Episode 35 - Our Past Is Our Future (Long Read series)

03/30/24 • 16 min

Our Long Read series continues with a reckoning from Australia's past and the way it might influence our future. Our reporter Sydney Lang looks at the legacy of governor Lachlan Macquarie from the early colonial settlement days. Macquarie was considered a visionary who wanted to turn a penal colony into an egalitarian nation. But there is a dark side to his legacy that has an enduring, as well as painful, lesson.
Reporter: Sydney Lang
Executive Producer: Simon Brady
More stories from the best student journalism in Australia.
The Junction
Additional links
Professor Bronwyn Carlson on ABC Radio National
State Library of NSW documentary on Lachlan Macquarie

Music
'There Is Only The Unknown Ahead' – Get Music
‘Silent Cry’ – Valster
‘Thinking in Silence’ – Ashot Danielyan
‘Come Back Home’ - Olexy

Previous Episode

Episode 34 - On The Rocks (Long Read series)

In the next episode of our Long Read series, Tylah Tully from Curtin University reports on the site of two of Australia's greatest riches. The Burrup peninsula in the north of Western Australia is home to more than one million rock carvings by First Nations people that date back tens-of-thousands of years. It's also the site of a multi-billion dollar gas and oil development. Can the two co-exist as neighbours? And what threat does a petrochemical plant pose to a sacred rock art museum?
Production
Reporter: Tylah Tully
Executive Producer: Simon Brady
For more stories from the best student journalism in Australia:
The Junction
Episode images
Social media and web: Robin Chapple, Tylah Tully
Music
'Spirituality' by Maximus Sound
'Anxious' by Oleksii Kaplunskyi
'Desert Orchid' by Alisha Studio
'So Many Memories' by Myton Music
'Just a Light Secret' by MooveKa
'Come Back Home' by Olexy