Join the curator, Dr Judith Buckrich, of our current exhibition Yarra Birrarung: Artists, Writers and the River in a behind-the-scenes talk about the exhibition. The exhibition is an illustrated history of life on the Yarra. Through the lens of artists and writers, the exhibition explores how life has flourished on the river, including recreation, industry and land use, as well as infrastructure, natural history and social history.

On 1st October 1839, the newly appointed Superintendent of the Port Phillip District, Charles La Trobe, came ashore in Melbourne for the first time. He was greeted by William Lonsdale, who had been sent to the district as de facto superintendent, and Police Magistrate in late 1836. Lonsdale, a recently retired officer of the 4th Regiment (King's Own) had come to Port Phillip  with a small 'garrison' of an Ensign and 30 men from the same regiment. He forged a close relationship with La Trobe over the coming years even though La Trobe was distinctly non-military. While neither had direct command of the 'garrison', which reported to HQ in Sydney, the soldiers had an important role in providing the ultimate, mostly symbolic, Imperial underpinning of La Trobe's authority.

Join us for a not-to-be-missed discussion on recording and sharing the truths of a colonial past. Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir and Marguerita Stephens will share their experience of collaborating across cultures to create their ground-breaking work “Years of Terror: Banbu-deen: Kulin & Colonists at Port Phillip 1835-1851.” Why did Billibellary and other Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung clansmen
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