Bushrangers are Australian legends, but there is more to bushranging history than folklore and popular culture allows. Where did the bushranging myth begin? And why do we only celebrate white bushranging men? Bushrangers of Aboriginal, Chinese, and African American descent, as well as women, have been excluded from our pantheon of national heroes. In this talk, historian Meg Foster reveals the stories of bushrangers who didn’t fit the mould and how they challenge us to rethink a national legend.

About the speaker: Dr Meg Foster is an award-winning historian of banditry, settler colonial and public history, and the Mary Bateson Research Fellow at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. Her first book, Boundary Crossers: The hidden history of Australia’s other bushrangers, was published with NewSouth in 2022.