The University of Melbourne's video: The 2020 Narrm Oration with Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher

Australia is in the midst of both environmental and social crises. With the highest rate of biodiversity loss on earth, the country is facing an ever-increasing barrage of massive catastrophic wildfires that wreak untold environmental damage and its First Peoples are among the most disadvantaged and disaffected demographic. In the 2020 Narrm Oration, Associate Professor Fletcher will argue that many of Australia’s current environmental problems can be traced to the impact of British invasion and the violent and devastating effects this has had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Embedding the Aboriginal world view and notion of Country into mainstream Australia has the potential to benefit the lives and livelihoods of all Australians and our Country. Associate Professor Fletcher is a descendant of the Wiradjuri and a geographer interested in the long-term interactions between humans, climate, disturbance, vegetation and landscapes in the southern hemisphere with a particular emphasis on how Indigenous burning has shaped the Australian landscape. He is Director of Research Capability at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute, Assistant Dean (Indigenous) in the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne, and a panel member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts. Learn more: https://about.unimelb.edu.au/reconciliation/engagement/the-narrm-oration