2026 Tom Stannage Memorial Lecture Regenerative Histories

The State Library is proud to present in partnership with UWA this annual event commemorating the exceptional contribution made by Professor Tom Stannage (1944-2012), a passionate historian, teacher, and advocate for WA history and heritage. 

2026 marks the bicentenary of the colonisation of Noongar Country in Kinjarling/Albany. This significant moment offers an opportunity to reflect on how we undertake this commemoration.  

Join Shona Coyne and Tiffany Shellam, historians and curators of Kalyagul: Connections to Menang Country exhibition for this year’s Tom Stannage Memorial Lecture. 

Kalyagul: Connections to Menang Country is an exhibition, at the Museum of the Great Southern,  celebrating Menang people's profound connections to the land, sea and skies of the great southern and their crucial role in shaping how the region’s natural world is understood. The exhibition is a culmination of Entangled Knowledges: Kaartdijin, Science and History in the Robert Neill Collection, a collaborative research project that returned colonially disconnected knowledge to the community it came from.  

Reparative work is never straightforward. Returning knowledge, objects or stories is often emotional, sometimes uncomfortable, and rarely concludes with the act of return itself. However, this cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed project produced the Kaartdijin model, a framework for research as a relational, reciprocal and community-led process.  

Learn more about this model and their incredible work, as Shona and Tiffany ask what it means to challenge dominant narratives, for Menang people to be heard as the authority on their stories and what it looks like to create opportunities for reparative and regenerative practices.

The 2026 Tom Stannage Memorial Lecture is presented by UWA in partnership with the State Library of Western Australia, as part of the State Library's Dialogues 2029 program.  

Speakers

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Shona Coyne

Shona Coyne, of Menang Noongar and Scottish heritage, is Manager of First Nations Outreach at the National Museum of Australia and a curator and researcher. Her work moves between community, Country and collections, grounded in First Nations-led approaches to museum practice, repatriation and cultural heritage.  

With a strong background in archival and collections research, she works across historical records and early documentation to recontextualise First Nations knowledge. Shona brings a culturally informed, relational approach, prioritising community authority and respectful interpretation. She works closely with Elders and community to support knowledge renewal and strengthen cultural continuity. 

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Tiffany Shellam

Tiffany Shellam lectures in History at Deakin University. For the last fifteen years she has collaborated with Noongar researchers and families to unearth the hidden histories of their Ancestors in archives and museum collections in Australia, the UK and Europe. In partnership with Menang families, scientists and curators, she leads the ARC-funded project, Entangled Knowledges: Kaartdijin, Science and History in the Robert Neill collection.