Annual European Languages Lecture 2026

Join us for an enlightening and entertaining lecture by Prof Andrew Hurley. Andrew is renowned for his compelling works and elegant writings fusing literary fields and soundscapes. 

“European Listening in Australia”

Historians have until recently proven to be fairly uninterested in sound and listening. But they are beginning to show, as they have in other geographic settings, how sound and listening were important in colonial Australia; how sound helped non-Indigenous people feel at home in a foreign country (but equally how it could render this place unhomely).  How it helped them understand the land and the uses to which they could put it. How it helped them come to know Indigenous people. When non-anglophone Europeans come to Australia, they will usually bring with them some facility in English. But they bring different ears, tuned to non-anglophone sounds, music and traditions. To what extent did this make them different sorts of listeners, and how did that impact the colonial project?  How did they sonically interact with Indigenous people? To investigate these questions Andrew will discuss two Germans active in colonial Australia: the Prussian-Australian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, and the Lutheran Missionary Carl Strehlow. What can these historical examples tell us about the importance of intercultural listening in contemporary Australia? Or about the idea of decolonising listening?

Event Schedule

• 5:30 PM – Guest Arrival & Welcome Drinks

• 5:45 – 6:00 PM – Opening Remarks by Michael Pearce SC, Honorary Consul-General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Melbourne

• 6:00 – 7:00 PM – Lecture & Q&A Session

• 7:00 – 8:00 PM – Canapés & Networking Drinks

Biography

Professor Andrew Hurley is a cultural historian who has written extensively about German contemporary music and literature, about Germans in 19th century Australia, and about intercultural listening. His most recent book is Free Action: Jazz as a Catalyst in West German Arts and Culture (Routledge, 2026). He is the author of Ludwig Leichhardt’s Ghosts: The Strange Career of a Traveling Myth (2018), Into the Groove: Popular Music and Contemporary German Fiction (2015), and The Return of Jazz: Joachim-Ernst Berendt and West German Cultural Change (2009). 

Professor Hurley is currently Deputy Dean and Head of Social Work and Arts at Charles Sturt University, a regional university that among other things offers courses in Wiradjuri, as well as Classical and Modern Arabic. 

The lecture will commence at 6pm followed by drinks and nibbles.