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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda will share his views on Indigenous governance and representation, and the provision of services to the community following the closure of ATSIC.

Peter Yu opens Off the Walls: Art from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Agencies 1967–2005, an exhibition about Indigenous art and the politics and history of a time of great change in Indigenous affairs.

Pedro Stephen, mayor of the Torres Shire Council, opens the exhibition of photographs by David Callow complemented by objects from the National Museum’s collections that share stories about the lives, culture and identity of Torres Strait Islanders.

Following a screening of In Memory of Malawan, film-makers Ian Dunlop and Pip Deveson discuss the filming of the rituals for the funeral of Aboriginal clan leader Malawan over a two-week period in the early 1970s.

The inaugural Platform Conversations event was a provocative panel discussion facilitated by David Speers debating whether recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the Australian Constitution will make a meaningful difference to Indigenous peoples’ lives.

The book, co-edited by Martin Thomas and Margo Neale, extends on the papers presented at the ‘Barks, Birds and Billabongs: Exploring the legacy of the 1948 American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land’ Symposium held in November 2009.

Senior Curator Kirsten Wehner introduces the new National Museum gallery exploring a broad history of Australia through stories of places and their peoples.

The man of the moment, Bob Edwards, responds to messages from friends and colleagues who paid tribute to his work.

Childhood friend Dick Richards provides an insight into Bob Edwards’ early years, from growing up on family farms on the Adelaide Plains, to market gardening, the Royal Geographic Society and his anthropological studies.

A welcome by Andrew Sayers followed by Neil MacGregor’s reflections on Bob Edwards as museum curator, anthropologist and archaeologist, founding director of the Aboriginal Arts Board and exhibitions wheeler and dealer.