Scotch College

In what is intended to be an annual event, this lecture series is designed to give the Scotch community access to some of Australia’s greatest contemporary minds. The guest speaker will be noted for his or her work in a discipline associated with that of one of this School’s most famous Old Boys, Sir John Monash, who was himself an exemplary Australian.

So it was very appropriate that for this first lecture David Malouf chose to speak on Australian values. An extract of Malouf’s address was subsequently published as a full feature essay in The Age during September, and it is reproduced here.

During his visit to Scotch, Malouf also conducted special workshops with boys from senior literature classes who, in addition to their regular studies, had read and discussed his work over the past term in preparation for his visit. He also met with some of his most eager literary ‘groupies’ – the Scotch English Department.

David Malouf

David Malouf has won numerous prizes for his work, including the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for An Imaginary Life in 1979, The Age Book of the Year Award in 1982 for Fly Away Peter, the Miles Franklin Award in 1991 and the 1991 Commonwealth Prize for fiction for The Great World. Remembering Babylon won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award in 1993, and was also short-listed for the 1994 Booker Prize. In June 1996 he was awarded the first International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

The Conversations at Curlow Creek was nominated for the 1996 Age Book of the Year Award and for the 1997 Miles Franklin Award. Malouf was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000. Beyond this, Mr Malouf has written libretti for three operas, several volumes of poetry, a play and his memoirs.

Serendipitously, just two days prior to his arrival at Scotch he was awarded the The Age 2007 fiction Book of the Year for his latest collection of short stories, Every Move you Make.

A limited number of specially signed and numbered souvenir copies of David Malouf’s inaugural Sir John Monash Memorial Lecture are available for purchase from Scotch. Please contact Jo Fisher on 9810 4453.