Hunter Living Histories – December 2025 Showcase

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Hunter Living Histories December 2025 Showcase University of Newcastle (Australia)
Hunter Living Histories December 2025 Showcase University of Newcastle (Australia)

Hunter Living Histories Showcase
Monday, 1 December 2025, 1.00pm-2.30pm

ZOOM link HERE

Join us at 1.00pm-2.30pm for our final Hunter Living Histories showcase for 2025. All Welcome.

WHERE: via ZOOM link HERE or in person Room L326, Auchmuty Library, Callaghan Campus, Newcastle. (Type Room no. into ONLINE MAP)

WHEN –  Monday 1 December 2025 (1.00pm-2.30pm)

Afternoon Tea will be provided for those attending in person (from 12.30pm)

WELCOME & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO COUNTRY

PRESENTATIONS

The Dingo's Noctuary by Judith Nangala Crispin
The Dingo’s Noctuary by Judith Nangala Crispin

“The Dingo’s Noctuary is an illustrated verse novel, complete at 70,500 words. It includes accurate hand drawn maps of the Australian central deserts, pressings of rare plants, and forty-seven lumachrome glass prints, afterlife portraits of animals and birds. The story unfolds through combinations of poetry and prose, alongside visual images- maps of land and stars, plant pressings, and forty-seven afterlife portraits of animals and birds. It is a single-authored book in which the images and texts are equally weighted. The book was written over thirty-seven desert crossings, sometimes on the motorcycle with the dog on the back. The entire second half of the book was written on a typewriter after a motorcycle crash (the unsuccessful 37th crossing) left me unable to use a computer.”

Judith Nangala Crispin is an acclaimed poet, visual artist, motorcyclist and volunteer firefighter, who lives on unceded Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country near Braidwood on the NSW Southern Tablelands. Her poetry has won the Blake Prize, been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and been shortlisted for many awards including the Peter Porter Prize. Her visual art has won her residencies, awards, and wide acclaim, here and overseas. She has published two collections of poetry, The Myrrh-Bearers and The Lumen Seed. Judith is a descendant of Bpangerang people from the Murray River and acknowledges heritage from Scotland, Ireland, France, Mali, Senegal and the Ivory Coast. She spends part of each year living and working with the Warlpiri, her adopted people, in the Northern Tanami Desert.

Dr David Musgrave
Dr David Musgrave

Dr David Musgrave is Senior Lecturer in the University of Newcastle’s School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences (English & Writing). He is a nationally significant poet and novelist, researcher, lecturer, critic and publisher.

 

Vera Deacon promoting the book "What About The People" in Hyde Park Sydney, 1963.
Vera Deacon promoting the book “What About The People” in Hyde Park Sydney, 1963.

REMEMBERING VERA DEACON
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

A community Festschrift, a collected volume of stories, memories and scholarly essays, along with poetry and other creative biographical forms, will be launched on 19 July 2026, the 100th Anniversary of the birth and in celebration of the life and work of:

Vera Deacon (1926-2021)

Vera was born & bred on the banks & the islands of the Hunter River Estuary

Remembering Dr Vera Deacon OAM (2026) – Call for Contributions

 

STUDENT PROJECTS

UPDATES

  • Newcastle: Generation of Pride – Forthcoming Stories of Our Town Film Launch – John Witte
  • Regional GLAM Institutions Updates
  • Hunter Regional Committee Hunter National Trust Updates

LATEST HUNTER LIVING HISTORY POSTS

Gionni Di Gravio OAM
University Archivist & Chair, Hunter Living Histories

One thought on “Hunter Living Histories – December 2025 Showcase”

  1. Wow. What a great agenda for the grand climax of 2025. Look forward to that mightily!

    I’ll get my VeraDeacon Festschrift matter as requested yesterday to you ASAP!
    Love
    Rilla

    Reply

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