The legacy of activist Rick Farley still looms large more than six years after his death at the age of just 53 when he fell from a wheelchair outside Balmain Hospital where he was recovering from a brain aneurism.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A consummate networker, Farley, pictured, was head of the Cattlemen's Union and National Farmers' Federation, a leader of the Landcare movement and campaigner for indigenous rights and reconciliation.
His celebrated biography, A Way Through: The Life of Rick Farley, was published earlier this year, written by husband-and-wife team Nicholas Brown and Susan Boden.
Brown is an historian who holds joint appointments at the Australian National University and National Museum of Australia while Boden is a landscape architect.
Brown says Farley's greatest legacy was ''really opening up an inclusive conversation about a sustainable future for Australia''. And he was a complex man.
''The word everyone uses about Rick is enigmatic. And straight. You could trust him,'' he said.
The couple as well as friends and colleagues of Farley will speak about him at a public forum at the museum on Thursday night from 6pm to 7pm.
Among the speakers will be Aboriginal activist Mick Dodson, environmentalist Phillip Toyne and former primary industries minister John Kerin.
Thursday's forum is free but bookings are essential on email at bookings@nma.gov.au or phone 6208 5021 (9am to 5pm weekdays).
