RAHS Day Lecture – How to watch a flogging: Pop culture convicts and the making of Australian history

Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 5 March 2025 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm

Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000

Cost: Free

Event Description:

Convicts loom large in Australian history having shackled the nation to a curious and contested origin story. In speaking to his book Caught on Screen, due for release in 2025, James Findlay will explore the role screen culture has played in projecting the convict experience to audiences in Australia and overseas. Including how such representations intersected with, and helped to direct major debates about nationalism, the legacies of colonisation, Aboriginal dispossession and the origins and character of Australian society.

About the speaker:

James Findlay is a Lecturer in Australian history at the University of Sydney. He has a research focus on historical film and television studies, convict history, Australian popular culture, and public history. He has held the Australian Film Institute Research Collection Fellowship and before becoming a historian worked extensively in film and television production, mostly in the field of documentary.