OzLit Festival: Black Convicts - The Lives Australia Erased.

About this event

Santilla Chingaipe discusses the astonishing Black lives erased from Australia's national story. At least 15 convicts on Australia's First Fleet were of African descent. By 1840, there were almost 500. Their portraits hang in galleries and their lives survive in the archives - so why have they all but disappeared from history? In this revelatory conversation, Santilla Chingaipe uncovers the men, women and children erased from Australia’s colonial story and reveals the unexpected connections between Britain, Africa, the Caribbean and Australia. Drawing on years of archival detective work, Black Convicts restores individuality to people too often reduced to a footnote, or forgotten altogether. Chingaipe explores how race, slavery, empire and migration shaped Australia from its beginnings – and how recovering these lives changes our understanding of the country today. Santilla Chingaipe is a Zambian-born Australian filmmaker and historian and the author of the Stella Prize-shortlisted and Cundill History Prize-longlisted Black Convicts . A former SBS World News journalist, she is also the creator of the award-winning documentary Our African Roots , which made history as the first Australian television documentary in which an African-Australian presenter investigated the country’s colonial past. In 2019, the United Nations recognised her as one of the world’s most influential people of African descent under 40. This event runs from 2 -2:50pm Venue : Level 6 Auditorium, Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DT* *Please note that the Level 6 Auditorum is fully accessible from the Ground floor lifts.