One day left to book

Dear ,

This email is just a quick reminder that our Emancipation Day breakfast is this Thursday at Tattersall's - 7:00 am for 7:30 am. If you've been putting-off making a decision, delay no more as you have only one day left to book. Book by clicking here.

Why do we celebrate the day the Abolition of Slavery Act came into effect in the UK? Because it's the first time any civilisation decided to try and end slavery around the world, and no matter where our ancestors come from in the world, we Australians are the heirs of that civilisation. So let's celebrate our inheritance.

And who better to celebrate it with than John Anderson, our guest speaker? It was one of John's podcasts that gave me the idea in the first place when he interviewed Professor Nigel Biggar, author of Colonialism a Moral Reckoning. Nigel put abolition on the plus side of the colonial ledger.

John isn't just a former politician who's retired from a successful political career, but he now has a fourth career (after businessman and farmer as well as politician) as a broadcaster and public intellectual who promotes the virtues of Western culture through his YouTube Channel, and the ARC Conferences in the UK and Aspire in Australia.

To top things off, we will have Henry Pender from the Brisbane Lyric Opera to lead us in our traditional rendition of Amazing Grace to an arrangement by Alexander Volz. This hymn was written by one of the leading early abolitionists John Newton, although the last verse is said to have been composed by an unknown slave (or slaves) in the USA. Newton is special because he had at one time been a captain of transatlantic slave ships, and even was enslaved himself, to an African queen. It wasn't until well after his Christian conversion that he saw the evil in the trade.

So, a world first event, a first-class speaker, and the premiere of a new version of a well-known hymn - what more could you want on a Thursday morning in Brisbane?

Tickets are just $65 for AIP members, $60 for students and concession holders, and $75 for general admission. That includes a hot breakfast. Tattersall's is at 215 Queen Street (cnr with Edward Street). Date is this Thursday, 7:00 am for 7:30 am. To book, click here.

Kind regards,

GRAHAM YOUNG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE FOR PROGRESS