Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Wednesday 08 April
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Barry Jones is a living treasure. Literally: he’s one of Australia’s 100 Living National Treasures, as voted by over 10,000 Australians.
He led the campaign for scrapping the death penalty, and in 1984, as Minister for Science, was the first Australian politician to raise the issue of anthropogenic climate change. His long career in local, national and international politics has included five years as a Victorian MP, over two decades as a Federal MP (including Minister for Science from 1983 to 1990), and tenure as Australia’s UNESCO and World Heritage Council representative in Paris.
Jones is the author of books including A Thinking Reed, Dictionary of World Biography and the best-selling Sleepers, Wake!. He’s the only person to have been elected to all four of Australia’s Learned Academies (Australian Academy of Science, Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, Australian Academy of the Humanities and Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering). He’s also been a teacher, media personality, lawyer, university lecturer and quiz champion.
Join us at the Wheeler Centre for a conversation with one of the nation’s true polymaths.
Featuring
Barry Jones
Barry Jones has been a politician, diplomat, public servant, high school teacher, television and radio performer, lawyer, university lecturer and quiz champion. He is also the author of books including Sleepers, Wake! and A Thinking Reed.
He was a Victorian MP for five years, a Federal MP for nearly 21 years, Minister for Science 1983-90, Australian representative at UNESCO and the World Heritage Council in Paris 1991-96, and is the only person to have been elected to all four of Australia’s learned Academies.
His books include Sleepers, Wake! (1982) — a best seller which ran into 27 impressions — an autobiography, A Thinking Reed (2006), and Dictionary of World Biography (revised 2013, ANU, online).
He led the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in Australia and was the first politician to raise the issue of climate change in 1984.
Jill Singer
Jill Singer is a journalist, broadcaster, author and lecturer.
She lectures in journalism at RMIT University following 25 years as a reporter in print, radio and television. As well as winning awards for television broadcasts on architectural and medical issues, she won the Walkley Award in 1992 for best television investigative journalist and the Quill award for best television current affairs report in 1999. Jill studied science, and has had a book published on IVF. A new book on journalism is in production.