[csaa-forum] UQ CCCS Lecture: 27th October @ 5.30pm: Villains or Dear Boys: Dr Melissa Bellanta

[Rebecca Ralph]

CENTRE FOR CRITICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES,
 university of queensland presents a lECTURE:



Villains or Dear Boys? On Representing the Mount Rennie Outrage


Dr Melissa Bellanta


This lecture explores some of the problems we face when we try to come to terms with violent crimes committed by members of underprivileged communities. It will do so using the Mount Rennie Outrage as a case study: a gang rape committed in 1886 by a group of unemployed Sydney youths, some of whom were later executed for the crime.

The problems raised by the Mount Rennie Outrage are partly political in nature, caused by the differing views one might take about the degree of culpability of the perpetrators and the community in which they were raised. This was certainly illustrated by contemporary debate about the incident, which was polarised between representations of the accused as 'vile villains' and 'poor dear boys'. Anyone interested in a reasoned debate about this incident today, however, faces problems of poetics as well as politics. We come up against difficulties of form and representation, in other words, whenever we try to discuss an irrational event through a mode of language based on logical argument and rationality. In this lecture, Melissa Bellanta presents her attempts to work through some of these problems when writing about the Mount Rennie Outrage, aiming to incite reflection on the issues they raise.

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About the lecturer

Melissa Bellanta is an historian interested in Australian popular culture, gender and social history. Her recent book Larrikins: A History looks at the poor urban youth known as larrikins between 1870 and 1930 - youth of both sexes who developed their own 'rough' subculture and were notoriously involved in crime on the streets. A blend of social, urban, cultural and theatrical history, the book explores the cheap variety theatres, blackface minstrel shows, boxing tents, football matches, dance halls, city markets, pubs, prison cells, vacant lots and street corners frequented by Australia's first larrikins. Both the book and Melissa's other research will be of interest to readers wanting to find out more about street gangs, 'flash' fashions, sensational youth crimes, popular entertainments, urban communities and developing notions of Australianness in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Her current project, Sentimental Blokes, also explores the way that Australian men have historically expressed sentimentality through popular culture and pastimes, focusing on the first half of the twentieth century.





Thursday 27th October, 5.30-6.30pm
University of Queensland Art Museum, St Lucia Campus,  Building 11 [see map<http://www.uq.edu.au/maps/index.html?menu=1&x=g.56&y=localY&z=0&xc%5b%5d=&yc%5b%5d=&id=&facilityType=&backURL=&mx=0&my=0&mapcoord=?167,128>]




Light refreshments will be served after the lecture.

Getting here: We encourage people to use public transport to reach the University where possible - for more details on this please follow the link: http://www.translink.com.au/uq.  Parking is available on the campus using the pay and display system. Further information: Rebecca Ralph- ph. 3346 7407 or email on admin.cccs at uq.edu.au<mailto:admin.cccs at uq.edu.au>

Please follow this link for more information http://cccs.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=152154&pid=16377








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