Ted Wheelwright (1921-2007) was one of the great contributors to Australian political economy. He was a strong critic of orthodox economics, the concentration of corporate power and the failure of Australian economic policy to confront the challenges facing the nation in an increasingly globalised context. He was involved in the struggle to develop political economy courses at the University of Sydney. He supported the establishment of the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) and published an article in its very first issue in 1977.
The annual E.L. ‘Ted’ Wheelwright Memorial Lecture is held to commemorate the pioneering role that Ted Wheelwright played in developing studies in Political Economy in Australia.
Established in 2008, previous distinguished lecturers include Heidi Norman (2023), Jessica Whyte (2023),Kim Stanley Robinson (2022), Adam Tooze, Jayati Ghosh, Susan Ferguson (2020), Susanne Soederberg (2019), Alfredo Saad-Filho (2018), Katherine Gibson (2017), David Ruccio (2016), Erik Olin Wright (2015), Leo Panitch (2014), Susan George (2013), Diane Elson (2012), Sheila Dow (2011), Fred Block (2010), Jim Stanford (2009) and Walden Bello (2008).
You can read Frank Stilwell’s full obituary of Ted Wheelwright’s life published in JAPE here and Phillip O’Hara on Ted Wheelwright’s contributions to political economy here.
Cover image: Alfredo Saad-Filho’s 2018 Wheelwright Lecture
Portrait: Ted Wheelwright, 1986 (University of Sydney archives)
The 17th Annual E.L. ‘Ted’ Wheelwright Lecture
Dollar Hegemony as Law-Making Power, or How the Dollar Shapes the Rules of Global Capitalism
Speaker: Ntina Tzouvala (ANU)
Date and time: Thursday 12 September, doors open 5:30 pm, lecture 6-8 pm
Location: Social [...]
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2023 Wheelwright Lecture Speaker: Professor Heidi Norman, 'Not Going Away: First People and the Australian Economy'.
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The 15th Annual E.L. 'Ted' Wheelwright Memorial Lecture, hosted by the Discipline of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, together with the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) and the Political Economy Student Society (ECOPSoc), was delivered by Jessica Whyte on Wednesday [...]
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15th Annual E.L. ‘Ted’ Wheelwright Memorial Lecture. Hosted by the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, together with the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) and the Political Economy Student Society (ECOPSoc).
Jessica Whyte, [...]
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The 14th E.L. ‘Ted’ Wheelwright Memorial Lecture was delivered on 25 November 2021 by Kim Stanley Robinson. The annual lecture is hosted by the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, together with the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) and the Political [...]
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How can we develop a program and movement for climate justice that will address the pathologies of our toxic capitalist present? How can we overcome a pervasive capitalist realism that insists that ‘there is no alternative’, and rise to the challenge of imagining and enacting a political [...]
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14th Annual E.L. ‘Ted’ Wheelwright Memorial Lecture
Hosted by the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, together with the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) and the Political Economy Student Society (ECOPSoc).
Dodging a Mass [...]01541
The Journal of Australian Political Economy has a long-standing commitment to publishing articles on the evolving political economic conditions and challenges in Australia and the world economy. This ongoing concern is evident in the contents of the latest issue.
Each article directly [...]
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