Manning Clark House Inc

31/05/2026

These are the formal words of the National Apology delivered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 13 February 2008.

For many Aboriginal people, and especially for members of the Stolen Generations and their families, these words carried deep meaning. They acknowledged a hard truth that had been lived for generations — the pain caused by the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, communities and culture.

An apology does not erase the past, but it does matter when a nation is willing to name the wrong, speak the truth and say sorry.

This moment remains one of the most important in Australia’s reconciliation journey.

It is worth remembering. It is worth reflecting on. And it is worth continuing the work that must follow words.

29/05/2026

So good meeting Thomas Lovett today! This legend walked 900kms for Truth telling. Melbs to Canberra.

28/05/2026

The portrait is the friendship's most tangible monument. Arthur Boyd painted it during his six-month residency at ANU in 1971–72, visiting Manning and Dymphna Clark at their bush retreat at Wapengo on the NSW south coast.

In the portrait, Clark's figure merges with the landscape, even in the sky-blue and yellow-ochre of his clothes, and above the signature Boyd inscribed the words 'for Manning'.

The Clark house connection runs deeper than most people realise. Arthur and Yvonne Boyd painted tiles with flowers for the kitchen of the Manning Clark house, which Robin Boyd (Arthur's cousin) had designed. Arthur Boyd was a regular guest at the Clarks' home, which hosted a roll call of Australian cultural life between 1950 and 1980.
Both were named Australian of the Year. Clark in 1980 and Boyd in 1995, a striking parallel for two friends who spent their careers asking the same fundamental question about Australian identity.

Their shared vision placed them in the same generation of cultural nation-builders. Geoffrey Serle identified Boyd, Nolan, White and Clark as exponents of a "mature, unselfconscious way of being culturally Australian" and Clark consciously placed himself in that company.

28/04/2026

26/04/2026

Building optimism at Manning Clark house right now with Vanessa Couzens.

23/04/2026

Poetry Plus at Manning Clark House Inc tonight with the incredible Paul Collis, Paul Magee and Jen Crawford.

15/04/2026

Vale Brett Odgers OAM. We are so grateful to have had your support at Manning Clark House. We will miss you.

Brett Odgers was delighted at the prospect of receiving his Order of Australia Medal from the Governor General at a ceremony at Government House today, 16 April 2026.

Sadly, Canberra and the Walter Burley Griffin Society lost a tireless champion for the preservation of the Griffin’s legacy for our nation’s capital with Brett’s death on 6 April, just days short of the presentation of the medal. His wife, Jean, will now receive it in his stead.

Brett’s OAM honoured his service to history preservation, to planning, and to the community of Canberra.

As well as his long and active association with the WBGS, Brett contributed to a range of community, heritage, sustainability and planning related groups, programs and activities. He was also a generous benefactor.

Brett remained committed to campaigning to ensure the Griffin’s vision remained the driving force of planning for Canberra right up to his death. His generosity of spirit, dedication and the depth of his knowledge and experience were inspirational and will be sadly missed.

Governor-General of Australia National Capital Authority National Triangle

26/03/2026

Poetry Plus - The River: Yarns and Readings from A Book that Opens on Barkindji Country

7pm, Thursday 23 April
Manning Clark House
11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest

This event features poets, Paul Collis (Barkindji), Jen Crawford and Paul Magee. The team have been conducting research in and around Bourke, outback New South Wales (where Paul C. is from) since 2022, gathering material towards a book-length volume entitled A Book that Opens on Barkindji Country. The idea of the book is to document Aboriginal intellectual discourse on Country, all the while seeking answers to the project’s two driving questions: What is a river? and What is fiction?

The event involves the three poets moving in and out of a verbal description of that research (with images) and recital of the poems they composed in the course of conducting it.

Poets:

Paul Collis is a Barkindji man. He was born in Bourke, in far north/west New South Wales. His early life was informed by Barkindji, Kunya, Murawarri, Wongamara and Nyempa story tellers and artists, who taught him Aboriginal Culture and Law. He is author of Dancing Home (University of Queensland Press, 2017) and Nightmares Run Like Mercury (Recent Works Press, 2021) and Wita Witalana (look out over) (Recent Words Press, 2025). Paul teaches, and works as Director, Indigenous Engagement, at the University of Canberra.

Jen Crawford is author of Admissions (Five Islands Press, 2000), bad appendix (Auckland: Titus Books, 2009), Napoleon Swings (Auckland: Soapbox Press, 2009), Pop Riveter (Auckland: Pania Press, 2011), Koel (Cordite Books, 2016) and Lichen Loves Stone (Tinfish Press, 2016). With Rina Kikuchi, Jen co-edited and part-translated Poet to Poet: Contemporary Women Poets from Japan (2017), an anthology of 10 contemporary female Japanese poets. Jen is Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Canberra.

Paul Magee is Professor of Poetry at the University of Canberra, where he directs the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research (CCCR). His scholarship addresses the philosophy, history, linguistics and ethnography of poetic composition; the relationship between art and knowledge; and new forms for facilitating the presentation of Indigenous knowledge. Paul has published five books, including most recently a monograph on the relationship between spontaneous speaking and the writing of poetry, Suddenness and the Composition of Poetic Thought (Rowman and Littlefield: 2022), plus a third book of poems, Later Unearthed (Puncher and Wattmann: 2025).

Q&A and light refreshments after the event

Bookings essential for catering.

Tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/DKPXA

07/02/2026

Allan Behm's talk on Venezuela was exceptional today. Congratulations Allan. Listen out for the recording to be on Big Ideas on ABC RN. We also recorded it, Become a MCH member and hear more of our past events. www.manningclark.org.au