On 19 October, Dr Rebe Taylor, the State Library of New South Wales' current Coral Thomas Fellow, will deliver the inaugural lecture on her recent findings. In the early 1830s, surveyor John Helder Wedge collected early south-eastern Aboriginal wooden artefacts from Tasmania and Victoria, now housed in the Saffron Walden Museum in Essex. It has been suggested that Wedge sought the artefacts out of a rare ‘humanitarian’ interest in the Indigenous people. Dr Taylor's research in the Library's collections investigates this idea and wonders: was there a more disturbing aspect to Wedge's collecting? Following her lecture, Dr Taylor, Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville and Kirsten Thorpe, Manager, Indigenous Services, will lead a Q&A with the audience on the ongoing and challenging questions surrounding Australia’s early frontier history and the collections of Indigenous cultural material in overseas museums. Dr Taylor's book Into the Heart of Tasmania, published by Melbourne University Press, has been announced as the winner of the 2017 Queensland Literary Awards History Book Prize. When: Thursday  19 October 2017, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Where: State Library of New South Wales Gallery Room, Ground Floor Mitchell Building Sydney, NSW 2000 This is a free event, but bookings are required for catering purposes.    Book Now For further information: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/inaugural-coral-thomas-fellowship-lecture-tickets-37407900036