The two speakers presenting this public lecture will challenge some of the common beliefs that surround Indigenous Australians and the history of grog, by discussing the findings of the newly released publication First Taste: How Indigenous Australians Learned About Grog by Dr Maggie Brady (published by the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation). This publication will be released the morning before the lecture and is a series of six books. The series is designed to educate and empower Indigenous people on alcohol issues, to illuminate the influence of history and social learning on drinking behaviour, and to contribute to greater understanding and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Dr Maggie Brady is a social anthropologist holding an ARC QEII Fellowship at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences. She has researched and published widely on Aboriginal health, drug and alcohol use, reaching both academic and community-based audiences. Her publications include the first (and only) anthropological study of petrol sniffing (Heavy Metal, 1992), and the widely circulated community action manual The Grog Book (1998, 2005).

Professor Robin Room is an Australian sociologist of international renown who has directed alcohol and drug study centres in the US, Canada, Norway and Sweden as well as being an advisor to the World Health Organisation. Since 2006, he has been a Professor in the School of Population Health of the University of Melbourne and the Director of the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Centre for Alcohol Policy Research at Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre. He has worked on social, cultural and epidemiological studies of alcohol, drugs and gambling behaviour, and studies of social responses to alcohol and drug problems.

Note: This lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the lecture.
Copies of the publication First Taste: How Indigenous Australians Learned About Grog will be available at the lecture.

AER Media Release[18-09-2008 ]

'First Taste' AER funded publication dispels myths about Indigenous Australian drinking history and alcohol abuse.
[ Click here to order you copy of 'First Taste' ]