2024 Frank Archibald Memorial Lecture
Date: Thursday 19 September
Time: 6:00 - 7:30pm
Venue: Lazenby Hall, University of New England
Presented by Stan Grant
Yindyamarra: to live with dignity in a world of catastrophe.
Take a snapshot of our world: forever wars, deep wealth inequality, environmental crisis, loss of trust, widening social and political division, failing democracy and rising authoritarianism. The most vulnerable people pay the price for the crimes of the elite and so-called leaders have no moral core. From where comes hope? In this lecture Wiradjuri man Stan Grant draws on his forty years as one of Australia’s most acclaimed and awarded journalists to speak back to our age. Deeply formed by his culture and his faith, Stan says we must resist the worst of modernity. For centuries humans have sought to make themselves gods and we have reached a point where humans themselves may be redundant. Now, Stan says we must ask what it is to live with dignity and how to recapture a sense of what is sacred.
Stan Grant is a renowned journalist, author, moral philosopher, thinker, film maker and communicator. He has had a ground breaking four decade career as one of Australia’s most awarded journalists.
A Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharrawal man, Stan has blazed a trail for First Nations journalists. In a career of firsts he was the first Indigenous Political Correspondent, the first Indigenous Foreign Correspondent, he was the first Indigenous person to present a prime time commercial television news and current affairs program.
He also has a role as Vice Chancellor's Chair of Australian-Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University and prior to this, Chair of Indigenous Affairs at Charles Sturt since 2016.
UNE Vice-Chancellor Professor Chris Moran said he is thrilled to welcome Dr Grant to UNE to address students, staff and the community.
“Stan Grant will join a long line of distinguished speakers who have been involved with the Frank Archibald lecture, including Dr Pat O’Shane, Mick Dodson, Noel Pearson, the late Charles Perkins and Michelle Trudgett,” Professor Moran said.
“We are privileged to welcome such an inspiring and trail blazing Indigenous Australian to Armidale. Mr Grant has a strong voice and I am very much looking forward to hearing what he will share with our university community.”
Mr Grant’s list of awards include three time winner of Australia’s highest journalism honour the Walkley Award, four time winner of the prestigious Asia TV awards, an Australian TV Logie Award and many more.
He holds a Doctor of Letters from the University of New South Wales and will soon complete his Doctor of Theology with Charles Sturt University. He continues to write for national and international news publications.
UNE’s Frank Archibald Memorial Lecture has been held as part of university’s calendar since 1986 and is dedicated to Frank Archibald, his family and Aboriginal people of the New England region. The Lecture is presented by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander speakers who are leading professionals in fields such as education, law, social justice, government and the arts.
