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Date
Wed 03 Sep 2025
Patrons' advice
Suitable for ages 12+
Running time
2 hours (includes interval)
Producer
Bookoccino
Show times
Wed 03 Sep - 06:00 pm
Kate Grenville is no stranger to the past. Her success and fame as a writer exploded when she published The Secret River in 2005, a bestseller based on the story of her convict ancestors, early settlers on the land of the Darug people, along the Hawkesbury River.
Now she returns to explore her family history and what, if anything, has changed, with Miles Franklin shortlisted author, playwright and Darug woman Julie Janson. Her recent novels Benevolence and Compassion tell the story of The Secret River from a First Nations perspective.
Together the writers unpack the past and look at contemporary Australia two decades after The Secret River was published. For Grenville, who continues to grapple with the defeat of the Voice referendum, it is a family history which places her “on the sharp edge of the moving blade that was colonisation”.
Join us as Kate and Julie go on a pilgrimage, back through the places their family stories happened, putting the stories of the Darug into the same frame, on the same country.
Pricing
Member
$28.00
Adult
$38.00
Transaction charges apply for non 2025 members. Phone and counter - $6.50, internet - $5.50.