Race, Nation, History: A Conference in Honour of Henry Reynolds, Canberra, 29-30 August 2008 (Conference Report‪)‬

On a cool, clear late August morning, about 150 people gathered in the Downstairs Lecture Theatre at the National Library of Australia, to attend the conference in honour of Henry Reynolds' seventieth birthday. Organised by Tom Griffiths from the History Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University and Bain Attwood, from Monash University and sponsored by the History Program in RSSS at the ANU, the School of History and Classics at the University of Tasmania and the National Library of Australia, which was celebrating its fortieth birthday in its current location. The conference had two purposes: to critically assess Reynolds' work in a national and political context; and to address new questions and problems that he had helped to pioneer in the field of Aboriginal history. Over the two days, a very interested audience heard about 14 papers, spread over seven sessions. The last paper was presented by Reynolds himself.