ABOUT THE EVENT:

On Thursday 9th May at The Royal Oak, Balmain, join us to hear Frank Bongiorno and Nick Dyrenfurth discuss A Little History of the Australian Labor Party. The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water will be launching the book.

Copies of A Little History of the Australian Labor Party will be available for purchase at the venue through Roaring Stories, with Dyrenfurth & Bongiorno signing copies after the discussion.

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ABOUT THE VENUE

Attendees are asked to arrive at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. Seating is unallocated – another reason to arrive early to secure an optimal spot. Why not make a full evening of it, too, by ordering a meal at the Royal Oak before or after the event? One of Balmain's oldest and most loved pubs, it serves a delicious range of food and beverages.

If you miss out on a ticket, you can still watch the event as it is livestreamed from the Roaring Stories Facebook page (accessible on the Home page and from the Live tab). A recording will also be available to view later as an upload on the Roaring Stories YouTube channel.

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Acclaimed historians Nick Dyrenfurth and Frank Bongiorno tell the story of the Australian Labor Party’s rich history of more than 130 years and examine its central role in modern Australia.

The Australian Labor Party is one of the oldest labour parties in the world and the first to form a government. From the prime ministerships of Watson and Fisher to the tragedies of Hughes and Scullin, through the 1940s legends Curtin and Chifley to governments of Whitlam, Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard, A Little History of the Australian Labor Party recounts times of triumph and failure, as well as resilience.

This updated edition examines Labor’s recent performance in state and territory politics and takes the national story up to the Albanese government.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

NICK DYRENFURTH is Executive Director of the social democratic think tank the John Curtin Research Centre. He is the author or editor of twelve books, including Getting the Blues: The future of Australian Labor, Mateship: A very Australian history, Heroes and Villains: The rise and fall of the early Australian Labor Party, The Write Stuff: Voices of unity on Labor’s future (co-edited with Misha Zelinsky), All That’s Left: What Labor should stand for (co-edited with Tim Soutphommasane) and Confusion: The making of the Australian two-party system (co-edited with Paul Strangio).

Nick is a leading media commentator and Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Historical Studies at Monash University, where he received his PhD and lectured for several years. He was a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney and secretary of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. Nick has also worked as a Labor Party advisor and speechwriter and secretary of the ALP’s National Policy Forum.

FRANK BONGIORNO is Professor of History at the Australian National University and Distinguished Fellow of the Whitlam Institute, Western Sydney University. He has written widely on Australian politics and especially the Australian Labor Party. His books also include The Sex Lives of Australians: a history and The Eighties: The decade that transformed Australia, which both won ACT Book of the Year. His Dreamers and Schemers: a political history of Australia also won ACT Book of the Year and the Australian Political Studies Association’s Henry Mayer Book Prize.

Frank recently collaborated in an updated edition of the late Mungo MacCallum’s The Good, the Bad and the Unlikely: Australia’s Prime Ministers: From Barton to Albanese and he is a regular contributor to media on Australian history and politics. Frank is President of the Australian Historical Association and the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Humanities.

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ABOUT THE HOST

Tanya Plibersek is the Minister for the Environment and Water, and the Federal Member for Sydney.

Between 2013 and 2019, Tanya was Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party. From 2013 to 2016, Tanya was also the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development. From 2017 to 2022 Tanya was the Shadow Minister for Education and the Shadow Minister for Women.

Tanya served as a Cabinet minister in the Gillard and Rudd Governments. Tanya was Minister for Health, Minister for Medical Research, Minister for Housing, Minister for Human Services, Minister for Social Inclusion, and Minister for the Status of Women.

Tanya grew up in the Sutherland Shire of Sydney and is the daughter of migrants from Slovenia. Like many newly arrived migrants, Tanya’s parents helped build the country in which they made their new home. Her father worked on the Snowy River hydroelectric scheme in the 1950s.

Tanya holds a BA Communications (Hons) from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and a Master of Politics and Public Policy from Macquarie University. Before entering Parliament, Tanya worked in the Domestic Violence Unit at the NSW Ministry for the Status and Advancement of Women. Elected to Federal Parliament as the Member for Sydney in 1998, she spoke of her conviction that ordinary people working together can achieve positive change.

Tanya lives in Sydney with her husband Michael and her three children, Anna, Joseph and Louis.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Refunds

Please note that tickets are non-refundable unless the event is cancelled or postponed due to extenuating circumstances. Refunds are not issued within 48 hours notice of event date. Humanitix fee is nonrefundable.

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This event is presented by Roaring Stories Bookshop Balmain and New South Books.

With thanks to our venue partner The Royal Oak.

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