The first Aquinas Lecture was given in March 1944 by Mr John P. Kelly and in the years since have covered a broad range of topics including faith, ethics and Australian history.
The Aquinas Memorial Lectures date back to the 1940s. In March 1944, eleven years after the opening of the Aquinas Library, the inaugural Aquinas Lecture, entitled "Aquinas and Modern Practices of Interest Taking", was delivered by Mr John P. Kelly in the rooms of the Aquinas Library with the Chief Justice of Queensland, Sir William Webb, as Chairman.
From then until 1950 an Aquinas Lecture was delivered each year. A new series of the Aquinas Memorial Lectures was established in 1979 by the Aquinas Library and continued by the Australian Catholic University McAuley Campus.
The lecture series was originally published by Aquinas Press in Brisbane, the Aquinas Library from 1979 and then continued by the Australian Catholic University, McCauley Campus.
For more information, see The rise and fall of the Aquinas Library 1933 - 1991 by Frank Hills.
| Year | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1944 | Aquinas and Modern Practices of Interest Taking (PDF 123KB) | Mr John P. Kelly |
| 1945 | Aquinas and the Modern Gentiles | Mr D.G.M. Jackson |
| 1946 | Higher Education in Australia | Mr Colin Clark |
| 1947 | The Evolution of the Evolutionary Ideas | Dr A.E.F. Shaw |
| 1948 | The Function of Tragedy | Mr Donagh MacDonagh |
| 1949 | The Poems of Aquinas | Mr Martin Haley |
| 1950 | Europe under the Shadow of Moscow | Mr Arnold Lunn |
| Year | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | James Quinn: Monarch of All He Surveyed (PDF, 46KB) | Rev. Dr. T.P. Boland |
| 1980 | Life Style and the Built Environment (PDF, 193KB) | Mr Robin Gibson |
| 1981 | From Greene to Gordon: The Changing Accent of Catholic Literature (PDF,39KB) | Mr Karl G. Schmude |
| 1982 | Church Law 1982: Farce Fiction or Freedom? (PDF, 62KB) | Rev. Dr. O.K. Oxenham |
| 1983 | The Meaning of Dr Mannix (PDF, 89KB) | Rev. Edmund Campion |
| 1984 | Chinese Society Since Mao: Religion and Family (PDF, 196KB) | Professor Colin Mackerras |
| 1985 | Boree Log: Early Australian History in the Poems of John O'Brien (PDF, 113KB) | Rev. Frank Mecham |
| 1986 | The Ascent of Tabor: Writing the Life of Archbishop Duhig (PDF, 231KB) | Rev. Dr. T.P. Boland |
| 1987 | Embodiment and Incarnation: Notes on Preparing an Anthology of Australian Religious Verse (PDF, 50KB) | Mr Les Murray |
| 1988 | Michelangelo Returns to Glory | Dr. Walter Persegate |
| 1989 | St Stephen's Restored (PDF, 32KB) | Very Rev. Frank Moynihan |
| Year | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Borromini: Genius of the Baroque | Rev. Peter Grice |
| 1991 | Building other Towers: Archbishop Robert Dunne in Colonial Queensland (PDF, 38KB) | Rev. Dr. Neil J. Byrne |
| 1992 | Whatever Could Make a University Catholic | Professor Helen Sungaila |
| 1993 | Catechisms in the Making: Questions and Answers in the Eighth Century and Today (PDF, 37KB) | Dr. Joseph Munitiz S.J. |
| 1994 | The Teacher of Irish Nationality: Thomas Davis 1814-1845 (PDF, 51KB) | Professor John Molony |
| 1995 | Euthanasia: Christian Morality and Today's Cultural Mores | Dr. Bernadette Tobin |
| 1996 | Ethics in Public Life (PDF, 23KB) | R.S. O'Regan Q.C. |
| 1997 | The Challenge of Ethical Health Care Delivery in the Current Economic Climate (PDF, 35KB) | Mr. M. Avery |
| 1998 | Collective responsibility and reconciliation with Australia's Indigenous peoples (PDF, 51KB) | Professor Raimond Gaita |
| 1999 | The Pathos and Paternity of God (PDF, 42KB) | Bishop James Foley |
| Year | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Towards Christian Unity - Love Lights the Way (PDF, 95KB) | Pastor John Vitale |
| 2001 | Federation, Reconciliation, and the Future (PDF, 55KB) | Phil Glendenning |
| 2002 | Ecclesia: challenges for Asian Christianity (PDF, 79KB) | Professor Peter Phan |
| 2003 | Cash, Merit or Scholarship in the 21st Century University (PDF, 18KB) | Professor Peter Spearritt |
| 2004 | Building Capacity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community in Health: Meeting the Challenge (PDF, 118KB) | Associate Professor Cindy Shannon & Auntie Joan Hendriks |
| 2006 | Ethics sans frontieres: the vocation of global citizenship (PDF, 171KB) | (Rev Dr) Noel Preston AM, BA, BD, M Ed(hons), ThD. |
| 2007 | Being a good Samaritan in an age of terror (PDF, 43KB) | Duncan MacLaren |
| 2008 | From Quinnsland to Q150 (PDF, 120KB) | Chris Hanlon |
| 2009 | Catholic identity, lost and found (PDF, 175KB) Listen to lecture (90 mins) |
Professor Anthony Kelly |
| 2010 | Faith, reason and the challenge of atheism (PDF, 72KB) | Professor Neil Ormerod |