frMatthew Flinders: The Man Behind The Map, a new collection of historical insights into Flinders University’s namesake, will be launched as part of South Australia’s History Festival at the Port Adelaide SA Maritime Museum on 26 May.
The new Wakefield Press publication, looking at the British naval captain’s letters to his wife, siblings, parents and friends during his world travels and final incarceration, highlights his many talents including writer, researcher, reader, musician and “above all as a romantic scientist,” says Flinders University author Dr Gillian Dooley.
Born at the end of the Age of Enlightenment and growing up as Romanticism takes hold of European culture, Matthew Flinders was the embodiment of these “seemingly irreconcilable movements,” says Dr Dooley, who is president of the History Council of SA.
“His achievements as a navigator and leader are impressive, but he was much more than an action hero, idolised by generations of admirers.”
These observations will be part of a conversation with ‘Mr South Australia’, media identity Keith Conlon, at the SA Maritime Museum, Lipson St, Port Adelaide from 6.30pm on 26 May. Book here.
Dr Dooley can be heard on this recent 5MBS Kaleidoscope podcast talking about the project and is due on ABC Radio Adelaide Mornings ahead of the SA History Festival, to talk about Matthew Flinders’ history.
Flinders University College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences academic Associate Professor Danielle Clode last week spoke to presenter David Bevan on the same 891 radio program (from 33 minutes) about another SA explorer Nicholas Baudin.
During the SA History Festival, Associate Professor Clode is also running a community bushfire history event at the Longwood Institute as part of a History Festival on 15 May (10am-3pm). Book here.
Also on 15 May (3pm-4pm), Dr Dooley will join musicians including retired math lecturer Dr Ray Booth (from the College of Science and Engineering) for a concert entitled ‘History in Music from Scotland to South Australia.’
The program includes three songs with words by Matthew Flinders – his own ‘My Evening Song’, a new setting of ‘Trim’s Epitaph’ by Michael Dooley, and a mini-cantata by Gillian Dooley titled ‘The Pelican Lagoon’, based on Flinders’ account of his visit to Kangaroo Island in 1802.
Where: Saint David’s Anglican Church, 492 Glynburn Rd, Burnside. Book here.
Other Flinders University experts presenting during SA’s History Festival in May include:
When: 19 May (7.30pm-9pm) Professor Peter Monteath, Vice-President and Executive Director of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, will explore the history of SA internment camp Loveday which held more than 5000 civilian internees from around Australia and overseas during the Second World War.
As well as Professor Monteath’s new book, Four Years in a Red Coat: The Loveday Internment Camp Diary of Miyakatsu Koike (Wakefield Press), he will discuss the German internee stories covered in the historical website ‘Loveday Lives‘, with particular focus on the fate of Germans from Iran.
Where: Immanuel Lutheran Church, 139 Archer St, North Adelaide. Book here
When: 24 May (6.30pm-8.30pm) Cornish researcher Flinders University Professor Philip Payton, with Dr Anne Black and Dr Philip Butteress will unveil the updated edition of the Pictorial History of Australia’s Little Cornwall (Wakefield Press), which covers the history of the settlement of SA’s ‘copper triangle’ and the communities of Burra, Kapunda, Moonta and Wallaroo.
Where: Mount Barker Community Library, 5 Dumas St, Mount Barker. Book here
When: 25 May (2pm-3.30pm) Flinders History Professor Philip Payton and experts Dr Anne Black and Dr Philip Butteress (see above) will give another history talk at Gawler, entitled ‘You Can’t Make This Up! Writing About Historical Figures’.
Where: Gawler Civic Centre, 89-91 Murray St, Gawler. Book here
