Jon Faine to deliver swan song at State Library Victoria

Veteran broadcaster Jon Faine will give Melburnians a parting gift when he delivers State Library Victoria’s 2019 Stephen Murray-Smith Memorial Lecture on 17 September, just weeks before signing off from ABC’s airwaves after 23 years.

In his lecture, titled Stale Pale Male Whale Yells ‘FIRE’ in Crowded Theatre, Faine will challenge and entertain as he explores the deeply personal and vexing question of whether humanity can nudge its way back from the brink of democratic disaster, and if culture rather than technology is the answer?

Much respected by the many Victorians for whom his show is compulsory listening, Jon Faine is well known for his incisive interviewing skills, his quick wit and his capacity to explore and interrogate a wide range of issues and ideas, helping listeners find meaning in complexity.

“There is turmoil wherever we look, in our increasingly confusing world. Baby boomer optimism has been traded in for despair. Progress, it turns out, is neither inevitable nor linear. But, surely We Shall Overcome… overcome the trolls, populists and neo-fascists,” Mr Faine declares.

The 2019 Stephen Murray-Smith Memorial Lecture will be held at 6.30pm on Tuesday 17 September, in the Village Roadshow Theatrette at State Library Victoria.

It is a free event but bookings via the Library’s website are essential.

About Jon Faine AM: Each weekday morning from 8.30am, Jon Faine presents Mornings and The Conversation Hour on ABC Radio Melbourne. Known for his probing debate, quick wit and willingness to ask the stickiest of questions, Jon investigates the issues and stories affecting Melbourne – all without taking life too seriously. After seven years as a lawyer, he entered radio broadcasting in 1989 to produce and present RN's Law Report, before moving on to 3LO's Mornings and Afternoons programs. Jon worked on ABC TV's Investigators, First Edition and Wise UP and has been presenting the Mornings program on ABC Radio Melbourne since 1997. In January, he announced that this would be his last year on air.

About the Stephen Murray-Smith Memorial Lecture: This annual lecture commemorates the contribution to Australian intellectual life made by Stephen Murray-Smith, founding editor of Overland magazine. The lecture promotes research and debate in the broad areas of Stephen's interest and influence.