Extract: Nation, Memory, Myth by Steve Vizard
Posted on 11 Jun 2025
How does myth generate meaning for a nation and its citizens? How does a national myth transform into symbolic performances of cultural memory and kinship?
Susan Marie "Sue" Alberti AC is an Australian businesswoman, philanthropist and former Vice President of the Western Bulldogs Football Club.
Susan Alberti AC is one of Australia’s pre-eminent philanthropists, having donated millions of dollars to medical research and other charitable causes over her successful business career.
Not only has she raised millions of dollars for diabetes research but she has given generations of young diabetes sufferers hope that a cure may one day be found. Susan Alberti co-founded the DANSU group with her late husband Angelo 45 years ago, with the pair quickly becoming devoted fundraisers. She founded the "Walk for the Cure" around Albert Park Lake, which to date has raised more than $40 million towards diabetes research.
In 1997, Mrs Alberti received her AM (Member of the Order of Australia) for her contribution towards the cause of diabetes research. In 2004 she became a Board member of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, becoming Vice President in 2012 and twice being named a finalist for the Australian of the Year Award. She was awarded her AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) on Australia Day in 2007 in recognition of her long and outstanding contribution to major medical research institutions. In 2016, Mrs Alberti was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC): Australia's highest award. In 2017, she was named Melburnian of the Year by Lord Mayor Robert Doyle. In 2018 she was named Victorian of the Year.
Posted on 11 Jun 2025
How does myth generate meaning for a nation and its citizens? How does a national myth transform into symbolic performances of cultural memory and kinship?
Posted on 11 Jun 2025
Why has Antarctica long loomed large in Australian psyche? How did Australia come to see Antarctica as a natural extension of our territory and why…
Posted on 11 Jun 2025
Culture, society and human behaviour have forever been linked to nature. In her thought-provoking book, Lesley Head, geographer and Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor Emeritus at…
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We started the year by moving tens of thousands of physical books across state lines, swam through oceans of metadata and updated our back-end systems…
Fri 27 June at 12:00PM
Four Seasons Hotel, 199 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Join Chris Hammer in conversation with ABC's Fran Kelly to discuss the updated edition of The River.
Thu 26 June at 6:00PM
Readings Carlton, 309 Lygon St, Carlton VIC 3053
Join us to hear Steve Vizard in conversation about Nation, Memory, Myth.
Tue 08 July at 6:00PM
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Thu 10 July at 6:30PM
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Learn more about author Chris Hammer's prize-winning non-fiction book about the Murray Darling Basin.