Lost in the Labyrinth: Reenacting and rethinking James Cook's Endeavour voyage through the Great Barrier Reef

Public Lecture | Updated 1 decade ago

Image copyright of Pro.f Iain McCalman
Prof. Iain McCalman

The Vaughan Evans Memorial Lecture 2011: Presented in association with the Australian Association for Maritime History (AAMH)

Batavia Lecture Series: The Vaughan Evans Memorial Lecture 2011
Presented in association with the Australian Association for Maritime History (AAMH)

Professor Iain McCalman, Professorial Research Fellow, University of Sydney
6.00pm, Friday 9 December
NWS Shipping Theatre

In 2001 Iain McCalman was among a group of volunteers in a BBC and Discovery Channel television reenactment of Captain Cook's voyage through the Reef on the Endeavour replica, under simulated eighteenth-century conditions.

For the most part he hated the experience, variously describing it as “Big Brother at Sea” and “the Little Ship of Horrors”.  He was most noted for having instigated a one-man mutiny over the burning issue of laundry.

Recently, however, while writing his current book on the history of the Great Barrier Reef, he was struck how several of the incidents he had experienced personally at Cooktown in 2001 helped him to think afresh about the significance and meaning of Cook's stranding at and his later escape from Endeavour River in 1770. Join Iain as he unravels this intriguing tale of historical reenactment and reflection.

This inaugural memorial lecture commences a biennial series that honours the work of Vaughan Evans and his outstanding commitment to the Australian Association for Maritime History (AAMH). Together with Frank Broeze and John Bach, Vaughan established the AAMH in 1978. Vaughan’s achievements include co-editing the AAMH's journal, The Great Circle between 1983 and 1988; a key role in the establishment of the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, which opened in 1991 and later named its reference library after him in 1993. In the Australian bicentennial year 1988, Vaughan was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to maritime history.

COST: $12 per person. Includes refreshments after the lecture
BOOKINGS: Essential on 9431 8455. Please RSVP by 5.00pm, Wednesday 7 December