David Hunt
The 'David Attenborough' of Australian history
Profile
David Hunt tells stories from Australia’s past that are still relevant today, exploring Australia’s unique history and the factors that have made Australians so successful on the world stage.
He’s a bestselling and award-winning Australian writer, historian, podcaster, comic and speaker and, as of 2019, is presenting Aussie Inventions That Changed The World, a new Foxtel History Channel documentary series.
A stand-out speaker at TEDxSydney 2017, David has been a master of ceremonies for organisations as diverse as The Centre for Independent Studies and Transport Workers Union of Australia.
Current work
David regularly talks on Australian history and historical/cultural issues in a humorous way. The critical thinker’s comedian, he’s incredibly entertaining, as well as engaging and informing. His speeches have been praised by premiers, critical thinkers, businesspeople, comics and writers. He also regularly talks about Australian history on ABC Radio, and at universities, schools, libraries and writer’s festivals.
David has an articulate, comedic and insightful presentation style that’s made him a popular choice, speaking for clients including, Linfox Armaguard, the Young Presidents Organisation, Dymocks, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the City of Ballarat, and RAAF .
Previous experience
Author: His book Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia, won the 2014 Australian Independent Booksellers Award (Indie Award) for Best Non-Fiction Book and was shortlisted for the 2014 Australian Book Industry, Nielsen Bookdata Booksellers Choice and NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Girt is one of Audible Australia’s top 5 bestselling audiobooks of all time.
The sequel, True Girt, was shortlisted for the 2017 Audiobook of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards and the 2017 Russell Prize for Humour Writing. David is also a children’s book author, with his debut children’s picture book, The Nose Pixies, shortlisted for Speech Pathology Australia’s 2017 Book of the Year Awards.
David has written about Australia’s past for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Monthly, The Interpreter and The Guardian… and other stuff for The Chaser Quarterly. He is a former stage and cabaret performer and debating and Theatresports champion.
Podcast: David wrote and co-presented the ABC Radio Australian history podcast, Rum, Rebels & Ratbags, which was one of Rolling Stone’s four hottest podcasts of 2016 and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Ten History Podcasts You Need to Hear.
Lawyer: Prior to his writing career, David was a banking and finance and insurance litigation lawyer, before working as a bouncer and senior policy advisor, speechwriter and political staffer within government. Although he worked across a wide range of portfolios, he maintained an interest in, and passion for, child protection. His work included developing Australia’s first Child Protection Register and subsequent Australian model legislation and reforming combat sports regulation for the New South Wales government.
Media
Feedback
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
