A cultural biography of Ron Maslyn Williams

Frank Hurley, Frank Hurley and Maslyn Williams Looking Out Over the Kidron Valley Towards Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, Palestine, 1940?, nla.obj-151339245

Join Associate Professor Deane Williams as he presents a lecture on his 2023 National Library Fellowship research about how Ron Maslyn Williams – filmmaker, photographer, writer, musician and radio playwright – became one of Australia’s post-Second World War cultural innovators.

The talk will be available to view live online via the Library’s Facebook and YouTube pages. You do not need to book a ticket to watch the event online.

A/Professor Deane Williams is a 2023 Honorary National Library of Australia Fellow.

About A/Professor Deane Williams’ Fellowship research

For this Fellowship, A/Professor Williams seeks to produce the first substantial and systematic account of the little researched life and work of Ron Maslyn Williams (1911-1999), a prodigiously talented Australian film-maker as well as an internationally esteemed musician, radio writer, theatre director, journalist, photographer, novelist and non-fiction author.

Ron Maslyn Williams’ films won many prizes including a Gold Medal at the Venice Biennale and the Florence Film Festival. Along with John Bishop and Ruth Alexander, Williams founded the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO). In tribute to his AYO legacy the Maslyn Williams Chamber Orchestra was established. He won the FAW Christina Stead Award in 1988 and the Douglas Stewart prize in the 1989 NSW Literary Awards and was an Emeritus Fellow of the Literature Board of the Australia Council. Utilising a cultural network approach, this project will create knowledge about Williams, one of the most important cultural figures of the post-war years in Australia and the international cultural milieu he actively participated in.

The details

What: A cultural biography of Ron Maslyn Williams with Associate Professor Deane Williams
When: Thursday, 16 November 2023 from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm
Where: National Library of Australia and online.
Cost: Entry is free to this event but bookings are essential.