We invite scholars of Australian history, literature and culture to debate the works, contexts and legacies of Charles Harpur, one of the key voices in the early settler tradition of Australian poetry.

Harpur’s life and works have become newly visible with the publication of the Charles Harpur Critical Archive (charles-harpur.org) and The Letters of Charles Harpur and his Circle (Eggert and Vening 2023). For the first time, the full range of Harpur’s writing, previously hidden in newspapers and manuscripts, is available for scholars. Meanwhile, there has been a marked flowering of interest in colonial Romanticism, as scholars in critical indigenous studies, settler-colonial studies and the new imperial history have reshaped the study of nineteenth-century culture. The time is ripe for a reconsideration of the writer who has often been recognised as the ‘first great poet’ of the British occupation.

Speakers

Tom Ford (La Trobe), Paul Eggert (UNSW Canberra), Hannah Murray (La Trobe), Anna Johnston (UQ), Rachael Weaver (UTas), Alexis Harley (La Trobe), Geordie Williamson (Picador), and Stephanie Trigg, Michael Farrell, Fiannuala Morgan, Ken Gelder, Marc Mierowsky and Michael Falk (Melbourne).

Program
Day 1: 12:30pm-4:30pm followed by a dinner
Day 2: 10:00am-5:00pm
(A full program will be circulated in advance of the event.)

Papers from the conference will appear in an edited collection from Sydney University Press.

Enquiries
Please contact Michael Falk at michael.falk@unimelb.edu.au