Published: Jan. 22, 2006

Associate Professor Anita Heiss of Macquarie University in Sydney will present a talk on "Indigenous Australia: A Contemporary Snapshot" on Monday, Jan. 30, at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Heiss' lecture will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the University Memorial Center ballroom and is co-sponsored by the CU-Boulder Office of International Education and AustraLearn, a study abroad organization. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Heiss is a member of the Wiradjuri nation of New South Wales, Australia, and is one of Australia's most prolific and well-known indigenous authors. She is currently the deputy director of the Warawara Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University, and is on the Board of Gadigal Information Services for Koori Radio.

In her introduction to contemporary indigenous Australia, Heiss will discuss a broad range of topics from current population statistics to the evolution of contemporary indigenous arts. The lecture is designed to provide a window into the oldest surviving culture in the world and to reveal how colonization in Australia has impacted its people.

Heiss has performed her works across Australia and internationally in Spain, Austria, the United States, Canada and New Caledonia. She also has been published widely in journals, anthologies and online. She has received a number of Australian awards for scholarship and contributions to Australian community and public life.

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