From 1989 to 2015 named The Examiner-John West Memorial Lecture
1989
Professor Henry Reynolds:
Tasmania’s Forgotten Treaty
1990
Professor C M H Clark, AC:
The Writing of Australian History
1991
Emeritus Director Daniel Thomas, AM:
Tasmania’s Contribution to the Advances of Art and Taste
1992
Professor Michael Roe with Dr Dan Huon and Dr Alison Alexander:
Launceston Examined: A city and its Newspaper 1842-1992
1993
Dr Marilyn Lake:
Gender and History: Lady Franklin and the Masculinity of Self-Government
1994
Dr Patricia Grimshaw:
Writing the History of Aboriginal and White Women in Colonial Tasmania
1995
Mr Justice Michael Kirby, AC, CMG:
John West, Nationhood and the Millennium
1996
Sister Veronica Brady:
“To Set the People Free”: Conviction and Conscience. John West at the end of the Twentieth Century
1997
Mr Clement Mulcahy:
Sectarianism – A Blessing or a Curse! Does Tasmania have a Cromwellian Legacy?
1998
Mr John Lyons, Editor The Sydney Morning Herald:
Media at the Crossroads
1999
Professor A G L Shaw, AO:
John West’s Tasmania
2000
The Honorable Sir Guy Green, AC, KBE, Governor of Tasmania:
Constitutionalism and the Two Cultures
2001
Professor Geoffrey Blainey:
How Six became One: the Strange Story of the Creation of Australia’s Commonwealth
2002
Associate Professor Janet McCalman, FAHA:
By way of Blessington: pathways in an ecological history of humankind
2003
Professor Stuart Macintyre:
The slavish violence of mere servants of the people: John West and the problem of responsible government
2004
Mr Paul Brunton:
The Voyages of Abel Tasman 1642-44
2005
Professor Tim Bonyhady:
Louisa’s legacy: an appreciation of Tasmania’s first environmental activist
2006
Dr Hamish Maxwell-Stewart:
“Unutterable”: Imagining the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station
2007
Dr Michael Vertigan AC:
Investment in Education – a key to Australia’s future Prosperity
2008
Professor Henry Reynolds AC:
What now for the Black-Arm band?
Aboriginal history after the apology Available Online
2009
Phillip Adams:
The End of the World? or
The Birth of a Better One? Available Online
2010
Professor Tim Flannery:
The CPRS – Is it right for Australia? Available Online
2011
Professor Cassandra Pybus:
The colourful life of Gilbert Robertson, Aboriginal hunter, True Colonist editor, agriculturalist and perpetual litigant Available Online
2012
Dr Carmen Lawrence:
Development at any price? The case of Australia’s Indigenous Heritage Available Online
2013
Professor Lucy Frost:
The children of mothers in the convict system of Van Diemen’s Land Available Online
2014
Professor Philip Payton:
From Launceston to Launceston – Perspectives on the Cornish in Australia
2015
Julian Burnside AO QC:
We can do much better Available Online
2016 Michelle Grattan AO The Power of Small Voices: The Struggle for the Senate’s Centre Available Online
2017 Saul Eslake Education, Productivity and Economic Performance Available Online
2018 Professor Mark McKenna Beyond the Crown: History and Australia’s Republican Future University of Tasmania: Listen on Livestream
2019 Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC Governor of Tasmania Transportation re-visited: lessons for modern penal policy? Available Online
2020
Professor Tim McCormack
The Notion of Humanity as a Constraint on the Conduct of War University of Tasmania: Island of Ideas SoundCloud channel
2021 Dr Eric Ratcliff John West’s Launceston, how it came and where it went Available online University of Tasmania: Island of Ideas SoundCloud channel.
2022 Dr Alison Alexander, John West and the battle to end convict transportation
2023 Dr Nick Brodie The Long Shadow of John West’s War Available Online
2024 Dr Kristyn Harman, A good riddance: The Inception of Criminal Deportation in Colonial Australia The written version of the lecture can be read here: HARMAN K A Good Riddance
2025 Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, Networks of resistance: Mapping a convict road gang in northern Van Diemen’s Land 1829-1839 37th John West Memorial Lecture – Notman’s Road Gang – Northern Tasmania Community Stories – Omny.fm The slides for the lecture can be viewed here: John West part 1 – John West part 2 – John West part 3
Each of the lectures for 1989 – 2011 has been published in the Society’s annual Papers and Proceedings. Copies of some earlier issues are still available in printed format. The lectures from 2008 to 2013 and 2016 – 2025 are available online. Check the LHS Lecture Series for the more recent audio recordings.