on his new book Battlers and Billionaires: The Updated Story of Inequality in Australia.

Is Australia fair enough? And why does inequality matter anyway? From egalitarian beginnings, Australian inequality rose through the nineteenth century. Then we became more equal again, with inequality falling markedly from the 1920s to the 1970s. Now, inequality is returning to the heights of the 1820s. The housing and cost-of-living crises we face are some of the defining issues of our time.

In Battlers and Billionaires, Andrew Leigh shows that while inequality can fuel growth, it also poses dangers to society. Too much inequality risks cleaving us into two Australias, with little contact between the haves and the have-nots. And the further apart the rungs on the ladder of opportunity, the harder it is for a kid born into poverty to enter the middle class. Battlers and Billionaires sheds fresh light on what makes Australia distinctive, and what it means to have - and keep - a fair go.

'Fun, fascinating and fundamentally important. A must-read for anyone who cares about bridging our divides.' -Julia Gillard

'A thought-provoking book which emphasises how far we have strayed from confidently discussing public policies that seek to give meaning to our egalitarian spirit.' -Laura Tingle

After Ariane Beeston gave birth, she experienced postpartum psychosis and was admitted to a psychiatric unit. Ariane explains in her memoir the long road back from the brink, her efforts to create awareness and minimise shame about postpartum psychosis, and her career pivot to perinatal health. With Jayne Tuttle.

Economist and parliamentarian Andrew Leigh will be in conversation with technology entrepreneur and philanthropist Cliff Obrecht about Andrew’s new book, Battlers and Billionaires: The Updated Story of Inequality in Australia.

On October 23, 2024, the Brunswick Picture House will host "Highway to Hell: Are We Stuck in a Climate Action Cul-de-sac?", a pivotal event featuring a presentation by renowned climate scientist Dr. Joelle Gergis, lead author of IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, The Quarterly Essay Highway to Hell and joined by a panel of local experts and activists to talk about government paralysis, false solutions and the folly of adaptation, rather than curbing fossil fuel use. The threat is real, and it's the community who are being called to act.

The event aims to energise community action on climate change by presenting practical solutions and empowering attendees to make a tangible difference.

Nina Wan (The Albatross), Rachel Mogan McIntosh (Mothering Heights), and Ariane Beeston (Because I'm Not Myself, You See), join Tori Haschka (A Recipe for Family), to discuss the tensions between creativity and creation; anxiety, pain, illness and parenthood - and just how much of yourself you are willing to put into your work.

The story of our past -- as individuals, and collectively as communities, nations, and indeed empires -- is the bedrock of understanding the present and perceiving the outlines of the future. But how history is told – and by whom -- matters greatly. Author and journalist David Marr, historian Alison Bashford, and Marc Fennell, author and presenter of the ABC’s Stuff the British Stole, discuss how history is transmitted – in books, on screen, and now in podcasts -- by both scholars and non-scholars, and to what effect, both good and bad.

Artificial intelligence  is one of the most contentious innovations of this century. For some observers its potential benefits -- for medicine and science, for example – outweigh any dangers; for others, the risks it poses to human agency and creativity, as well as global security, are enough to call for an immediate halt to its development. Journalist Tracey Spicer (author of Man Man: How the Bias of the Past is Being Built into the Future);  Toby Walsh (Professor of AI at UNSW and author of Faking It! Artificial Intelligence in a Human World) and Seumas Miller (ANU Professor Philosophy and author of Cybertechnology, Ethics and Collective Responsibility) debate and discuss these issues.

Depicting one’s life or the lives of others, whether in memoir or fiction, raises issues of identity, as well as authenticity. Yet identity – cultural, sexual,  racial, national --  can be  fluid and, rightly or wrongly, is sometimes contested, as is the authenticity of its depiction. Memoirist Kaya Wilson, biographer Jacqueline Kent, novelist Kirsty Jagger, and memoirist and novelist Alice Pung examine the challenges these issues present in writing about their own lives and the lives of others.

Founding editor of The Saturday Paper and Schwartz Media Editor-in-Chief Erik Jensen talks about his book Angry at Breakfast, an anthology of ten years writing editorials for The Saturday Paper, and the triumphs and frustrations of his career publishing the nation’s biggest news stories. With Stephanie Convery from The Guardian.

With the majority of residents in the Borough of Queenscliffe voting ‘Yes’ in last year’s historical Referendum for a Voice to Parliament, but the nation overall voting ‘No’, First Nations writer Thomas Mayo and constitutional lawyer Shireen Morris share their thoughts on the outcome and the new path forward for reconciliation.

What does it take for an author to excavate personal history and turn it into searing, emotive prose? And how does an individual situate their experiences within, or against, formidable institutions – the church, the media, the government, the police force? 

Lech Blaine’s memoir, Australian Gospel: A Family Saga, tells the gripping true story of the tangled fates of two couples and the foster children trapped between their beliefs. Former police officer Veronica Gorrie’s astonishing debut, Black and Blue, details her passionate fight against institutional racism and sexism in the police force, and saw her win the 2022 Victorian Premier's Prize For Literature. Winning the 2024 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards for Indigenous Writing, Daniel Browning’s Close to the Subject, chronicles his stellar career as a journalist in a collection of essays, interviews, poetry, memoir, art writing and play script, highlighting his vulnerable and passionate creative side in its own right. 

Explore the artistry and personal toll of writing non-fiction with these celebrated authors, in conversation with festival director Maeve Marsden. 

Authors have long been fascinated by the very human need to belong, and what happens when that need becomes an obsession. A teenage sports game descends into a brawl in Karen Viggers’ Sidelines, two families clash over their beliefs, and their children, in Lech Blaine’s memoir, Australian Gospel, and a 70-year-old alternative health influencer is reunited with her estranged transgender son in Ernest Price’s dry-witted debut, Pyramid of Needs.  

Consider family, religion, identity, sport, diet culture and social media with these three brilliant books. 

From one of Australia's most brilliant writers, a gripping true story about the tangled fates of two couples and the foster children trapped between them.

Michael and Mary Shelley are Christian fanatics who loathe their fellow Australians – especially their 'reckless indulgence of alcohol and obsession with idiotic ball sports'. Lenore and Tom Blaine are working-class Queensland publicans raising a large family in a raucous, loving, sports-obsessed home. There's just one problem. The Blaines are foster parents to three of the Shelleys' children, who were removed from Michael and Mary as infants. And the Shelleys are prepared to do anything to get them back. Anything.

Australian Gospel is a family saga like no other – heartbreaking, hilarious and altogether astonishing.

'One of the best writers of his generation.' Benjamin Law

Lech Blaine is the author of the memoir Car Crash and the Quarterly Essay Top Blokes. His writing has appeared in The Monthly, Guardian Australia, The Best Australian Essays, Griffith Review, Kill Your Darlings and Meanjin. He was an inaugural recipient of a Griffith Review Queensland Writing Fellowship.

Join us for the launch of Lech Blaine's Australian Gospel. Lech will be joined in conversation by his siblings: Steven Blaine, John Blaine, Hannah Blaine and ABC journalist Ellen Fanning. 

Australian Gospel is a gripping true story about the tangled fates of two couples and the foster children trapped between them. Michael and Mary Shelley were Christian fanatics. Three of their children – Steven, John and Hannah – were placed into foster care with Lenore and Tom Blaine. The Blaines were working-class publicans in country Queensland. In 1992, Lenore Blaine gave birth to a miracle baby named Lech. Australian Gospel is the book that Lech was born to write: a love letter to his colourful parents and foster siblings. Today, Steven is an accountant in Perth. John is a car salesman in Bundaberg. Hannah is a neuropsychologist in Alice Springs. Lech is an author and essayist based in Sydney.

Lech Blaine is the author of the memoir Car Crash and the Quarterly Essays Top Blokes and Bad Cop. He is the 2023 Charles Perkins Centre writer in residence. His writing has appeared in Good Weekend, Griffith Review, The Guardian and The Monthly. 

A report of America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

In his Quarterly Essay High Noon (September 2024) Don Watson gives a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of Donald Trump, Joe Biden and a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.

An essential analysis about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson is an acclaimed author. His books include the bestselling Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM, Death Sentence, Watson’s Dictionary of Weasel Words, Caledonia Australis, American Journeys, The Bush and The Passion of Private White. In addition to books and essays, including several on US politics for Quarterly Essay, he writes films and gives occasional talks on writing and language.

Don Watson will give members, potential members and guests an insightful perspective into the US Presidential election outcome, what it means for Australia and the broader implications.