The John Turner Memorial Lecture is held in memory of John Turner, a former history lecture at the University of Newcastle and WEA Hunter. Dr Turner was one of the foremost historians in the Hunter Valley, with a keen interest in local convict history.

Emeritus Professor Michael Rosenthal from the University of Warwick will deliver the 2013 John Turner Memorial Lecture titled Colonel Paterson's Scrapbook.

Professor Rosenthal describes the lecture as follows:

"When, in 1809, he knew he would be returning to Britain, colonial hand Colonel William Paterson took great care to commission watercolours from John Lewin and George Robert Evans, arguably the leading artists in the colony. 

This comparatively ambitious project involved importing both drawing paper and watercolour paints into New South Wales, and the resulting work offers an intriguing snapshot of how what was meant as a penal colony, a place of punitive retribution, could be perceived as something very different.

The lecture will also investigate the role of scrapbooks more generally, and how the watercolours commissioned by Paterson for his own have a significant biographical significance."

Professor Rosenthal studied at the Courtauld Institute, and was Leverhulme Research Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge, before arriving at Warwick, where he has remained for 35 years. He has held various fellowships in Australia and the US, and was lead curator of the Gainsborough exhibition at Tate Britain in 2002. Professor Rosenthal is currently undertaking research towards a second book on colonial Australia titled Governor Macquarie's Culture.

The John Turner Memorial Lecture is a joint initiative of the University of Newcastle and WEA Hunter.

This is a FREE public lecture open to the community. Registration is essential as seats are limited.

WHEN: 5.45 for 6pm Thursday, 9 May

WHERE: Newcastle City Hall

RSVP:  by Monday, 29 April.

For more information and to register contact enquiries@weahunter.com.au or call 02 4925 4200