Greg Lehman: The noble savage in the Antipodes: Tasmanian Aborigines in the European Imagination

Since the beginnings of Western historical and ideological traditions in Classical Antiquity, Europeans have defined themselves by mythologising people and places existing just beyond the boundaries of empire and understanding. The idea of the Noble Savage in Australia is often attributed to the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his influence on the thinking of French navigators who visited Van Diemen’s Land between 1772 and 1802. However, the idea of the Noble Savage has a deeper history and broader implications for how we understand our history and the place of Aboriginal people in it.

Professor Greg Lehman is an art historian, an award-winning curator and writer, and a well-known public commentator on Indigenous history, identity and place. In 2017, Greg led the development of First Tasmanians, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery’s first permanent Indigenous gallery. Together with Tim Bonyhady, he also co-curated The National Picture: the Art of Tasmania’s Black War for the National Gallery of Australia, which won the 2019 Museums and Galleries Australia Award for Travelling Exhibitions. 

Jointly sponsored by the State Library and Archive Service of Tasmania and the Professional Historians Association Vic & Tas, the Libraries Tasmania Talks are a series of monthly public lectures held at the Hobart Library. They can be attended free at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts or viewed online via the Webinar.

To register for the event visit the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can listen to all previous lectures on their Soundcloud website.