24/08/2026
Listen in from 9am til noon on Triple R - 3RRR 102.7FM! Historian Professor Elizabeth Tynan talks about her new book, Nuclear Archipelago: Secrets, power, and the biggest atomic blast in Australia (NewSouth Publishing). It's the final book in Elizabeth’s landmark trilogy on the history of British nuclear testing in Australia, this time on WA's Monte Bello Islands in 1952 and 1956. The biodiverse natural environment of the islands, which were also of great historical and cultural significance to Aboriginal peoples, was left contaminated and has never been cleaned up, leaving plutonium levels up to 4,500 times higher than the rest of the coast. Elizabeth discusses what her archival detective work has revealed about the secretive history of British nuclear testing on the Monte Bello Islands, the true nature of the Mosaic G2 weapon test and its role in the clandestine development of the British hydrogen bomb. Listen back to Elizabeth's first interview with Amy, about The Secret of Emu Field on the Uncommon Sense podcast. Elizabeth Tynan is professor in the Graduate Research School at James Cook University, Townsville. She is a prominent writer and researcher of the era of British atomic testing in Australia with past books including, Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga Story (NewSouth, 2016) and The Secret of Emu Field: Britain's Forgotten Atomic Tests in Australia (NewSouth, 2022).
Geelong Gallery Director Humphrey Clegg and Roger Benjamin, Emeritus Professor of Art History at the University of Sydney explore and highlight some of the more than 70 fascinating artworks featured in the Geelong Gallery's major exhibition, Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel, Art Dealer Among the Artists, open from 20 June to 11 October 2026. The exhibition presents more than 70 paintings from across two generations of Impressionist artists, the majority from private collections in France and never before seen in Australia. These French impressionist artists were championed by the Parisian Durand-Ruel Gallery, and its famous owner Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1922). He played a pivotal role as an art dealer of uncommon conviction who, at a time when impressionist artists like Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and their peers were ridiculed and commercially shunned, bought their work, nurtured their cause and ultimately transformed public taste across Europe and America. Over his lifetime, he purchased and promoted over 12,000 paintings to ensure Impressionism became known and loved around the world. The exhibition has been co-curated by his great-great-granddaughter Claire Durand-Ruel and Marianne Mathieu. Roger Benjamin will be giving a talk and participating in an in-conversation event on Saturday 29th August and Sunday 30th August.
