Events calendar for 2022
Upcoming events
Our program for 2022 has now concluded. See below for a record of the events we hosted during the year.
Best wishes to all members and readers for the festive season, and for a wonderful new year. We plan to announce our 2023 program by the end of February.
Communication and bookings
Our members and supporters receive notification of events via our occasional E-News and via supplementary emails if we have your email address. To join as a Social Member, please complete the form HERE.
Unless otherwise advised, all events are held at our premises in Ascot Vale.
If you wish to attend a scheduled ESU activity, please book by contacting the office - via telephone on (03) 9326 0654 or via email at admin@esuvic.org.au.
COVID-19
Events at our premises in Ascot Vale are held in accordance with our COVID-safe plan and are subject to government health directives. We may have to limit numbers or change arrangements at short notice. If you book for an event, please ensure that our office can contact you easily if arrangements need to be changed.
Other activities
Games Nights are no longer happening at ESU House.
Social Nights are currently (2022) not being offered.
For the record - our past events in 2022
FEBRUARY
John Derum reads CJ Dennis poetry - Thursday 24 February from 6 to 8 pm.
Famed Australian stage, film, and television actor John Derum will be reading poetry by CJ Dennis at ESU House. John will also participate in a discussion with guests after the readings on CJ Dennis. John's intimacy with the writings and life of CJ Dennis is legendary so be prepared to listen to and understand the background to many of the poems and to understand the context of CJ Dennis' life at the time of writing.
Click HERE to register for this free event at ESU House. Light refreshments will be served.
MARCH
Public lecture series by Dr David Martin Jones
"Terror in the Western Mind: Cultural Responses to 9/11" - Thursday 3 March, from 6 to 8 pm.
Click HERE to register for this free event at ESU House. Light refreshments will be served.
"Hate speech, speech cancellation and compelled speech" - Friday 4 March, from 6 to 8 pm.
Click HERE to register for this free event at ESU House. Light refreshments will be served.
Dr David Martin Jones is a winner of our inaugural (2021) Major Project Grant. He is Visiting Professor and teaching fellow in War Studies at King’s College, University of London, and Visiting Professor in the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Buckingham. He has taught at the London School of Economics, National University of Singapore, the University of Tasmania and the University of Queensland. He has held fellowships at the University of Malaya and the University of Wales and is associate editor of the University of Malaya’s journal JATI.
His most recent books are Terror in the Western Mind, The Cultural Consequences of 9/11 (Academica Press 2021) and History’s Fools, the Pursuit of Idealism and the Revenge of Politics (Hurst/OUP, 2020). His has written and co-written ten books and his essays on aspects of regional political development, ideology and political violence have appeared in International Affairs, Comparative Politics, History of Political Thought, Orbis, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, International Security, The National Interest, and The American Interest. Jones also contributes opinion pieces for The Australian, The Spectator (Australia), Quadrant and The Australian Financial Review.
APRIL
Anzac Day commemoration and BBQ lunch - Monday 25 April from 1 to 4 pm.
ESU members and friends are warmly invited to join us at ESU House for a free BBQ lunch followed by a commemorative afternoon service at 3:00 pm.
Each person attending is welcome to bring a photograph or memento of a relative or individual who served in the Australian or New Zealand forces and whose contribution you wish to acknowledge.
Please RSVP by 5:00 pm on Friday 22 April by telephoning (03) 9326 0654 or by sending an email to admin@esuvic.org.au. Let us know about any special dietary requirements.
MAY
Critical speech – addressing censorship and cancel culture in an age of restricted expression - Friday 6 May from 6.30 pm.
This free lecture on strategic threats to Australia by Dr Martin Hess will be held at ESU House (Ascot Vale) and will be preceeded by the presentation of ESU awards to recent winners. Light refreshments will be served.
Martin Hess joined the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in 1988 and has served in Cyprus (UNFICYP 1996); East Timor (UNAMET 1999); and Afghanistan (AFP Op Illuminate 2010-11). He retired in July 2021 after serving for 33 years.
Martin holds a Master of Defence Studies from the University of New South Wales where his thesis was about Australian relationships in the South East Asian region, particularly following the police-led East Timor intervention in mid-1999, in which he took part. He also holds a Master of Leadership and Management from Charles Sturt University, on media management in the context of police responses to natural disasters. His Doctor of Philosophy thesis at the Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University was entitled: ‘The Australian Federal Police as an International Actor: Diplomacy by Default’; it covers AFP missions and operations from Cyprus in 1964 to the multi-national police response to the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over the eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Martin is a keen observer of current affairs and wants to ensure that full and accurate information is available to decision-makers and to the general public to assist in making informed decisions. This task has been made increasingly challenging in an age of rapid information dissemination by mainstream media and social media, as well as increasingly by information manipulation by vested interests with undisclosed agendas.
JULY
British Australian Community: Advocacy, Information and Ideas
Saturday 2 July from 6 pm to 8 pm (Melbourne time), at ESU House (Ascot Vale), with light refreshments provided. This event will also be live-streamed via Zoom. The link will be sent to all people who RSVP, a couple of days in advance.
Please note that this event was originally planned for 25 June but has been rescheduled for reasons related to Covid-19.
Dr Frank Salter, President of the British Australian Community Inc., will present to Reg Watson the inaugural Alan James BAC Advocacy Award. Click HERE to read more about this Award.
The presentation will be followed by two short lectures:
Tasmania's British Heritage - by Reg Watson
The British heritage of Tasmania goes beyond settlement in1803 to the early English explorers, but lets start with John Bowen in that year and then David Collins and William Patterson, both in 1804. From those foundations came the State of Tasmania and with it, of course, the profound British heritage which still is prevalent and I would suggest, relevant today. I intend to explain and explore that wonderful heritage which has made Tasmania such a sought after place to live, as well as the rest of Australia.
A recording of this lecture will soon be available on YouTube.
Multiculturalism as a Majority Anglo Strategy - by Dr Frank Salter
The British Australian Community seeks to make a place in the multicultural system for Anglo Australians. In this talk I explain why the majority, founding ethnic group needs to adopt such a strategy, how the BAC’s goals and methods should resemble and differ from other multicultural groups, as well as prospects and possibilities.
A recording of this lecture is now available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3hFOhaq_PI
For further information, email: britishaustraliancommunity@gmail.com.
JULY - AUGUST - SEPTEMBER
Othello - a 6-week course at ESU House
The English-Speaking Union (Victoria Branch) is pleased to sponsor a 6-week course on Shakespeare's play Othello, delivered by the Independent School of Philosophy.
The course runs from 6 pm to 8 pm on Wednesdays, starting on 20 July 2022. Delivery is 'hybrid', meaning that students can attend in person (at ESU House in Ascot Vale) or via Zoom. The nominal registration fee is $25 ($15 concession).
Find out more: https://www.independentschoolofphilosophy.org/course-information
Book your place: https://www.independentschoolofphilosophy.org/book-a-course/shakespeares-othello
AUGUST
We were unable to offer "Poems we love" as part of Australia's national Poetry Month this year. Ill health and limited human resources made it impossible. We hope to be able to host this as a hybrid event for members and the public in August 2023.
NOVEMBER
A planned event to allow members and friends hear from the Chair of the Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network has been postponed to 2023. We regret any inconvenience.
The Annual General Meeting for ESU members was held at 2 pm on Sunday 27 November and received the Annual Report on Activities for 2021-2022. The AGM was followed by the premiere of our new video production, History of the English Speaking Peoples. Members received details via direct email or by post. Click HERE for an overview of the AGM.
DECEMBER
Our end-of-year celebration for members and friends is being planned for Saturday 10 December. Bookings closed on 7 December. Read more HERE.
This page was updated on 15 December 2022.