Vannessa Hearman

As Indonesia's president marks two years in office, public discontent spills onto the streets

Please share and come along those based in the UK: I'm giving the 2026 Australia Studies Institute Reese Lecture at King's College London. @ihr.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org @sslh.bsky.social @auspolicyhistory.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2026-austr...

Catch first ever episode of the Dadalia #Timor Talk vodcast on my book, #TheGoodSea, published by MUP and some of the people whose stories are told in the book, like Jose da Costa. Brought to you by the Australia - East Timor Association. youtu.be/AD5gM4r49rw?...

Though I don't know if anyone sees my posts on this platform, here goes. Note the new venue for the Good Sea book talk this Friday. www.trybooking.com/events/landi...

On Friday 21 August, I'll be speaking about my new book, The Good Sea, in Ballarat, Victoria, hosted by Collins Booksellers. Come and join us on what I'm sure will be a cosy chat in wintry Ballarat. Bookings: www.trybooking.com/events/landi....

Recent review of The Good Sea. Read Duncan Graham's take in Inside #Indonesia www.insideindonesia.org/archive/arti...

Coming up in Perth: 'Looking both ways: Art exchanges between Australia and Indonesia' at the John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Wed 22 July 2026. Half-day seminar prompted by the Pasar Malam/Night Market exhibition. Please come along. events.humanitix.com/looking-both...

If you're going to the ASAA conference @asiancurrents.bsky.social next week, come to the launch of my new book #TheGoodSea (MUP) on Timor-Leste, Indonesia and Australia's refugee policies by Prof Kate McGregor. Day 1 of the conference: Tue 30 June, 12.15 pm (lunchtime), Room D2.194.

Latest review of my book, The Good Sea in Inside Indonesia. Join us at the Melbourne, Newcastle or Sydney book launches or at the launches at the Asian Studies Association of Australia or @austhistassoc.bsky.social conferences coming up. www.insideindonesia.org/archive/arti...

The book truly is out. It was heartwarming to get a copy accompanied by a lovely note from MUP, my publisher @mupublishing.bsky.social. Ask at your local bookstore if you'd like to get one. www.mup.com.au/books/the-go...

Newish book chapter. Don't think I've shared this one here yet. How did a state sponsored photographic book depict East Timor in the 1990s? What of its Lusophone roots? How could images be read in diverse ways? Find the abstract in the link. link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

In 'Looking both ways: The Timor Sea and Australia’s entanglements with Asia', I'll be speaking about place-based research practices in the writing of 'The Good Sea', my soon-to-be-published book. Join me at the John Curtin Gallery on Wednesday, 18 March 2026. events.humanitix.com/jcg-lunchtim...

The book I've written on the 1995 boat journey of a group of East Timorese refugees to Australia, 'The Good Sea', now has a cover and a presence on the Melbourne University Publishing website. Out 12 May 2026, coinciding with 31-year anniversary of boat's departure. www.mup.com.au/books/the-go...

NEW DOCUMENT RELEASE: The United Nations and the invasion of Timor-Leste timorarchive.ca/undocs Indonesian military forces invaded Timor-Leste on 7 Dec 2025. To mark the 50th anniversary, TiSA presents selected United Nations documents on Timor-Leste in the lead-up and aftermath to the invasion.

I co-edited this bumper edition of Inside Indonesia no. 162, 'Indonesia and Timor-Leste Living Together' as we mark the 50th anniversary of the unilateral declaration of independence in Timor-Leste and the Indonesian invasion. www.insideindonesia.org/indonesia-an...

On the 34th occasion of the Santa Cruz shootings of protesters in Dili, Timor-Leste, we remember their sacrifice. Re-sharing this volume of writings and artistic work remembering the massacre. tlstudies.org/conference-p...

Here we go... the waiting is over.

A new chapter I just published with Brill on how oral history and testimonies have been used in Timor-Leste's independence campaign and their status as a potential resource for future generations. But what are the ethical, material and structural constraints? brill.com/display/book...

Why does ABC News uses 'baku tembak' (crossfire) when the Balibo 5 journalists were murdered by Indonesian army operatives in October 1975? And the English version refers to 'murders'. Shame. #timorleste www.abc.net.au/indonesian/2...

I'll be speaking at this event: The 80th anniversary of World War II & the formation of the #UN United Nations. What have we learnt and what may the next 80 years hold? Join us at @curtinuniversity.bsky.social tomorrow evening, brought to you by the Faculty of Humanities and #GlobalFutures Curtin.

Coming up in 2 days! Don't miss it.

Dr Samson Lim (Monash U) is giving the next seminar of the Historians of Southeast Asia Network (HiSEAs) on the 'feral territories' of Eastern Bangkok, Thailand. Intrigued? Join us on Thu 11 September, 4.00 pm AEST on Zoom: anu.zoom.us/j/8293727404.... Meeting ID: 829 3727 4043/ Passcode:491526.

Excited to be co-launching this book along with Dr Indah Utami from Universitas Negeri Malang - new and decolonial perspectives on Indonesian history. Join the Historians of SE Asia Network, 5.00 PM AEST Wed 27th, on Zoom. anu.zoom.us/j/8293727404... Meeting ID: 829 3727 4043/ Passcode:491526

Hamoris Lian Timor first show. Apollo Bay, Gadubanud

Economic inequality in Australia is the worst it has been in 20 years — if the goal is to improve living standards, our leaders should be addressing it. ~ Carl Rhodes Australia’s real economic challenge isn’t welfare dependency — it’s inequality independentaustralia.net/politics/pol...

Five of the six primate species found in the Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands have traditionally been hunted. With widespread deforestation and the erosion of traditional practices that governed hunting behavior, all of the islands’ primates are now endangered news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indi...

** NEW REVIEW ** On the website, Peter Hobbins reviews Raina MacIntyre's Vaccine Nation aph.org.au/2025/08/book... #auspol #COVID19 #Vaccines #healthhistory

Release day. ffm.to/hamorisliant...

And with famine being increasingly human-induced, how does society deliver justice to famine victims? So many variables in a post-conflict, post-occupation country, such as East Timor. www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

In 1979 Australian newspapers published images of famine in East Timor. What impact did famine images have in that particular case? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

How does one mount an exhibition on women's history that is new, fresh and exciting in the context of a government intent on radical forgetting? Read about what I think are the manifest tensions. www.insideindonesia.org/archive/arti...

humanities.org.au/power-of-the...

#Tetum #TimorLeste on the airwaves. Speaking art and conflict in Timor-Leste, Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina with #SBSTetum. Powerful photos by Bernardino Soares of the 12 November 1991 massacre survivors, 'Fitar/Scar', now on at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. www.sbs.com.au/language/tet...

Proud to contribute to this beautiful #SBSTetum piece on 'Art of Peace' exhibition, part of Aust Research Council Linkage project hosted at Curtin University. Timorese artists on show, with artists from BiH & Rwanda at Art Gallery of Western Australia til 29 June 2025. www.sbs.com.au/language/tet...

IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE: In Pursuit of Justice: Arnon Nampa, Article 112 and Human Rights in Thailand Zoom Webinar Wednesday, 5 March 2025 7 am CST | 8 am EST | 8 pm ICT Registration: bit.ly/4gTghBq Speakers: Akarachai Chaimaneekarakate (TLHR) Akanit Tadi (Freedom Bridge ) Frank Munger (NYLS)

In Indonesia, a song censorship raises concerns about freedom of expression. Artists and activists decry the alleged intimidation of punk rock band Sukatani for their song that criticizes corrupt police officers, threatening freedom of expression in the country www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/20...

We need the Australian government to repeal the 'Jobs Ready Graduate' package. Who was it meant to benefit? It's hurting students.

Hey Canberra folk. Charles is playing at Smith's Alternative this afternoon at 4pm (Sunday 23rd). Brilliant Solomon Islands artisthttps://charlesmaimarosia.com.au

What should President Prabowo do on West Papua? Granting amnesty is a must but decriminalizing the use of the Morning Star must also be done if West Papua is to reduce tension with Indonesia www.hrw.org/news/2025/02...

Major research project I've been involved in at Curtin University, 'Art of Peace', art in post conflict Timor-Leste, Bosnia and Rwanda, is hosting art exhibition and symposium in Perth, Western Australia. Symposium program, registration link, and more info: events.humanitix.com/art-of-peace....

The United States is actually one of the least generous nations when it comes to accepting refugees, despite its wealth.

Based on the estimated biomass of the forests in Merauke, the project will release 782.45 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, according to the CELIOS report. That’s the equivalent of the emissions from 187 coal-fired power plants in a year news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indo...

A plan to clear 2 million hectares of forest in Indonesia's West Papua for sugarcane plantations would nearly double Indonesia’s total greenhouse gas emissions. It would worsen the global climate crisis and impact Indigenous communities news.mongabay.com/2024/12/indo...