The Ramsay Centre Podcast

In the third Ramsay Lecture for 2022, one of Australia’s leading public intellectuals and our most distinguished independent literary critical voice, Peter Craven, poses and answers the question – Classics and why we must keep them alive. In this lecture Peter Craven journeys back in time, taking us through centuries of great works, through various translations and adaptations, through famous dram...

In the second Ramsay Lecture for 2022, Walkley Award winner and distinguished China commentator Rowan Callick OBE offers unique insight into the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) and argues that the Party’s actions are subsuming China’s great culture as we know it.   Drawing on some 20 years of reporting, Rowan Callick lists examples of manipulation of Chinese life by the CPP to ensure its own surviva...

In the first Ramsay Lecture for 2022, world-famous historian, author and broadcaster Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, takes us on a journey piecing together the story of Venus and Aphrodite throughout the ages.   In this exclusive lecture, the fourth in the series delivered by Professor Hughes for the Ramsay Centre, Bettany draws upon research from her 2019 book, Venus and Aphrodite: History of a God...

What has been the impact of Christianity on the development of Western civilisation? Could it have been so profound that it is now hidden from view? Even in a secular West, are we ‘goldfish swimming in a Christian pond’?  In our final Ramsay Lecture for 2021, Centre Academic Director and Deputy CEO Dr. Stephen McInerney interviews award-winning UK historian, biographer and broadcaster Tom Holland....

In the eighth Ramsay Lecture for 2021, world-famous historian, author and broadcaster, Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, takes us back to Golden Age Athens, as seen through the eyes of Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher and arguably the true father of western thought.  In her exclusive lecture Professor Hughes draws on her comprehensive research on Socrates, as he left no written record. Through...

In this seventh Ramsay Lecture for 2021, Professor Gigi Foster joins Ramsay Centre CEO, Professor Simon Haines, in discussion on The Great Covid Panic:  What Happened, Why, and What To Do Next. 

In the sixth Ramsay Lecture for 2021, world-famous historian, author and broadcaster, Professor Bettany Hughes OBE, takes us on ‘dazzling historical journey through the many incarnations of one of the world’s greatest cities’ – Istanbul.  In her lecture, Istanbul, Constantinople, Byzantium – the Queen of Cities , Professor Hughes draws upon her in-depth research, shares new archaeological discover...

In the fifth Ramsay Lecture for 2021, Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines interviews Chris Uhlmann about Australia’s response to COVID-19, and what it reveals about our politics, Federation, media, and leadership and its possible long-term effect on our future generations.

In the fourth Ramsay Lecture for 2021, Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines interviews Lord Daniel Hannan where they discuss and answer the question “The Last Straw:  has Covid-19 finally broken freedom’s back?” 

 Prof Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois at Chicago discusses why Liberalism and not investment or exploitation or Christianity made us rich.

Prof Patrick Deneen discusses his latest book, Why Liberalism Failed, highlighting issues that are facing the west and our democracies. 

Feature interview with Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines on Western Civilisation. What is it?  What are its notable achievements?  Why is it worth studying?

In the first Ramsay Lecture for 2021, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard interviews Lord Charles Moore, the authorised biographer of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Conductor, singer, author, Professor Peter Tregear OAM discusses the importance of, and the changes to the study of classical music in our universities and our society today. He argues that great music in all its forms, in all its genres, wherever it is found, and however it is ultimately labelled by us, should properly be understood.

ABC Chair, Australian media and publishing icon, and 2013 Australian of the Year, Ita Buttrose presents a Ramsay Lecture titled ‘The ABC, Democracy and Press Freedom’.

Peter Baldwin former ALP Politician presents a two part Ramsay Lecture titled “Turning Back the Woke Tide” - Part 1

Peter Baldwin former ALP Politician presents a two part Ramsay Lecture titled “Turning Back the Woke Tide” - Part 2

Award-winning historian, author, and broadcaster, Professor Bettany Hughes presents a Ramsay Lecture titled ‘The Odyssey – Odysseus’ Journey and Odysseus’ Women’. 

Award-winning author and journalist Lionel Shriver presents a Ramsay Lecture titled -   ‘Just because we’ve been okay doesn’t mean we’ll stay that way’ 

‘Why we must believe in Western Civilisation’ – Ramsay Lecture by UK historian Professor Andrew Roberts, introduction by Ramsay Centre CEO Professor Simon Haines.