Ripping Yarns
11:00 am - Noon Friday, Dec. 4
session room: Savoy 2
Once upon a time a handsome young hero rode out on his white charger to rescue the beautiful damsel in distress…. They don’t make stories like that any more …or do they…?
Lurking in the convoluted corridors of academia are tales of romance, shipwrecks and intrepid explorers, larger than life heroes who go on real adventures and survive against all the odds. Join our panel of doughty adventurers as they spin ripping yarns of derring-do that you might want to turn into your next prime time doco.
Stories to be covered include:
Was one of Australia’s most distinguished scientists a secret murderer? Scientist and historian Professor Iain McCalman explores the secret past of William Saville-Kent who published the first serious scientific study of the Great Barrier Reef and reformed the fishing and pearl industries.
Astronomer, communist, woman – the short career of one of Australian astronomy’s brightest stars. American astronomer Professor Miller Goss is fascinated with the career of Ruby Payne-Scott. Ruby was a pioneer of radio astronomy in the 1940s and 50s and a leader of secret radar research during World War Two. She was also a communist, attracting the attention of ASIO. And she secretly married – to bypass a public service rule that a married woman could not hold a permanent position. Miller Goss is on a mission to see Ruby’s achievements recognized.
The Dance of the Little Aboriginal Girl Faith Bandler is celebrated as a political activist. Her career as a dancer is much less well known. In 1951 Faith toured Europe performing the lead part in The Dance of the Little Aboriginal Girl, a ballet designed to reveal discrimination against Aboriginal people and to promote peace and friendship between the communist & non-communist worlds. On returning to Australia her passport was confiscated for 10 years. Professor Marilyn Lake will reveal Faith’s story.
Breaking the link between fat and diabetes. How does our brain know we’ve eaten enough? How does it know we’ve got enough fat reserves? And what’s causing the global epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Professor Michael Cowley has the answers. He’s shown unequivocally that losing weight isn’t just a matter of will power. He’s working on solutions and has founded a biotech company that’s now trialling four obesity treatments.
Was Wallace cheated – the story of the story of evolution. Alfred Russel Wallace proposed a theory of evolution at the same time as Darwin. So why are we remembering Darwin this year and not Wallace? Dr Scott Hocknull will explore Wallace’s work in Malaysia and the Wallace line – where Asian and Australian evolutionary lines collide. How important is Wallace’s work to evolutionary theory. Does he deserve more of the credit?
Session Producers
Laurie Critchley, Executive Producer, Australian Documentaries (Australia)
Robyn Smith, Associate Producer, Australian Documentaries (Australia)
Moderator
Paul Willis, ABC (Australia)
Panelists
Michael Cowley, Department of Physiology, Monash University (Australia)
Miller Goss, National Radio Astronomy Observatory (USA)
Scott Hocknull, Curator, Palaeontology & Geology Geosciences, Queensland Museum (Australia)
Marilyn Lake, Professor, Department of History, LaTrobe University (Australia)
Iain McCalman, Research Professor, Department of History, University of Sydney (Australia)
Front Row Jury
Kevin Dawson, Head of Corporate Communications, RTE (Australia)
John Godfrey, EP Factual, SBS Corporation (Australia)
Evan Hadingham, Senior Science Editor, NOVA, WGBH (USA)
Nick Lee, Executive Producer, ABC Television (Australia)
Jared Lipworth, Director, Science Programs, Thirteen/WNET New York (USA)
Stuart Menzies, Head of Documentaries, ABC Television (Australia)
Sponsored by ABC