About this talk
Join Kim McKay AO, Director and CEO of the Australian Museum, as she talks about the Museum’s 190 year history and its evolution as an expression of the Enlightenment.
The Australian Museum, along with its sister museums in Victoria and South Australia, was a major focus of the intellectual life of colonial Australia and at the forefront of contemporary science and natural history research.
Kim will also address the Museum’s recent transformation during her tenure as Director and CEO, and the challenges that lie ahead, particularly visitation, digitisation and international collaboration and why Museums will continue to play an important role in shaping society.
Guest Speaker — Kim McKay AO
Kim McKay AO, the Australian Museum’s first female Director, has led the transformation of the Australian Museum (AM) into one of the world’s pre-eminent natural history and cultural institutions. Since her appointment as Director and CEO, in 2014, her initiatives have included free general admission for children, the Australian Museum Centre for Citizen Science, the restoration of the Long Gallery (Australia’s oldest museum gallery) as well as building a new award winning, accessible entrance, Crystal Hall.
Kim co-founded the Clean Up Australia and Clean Up the World campaigns. She also co-created The Genographic Project, the world’s largest DNA population study, for the National Geographic Society.
Kim was made an Officer of the Order of Australia, in 2008, for distinguished service to the environment and the community. She is featured in the book The Power of 100…One Hundred Women who have Shaped Australia.
About this series on The Enlightenment
The Royal Society of NSW and the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts (SMSA) — the two oldest institutions in NSW dedicated to education — are proud to present a collaborative lecture program, The Enlightenment Series.
Over the course of four lectures across 2017 & 2018, our speakers will investigate the beginnings of the Enlightenment and its influence on colonial Australia. The series will conclude with an interactive sophistry in which we will endeavour to answer the question — is the Enlightenment dead?
SMSA (Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts)
