Noosa

Saturday 1 March 2025
PICTURE THIS! Australian New Wave Films of the 1970s
Presented by Zana Dare (Australian Lecturer)
Venue & time: St. Mary’s Church,17 William Street, Tewantin. 3.45pm for a 4.00pm start

Film production took off in Australia in the 1970s, beginning a period that came to be known as the Australian New Wave. Revisit hits and peek behind the scenes of classic films of the era; including My Brilliant Career, The Cars That Ate Paris, Picnic at Hanging Rock and Don’s Party. Meet Australia’s greatest living playwright and discover some of the stars from award-winning movies made during this exciting period of cinematic renaissance.

With an Honours degree in Australian history and a Graduate Diploma in Museum Studies from the University of Sydney, Zana worked in Australian museums in a variety of roles. Since retiring, Zana shares her passion for art, history and culture as a Cruise Ship Enrichment Speaker, sailing with Regent Seven Seas, Viking, Celebrity, Cunard and Royal Caribbean Cruises. In 2016 Zana co-authored a book, ‘The Creative Pulse – 5 Steps to Stretch Your Imagination’.

SPECIAL EVENT WITH TWO LECTURES

Saturday 29 March 2025
Lecture 1: THE ANTIQUES ROADSHOW: Behind the Scenes and Great Discoveries
Lecture 2: BRING AN OBJECT
Presented by Marc Allum (Overseas Lecturer)
Venue & time: St. Mary’s Church,17 William Street, Tewantin, starting at 2:30pm

Lecture 1: The Antiques Roadshow – Behind the Scenes and the Great Discoveries
A firsthand and fascinating insight behind the nation’s most popular antiques programme by Marc Allum – specialist on the show for over 25 years.

Lecture 2: Bring an Object
One of Marc’s most popular talks and based on the age-old Antiques Roadshow premise of people arriving with their personal objects and Marc spontanesouly deciphering them to the audience. Always diffrent and peppered with historical anecdotes, emotional tales and also highly audience interactive.

Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques journalist, writer and broadcaster based in Wiltshire, UK. He has been a specialist on the BBC Antiques Roadshow for over 25 years. Marc regularly writes for mainstream magazines and is an author, antiques consultant and lecturer. He also runs a fine art valuation and consultancy service. Marc’s interests range from pre-history to modern design, and he is a self-confessed ‘collectaholic.’ Marc has lectured widely to organisations in both the public and charity sector, including travel companies, The National Trust and at literary festivals including Cheltenham, Bath and Wells. Marc is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Saturday 12 April 2025
KING CHARLES 1: the Rise and Fall of His Art Collection
Presented by Anne Harbers (Australian Lecturer)
Venue & time: St. Mary’s Church,17 William Street, Tewantin. 3.45pm for a 4.00pm start

In only 2 decades in the 1600s, Charles I assembled a spectacular art collection of Titan, Holbein, Durer, Rubens and Van Dyck paintings, never seen before in Britain. Art was a currency into his personal Court. Following his trial and execution in 1649 by Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians, these paintings played a role in the politics that followed. Art raised money for the Civil war, then became a symbol of Royal extravagance, also signifying religious allegiances. Art then became a means to pay off Royal debts, with plumbers, soldiers, drapers and tailors paid in priceless paintings. Recent art research tells this story.

Anne Harbers received her M. Art History from University of Sydney in 2014 and is currently living part-time in The Netherlands whilst working on her PhD on the 17th century Dutch painter, Abraham van Beyeren. She also holds an MBA & Masters research degree in science and worked for 30 years in medical research & international business. She currently works as a university lecturer within the Business faculty. Her current art history research interests lie in Dutch 17th century art, and 17th to 19th century European Art & Decorative Arts. She has published on collecting, art and science.

Saturday 17 May 2025
WHODUNNIT? Agatha Christie’s Life and Crimes in London
Presented by Simon Whitehouse (Overseas Lecturer)
Venue & time: St. Mary’s Church,17 William Street, Tewantin. 3.45pm for a 4.00pm start

Become armchair detectives and follow clues to discover the “Queen of Crime’s” London life.  Although associated with Torquay, Devon, Dame Agatha Christie also left clues to follow all over London. Living in various London properties during her long life; she penned 16 of 66 novels from one address. At University College London, Agatha researched her preferred method of murder: poison. Examine the London links to her novels, including a hotel that inspired a Miss Marple novel and the Mesopotamian galleries at the British Museum.  We conclude with Agatha’s devotion to the theatre and The Mousetrap: the world’s longest running theatrical production.

Simon is a (recovering) actor, presenter, Alexander Technique and voice teacher, and award-winning London Blue Badge guide. He has worked as a guide in-house at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the BBC and the National Gallery guiding both public and private tours. He is on the faculty of Ithaca College and lectures for the Blue Badge Guide training course on the performing arts and English literature. Simon’s specialisms and passions are theatre, literature, fashion, and art history but whatever the subject, Simon will weave a wonderful story from it. 

Saturday 14 June 2025
THE ART OF MAPS: Ancient, Medieval and Modern
Presented by John Williamson (Australian Lecturer)
Venue & time: St. Mary’s Church,17 William Street, Tewantin. 3.45pm for a 4.00pm start

This lecture discusses the development of maps of the world and the gradual improvement of maps for shipping, maps of the world, the addition of longitude and latitude, what maps show and what they leave out.

John is a teacher and lecturer who specialises in topics that focus on Polar Exploration, Art and History. He has taught Philosophy and Ancient History, worked as a tour guide in Antarctica and has lectured for many years on Antarctic History at the University of Tasmania’s, ‘Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies’.

Saturday 19 July 2025
MESOAMERICA – THE AZTEC: An Introduction to the Urban Culture of the Americas- Mexico
Presented by Maria Chester (Overseas Lecturer)
Venue & time: St. Mary’s Church,17 William Street, Tewantin. 3.45pm for a 4.00pm start

The Aztecs probably originated as a nomadic tribe in northern Mexico, arriving at Mesoamerica around the early 13th century. The Aztecs were also known as the Tenochca, from which the name for their capital city, Tenochtitlan, was derived. They are also known as the Mexica and gave the country of Mexico its name. By the 15th century, the Aztecs had developed an intricate social, political, religious, and commercial federation with many of the region’s city-states under their control. Tenochtitlan was founded on June 8th 1325. At its height, the city had more than 200,000 inhabitants and was the most populated city ever to exist in Mesoamerica. In 1521, Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes overthrew the Aztecs and captured their capital, ending Mesoamerica’s last great civilisation.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, multilingual Maria Chester studied Fine Arts and Art History and is a Professor of Pre-Columbian Art. She taught in several South American universities and at private institutions. She is a Senior Lecturer and tutor on Art History for BEA – Berwick Educational Association in the Scottish Borders, where she lives. She also works for Berwick Visual Arts delivering conferences linked to art exhibitions complemented with guided tours. In May 2018, she was made a Visiting Research Fellow at CAUA Research Centre for International Elderly Education, Shanghai, China. She became an Accredited Lecturer for The Arts Society in 2018.

SPECIAL EVENT WITH TWO LECTURES

Saturday 23 August 2025
Lecture 1: THE RIJKSMUSEUM IN AMSTERDAM
Lecture 2: NOW YOU SEE ME: History and Mysteries of Crypto Portraits
Presented by Sophie Oosterwijk (Overseas Lecturer)
Venue & time: St. Mary’s Church,17 William Street, Tewantin, starting at 2:30pm

Lecture 1: The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam:
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 splendour of architect Pierre Cuypers’ original neo-gothic decorations. The collection of the Rijksmuseum includes works by Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh as well as medieval art, jewellery, musical instruments, Asian art and even an FK 23 Bantam plane from 1918. It also has Rembrandt’s famous Night Watch – but only on loan! All this and much more will be revealed about the most famous museum in the Netherlands.

Lecture 2: Now You See Me: History and Mysteries of Crypto Portraits
A portrait can be much more than a straightforward likeness of a person. A ‘cryptoportrait’ may at first sight not look like a portrait at all, because it can be ‘disguised’, e.g. as an Adoration of the Magi with real people playing the parts of the Magi, or as a statue of a prophet or saint with the features of a patron, or the artist’s self-portrait may be hidden amongst a host of other faces. Throughout Western art we may discover such concealed portraits if we look carefully and are prepared to recognise these visual games that artists and patrons chose to play with the beholder.

Born in Gouda (Netherlands). Sophie has an MA in Medieval Studies (York) and a PhD in Art History (Leicester), as well as an MA and PhD in English Literature (Leiden). Sophie has taught at the universities of St Andrews, Leicester and Manchester, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, National Trust, V&A, U3A, WEA and other organisations, and organised many study days, tours and visits. She is also a regular lecturer for Cambridge University and travel companies, and Vice President of the Church Monuments Society, and has numerous publications to her name.

Saturday 20 September 2025
EUROPEAN ART OF THE AVANTE GARDE 1917 – 1930
Presented by Anna Moszynska (Overseas Lecturer)
Venue & time: St. Mary’s Church,17 William Street, Tewantin. 3.45pm for a 4.00pm start

In 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution, the De Stijl movement was launched in Holland which anticipated the opening of the Bauhaus in Germany two years later. Through the efforts of individual artists such as Piet Mondrian, Gerrit Rietveld, Wassily Kandinsky, El Lissitzky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Marcel Breuer, through their exhibitions, publishing and teaching, ideas were exchanged that changed the face of art across Europe and beyond. We explore how this exciting range of work embracing art, design and architecture came together and created an impact that has lasted into the 21st century.

Anna is a London-based lecturer and writer specialising in contemporary art. During the 1990s, Anna oversaw the development of the first British Master’s Degree in the subject at Sotheby’s Institute. She has also taught at institutions including The City Lit, the Royal Academy and Tate London, as well as lecturing globally from Dubai to New York. Anna currently teaches in London and continues to write on art. Her books include Abstract Art and Sculpture Now. Anna enjoys introducing art to audiences in a lively and approachable way to make modern and contemporary art both accessible and interesting. 

Saturday 25 October 2025
FAKES AND FORTUNES: Or Have I found a Constable in My Attic?
Presented by Sarah Cove (Overseas Lecturer)
Venue & time: St. Mary’s Church,17 William Street, Tewantin. 3.45pm for a 4.00pm start

Sarah Cove ACR founded the Constable Research Project with the V&A Museum in 1986 to study John Constable RA’s materials and techniques. She has since examined over 250 works worldwide, from tiny oil sketches, to the ‘six-footers’, including the iconic The Haywain (1821). She has developed a technical chronology that assists with the dating of his known works, few of which were signed and dated by the artist. Sarah has been instrumental in the attribution of three significant Constable oils for BBC1’s Fake or Fortune? series. This lecture gives a ‘behind the scenes’ look at these decisions and describes some extraordinary successes but also crashing disappointments.

Sarah Cove ACR is an accredited paintings conservator-restorer, technical art historian and lecturer with several decades of experience working on paintings for the heritage and private sectors. She is a specialist in British portraits, 19th-20th century British landscapes and oil sketches on paper and board. She founded the Constable Research Project and is the leading authority on Constable’s materials and techniques. Her presentations are lively, enthusiastic and passionate about her work and research.