Investigator lecture

The annual Investigator Lecture is an important part of our public education program and contribution to the cultural life of South Australia.

Previous Investigator lectures are listed by lecture title below.

2007

Insurmountable Opportunities: success in a resource-limited world  

James Bradfield Moody, General Manager, International Development, CSIRO

Lecture title: Insurmountable Opportunities: success in a resource-limited world  

View the lecture.

2006

Donald McDonald AC (Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Board)

Lecture title: A decade of difference: Renewal of the ABC
View the lecture.

2005

Neil Mules AO

Flinders graduate and Australian Ambassador to Mexico
Lecture title: Diplomacy in the 21st Century: Responding to New Challenges
View the lecture.

2004

Posie Graeme-Evans

Flinders graduate, Head of Drama (Nine Network Australia) and creator McLeod's Daughters
Lecture title: Strictly Entertainment
Listen to the lecture.

2003

Lech Walesa

Lecture title: The Future of Democracy in the Globalising World
Former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Laureate

2002

Paul Kells

Founder, Safe Communities Foundation (Canada)
Lecture title: How you can save a life and never know whose it was! Listen to the lecture.

2001

Hannie Rayson

Playwright
Lecture title: Degrees of Separation: the university and the spirit of inquiry
Read the lecture.

2000

Michael Leunig

Cartoonist, painter
Lecture title: A Spoken Cartoon on the Subject of Human Happiness

1999

Professor Peter Sellars

Director, Adelaide Festival of Arts (2002)
Lecture title: Cultural Activism in the New Century

1998

Veronica Brady

Department of English (The University of Western Australia)
Lecture title: Politics, Passion and Poetry

1997

Professor Ian Lowe

Professor in Science, Technology and Society (Griffith University) Lecture title: Education for the 21st Century

1996

Emeritus Professor Peter Karmel

Founding Vice-Chancellor of Flinders, and Vice-Chancellor Australian National University
Lecture title: Australia and the Economic Paradigm: Thirty Years of Change

1995

Dr Kevin Wellington

CSIRO
Lecture title: Are We Alone? Is there Intelligent Life out there?

1994 (March)

Dr Anne Summers

Writer and columnist
Lecture title: Women, Politics and the Millennium

1994 (October)

Dr Robyn Archer

Writer, performer and director
Lecture title: A Personal Journey

1993

Dr Pat O'Shane

Magistrate
Lecture title: Res publica – not vox majestica – This is your Sovereign Speaking

1992

Dr Eric Willmot

Director-General of Education, South Australia
Lecture title: Vision 3 – A Fantastic Journey

1991

Sir Gustav Nossal

Director, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research
Lecture title: Ethical Frontiers of Medical Technology

1990

Donald Horne

Writer and lecturer
Lecture title: Unlocking the Academies – Can it be done?

1989

Peter Garrett

President, Australian Conservation Foundation
Lecture title: Vested Interests: The Politic versus the Altruistic – What Price Unbleached Toilet Paper

1988

Geoffrey Robertson QC

Barrister, author
Lecture title: The Freedom to Investigate

1987

Professor Di Yerbury

Vice-Chancellor, Macquarie University
Lecture title: Higher Education and Beyond: Gender and Choice

1986

Dr Bob Brown

Politician, environmentalist
Lecture title: The Politics of Conservation in the late 1980s and Beyond

1985

Mr Brian Toohey

Editor, National Times
Lecture title: Journalism: Shackles on the Craft in the 1980s

1984

HE Mr A Alohaty

Ambassador to Australia for Saudi Arabia

1983

There was no Investigator Lecture in 1983.

1982

Sir Charles Court

Premier of Western Australia 1972 – 1981
Lecture title: Building a Future for Australia

1981

Bob Hawke

Shadow Federal Minister, Employment and Industrial Relations
Lecture title: Australia Ahead: Navigation Aids for Unknown Waters

1980

Michael Kirby

Chairman, Australian Law Reform Commission
Lecture title: Law Reform: Filling the International Vacuum

1979

Emeritus Professor Peter Karmel

Founding Vice-Chancellor, Chairman Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission
Lecture title: Universities to 1984 and Beyond