Our ANU Tour

This event is presented as part of the Humanities Research Centre 50th Anniversary Celebration Week

Join us for a stroll through the ANU as we discuss and bring together its First Nations, cultural, ecological, political and creative components. All welcome, please register.

Our Guides

Paul Girrawah House, Ngambri-Kamberri, Ngunnawal, Wiradyuri custodian : Welcoming us to Country and sharing local Ngambri-Kamberri history, connection and provenance to Country.

Prof. Kylie Message-Jones, Humanities Research Centre Director : Talking us through the history and culture of the Centre

Melinda Takémura, Artist and administrator : Revealing the beautiful weeds of the ANU

Dr Kim Huynh, Humanities Research Centre Deputy Director : On ANU student and political life

Emeritus Prof David Williams : Sharing standout sculptures of the ANU. 

We'll meet at Old Canberra House walk between nearby sites in the vicinity as we talk and share. 
Please dress appropriately.
In the event of poor weather, registered attendees will be advised of alternative plans.

Paul Girrawah House, Ngambri-Kamberri, Ngunnawal, Wiradyuri custodian
Paul Girrawah House has multiple First Nation ancestries from the South-East Canberra region, including the Ngambri-Ngurmal (Walgalu), Pajong (Gundungurra), Wallaballooa (Ngunnawal) and Erambie/Brungle (Wiradyuri) family groups. Paul acknowledges his diverse First Nation history, he particularly identifies as a descendant of Onyong aka Jindoomang from Weereewaa (Lake George) and Henry ‘Black Harry’ Williams from Namadgi who were both multilingual, essentially Walgalu-Ngunnawal-Wiradjuri speaking warriors and Ngunnawal–Wallaballooa man William Lane aka ‘Billy the Bull’ - Murrjinille. Paul was born at the old Canberra hospital in the centre of his ancestral country and strongly acknowledges his First Nation matriarch ancestors, in particular his mother Dr Aunty Matilda House-Williams and grandmother, Ms Pearl Simpson-Wedge. Paul completed a Bachelor of Community Management from Macquarie University, and Graduate Certificate in Wiradjuri Language, Culture and Heritage and Management from CSU. Paul provided the Welcome to Country for the 47th Opening of Federal Parliament in 2022. Paul is a Member Indigenous Reference Group, National Museum of Australia. Paul works on country with the ANU, First Nations Portfolio as a Senior Community Engagement Officer.

Emeritus Professor David Williams
David Williams is an Honorary staff member within the ANU Research School of Humanities and the Arts. Prior to this, he was Director of the ANU School of Art (1985 - 2006); Director of the Australia Council Crafts Board and a Lecturer at Melbourne State College. These appointments followed a career in art/craft teaching in Victorian schools, supply teaching in London, and art/craft advisor to the Victorian Art Branch and the Australia Council. David regularly runs tours of the ANU Sculpture walk for our Visiting Fellows, students, staff and the general public.

Professor Kylie Message-Jones, HRC Director
Kylie Message is Professor of Public Humanities. She researches the relationships between cultural organizations, citizenship, government, and political reform movements. Working with interdisciplinary methodologies drawn from History, Anthropology, Sociology and Cultural and Museum Studies, her work investigates the role that museums, universities, and other forms of public culture play as sites of political exchange. She has written extensively about the ways that museums across the world have conducted contemporary collecting and been involved in and identified as sites of activism and controversy. Her focus on institutional ethnographies and organizational histories has led to new ways of addressing relationships between racism and contested histories in organizational and public/community settings, and her documentation of curatorial and social activism within multicultural policy climates since the 1970s has made significant contributions to the way various participants and stakeholders understand the political history and impact of culture.

Dr Kim Huynh, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations and HRC Deputy Director
Kim Huynh is a teacher, writer, researcher and broadcaster who helps people tell their stories. He convenes courses on refugee politics and political philosophy for which he received the ANU Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Kim contributes to public life by coordinating a current affairs discussion group for rough sleepers at the Early Morning Centre, facilitating exchanges of stories and ideas with the Vietnamese Australia Forum, and writing essays on politics and culture for a range of outlets. He ran as independent candidate in the 2016 ACT election and in the 2022 federal election, is an ABC presenter and producer and Deputy Director of the ANU Humanities Research Centre.

Melinda Takémura, Visual Artist & HRC Senior Centre Administrator
Melinda studied Visual Art and Asian Studies at the ANU (2009) and completed a Master of Fine Arts in Kyoto, Japan (2015). Her artwork in dyed textiles and print techniques considers the complexity of the Australian natural environment including invasive weeds and endangered species. Melinda has exhibited her work around Australia, in the US and Japan. She has been a recipient of artsACT funding, a 2022 Capital Arts Patrons Organisation (CAPO) Award and has participated in Artist-in-Residence programs in the ACT and in Nagano, Japan.