Tuning into ABC Radio National on a Sunday you may have come across the Boyer Lectures . Your attention would have been captured by the voices of prominent Australians disseminating, discussing and debating many a varied subject. Lectures have been presented by prime minsters, scientists, authors, high court justices and intellectuals and many, many more personalities. This program has created a vast body of intellectual thought, capturing for over the fifty years great insight into the minds of a diverse array of Australians.

Richard Boyer. Image courtesy of the ABC

The Boyer Lecture series commenced in 1959. Originally called the ABC Lectures, they were renamed in 1961 after the ABC Board chairman Richard Boyer, who had first suggested the lecture series. His vision for the lecture series consisted of the ABC Board inviting a prominent Australian to present their thoughts and ideas on major social, scientific or cultural issues through a series of six radio lectures. The lectures have stimulated thought, discussion and debate in Australia on an astonishing range of subjects - great minds examining issues and values.

Donald McDonald. Image courtesy of the ABC

To mark the ABC’s 70th anniversary Chairman Donald McDonald edited The Boyer collection : highlights of the Boyer lectures 1959-2000 . In this book, Donald brought together highlights from each Boyer lecture delivered since they first began in 1959. The Boyer Highlights for radio were devised when the 2003 presenter had to withdraw and McDonald was invited by Radio National to edit and present the program.

In the Boyer Highlights , McDonald presented a collection of lectures by theme: the law and human rights, a meaningful democracy, population, migration, social change, bioethics and medical research, aesthetics and culture and defining Australia, its history and identity.

Over the years speakers had included Justice Michael Kirby (The Judges), Bob Hawke (The Resolution of Conflict) , Dame Roma Mitchell (The Web of Criminal Law), Sir Gustav Nossal (Nature’s Defence), Sir MacFarlane Burnet (Biology and the Appreciation of Life), Eva Cox (A Truly Civil Society) and David Malouf (A Spirit of Play – The Making of Australian Consciousness).

The Highlights provided an opportunity to revisit a wide selection of lectures. For McDonald, and no doubt the listener, to hear the presenters’ voices again was an added bonus. On this note, some of the Boyer lecture transcripts are available in audio file, and all of the transcripts of the 1997-2010 lectures are available at the ABC website.

Useful links

• ABC Boyer Lectures
• List of Boyer Lectures
• The Boyer collection : highlights of the Boyer lectures 1959-2000
• Highlights of the Boyer Collection
• Murray Gleeson
• Michael Kirby
• Bob Hawke
• Dame Roma Mitchell
• Sir MacFarlane Burnet-Biography 1
• Sir MacFarlane Burnet-Biography 2
• Sir Gustav Nossal
• Eva Cox
• David Malouf

Last updated: 5th October 2011