52: The statue of William Charles Wentworth and Adelaide Ironside

In this episode of Object Matters host Dr Craig Barker is joined by historian and author Dr Kiera Lindsey. Together they discuss her new book on colonial Sydney artist Adelaide Ironside titled Wild Love. Together they examine speculative history, writing biographies and art in  colonial New South Wales, and explore Adelaide's complex relationship with University of Sydney founders William Charles Wentworth and Sir Charles Nicholson.

Guest: Dr Kiera Lindsey is a creative historian who works across the public and academic sectors. She works at the History Trust of SA (HTSA) as South Australia’s History Advocate.
She has over twenty years of research and writing experience in the area of nineteenth-century, Indigenous and women's histories and have also published nationally and internationally on the topics of speculative biography and life writing. She had served as Vice President of the History Council of New South Wales as well as a member of the Sydney Living Museum's Curatorial and Public Engagement Advisory Committee. She features regularly on radio and podcasts, and was a consultant and on-camera historian for a 4-part series entitled LAWLESS: The Real Bushrangers which first aired on Foxtel's History Channel in 2017. Kiera has also designed two online public history courses on the GLAM sector. Wild Love was published through Allen & Unwin in November 2023, joining her first book The Convict's Daughter, and a volume coedited with Donna Brien on the topic of speculative biography. Wild Love was the produce of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) while she was at University of Technology Sydney (UTS).  Follow Kiera on X: @LindseyKiera

Host: Dr Craig Barker, Head of Public Engagement, Chau Chak Wing Museum and Director, Paphos Theatre Archaeological Excavations. Follow @DrCraig_B on X and Instagram.

Object details:
Pietro Tenerani, life-size statue of William Charles Wentworth, marble, 1861.
Purchased with funds from public subscription 1861 [UA1861.1]