Untold stories of Australian legends revealed

BIOGRAPHER Grantlee Kieza OAM will appear at a special satellite event presented by Friends of Libraries Byron Shire in the lead-up to the Byron Writers Festival.

Former ABC broadcaster Mick O’Regan will host the ‘in conversation’-style session at Marvell Hall in Byron Bay on Thursday August 7.

Kieza is the author of 26 books, including biographies of notable figures such as Sir Joseph Banks, Ned Kelly and Banjo Paterson.

At the Byron Bay event, Kieza will focus on his latest subjects: pioneering swimmer and actress Annette Kellerman, the subject of Australian Mermaid, and renowned naturalists John and Elizabeth Gould.

“Annette Kellerman is one of the most fascinating characters in Australian history,” he said. “She was one of the greatest swimmers of all time, a huge star of the stage around the world and she was Australia’s first international movie star. At one time she was the highest paid actress in the world and the star of the most expensive movie ever made. She was also the first woman to appear nude on screen. She did so much to inspire women in the early 1900s to defy social taboos, to throw away their corsets which she believed were ‘cruel and fiendish’ inventions and to embrace health, fitness and a celebration of their bodies.”

Kieza was also fascinated by the story of the Goulds, who migrated from England in 1838 to study and document Australian birds, and who warned the country’s unique fauna would be lost if it wasn’t protected.

“They published seven volumes of Birds of Australia, which remains the ultimate work on the subject,” he said. “They feared that the Tasmanian tiger and the koala would become extinct. They were right about the ‘tiger’, and the koala also came very close to being lost. Even the beautiful Gouldian finch, named after Elizabeth Gould, is endangered these days.

Kieza said he was also amazed at the largely forgotten role that the couple played in sparking Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. “If Darwin had not consulted the Goulds about differences in finches he had brought from the Galapagos Islands he may never have pursued the idea that Gould suggested about species evolving to suit their surroundings.”

Kieza will also participate in a panel on biography writing at the Byron Writers Festival at Bangalow Showground on Friday August 8.

Tickets to the Friends of Libraries Byron Shire event at 1.30pm on August 7 are $25, with bookings essential via Humanitix.