Papers at ‘From the Ground Up’ cover a wide range of topics concerned with Sydney's history, from the early colony through to the present day and will be presented by academics, post-graduates, professional historians, museum curators and artists. The conference is open to anyone who would like to register.

Keynote speaker: Grace Karskens, whose most recent book, The Colony: A History of Early Sydney won the 2010 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for non-fiction, as well as the 2010 American Urban History Association’s Best Book (Non-North American).

The Sydney History Group panel:features members of the Group that pioneered urban social history in Sydney during the 1970s and 1980s. Jill Roe, Shirley Fitzgerald, Peter Spearritt and Garry Wotherspoon will reflect on their experiences as urban historians, the changing faces of Sydney and how future engagement with the city’s past might take shape.

See http://www.mq.edu.au/ground_up for more information, registration form and draft program.