We welcome back Dr Ben Wilkie for our May Talking History. In this lecture, Ben draws on research completed for his 2020 book ‘Gariwerd: An Environmental History of the Grampians’. He will trace the visitation and transformation of this significant Victorian landscape from ancient Aboriginal use, through to European colonisation, and to recent debates around the past, present and future of the national park.

Dr Ben Wilkie is a Ballarat-based historian. Ben works at La Trobe University and has interests in the environmental history of Western Victoria and history of the Scots in Australia. His books include ‘The Scots in Australia, 1788-1938’ and ‘Gariwerd: An Environmental History of the Grampians’, which won the Local History Small Publication Award in the 2020 Victorian Community History Awards.