The annual Investigator Lecture is an important part of our public education program and contribution to the cultural life of South Australia.
Previous Investigator Lectures are listed by lecture title below.
2012
Dr Brian Schmidt
2011 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Lecture title: The Accelerating Universe
2011
Premier Mike Rann
Lecture title: Charting a course for change - the politics of progress
2010
Professor Tim Flannery
Lecture title: Digging up the future on climate change
2008
Former Chief Justice of the High Court, the Hon Murray Gleeson AC
Lecture title: Law and Change
2007
James Bradfield Moody, General Manager, International Development, CSIRO
Lecture title: Insurmountable Opportunities: success in a resource-limited world
2006
Donald McDonald AC (Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Board)
Lecture title: A decade of difference: Renewal of the ABC
View the lecture.
2005
Neil Mules AO
Flinders graduate and Australian Ambassador to Mexico
Lecture title: Diplomacy in the 21st Century: Responding to New Challenges
View the lecture.
2004
Posie Graeme-Evans
Flinders graduate, Head of Drama (Nine Network Australia) and creator McLeod's Daughters
Lecture title: Strictly Entertainment
Listen to the lecture.
2003
Lech Walesa
Lecture title: The Future of Democracy in the Globalising World
Former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Laureate
2002
Paul Kells
Founder, Safe Communities Foundation (Canada)
Lecture title: How you can save a life and never know whose it was! Listen to the lecture.
2001
Hannie Rayson
Playwright
Lecture title: Degrees of Separation: the university and the spirit of inquiry
Read the lecture.
2000
Michael Leunig
Cartoonist, painter
Lecture title: A Spoken Cartoon on the Subject of Human Happiness
1999
Professor Peter Sellars
Director, Adelaide Festival of Arts (2002)
Lecture title: Cultural Activism in the New Century
1998
Veronica Brady
Department of English (The University of Western Australia)
Lecture title: Politics, Passion and Poetry
1997
Professor Ian Lowe
Professor in Science, Technology and Society (Griffith University) Lecture title: Education for the 21st Century
1996
Emeritus Professor Peter Karmel
Founding Vice-Chancellor of Flinders, and Vice-Chancellor Australian National University
Lecture title: Australia and the Economic Paradigm: Thirty Years of Change
1995
Dr Kevin Wellington
CSIRO
Lecture title: Are We Alone? Is there Intelligent Life out there?
1994 (March)
Dr Anne Summers
Writer and columnist
Lecture title: Women, Politics and the Millennium
1994 (October)
Dr Robyn Archer
Writer, performer and director
Lecture title: A Personal Journey
1993
Dr Pat O'Shane
Magistrate
Lecture title: Res publica – not vox majestica – This is your Sovereign Speaking
1992
Dr Eric Willmot
Director-General of Education, South Australia
Lecture title: Vision 3 – A Fantastic Journey
1991
Sir Gustav Nossal
Director, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research
Lecture title: Ethical Frontiers of Medical Technology
1990
Donald Horne
Writer and lecturer
Lecture title: Unlocking the Academies – Can it be done?
1989
Peter Garrett
President, Australian Conservation Foundation
Lecture title: Vested Interests: The Politic versus the Altruistic – What Price Unbleached Toilet Paper
1988
Geoffrey Robertson QC
Barrister, author
Lecture title: The Freedom to Investigate
1987
Professor Di Yerbury
Vice-Chancellor, Macquarie University
Lecture title: Higher Education and Beyond: Gender and Choice
1986
Dr Bob Brown
Politician, environmentalist
Lecture title: The Politics of Conservation in the late 1980s and Beyond
1985
Mr Brian Toohey
Editor, National Times
Lecture title: Journalism: Shackles on the Craft in the 1980s
1984
HE Mr A Alohaty
Ambassador to Australia for Saudi Arabia
1983
There was no Investigator Lecture in 1983.
1982
Sir Charles Court
Premier of Western Australia 1972 – 1981
Lecture title: Building a Future for Australia
1981
Bob Hawke
Shadow Federal Minister, Employment and Industrial Relations
Lecture title: Australia Ahead: Navigation Aids for Unknown Waters
1980
Michael Kirby
Chairman, Australian Law Reform Commission
Lecture title: Law Reform: Filling the International Vacuum
1979
Emeritus Professor Peter Karmel
Founding Vice-Chancellor, Chairman Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission
Lecture title: Universities to 1984 and Beyond
