The 17th Rex Cramphorn Memorial Lecture
Monday 31 August from 5:30pm to 8:30pm
Theatre and Performance Studies, Chau Chak Wing Museum and the Power Institute present the 17th Rex Cramphorn Memorial Lecture in August 2026 with the visit to The University of Sydney by Lily Shearer (Murrawarri/Ngemba), 2025 recipient of the Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement and Artistic Director of Moogahlin Performing Arts (on Gadigal and Ngemba lands).
Lily is based on Ngemba Country at Brewarrina. Lily will be joined in dialogue by the Deputy Director of the Power Institute, Professor Daniel Browning (Bundjalung/Kullilli).
Evoking Country: towards a land-based performing arts praxis
A critical discourse on the idea of land-based works of performing art by the First Peoples, the 2026 Rex Cramphorn Memorial Lecture is delivered blackfella way – with two interlocutors in a vibrant and reflexive conversation about the centrality of place and belonging in the personal and professional praxis of one of Australia’s great storytellers, Murrawarri theatre maker Lily Shearer.
In this dialogue with Professor Daniel Browning, the artistic director of Moogahlin Performing Arts Inc. presents the company’s work since its inception nearly two decades ago as an object lesson in land-based performance and describes the process by which the company embeds Country in the commissioning, writing and staging of its First Peoples-led productions. Along the way, Lily explores the personal legacy of the Murrawarri Rainmakers and talks about Country ‘as cast member’ in a new production with award-winning playwright and Murrawarri countrywoman Jane Harrison.
Presented by Theatre and Performance Studies, Chau Chak Wing Museum and the Power Institute, University of Sydney.