2008–2009 Speaker Series: Presentation Details

Details of this season's presentations will by published as they become available. Listed by date of presentation.

Russ Powers, Municipal Councilor for Dundas, City of Hamilton: 160 Years of the Dundas Town Hall

09 September 2008

Note: This presentation will be held at the former Dundas Town Hall.

David Richard Beasley: From Bloody Beginnings: Richard Beasley's Upper Canada

08 October 2008

Synopsis of the Book on which this Presentation will be Based
Richard Beasley narrates from when he is five years old in 1766 as witness to the tenant rebellions in New York State followed by the American Revolution when his father Henry Beasley and Uncle Richard Cartwright in Albany, New York, risk their lives through the horrors of the civil war for the loyalist forces. Richard Beasley becomes a commissary at Fort Niagara, from which he observes the war out of Niagara featuring his cousin Richard Cartwright Jr, secretary to Major John Butler of Butler’s Rangers, Chief Joseph Brant and Ensign Walter Butler while he continues his fur-trading at Toronto and the Head-of-the-Lake Ontario. After the war, his land dealings, merchant business and association in trade with Richard Cartwright Jr and Robert Hamilton, his arguments on the settlers’ behalf in the legislature where he was speaker of the Assembly, and his involvement as agent in the German land companies in Markham and Waterloo Counties, particularly during the Aaron Burr conspiracy with the French to retake Canada, make him suspect to the oligarchy in York, later Toronto. As magistrate and organizer of the militia in West York he takes on several roles during the War of 1812. The battles in the Niagara Peninsula, which involve the 2nd York Regiment of which he is Colonel, he describes in detail.

As his intellectual cousin Richard Cartwright becomes more conservative and prominent, Richard Beasley grows more liberal. His correspondence with the famous defender of civil liberties Lord Erskine, his work for a free press, his championing of the reforms of Robert Gourlay and his friendship as a moderate reformer with William Lyon Mackenzie continue the political themes introduced earlier in the book. He manages to overturn the judgment of a military tribunal set up to ruin him by his powerful enemies, including Reverend Strachan and Col. William Claus, for his political views. He relates the economic blights, the pastimes, the joys and sorrows of the settlers with particular emphasis on affairs at the Head- of-the-Lake, which, with his help, becomes Hamilton, a county capital. He gives us interesting details of the Upper Canada Rebellion and shows that many among the Upper Canadian community sympathized with it. In his last stint in the Assembly he does much for the establishment of civil rights and works with his one-time conservative opponent John Beverley Robinson for the country’s benefit before the uniting of the provinces in the Act of Union of 1841. Richard Beasley gives us a personal, continuous and dramatic picture of our history and the characters that made it. Richard died in 1842.

The book is available for $20 from Davus Publishing, www.kwic.com/davus.

David Richard Beasley
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, David Beasley graduated from McMaster University in 1953, lived in Europe for five years, working, teaching, writing, studying modern French literature in Paris, German romantic literature in Vienna. He came to New York City to marry a lady working in the United Nations and stayed for 35 years. He earned a Master of Library Science degree from Pratt Institute, worked at the New York Public Research Libraries, organized and was president of the library workers’ union, and earned a PhD in political economics at the New School for Social Research. He wrote books and articles during this time. Most of his books contain a large amount of original research. He returned to live in Canada in 1992 and has been writing and issuing his books from his Davus Publishing in Simcoe, Ontario.

John Terpstra, award-winning poet and author: Falling Into Place

12 November 2008

Mr. Terpstra will be offering a synoptic visual tour of the Iroquois Bar, Hamilton’s second-most prominent land feature (number one is the Niagara Escarpment, of course), as it winds its way through the city’s downtown and shoots out across the bay.

John Terpstra’s most recent book of poetry is Two or Three Guitars: Selected Poems. An earlier work, Disarmament, was short-listed for the Governor General's Award. His poetry has won the CBC Radio Literary Prize, the Bressani Prize, and several Arts Hamilton Literary Awards. He has written a creative non-fiction book about Hamilton, Falling Into Place (upon which his presentation will be based); and his work, The Boys, or Waiting for the Electrician's Daughter, a memoir, was short-listed for both the Charles Taylor Prize for Non-fiction and the BC Award for Canadian Non-fiction.

Ray Hobbs, DVHS Board member, War of 1812 historian: The War of 1812: What on Earth has it got to do with Dundas?

14 January, 2009

Mr. Hobbs will discuss the effect that the war had on the village of Coote’s Paradise/Dundas. The village seemed to escape much of the turmoil created by the war at the Head of the Lake (Barton, Saltfleet, Ancaster, Nelson), until the Fall of 1813. Then the war appeared on the doorstep of Dundas with a vengeance! The presentation will trace these events and look at some of the results of the conflict and their effects on the Dundas Valley region.

Ray Hobbs was born in Wales, and received his university education at the University of London—where he earned his Bachelor’s degree and PhD—and the University of Zurich. His fields of interest and study are Biblical Studies and History. In 1969, he emigrated to Canada to take up a position at McMaster, where he stayed until 1995. He then taught for three years in Prague, and retired from full-time teaching in 1998. He continues to lecture at McMaster on occasion and writes articles, mainly in the field of ancient military history. He has a passion for the War of 1812, and has written and lectured on the topic over the past ten years.

Theresa McCarthy, Indigenous Studies, McMaster University: The Dish with One Spoon: Local Aboriginal History

11 February, 2009

The Dish With One Spoon is a recent film produced by McMaster University's Department of Indigenous Studies about the Haudenosaunne reclaiming traditional lands to protect the environment from encroachment, development and destruction. Highlighting the Elders’ understanding of historical trauma and directions to 'begin to heal our nations', this documentary works towards raising consciousness of Indigenous Peoples’ struggle. Youth voices and traditional leaders chronicle their perspectives, with all speaking to healing collectively from historical trauma using Indigenous knowledge and traditional practices. The film is approximately 75 minutes long, and there will be a brief Q&A afterwards.

Teresa McCarthy, a co-director of this film, is a full-time lecturer with the Department of Indigenous Studies at McMaster University, where she will be graduating with her PhD from the Department of Anthropology. Theresa (Onondaga Nation, Beaver clan) is the daughter of Six Nations community members Honey and Michael McCarthy from Caledonia.

Dr. Marc Boileau, author and historian, University of Guelph, presents a slideshow on "The PWC Domestic Embassies: Canada's Forgotten National Project"

11 March, 2009

This presentation will examine historic post office buildings in Ontario, including our majestic building, built in 1913, with its majestic Venetian clock tower.

Marc Boileau is a biologist in the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology at the University of Guelph and an expert on the genetics of arctic invertebrate populations. He is also a software engineer, entrepreneur and history enthusiast. Dr. Boileau has published numerous research and popular articles. His book, Towers of Time: Ontario (Looking Back Press), examines the post-Confederation inventory of Post Office buildings in Ontario. Their design styles vary considerably but reflect some common themes. The book and his slide shows link their histories and styles. Nationally, he has a nearly complete photographic collection of post-Confederation Post Offices. Towers of Time will be on sale at this presentation.

Writer and historian Randy Kay presents "Drive-through Paradise? A History of Cootes Drive"

8 April, 2009

Cootes Drive was the first dual-carriageway road built in Canada, having been completed in 1936 with cutting-edge construction methods. It runs 3.1 km from Main Street in Hamilton through the western-most area of Cootes Paradise and concludes at York Road in Dundas. Originally known as the 'Dundas Diversion', Cootes Drive has not been without controversy during its existence. This presentation will cover the history and controversies of the former Highway 102.

Randy Kay lives in Dundas with his wife and their three daughters. As a freelance writer and reporter he has published in the Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton Magazine, H Magazine, and several others that don't begin with the letter H.

Randy is active with the sustainable transportation group Transportation for Liveable Communities, based at the McMaster University chapter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), where he also works as OPIRG's Volunteer Coordinator.

He has an English Degree from McMaster University, a Journalism Diploma from Sheridan College in Oakville, and an abiding interest in the natural beauty of Dundas.

Archived Presentation Details

2007–2008

2006–2007

2005–2006

2004–2005

2003–2004