"Discovering Queensland"

The latest round of Discovering Queensland sessions came to an end on Monday after 6 weeks of fruitful discussion and debate. Having taking over from Dr Leanne Day as the course facilitator I can only say it was an absolute pleasure to be part of this rich learning experience.  It was also great to be able to show participants some of the amazing collection items held in the John Oxley Library that related to the chapters discussed by the group.

Feedback from course participants was overwhelmingly positive. When asked what they enjoyed most about Discovering Queensland the following responses were offered:

"Intensely stimulating. I had no idea Queensland's history was so diverse and colourful."

"Raymond's breadth of knowledge, his sense of humour and amazing anecdotes. The strong acknowledgement of the aboriginal aspect. The depth of research was incredible."

"Interaction with Raymond. Access to John Oxley Library materials on display."

"Interaction with arguably Queensland's most stimulating and knowledgeable historian; also interaction with an interesting group of attendees and course coordinator."

"Fascinating text and resources"

"Talking...listening to others speak in the class. It was never dull."

"I was out of Queensland (and Australia) from 1964 - 1980 so missed out on a lot of what was going on here. This course filled in that blank period and also the earlier history that I did not know about."

"Listening to Ray talk about his discoveries and prodigious research! I also very much enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the course."

Discovering Queensland will be run again in October. If you're interested in learning more about Queensland history from Professor Raymond Evans, and reading his History of Queensland over a period of 6 weekly book club/tutorial style evening meetings held in the John Oxley Library Reading Room, please avail yourself of the opportunity. You won't regret it.

Bookings will be taken later in the year through QTIX. Keep an eye on our What's On webpage in the August/September period and look out for the SLQ magazine. There is a write up of the Discovering Queensland course on page 30 of the current issue.

Simon Farley

Manager, Client Services

Heritage Collections