David Hunt

Girt Nation: The Unauthorised History of Australia Volume 3

The saga of Australia continues with … GIRT NATION

David Hunt tramples the tall poppies of the past in charting Australia’s transformation from aspiration to nation –an epic tale of charlatans and costermongers, of bush bards and bushier beards, of workers and women who weren’t going to take it anymore.

Girt Nation introduces Alfred Deakin, the Liberal necromancer whose dead advisors made Australia a better place to live, and Banjo Paterson, the jihadist who called on God and the Prophet to drive the Australian infidels from the Sudan ‘like sand before the gale’. And meet Catherine Helen Spence, the feminist polymath who envisaged a utopian future of free contraceptives, easy divorce and immigration restrictions to prevent the ‘Chinese coming to destroy all we have struggled for!’

Thrill as Jandamarra leads the Bunuba against Western Australia, and Valentine Keating leads the Crutchy Push, an all-amputee street gang, against the conventionally limbed. Gasp as Essendon Football Club trainer Carl von Ledebur injects his charges with crushed dog and goat testicles. Weep as Scott Morrison’s communist great-great-aunt Mary Gilmore holds a hose in New Australia. And marvel at how Labor, a political party that spent a quarter of a century infighting over how to spell its own name, ever rose to power.

Aussie Inventions That Changed The World

I co-presented The History Channel’s Aussie Inventions That Changed The World, an eight part documentary series on thirty-two groundbreaking Australian inventions (yes, that’s me in the Akubra to the left).  You can see me pushing a Victa lawnmower, eating dead sheep from a tin, wearing a replica Ned Kelly helmet (when I’m not wearing said Akubra), having hot latex applied to my lower arm, and illustrating the flushing principles of the dual-flush toilet using cocktail and schooner glasses in a bar. Nice work if you can get it.

Check out https://www.historychannel.com.au/shows/aussie-inventions-that-changed-the-world/

Aussie Inventions That Changed The World

They say I have a face for podcasts, so you can listen to these little beauties that expand upon some of the stories in Aussie Inventions That Changed The World, a History Channel television program I co-presented, without having to see my homely mug.  You can hear my dulcet tones on episodes 5 (Medicine), 6 (Food Preservation) and 9 (Super Vision).

LISTEN AT

https://www.historychannel.com.au/aussie-inventions-that-changed-the-world-podcast/

 

 

Corporate speaking and emceeing

I’m repped by the good folk of Saxton Speakers Bureau.

If you have an event and want an Australian history flavoured speech, leavened with a little humour, just click on this link [https://www.saxton.com.au/david-hunt/#speaker-profile]. I can tailor a speech to suit your needs.

Speaking endorsements

David Hunt was one of the first speakers on my list for TEDxSydney 2017 -he is a fantastic speaker with endless energy, a fabulous voice and is tremendously funny. TEDxSydney 2017

David Hunt is doing for Australian history what David Attenborough has done for science. His talks are amusing, engaging and informative, demonstrating why he’s completely unfit for politics.
Barry O’Farrell, New South Wales Premier

Who says Australia’s history is boring? David’s anecdotes were funny, entertaining and informative all at once. Thanks to David’s after-dinner presentation we know there’s a lot more to our history than wheat and sheep and much of it is hilarious.
The Resources and Energy Law Association

David Hunt is as informative as he is funny. Popularising of history at its best.
Tim Flannery

I loved working with David. A funny man, he has an instant rapport with audiences. His knowledge is vast and his wit is vaster!
Tim Ferguson, The Doug Anthony All Stars

One of the funniest, most engaging and outrageously entertaining speakers I’ve ever seen.
Benjamin Law, The Family Law

David Hunt MCed a high value event with our board, major donors and their guests along with eminent speakers, including a High Court judge and former Minister. David has a capacity for making serious matters enormously interesting and very funny. He manages to speak with both levity and gravity which is a rare gift.
Centre for Independent Studies

David Hunt had thoroughly researched to topic and styled it to our overall conference themes. He was extremely knowledgeable, personable and engaging. Although the speech was conducted over dinner,the people in the room were totally engaged from beginning to end.
Linfox Armaguard Pty Ltd

Occasionally someone asks me to write something for them. If they’re a non-profit, I say, “Yes”. If they’re not, I say, “How much will you pay me?” If they say, “We’re offering to boost your profile as a writer”, I say, “Fuck off”.

Anyhow, here are some links to odds and ends I have written.

  • Bennelong: a foot in two worlds, but a heart in none -Sydney Morning Herald, 6 June 2017.

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/bennelong-a-foot-in-two-worlds-but-a-heart-in-none-20170606-gwl8aa.html

  • Concern over Phillip Ruddock Water Playground: What if foreigners throw their children into the water features? – The Chaser, 10 May 2016.

https://chaser.com.au/national/ruddock/

  • Defence Minister names submarines ‘Cousteau Class’ -The Chaser, 3 May 2016.

https://chaser.com.au/national/defence-minister-names-submarines-cousteau-class/

  • George Brandis Theatre Opens to Partisan Applause -The Chaser Quarterly 1, 31 October 2015.
  • 30 Years on from The Breakfast Club, my greatest fears are realised -Guardian, 20 February 2015.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/20/ive-become-the-greatest-fear-of-the-breakfast-clubs-teen-protagonists

  • Australia Day poses curious questions: just what are we celebrating on 26 January? – Sydney Morning Herald, 23 January 2015.

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/australia-day-poses-curious-questions-just-what-are-we-celebrating-on-26-january-20150117-12rp3h.html

  • Lachlan Macquarie, the father of Australia – Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 2014.

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/lachlan-macquarie-the-father-of-australia-20140904-10cmek.html

Read: Extract from The Chaser Quarterly, Issue 1 (2015) David Hunt

Rum, Rebels and Ratbags

Rum, Rebels & Ratbags is history not for the faint-hearted. Historian and author of Girt, David Hunt, and ABC Radio Sydney’s Dom Knight uncover the characters and events left out of your high school history class.

Sir Joseph Banks wasn’t just ‘that plant guy’, but a celebrity playboy botanist who decided Australia was just the place for a penal colony. The lady on the $20 note, Mary Reibey, was deported to Australia for horse theft and cross-dressing, but what she did next will surprise you. And, who circumnavigated Australia first—a French monkey or a South African cat?

Rum, Rebels & Ratbags was one of Rolling Stone’s four hottest podcasts of 2016 and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Ten History Podcasts You Need to Hear.

LISTEN AT
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/rumrebelsratbags/episodes/