House Talks: Henry Parkes and Saul Samuel 2022

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Emeritus Curator of the State Library of New South Wales, Paul Brunton, OAM, FAHA, joins the Parliament of NSW for the latest in its House Talks series, Henry Parkes and Saul Samuel: the duo who preserved Australia's colonial history.

In this free in-person talk, Paul will lead participants though the extraordinary story of how Sir Henry Parkes and Saul Samuel worked to access, acquire and preserve Australia's early colonial documentary history collections.

Henry Parkes and Saul Samuel: the duo who preserved Australia's colonial history follows on from Paul's well‑received lecture in 2021 on the topic of the 'Rum Hospital'. This free event will be held from 5.30 p.m. - 6.30 p.m. on March 23 in the Jubilee Room of the NSW Parliament. Registrations are essential.

House Talks is a series of events featuring experts and special guests, brought to you by the Parliament of NSW. Highlighting a range of historical and cultural topics, talks relate to the history and functions of the Parliament of NSW.

About Sir Henry Parkes and Sir Saul Samuel

Sir Henry Parkes (1815-1896), five times Premier of New South Wales, called by Alfred Deakin 'a large-brained, self-educated Titan', is remembered particularly for the 1880 Public Instruction Act and as 'The Father of Federation'.

Sir Saul Samuel (1820-1900), the first Jewish legislator in New South Wales, twice Treasurer and twice Postmaster-General, was the State's representative in London, 1880-1897.

Both were far ahead of their times in implementing measures to preserve early historical documents.

Parkes supported the transcription of manuscripts relating to Australia held overseas. These transcripts were used by historians well into the 20th century. He planned a monumental repository in Centennial Park for historical records.

Samuel, with great foresight, purchased for the State the papers of Sir Joseph Banks, now in the Mitchell Library. The Banks papers remain the bedrock of early colonial research and the most significant of all early colonial collections.