This year’s Alice Tay Lecture will be given by Distinguished Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson, who has recently been recognised as the 2021 ANU Indigenous Alumna of the Year for her contributions as an Australian academic, Indigenous feminist, author and activist for Indigenous rights.

Professor Moreton-Robinson, a Goenpul woman born on Quandamooka country, Stradbroke Island in Queensland, was the first Aboriginal person to be appointed to a mainstream lecturing position in women's studies in Australia, and has held senior positions in universities across the nation. Her research, including her monographs Talkin’ up to the white woman: Indigenous women and feminism and The White Possessive: Property, Power and Indigenous Sovereignty, have made critical interventions into feminist and legal scholarship. Her tireless commitment to reform has inspired a generation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars to challenge racism in the academy and beyond.

Her lecture, entitled ‘The paradox of race in Australian legal thought: making the invisible visible’, will unpack the history and concept of ‘race’ in relation to the Indigenous peoples of Australia and its legal systems. She argues that, while ‘race’ is understood as a biological fiction, the law continues to import biology to give meaning to its effect and, in doing so, creates a paradox.

The Alice Tay Lecture on Law and Human Rights is hosted by the Freilich Project each year, with a distinguished guest speaker. The 2021 lecture is free to attend and will be held online at 5pm, Thursday 23 September 2021. Click here to register.

Updated 28/10/21: The video recording of Prof. Moreton-Robinson's lecture is now available.