Preeminent Australian writer and former political advisor Don Watson examines an event that will make modern history: the 2024 US election.
On the 5 November this year, the American people will go to the polls to make a choice, the impact of which will be felt around the globe. 

Will Republican nominee and now convicted criminal, former President Donald Trump, topple Democratic nominee and incumbent President Joe Biden? How did America reach this point, and how will either candidate’s victory impact Australia’s relationship with the US and the global political landscape? 

Don Watson, celebrated Australian writer and former political advisor to Paul Keating, unpacks these questions and more at a special Fifth Estate event with host Sally Warhaft, live at The Wheeler Centre. 

Rural noir and country-based true crime fascinates readers both in Australia and overseas, in part because these genres open the gate on the challenges of remote policing and rural court processes, and the delivery of justice in the bush. BAD Sydney hears from a journalist, a true-crime writer and a police-procedural novelist on roping in rural crooks in an arena experiencing judicial, media and policing cutbacks.

SPEAKERS: Jamelle Wells, Kate Holden and Dinuka McKenzie

FACILITATOR: Michael Burge

How did they get away with it? Two books describing outrageous crimes against innocence. Anne Manne’s Crimes of the Cross provides a detailed account of priests in the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle abusing children for 30 years – 30 years! – and how clergy and leaders covered up abuse and abandoned survivors. Brian Houston was the leader of Hillsong Church as it became the biggest Pentecostal church. Its rise and rise seemed unstoppable until dirty secrets started to come out as described in detail by David Hardaker in Mine is the Kingdom. Anne and David talk to Michael Duffy about the stories they uncovered.

What is the impact of discovering murder amongst members of your own family tree. What would you do? Hide it or reveal it? How would you deal with your own feelings of shame and guilt in the light of what has been done by those whose genetic inheritance you carry? Two writers tell their story. Matthew Condon is writing about his great uncle and David Marr’s Killing for Country exposes hidden secrets. They talk to Larissa Behrendt.

We are delighted that esteemed historian Barbara Minchinton will deliver our September lecture based on the research for her latest book.

Madame Brussels was Melbourne’s most vilified brothel-keeper of the nineteenth century, but little has been known about Caroline Hodgson, the woman who played the role. There were no Visitors’ Books to reveal her networks, and few letters written in her own hand. Family material that came to light in 2018 provided some clues, and a German genealogist found others, but for her biography the details of her life in Melbourne were largely sourced from newspapers and government records. The story that emerged was the story of Melbourne’s sex industry from 1871 to its criminalisation in 1908.

Barbara Minchinton is a historian and independent researcher who has worked extensively with the collections of the Public Record Office Victoria as a volunteer. Her first book The Women of Little Lon: Sex Workers in Nineteenth-Century Melbourne won the Victorian Community History Publication Award for 2022. Barbara’s latest book, published in July 2024 by La Trobe University Press, is Madame Brussels: The Life and Times of Melbourne’s Most Notorious Woman.

Barbara’s books will be available for purchase on the night and Barbara is happy to sign copies.

Housekeeping

This event will be hybrid so presented in person in our rooms and also via ZOOM. Those purchasing Zoom tickets will be sent the log-in details 24hrs before the event.

An automatically generated confirmation of booking email is sent on booking – please check your Trash or Spam folders if this email does not turn up in your In Box.

As with most of our events, refreshments will be served from 5:30pm – 6pm when the lecture starts (the Zoom session also starts at 6pm). There will be Q&A at the end of the lecture.

Don Watson will be in conversation with Mark Kenny on his quarterly essay High Noon. Trump, Harris and America on the brink, in which Don offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

This is a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.

An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson was Prime Minister Paul Keating’s speechwriter and adviser 1992- 1996. He is the author of many award-winning and critically acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys, The Bush and The Passion of Private White.  He has twice won The Age Book of the Year, in addition to the National Biography Award, the Courier-Mail Book of the Year, the Alfred Deakin Essay Prize, the Australian Literary Studies Association Book of the Year, a Walkley Award, the New South Wales Premier’s Award, the Queensland Literary Award, and the Independent Booksellers Book of the Year (twice). 

Professor Mark Kenny is Director at the ANU Australian Studies Institute, where he hosts the popular podcast series 'Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny'. Mark is the Canberra Times political analyst and a regular on the ABC's Insiders program, Sky News Agenda, and radio programs across the country.

Hear Joelle Gergis in conversation with Rod Campbell, Research Director Australia Institute to discuss her book Humanity's Moment and Quarterly Essay Highway to Hell.

Entry includes one signed copy of the book, wine and cheese.

Join us for a conversation with Don Watson about his Quarterly Essay High Noon.

Don Watson's High Noon offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

This is a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.

An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson is the author of many acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys and The Bush.

We are all watching the pending election in the US with great interest. Join us for a lively discussion as Don Watson offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

In his latest Quarterly Essay High Noon, Watson offers a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.

Sean Kelly will join Watson in conversation.

Tickets for Quarterly Essay subscribers will be $10.00

Is the United States disintegrating?

High Noon is a historically informed, mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a country approaching democratic high noon. From Los Angeles to New York, from Detroit to Kalamazoo, Watson observes America in all its diversity and conflict, reality and unreality.

Above all, he sees the threat posed by Trump and his movement, with its blend of menace and glee, Great Replacement theory and electoral malpractice. Do Harris and the Democrats have what it takes? Can America mend its divisions? Do enough of its voters even want to?

An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson is the author of many acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys, The Bush, Watsonia and The Story of Australia.

Organised in partnership with Constant Reader Bookshop.

Don Watson offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

This is a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.
An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson is the author of many acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys and The Bush.

Don Watson offers a report from America that catches the madness and the politics of an election like no other.

This is a deeply historically informed, characteristically mordant account of Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and a divided country. Watson considers how things reached this pass, and what might lie ahead.

An essential essay about a crucial moment of choice.

Don Watson is the author of many acclaimed books, including Caledonia Australis, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, American Journeys and The Bush.