News

** Latest Newsletter 163, August 2026

Tim Winton in The Guardian 25 August 2026

Spring Term 2026: 7 September – 12 November

🎄Christmas Lunch🎄RYCT, Friday 13 November

N.B. We are disappointed to announce that the Monday morning class UTAS – What’s Going On? has been cancelled because of low enrolments. We hope to rescheduled it in 2027.

On 5th May members enjoyed a screening of the film “Join or Die”, which considers the importance of building social capital in communities, and was organised by the UTAS Sustainability team. U3A refreshments followed in the garden.
A Conversation with theatre legend, Robert Jarman took place on 16 May at the Theatre Royal. Robert has recently been awarded a prestigious State Library and Archives fellowship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out our new premises! –> our new location
How To Find Us

Drawing Class in the Terrapin
Canasta Group in one of our new classrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the AGM on Thursday 12 March the following office bearers were elected for 2026:
President: Kathy Brown
Vice President : Neil Spark
Secretary: Maria Rolls
Treasurer: John Currie
Membership Secretary: Larainne Robertson
Academic Coordinator: Janine Leake
Newsletter Editor: Bronwen Holly
IT Support: Tim McDougall
Committee: Stuart Heathorn, Adela Morton, Alison Waters, David Waters

🔆🔆Our 2026 Summer Program February was a great success. We were wonderfully entertained by The LCM Jazz Band, John X and  Croon.
Ken Chilcott’s fine performance for the Roy and Maureen Davies Memorial Lecture in the Town Hall was a memorable occasion attended by an enthusiastic full house. Below are a couple of movie clips of his performance.
Black and White Rag and Minute Waltz

 

 

 

 

🎄🎄Christmas Lunch – Friday 14 November at Drysdale Restaurant

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Spring Term 2025
A highlight of our Spring program was a series of lectures by Henry and Margaret Reynolds: Remembering the Whitlam Years 1972-75

**  U3A Canberra forum recordings: This excellent and ongoing collection of recordings of forums conducted by U3A Canberra with many fascinating speakers is well worth exploring.

** Shakers & Stirrers, April- May 2025
In the run-up to the federal elections this series of talks by community leaders was extremely well-attended, and included plenty or time for questions and discussion. Speakers included Roland Browne, Andrew Wilkie MP, Peter George, Meg Webb MLC and Sophie Underwood (PMAT).

Committee members ready for an exciting 2025!

Vale Emeritus Professor Basil Sansom, long term and highly valued U3A Hobart lecturer.

 

 

U3A Lecture – The Palace Letters – Jenny Hocking 8 November 2024

THE PALACE LETTERS  and the Dismissal of  Gough Whitlam : Secrets from the Archives
On Friday 8 November 2024 Eminent Political Historian Jenny Hocking spoke about her recent battle to get the Australian Archives to release correspondence between then Governor General and Buckingham Palace about the Dismissal in 1975. Thanks to our Patron Margaret Reynolds for organising this special event.
Jenny Hocking’s documentary The Search for the Palace Letters is available on ABC iview

Vale Distinguished Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick
Jamie was an enthusiastic and generous supporter of U3A Hobart. He delivered his last two lectures for us on October 1st and 8th 2024.

 

**Congratulations to Professor Emeritus Stefan Petrow on the launch of his latest book, Tasmanian Anzacs: Those Who Served, Their Families and the Impact of World War One. Volume 1: The 12th and 52nd Battalions, by Her Excellency, the Governor of Tasmania, the Hon. Barbara Baker AC.

* Our series of talks From the Menzies Institute featured a number of excellent presentations by young researchers, including Dr Nicholas Blackburn, who is featured in a recent UTAS Alumni News:  UTAS Spotlight on Nicholas Blackburn

Our patron and tutor Margaret Reynolds with Vica Bayley and David O’Byrne when her class visited Parliament House on 1 May.

In the Autumn term this year, our Patron, Margaret Reynolds, offered the course Tasmanian Politics: how it works, and what you need to know in 2024, brilliantly timed to coincide with the State Election and the return to a 35-member House of Representatives. Participants in the course were encouraged to work in groups to develop policies for better government in Tasmania, and the resulting policies were submitted to politicians when the class visited Parliament House. Letter from Premier Letter from David O’Byrne

 

Professor Jan Pakulski with president David Waters
*  Emeritus Professor Jan Pakulski presented the U3A Hobart 2024 Roy & Maureen Davies Memorial Lecture on February 22.

Edited transcript of Prof Pakulski’s address: Democracy, Populist Surges and Declining Governance

 

* Government  House Reception The Government House Reception on 24 July 2023 in honour of U3A Hobart and in particular to celebrate the magnificent thirty year contribution of our retiring Academic Coordinator, Leone Scrivener, was a very happy occasion attended by 150 members.
          

 

* Frances ThĂ© – Music and Emotion in the ‘Rhetorical’ Age On 25 July 2023 Hobart-born professional violinist Frances Thé  gave members a fascinating talk/performance featuring the baroque violin and showing its close affinity with the human voice.Music and the art of rhetorical speech were closely linked in the 17th and 18th centuries. Frances currently lives and works in Amsterdam. She wrote her Masters thesis on rhetoric and baroque violin music and now teaches on this subject at the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands.

* Ken Chilcott delivered the 2023 Roy and Maureen Davies Memorial Lecture on 9 February 2023 in the Town Hall. Watch Ken’s piano recital.

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