FEBRUARY 2023
Saturday 11TH February at 2:00pm
Tooheys and their hotel interests
Speaker - Dr Lisa Murray
Venue: Henry Carmichael Theatre, Sydney Mechanics of Arts, 280 Pitt Street
Admission: Members $5 Visitors $10
No bookings required | COVID rules apply
Dr Lisa Murray, the 2021 Hertzberg Fellow, has been exploring the business archive of Tooheys Limited held in the State Library of NSW. Lisa will share some of her insights and discoveries from tapping these historical records, including the brewery's involvement in the "Tied-House System" to expand their market share.
She will also demonstrate the digital mapping she has undertaken of Tooheys tied-hotels, based on data extracted from the collection. This significant collection promises a deeper understanding of the way the breweries controlled the industry and influenced pub culture in New South Wales.
MARCH 2023
Saturday 11th March at 2:00pm
Treasure House - The Stewart Dawson Story
Speaker - Geoff Nadin
Venue: Henry Carmichael Theatre, Sydney Mechanics of Arts, 280 Pitt Street
Admission: Members $5 Visitors $10
No bookings required
Author Geoff Nadin tells the story of a once famous Australian family. In February 1998, in South Kensington, London the death occurred, unremarked, of 75-year-old retired taxi driver David Stewart Dawson.
This was the same David who, fifty years earlier in Australia had inherited a life of privilege and luxury, lived at Sydney’s best addresses, married two beautiful women, and then lost it all in scandal and shame.. This is the story of the Stewart Dawsons: watchmakers and jewellers, Australian pioneers of Jazz Age popular culture. It’s also a story of marital duplicity and deception, hubris and abuse of privilege, hedonism, fraud, and criminal violence leaving a trail of victims and damaged lives, where there were few happy endings.
APRIL 2023
Saturday 15th April at 2:00pm
Kathleen Muriel Butler, the Godmother of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Venue: Henry Carmichael Theatre, Sydney Mechanics of Arts, 280 Pitt Street
Admission: Members $5 Visitors $10
No bookings required
John Bradfield was, by his own proclamation, ably assisted in building the bridge by his ‘Confidential Secretary’. Much of her work would be considered engineering by any standard, although she was formally unqualified.
The participation of women in all aspects of society, including engineering, developed greatly during the 20th century. A young Australian woman, Kathleen Butler, was a pioneer in her time and well recognised in Sydney in the 1920s but is now largely forgotten. Despite great innate ability her career was stymied by the exclusion of married women from many occupations. Participants will learn of the work of this woman, but also something of the character of the man for whom she worked – Bradfield. He recognised ability and embraced it. He encouraged Butler and pushed her forward at every opportunity.
MAY 2023
Saturday 13th May at 2:00pm
ERNEST SHACKLETON AND THE SEVENTH CONTINENT
Speaker - Kevin Fitzpatrick
Venue: Henry Carmichael Theatre, Sydney Mechanics of Arts, 280 Pitt Street
Admission: Members $5 Visitors $10
No bookings required
Frank Hurley photo-Royal Geographic Society
Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), renowned Anglo Irish Antarctic Explorer never achieved his life goal to reach the South Pole. In 1915 his Imperial Antarctic Expedition foundered when his ship The Endurance sank in the Weddell Sea. His leadership skills enabled him to escape the ice against all odds with all 28 crew saved. Shackleton's legacy was preserved photographically through Sydney-born Frank Hurley.
Kevin Fitzpatrick, with a background in leadership training and development and a love of history was captivated by Shackleton's achievement. In 2015 the centenary year of Shackleton's escape from the ice he travelled to Antarctica and followed part of Shackletofn's escape journey.
