Thursday, 26 April, 2019
7pm – 9.30pm (first half hour is drinks and nibbles).
Venue: 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest, Canberra.
Tonight’s readers:
Victoria McGrath (Yass)
Merlinda Bobis (Canberra)
Mark Blumer (Canberra
Please join us for a night of poetry. Everyone welcome.
23 April 2018, 5.30 for 6pm
Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest
MCH members, concession and full-time students $10 (non members $15)
Responding to Antonio Gramsci’s 1919 suggestion, the talk will weave together a trio of anniversaries:
![humphrey-mcqueen[1]](https://malpaya.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/humphrey-mcqueen1.jpg?w=604)
Speaker: Humphrey McQueen is a Canberra-based historian and activist at work on yet one more Marxist account of the origins of capital, to be titled The Revolution Inside Capital.
For access to a selection of his writings over fifty years, see www.surplusvalue.org.au
Sunday March 25th —– 4.00 to 6.00 pm
Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest
It’s FREE to come along and enjoy – please book here
Devonshire Tea can be purchased on the day.
Sow the seeds for the renewal of Dymphna Clark’s 1950’s kitchen garden.
Join us for an afternoon of live music, Devonshire Tea and gardening presentations.
Thanks to an ACT Government Community Garden Grant, the old kitchen garden site at Manning Clark House will be refurbished as a community asset.
Join us for a short presentation from our soil and compost experts Mr Gerry Gillespie and Dr Amardeep Wander.
Then enjoy songs, including from the Australian composer Penelope Thwaites AM,
sung by exceptional soloists with a repertoire not often heard in
our city:
❀ Kenneth Goodge -Tenor
❀ Hannah Belnick – Soprano
❀ Rudie Darby – Soprano
❀ Fleur Millar – Conductor
❀ Sam Rowe – Pianist
❀ Manning Clark Choristers
Admission is free, although gold coin donations appreciated.
27 February 2018 – 5.30 for 6pm
Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle Forrest
MCH members, concession/full-time students $10, non-members $15.00
Whither the ABC – a panel discussion featuring Genevieve Jacobs (ex ABC), Jack Waterford (ex Canberra Times) and Ebony Bennett (Australia Institute) about the Australian Broadcasting Corporation which will end with questions and answers from the audience.
Genevieve Jacobs has been a print and radio journalist throughout her career and spent more than a decade working for the ABC in Canberra, most recently as the Mornings presenter. She works with a number of Canberra charities and not for profits and has an enduring interest in building and strengthening community engagement.
Ebony Bennett is the Deputy Director of Canberra-based think tank The Australia Institute and has worked in federal politics for more than a decade. Bennett has published research on gender and street harassment and regularly appears as a commentator on Sky News and as a contributor for the Guardian and Fairfax publications.
Jack Waterford is the former Editor-at-large at The Canberra Times and writes a regular column.
14 December, 5.30 for 6.30pm
Venue: Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest, ACT
Members (and concession) $5, non-members $10
Richard Denniss will be talking about his latest book ‘Curing Affluenza’ in conversation with Genevieve Jacobs of ABC radio.
‘Affluenza is that strange desire we feel to spend money we don’t have to buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t know . . .’
A truly modern affliction, affluenza is endemic in Western societies, encouraged by those who profit from aculture of exploitation and waste.
So how do we cure ourselves?
In this sparkling book of ideas, Richard Denniss shows we must distinguish between consumerism, the love of buying things, which is undeniably harmful to us and the planet, and materialism, the love of things, which can in fact be beneficial.
We should cherish the things we own – preserve them, repair them, and then gift or sell them when we no longer need them. We must foster new ways of thinking and acting that do not squander limited resources and which support the things we value most – vibrant communities and rich experiences.
The book will be available and signed by the author. There will be plenty of time for discussion.
Members $10, non-members $20
Sebastian Clark invites you to join the MCH community for a couple of hours celebrating 20 years of Manning Clark House being established as an historic home for contemporary discussion and debate.
This will be a festive occasion in the gardens, with nibbles, drinks, an insightful overview of the last 20 years and an operatic performance by superb soloists and the Manning Clark House Choristers.
MCH Poetry Group
23 November, 7 pm – $10 entry refreshments provided.
Venue: Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest.
All welcome!
Moya Pacey is a Canberra poet. The Wardrobe, her first collection, was a runner-up for the ACT Writers Centre Poetry Award in 2010. In 2015, she published One Last Border: poetry for refugees with Hazel Hall and Sandra Renew (Ginninderra Press). In 2017 Recent Work Press will publish her second collection. She co-edits ‘Not Very Quiet’ an online poetry journal for women.
Sarah Rice won the 2014 Ron Pretty and Bruce Dawe poetry prizes, co-won the 2013 Writing Ventures, and 2011 Gwen Harwood awards, and has been shortlisted in numerous others. Her art-book of poetry Those Who Travel (prints Patsy Payne) is held in the NGA and her collection, Fingertip of the Tongue, was published in September by UWAP this year.
Due to unforseen circumstances our guest poet for Oct 26 – Shane Strange – can no longer attend on that day. We now plan to see him in 2018.
The next MCH Poetry night is in November.
Details coming soon!
Discussion, food and music – join us and have your say.
Saturday October 14th
10.00 – 4.30 pm
Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest
MCH members, government income support and full-time students $30. Non-members $40.00
The democratic experiment in countries around the world has been about the free contest of ideas, interests, and groups, along with tolerance for opponents and respect for their legitimacy. But the history of democracy globally is strewn with examples of extremists and demagogues manipulating prejudice, insecurity, and fear in a bid for power. Recent events in the United States of America and Europe suggest these examples are not relegated to history.
So how does Australia fare in this environment? Join us, and have your say as to whether democracy in Australia needs revamping and if so, what might we do about it?
Program covers presentations and discussion on:
13 October, 6.30 pm
The Muse Restaurant, East Hotel, 69 Canberra Avenue, Kingston
Dinner $90 per person OR Festival Ticket: 13-14 October Dinner and Day of Ideas, $110 (members) $120 (non-members)
Australians have prided themselves in the myth that opportunity is open for all. But the evidence that birth and luck play an outsized role in our lives is overwhelming. So how has the idea of a meritocracy survived for so long?
Join Professor Frank Bongiorno for fine dining at the Muse restaurant. For dinner, wine, and conversation with one of Australia’s most active public intellectuals on the future of opportunity and merit in Australia’s social democracy.
Speaker: Frank Bongiorno is Professor of History at the Australian National University. He is an Australian labour, political and cultural historian. His recent works include The Sex Lives of Australians: A History (2012), and The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia (2015)
