Geelong

ADFAS Geelong welcomes you.

We are a leading arts education charity in a global network, with 37 local societies throughout Australia, which brings people together through a shared curiosity for the arts. Our events provide welcoming places to hear expert lecturers, both Australian and International, share their specialist knowledge about the arts.
We preserve and contribute to our artistic heritage through volunteering, fund raising and grants.Our strength is our people, joined together by a passion for the arts which can nourish and empower us all. Our work creates a better, healthier and more connected society.

Enjoy refreshments following each lecture and we invite you to become involved in our fund raising activities for Young Arts and conservation at the Geelong Gallery.

We look forward to you joining us at ADFAS Geelong 2025.
·  Superbly Illustrated Lectures
·  Conservation & Philanthropy
·  Cultural & Heritage Projects
·  Young Arts Projects

Lectures:

Time and Venue:

Lectures are on a Wednesday with two sessions:

Morning lectures are at 10:30 at the Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb. The Newcomb Hall has 20 spaces and street parking is also available.

Evening Lectures are at 6pm at the Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

Refreshments are served afterwards

Program
Find full details of the 2025 program here

Membership:
Annual membership – $175 per person
Click here to join or email: geelong@adfas.org.au

Guests welcome:
Guests are welcome to attend at a cost of $25 per lecture. Please telephone Sharron Dickman on 0439 328 199. The fee for members of other ADFAS societies is $15. Membership between societies is not transferable.

Contact:
For all enquiries please email: geelong@adfas.org.au
ABN: 86 017 404 297

Committee
Chair: Claire Hewitt
Secretary: Sally Birrell
Membership: Sharron Dickman    Ph: 0439 328 199

2025 PROGRAM

Wednesday 12 February 2025
Presented Kathleen Olive

Morning Lecture:
RENAISSANCE VILLAS AND GARDENS
Time & Venue: 10:30am at Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb.

Since antiquity Italian villas and their gardens have been a source of intellectual reflection, architectural innovation, aesthetic appreciation – and relaxation.

Evening Lecture:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SPANISH STYLE
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

In this lecture we particularly consider the representation on of royalty as a metaphor for the nation as a whole, from Titian’s equestrian portraits of Charles V and Philip II’s architectural splendors at the Escorial, down to Velázquez’s char ng of the decline of the Spanish Habsburgs.

Dr Kathleen Olive holds a PhD in Italian Studies and is a tour guide and lecturer in Italian language and literature, European history, the Italian Renaissance, modern art and the gardens and architecture of Japan.

Wednesday 12 March 2025
Presented Christopher Garibaldi

Morning Lecture:
THE REAL ART OF TENNIS: The Courtly Culture of Sport from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period
Time & Venue: 10:30am at Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb.

This lecture’s primary focus is the art associated with the more traditional game of Real Tennis, in its many forms, both in England and in the Courts of Renaissance Italy.

Evening Lecture:
THE TREASURES OF THE TURN: The Fine and Decorative Arts of Horse Racing
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

The lecture takes as its start the earliest origins of the sport including the development of Newmarket and the Jockey Club and also explores other influential racing circuits.

Chris Garibaldi is an independent researcher who has enormous expertise in the art of sports, horseracing, historic houses and the royal silver collection.

Wednesday 9 April 2025
Presented John Williamson

Morning Lecture:
THE ART OF MAPS: Ancient, Medieval and Modern
Time & Venue: 10:30am at Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb.

This lecture discusses the complex topic ‘the world of maps’, their development and gradual improvement for shipping and the addition of longitude and latitude. Most of all we look at the great beauty of maps and the great skill of cartographers.

Evening Lecture:
THE ART OF EVEREST AND THE HIMALAYAS
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

Mount Everest is the focus of many mountaineers. This lecture examines the development of the British Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, the art of and also the photography of early and modern climbing.

John Williamson is a teacher whose lectures focus on Polar Art, History and Explora on. He has worked as a tour guide in Antarctica, has lectured on Antarctica History at the University of Tasmania.

Wednesday 14 May 2025
Presented by Jamie Hayes

Morning Lecture:
THE HISTORY OF MUSICALS
Time & Venue: 10:30am at Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb.

A talk which examines the journey of the Musical, from its almost accidental beginnings of 150 years ago. We will highlight the great musical productions which have graced London’s West End and Broadway.

Evening Lecture:
THE THREE GAME CHANGERS OF THE 19TH CENTURY OPERA
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

Verdi, Wagner and Puccini: from the romance of La Traviata and Rigoletto via the mystery and magic of The Ring Cycle to the melodrama of Tosca and La Bohème.

Jamie Hayes graduated as a Stage Manager after training at RADA ,and subsequently worked for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Bristol Old Vic and the BBC. He has directed productions in all the major UK conservatoires and the British Youth Opera.

Wednesday 11 June 2025
Presented by Matthew Martin

Morning Lecture:
BITTERSWEET – CHOCOATE, TEA AND COFFEE IN THE EARLY MODERN WORLD
Time & Venue: 10:30am at Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb.

This lecture explores the complex history of the wide-spread adoption of the caffeinated beverages—chocolate, tea and coffee in seventeenth and
eighteenth-century Europe.

Evening Lecture:
FORMAL DINING IN THE COURTS OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY EUROPE
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

This lecture explores the table culture of the baroque courts of Europe, examining the innovations in formal dining practices initiated by the discovery of European porcelain, which resulted in new ways of dressing the celebratory.

Matthew Martin is an art historian and curator with a particular interest in the luxury arts of the European eighteenth century. From 2006 to 2019 he was a curator in the National Gallery of Victoria.

Wednesday 16 July 2025
Presented by Sophie Oosterwijk

Morning Lecture:
THE RIJKSMUSEUM IN AMSTERDAM: Rembrandt’s Night Watch and Much, Much More
Time & Venue: 10:30am at Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb.

This lecture offers an introduction to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: the collection, the building, its history and the 10-year renovation (2003-13) that brought back the splendor of architect Pierre Cuypers’ original neo-gothic decorations. The collection of the Rijksmuseum includes works by Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh

Evening Lecture:
LOVE, MARRIAGE AND FIDELITY IN WESTERN ART
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

Marital depictions have a long history: in ancient Egypt people chose to have themselves immortalised as loving couples. Later, double or pendant portraits were also commissioned from artists such as Rembrandt, Hals and Gainsborough. Yet others show a more ironic or even cynical attitude, for love and marriage are not always a bed of roses!

Born in Gouda , Sophie Oosterwijk has taught at the major universi es and organised many talks and tours. Sophie is also a regular lecturer for travel companies and has published three books.

Wednesday 13 August 2025
Presented by Chris Aslan

Morning Lecture:
A CARPET RIDE TO KHIVA
Time & Venue: 10:30am at Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb.

Chris Aslan tells his own story of working with UNESCO to establish a silk carpet workshop in the desert oasis of Khiva, Uzbekistan – the most homogenous example of Islamic architecture in the world.

Evening Lecture:
THE GOLDEN ROAD TO SAMARKAND: The Architecture, Art and Textiles of Uzbekistan
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

Uzbekistan in the heart of Central Asia boasts glittering mosques, madrassahs and minarets in the Silk Road cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, contrasting wonderfully with the brutalist Soviet buildings of Tashkent, Urgench and Nukus.

Chris Aslan was born in Turkey. After spending two years at sea and studying at Leicester University, he then moved to Khiva, a desert oasis in Uzbekistan, establishing a UNESCO workshop reviving fifteenth century carpet designs and embroideries.

Wednesday 17 September 2025
Presented by John Francis

Morning Lecture:
THE MISTRESS OF MENACE AND THE MASTER OF SUSPENSE: Daphne du Maurier and Alfred Hitchcock
Time & Venue: 10:30am at Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb.

Du Maurier and Hitchcock dealt with themes of loneliness, gender, fear, suspense and gothic imagery, building compelling and complex
emotional landscapes.

Evening Lecture:
I GOT THE DUST BOWL BLUES: Texas and Oklahoma Photography, Art and Music 
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

President Roosevelt’s WPA (Works Progress Administration) and the New Deal meant employment for over eight million unskilled Americans and 5,300 artists. Murals, painting, photography, graphic design all flourished.

John Francis is an inspirational speaker who has trained as a painter. Later in his career John produced and directed several short films and animations.

Wednesday 15 October 2025
Presented by Eileen Goulding

Morning Lecture:
AZTEC AND MAYA CIVILISATIONS OF MEXICO
Time & Venue: 10:30am at Newcomb Hall, 82 Wilsons Road, Newcomb.

Human hearts, blood and children’s tears were all necessary to quench the hunger of the bloodthirsty gods of Mexico. If their needs were not satisfied the consequences for the nation would be catastrophic. Discover some of their ancient gods and learn about the religious rites designed to appease them.

Evening Lecture:
THE KNIGHTS CRUSADERS
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

Discover the Orders of knights who helped keep the Kingdom of Jerusalem safe for Christians settled and prospered on islands in the Mediterranean such as Rhodes. Learn of the exploits of the Hospitallers and Templars, their legacies and the notorious Assassins. 

Eileen Goulding has an MA in Archaeology at the University of London, is a published author and an authority on the ancient cultures of the world, specialising in the ancient worlds of the Mediterranean, South America and Australasia.

Wednesday 12 November 2025
Presented by David Cole

AGM followed by Evening Lecture:
THE 10 GREAT HOUSES OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT
Time & Venue: 6pm at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West.

The Arts and Crafts movement began in Britain in the mid 19th Century through the philosophies of William Morris and John Ruskin. The lecture begins with Morris’s own house, Red House in Kent, designed by Philip Webb, and continues to examine some of the world’s most beautiful architectural masterpieces.

David Cole is a practising architect who has designed projects throughout Australia, Japan, Thailand, China, United Arab Emirates and New Zealand. David has had a long-term interest in the architecture of the English Arts and Crafts movement.