Robert Drewe in Conversation

The sea has loomed large throughout Robert Drewe’s body of work, from the award-winning memoir The Shark Net to the short-story collection, The Rip. His new novel, Whipbird, takes us inland to Ballarat. But the sense of unseen currents tugging beneath the calm surface is as present here as ever in Drewe’s work.

Six generations of the Cleary family have gathered at Hugh and Christine Cleary’s new vineyard, the eponymous Whipbird, to commemorate their Irish ancestor’s arrival in the region 160 years earlier. But as the weekend progresses, the clan – some members familiar, some complete strangers – will learn a lot about themselves, each other and the place they all come from. It’s an exhilarating story told with humour and sharp observation.

For decades, Robert Drewe has been drawing readers into his own complex preoccupations with Australian legend and landscape. Join one of Australia’s best loved, and most celebrated authors, in conversation with Hannie Rayson at Ballarat’s Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka.

Presented in partnership with M.A.D.E. Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, Ballarat.