Recorded at Australia House, London on 22 October 2019 with introduction by the Hon George Brandis QC, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

The remarkable contribution to Australian political life made by Andrew Fisher, Australia’s fifth Prime Minister, has only just begun to receive a measure of the recognition it deserves. Employed as a pit boy in the Scottish coal mines as a nine-year old, Fisher eventually migrated to Queensland aged 22, in 1885, and shortly after joined the fledgling Queensland Labor Party.

While never a charismatic politician, he was liked on both sides of the political divide for his honesty, integrity and unswerving dedication to the attainment of a more just Australia. Prime Minister no less than three times (between 1908 and 1915), and the first Prime Minister to enjoy a majority in both houses of Parliament, his governments legislated on the basis of fairness. His word was his bond.

Fisher is probably best known for his statement at the outset of the Great War that Australia would support Great Britain to its ‘last man’ and ‘last shilling’, yet the devastating loss of life in that unprecedented global conflict aged him terribly. Gallipoli horrified him. By the end of the war his hair was snow white, his inherent optimism in tatters, his memory in trouble. Fisher’s pacifist instincts had been violated. He never really recovered.

David Headon is a cultural consultant and historian. Formerly Director of the Centre for Australian Cultural Studies, Cultural Adviser to the National Capital Authority and History and Heritage Adviser for the Centenary of Canberra, he is now a Foundation Fellow at the Australian Studies Institute (ANU), a Parliamentary Library Associate and the Canberra Raiders club historian.

This lecture is part of the First Eight Project, a collaborative project between the Australian Studies Institute (ANU), Australian Parliamentary Library, National Archives of Australia, National Museum of Australia, and Victorian Parliamentary Library to enliven interest in this formative period of the nation’s history. The Australian Studies Institute thanks The Britain-Australia Society for hosting this event.

Lock up your tubas and your fairy wrens! In partnership with ANU Meet The Authors series, Chat 10 Looks 3 comes to Canberra for a live recording of the beloved podcast's bumper Christmas episode.

Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb discuss their favourite books, TV shows, movies and recipes from 2017. Make a list of what to read in your Christmas holidays! Note ideas for the perfect gifts! Crabb's rider includes a fully stocked bar and the removal of all pianos from the premises while Sales just wants to know if ANU is providing a driver.

Associate Professor Ben Penny discusses the significance of the Classical Chinese text 'Daodejing' ('Tao Te Ching'). Books that Changed Humanity is a book club with a difference. Each month, the ANU Humanities Research Centre hosts an expert from one of a variety of disciplines, who will introduce and lead the discussion of a major historical text. All of these texts, which are drawn from a variety of cultural traditions, has had a formative influence on society and humanity. The series aims to highlight and revisit those books which have informed the way we understand ourselves, both individually and collectively, as human beings. hrc.anu.edu.au/books-that-changed-humanity

In this podcast, Professor Ian McAllister, Dr Jill Sheppard and Sarah Cameron reveal the results of the latest Australian Election Study live from Parliament House.

Spoiler: The 2016 survey shows significant changes of opinion that should act as a wake-up call to the major parties.

This talk gives an insiders account of Australia's national intelligence organisation as it grappled with continuing espionage from foreign agents and the rise of terrorist attacks on Australian soil during the years of the Fraser and Hawke governments.

John Blaxland uncovers behind the scenes stories of the Hilton bombing in Sydney, assassinations of diplomats, the Combe-Ivanov affair, and the new threat from China. It reveals that KGB officers were able to recruit and run agents in Australia for many years, and it follows ASIO's own investigations into persistent allegations of penetration by Soviet moles.

Natural resources are the biggest source of unaccountable power in the world. For decades resource-fuelled authoritarians and extremists have forced endless crises on the West—and the ultimate source of their resource money is consumers, paying at the gas station and the mall.

Leif Wenar explores how the ‘resource curse’ threatens the West—and searches for the hidden global rule that puts shoppers into business with today’s most dangerous men. He discovers the same rule that once licensed the slave trade and genocide and apartheid—a rule whose abolition has marked humanity’s greatest victories, yet that still breeds tyranny and war and extremism through today’s global resource trade.

Australia could now abolish this archaic law for resources—and lead the world to lift its oil curse.

Leif Wenar holds the Chair of Philosophy and Law at King’s College London. He has been a Visiting Professor at ANU, Stanford and Princeton, and a Fellow of the Carnegie Council Program in Justice and the World Economy.

Evolution was the theme of the fifth in the Conversations Across the Creek series. Our speakers tackled this subject from their differing research viewpoints: the philosophy of biology; phylogenetics and why some things evolve faster than others; the migration of people in the Pacific; and communication in healthcare.

This session’s speakers were: Dr Rachael Brown (School of Philosophy; College of Arts and Social Sciences), Dr Rob Lanfear (Research School of Biology; College of Medicine, Biology and Environment), Dr Hilary Howes (School of Archaeology and Anthropology; College of Arts and Social Sciences), Professor Diana Slade (School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics; College of Arts and Social Sciences).

The Conversations Across the Creek series is an initiative of the Humanities Research Centre and the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. ‘Conversations’ seeks to highlight the commonalities and interesting intersections that exist across the university through TED-style talks delivered by academics from both sides of Sullivan’s Creek.

The inaugural 2006 Last Lecture was given by Professor Chris Reus-Smit. Professor Reus-Smit delivered a fascinating lecture on the topic of 'Sources of Insecurity and Instability in the Contemporary World'.

With a long teaching experience and exceptional rapport with students, it is no wonder so many students wanted to hear Professor Reus-Smit speak at the Last Lecture! He self-evidently loves teaching, and gives to his classes the same enthusiasm he has given to his many publications, including American Power and World Order (Polity Press) and the Oxford Handbook on International Relations.

Despite his less than formal high school education, Chris’s intellect has been recognised. At ANU in 2006 he was a Professor, the Head of the Department of International Relations in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, and Deputy Director of RSPAS.

Books that Changed Humanity is a book club with a difference. Each month, the ANU Humanities Research Centre hosts an expert from one of a variety of disciplines, who will introduce and lead the discussion of a major historical text.

All of these texts, which are drawn from a variety of cultural traditions, has had a formative influence on society and humanity.

The series aims to highlight and revisit those books which have informed the way we understand ourselves, both individually and collectively, as human beings.

Professor Iain McCalman gave the third lecture about On the Origin of Species. Prof. McCalman is professor of history and the humanities at the University of Sydney. http://hrc.anu.edu.au/events/books-changed-humanity-3-origin-species

ABC elections analyst, Antony Green, spoke at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations on 12 October 2016.

In a lively and entertaining with students and staff, he discusses the findings of his analysis of the 2016 Senate Federal election and the implications of the Senate's new voting system.

Placing these changes in their historical context, he finds that the new system has worked well and that some of the more surprising results were likely the result of the double dissolution rather than the reforms. Antony also discusses some possible future implications for the change