Research Seminar - The Sweden of the South: Australia's Eurovision Love Affair

The Sweden of the South: Australia's Eurovision Love Affair​

Presented by Dr Chris Hay

Date: Friday 10 May, 2019
Time: 3:00pm-4:00pm
Location: Digital Learning Space (Room 224, Level 2), Joyce Ackroyd Building (#37) 

Abstract:

Standing in the pouring rain, queuing to enter the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna’s Stadthalle, the people around me wanted to know only one thing: what was I, with my Australia scarf wrapped tightly around my neck, doing there? In this paper, five years later, I will provide some answers to that insistent question, by exploring the broadcast history of Eurovision in Australia, and considering the function of the Contest in developing a particular vision of Australia to be broadcast to the world. With our first national selection successfully completed, and our participation confirmed through to the 2023 Contest, this paper reflects on what Eurovision has brought to Australia, and what Australia has taken back to Eurovision.

Presenter:

Chris Hay is a Lecturer in Drama in the School of Communication & Arts. Chris is an Australian theatre historian, and his more prosaic research interests include the pre-New Wave period between 1949 and 1975, the evolution of Australian arts institutions, and the role of government subsidy in shaping national culture. His co-edited collection,Eurovision & Australia: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Down Under, is forthcoming from Palgrave Macmillan in May 2019.