Presentations

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Bee Miles: Australia's Famous Bohemian Rebel Presenter: SGHS member Rose Ellis, 21 June 2025 Bee Miles was a truly larger-than-life character. Famous for being outrageous in public, or, as she said, living 'recklessly', she shocked and intrigued cities and towns across Australia. But she was no ordinary wanderer. Born into a wealthy family, Bee moved in Sydney's literary and artistic circles in the 1920s and 1930s before she took up residence on the streets. A consummate performer and a perceptive critic, she caught the public's imagination with her spectacular acts of defiance, emerging majestically from the surf with a knife strapped to each thigh, stopping a country train in its tracks, hitchhiking across remote Australia and drawing large city crowds with her Shakespeare recitations. She was once even voted more famous than the Prime Minister. She was also repeatedly incarcerated in prisons, confined to mental hospitals and treated brutally by a succession of authority figures, starting with her father. Bee constantly defied conventional expectations of female behaviour. The public found her captivating and fragments of her story have been told again and again in many forms. Until now, no-one has uncovered the real story behind the colourful legend. Rose shares a fascinating glimpse into a dark side of Australia's history. In 2023, Rose Ellis published a biography, Bee Miles: Australia's Famous Bohemian Rebel, and the Untold Story Behind the Legend. It was shortlisted for the 2024 National Biography Award.

Australia's First Piano; Presenter: SGHS member Elaine Phillips, 17 May 2025 In 1787-1788, the Sirius, the flagship of the First Fleet and one of the eleven British ships that sailed to Botany Bay (surprisingly) carried a small portable piano. After 1793, it disappeared from the records. A piano, claimed to be the First Fleet piano, was flown back to England for refurbishment, while a Sydney collector with a very similar piano believes he has the First Fleet piano in his living room. Elaine examines the claims to reveal the more likely candidate for the First Fleet Piano. Click here to purchase Elaine's book, The First Fleet Piano Debate.

Daceyville: Ideals and Lived Realities in a Garden Suburb; Presenter: Ian Hoskins, 19 October 2024 The housing crisis of the 2020s is not Australia’s first. Daceyville was the showcase project of the early 20th century; the government-funded ‘garden suburb’ planned and built by the NSW Housing Board on Sydney’s south eastern fringe over a decade from 1911 to serve as a model of sound urban development. The history of that remarkable project provides insights into the thinking that made such an enterprise possible, and perhaps the attitudes that have led to the current housing impasse.

Joseph Davis, From Lidham Hill to Lydham Hall; Presenter: SGHS Member Janette Pelosi, 20 April 2024 Joseph Davis was a significant figure in the early history of the St George District. He is known today as the original owner of the historic villa Lydham Hall located in the Bayside Council area.