The place of courage

I have been rereading my editorial for 57(2) and cannot quite comprehend how quickly the quarter has flown by. Electing to leave off writing this present editorial until the end of the Institute of Australian Geographers 49th annual conference, held last week in Hobart, I recall sitting in Washington DC in April, thinking about the Hobart meeting and about conference culture more generally. Now, suddenly, the Hobart meeting is over and, as I write, people have wound or are winding their ways home. For those of us who reside here, of course, that journey is blissfully short—a rare event for us, and, I confess, welcome. So today, as I gaze at Kunanyi’s snow-covered peaks and valleys, I have time to reflect on the conference in a way more leisurely than might be the case had I been travelling.

Scanning the contents for this issue, readers will see we have been fortunate to reproduce a speech given at the conference opening by University of Tasmania’s Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Rufus Black. I will not pre-empt what he writes except to note that he was gracious and authentic in his engagement with us and encouraged us to continue to be courageous in our scholarly considerations of place, in our defence of place, and in the example we set for others in relation to place. Readers will also see that we have included a few reflections on the conference from the lead organisers, Jason Byrne and Aidan Davison. In addition, Carolyn Finney has graciously given her permission to reproduce the moving poem she read during her keynote address at the conference.