After the Dreaming : the Boyer Lecturer as social critic

In 1959, the Talks Department of the Australian Broadcasting Commission initiated the ABC Lectures, a series of four to six pre-recorded talks on a theme chosen by a speaker invited by the ABC Board. Inspired by the BBC's Reith Lectures, which commenced in 1947, they were the idea of Sir Richard Boyer, chair of the ABC. From 1961, the lectures were known as the Boyer Lectures in honour of the chair, who died that year. In the words of the ABC's recent chair, Donald McDonald, the lectures 'grew out of ABC Radio's already well-established traditions of discussion and debate and the practice of providing a platform for a respected figure to present views of interest to the audience unmoderated by an interviewer' (McDonald 2001, p. 1).