Janet and Merv Copley as Newcastle’s quiet activists of the 1950s to 1980s

Dr Effie Karageorgos, Senior Lecturer in the University’s School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, is giving a one-off talk about two unsung Newcastle heroes and their passionate, yet quiet, activism. This talk will appeal to historians, activists, biographers, Novocastrians…and anyone who loves a good story about exceptional people.

The collections of Janet and Merv Copley held in the University of Newcastle’s Auchmuty Library represent a lifetime of activism in the Hunter region. Within the many boxes of Copley archives filled with official documents, newspaper articles, indexed diaries and personal notes, we can see the lives of two key figures devoted to their local community, and also a notable story of quiet protest. Quiet protest is an essential accompaniment to loud, boisterous or public rallies and demonstrations, often carried out by people who prefer or are unable to become involved in more visible activism whether due to age, disability, work or home responsibilities, family restrictions or even fear. In this short talk, I will speak about a period during which quiet protest overtook the lives of many Australians and present the Copleys as a unique example of how, in Newcastle, personal and political lives became intertwined.

The talk will be followed by a tour of the connected exhibition Say Aahhhh: Health, Medicine and Everyday Care in Newcastle from 1945 to 2000, co-created by Dr Karageorgos, on display in the exhibition space on level 2 of Auchmuty Library. A light morning tea will also be provided.

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