We wish to invite you to the official book launch of “Deep History – Country and Sovereignty”, published by NewSouth Publishing. Co-edited by Ann McGrath and Jackie Huggins, this book contains key information provided by leading historians and thinkers which explore Indigenous histories of caring for places and people over millennia.

With contributions from Brenda L Croft, Anna Clark, Lynette Russell and many more, Deep History considers how stories of the past and the future are inscribed on land, waterways and skies.

Location: Victorian Pride Centre, 79/81 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, Victoria, 3182

Date: Tuesday 22 July 2025

Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM | Light Refreshments Provided, Beverages Available for Purchase at Venue

MC’d by esteemed multicultural community leader Maria Dimopoulos AM, this event will include:

• Welcome to Country by a Internationally Renowned Traditional Owner,
• Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter of the Yoorrook Justice Commission interviewing a panel consisting of Professor Jackie Huggins AM FAHA, Ann McGrath AM, and Professor Andrew Gunstone.

About the Co-Editors:

Ann McGrath AM has led the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Program on Deep History for the past seven years. She is based at the Australian National University, where she is the WK Hancock Distinguished Chair of History and currently serves on the Council of the National Museum of Australia. Her publications include Illicit Love: Interracial sex and marriage in the United States and Australia (2015), which won the NSW Premier’s History Prize, and Born in the Cattle (1987), awarded the inaugural Hancock Prize. Along with Laura Rademaker and Jakelin Troy, she co-edited Everywhen: Australia and the language of deep history (2023). McGrath has also co-directed and produced various films, including A Frontier Conversation (2006), Message from Mungo (2014) and Japarta (2025). Her work has been recognised by the Human Rights Award for non-fiction, the John Barrett Prize and the Archibald Hannah Junior Fellowship at the Beinecke Library, Yale. She has gained memberships of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham, and the School of Social Sciences and the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and was awarded two Rockefeller Foundation Scholarly Residencies at Bellagio.

Professor Jackie Huggins AM FAHA is Bidjara and Birri Gubba Juru. She is currently Director of Indigenous Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Queensland. She is also Honorary Professor, Centre for Deep History, Australian National University; POU Atlantic Fellows Social Equity, Melbourne University; Director, National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth and Justice, Federation University Victoria; and Co-Chair, National Apology Foundation. Other roles include Elder in Residence, Australia Progress and Steering Committee Member for Passing the Message Stick and Common Threads, as well as Elder in Residence, Australian Broadcasting Commission. Her publications include Sister girl: The writings of Aboriginal activist and historian Jackie Huggins (1998), Jack of Hearts: QX11594 (with Ngaire Jarro, 2022) and Auntie Rita: The classic memoir of an Aboriginal woman’s love and determination (with Rita Huggins, 2023). Professor Huggins is in demand as a speaker, mentor, writer and advisor with over four decades experience in Community, academia, government and non-government sectors.

About Event MC, Maria Dimopoulos AM

Maria Dimopoulos AM is the CEO of the Settlement Council of Australia, the national peak body representing the voices of organisations that support the settlement and integration of migrant and refugee communities. A recipient of the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to human rights and social justice, Maria brings over 30 years of experience in multicultural affairs, gender equity, refugee rights, and community advocacy. She has long championed policies and systems that are inclusive, equitable, and grounded in lived experience. Maria believes that a successful settlement journey and genuine social cohesion can only be realised through a national commitment to truth-telling, recognition of the sovereignty of First Nations peoples, and the advancement of Treaty. Her leadership is defined by a vision of an Australia where all communities can thrive on a foundation of justice, accountability, and respect for the world’s oldest living culture.

About Panel Interviewer, Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter

Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter is a proud Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman, Deputy Chair and Commissioner with the Yoorrook Justice Commission, and holds a Master of Social Work. Ms Hunter had oversight of the cultural clinical healing services at the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency. She Co-Chaired the Family Matters campaign. With extensive experience in governance and leadership of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, she is committed to self-determination and rights-based approaches to service delivery, and has contributed to numerous government inquiries, parliamentary and ministerial advisory committees.

About Panelist, Professor Andrew Gunstone

Professor Andrew Gunstone is a leading international authority in reconciliation. He is Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor Reconciliation and Professor Indigenous Studies at Federation University, where he leads all reconciliation matters, including the National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice, which he established in 2023, and is the leading national academic think-tank on reconciliation.

His current research, funded by academic, industry, government, and philanthropic funding, explores a broad range of areas, including substantive and performative reconciliation, community attitudes to reconciliation, multicultural engagements with reconciliation, national and regional truth-telling, effectiveness of RAPs, place-based reconciliation, and international reconciliation movements.

He is also Co-Chair of Reconciliation Victoria, Foundation Editor of the Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, an Advisory Board member with the Canadian National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, and a member of several national and regional reconciliation committees. He regularly provides advice on reconciliation and RAPs to corporates, industry, community, governments, and academia.

His latest book “Reflections on the Voice – during and after the campaign” is the first to explore the lessons from the Voice Referendum for our national reconciliation journey. Written for a general audience, it explores substantive reconciliation, racism, Indigenous rights, ‘equality’, education, community engagements, international agreements, allyship, and Voice, Treaty, and Truth. Copies of the book are available here.