Renowned historian Dr Grace Karskens will speak about lost Indigenous urban histories at a free public lecture at UNSW tonight (Thursday, 24th September).

The presentation will challenge our understanding of early Sydney and shed new light on the cultural significance of some of the city's key heritage sites, including the Sydney Opera House, the War Memorial, Government House and Kirribilli House.

"Aboriginal people made, claimed and reclaimed places for themselves in Sydney from the earliest years of white settlement," says Dr Karskens from UNSW's School of History and Philosophy.

"I want to tell the story of Sydney's Aboriginal people and so reorient the townscape of early Sydney to recover these lost histories and places.

"These places were originally familiar, widely known and accepted, but they were eclipsed and forgotten in the succeeding waves of city-making," she says.

In addition to teaching Australian history at UNSW, Dr Karskens writes about convicts, early colonial history and archaeology, urban history and environmental history.

Her new book, The Colony: A History of Early Sydney was published by Allen & Unwin this year.

Dr Karskens is also a Trustee of the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales.

What:Free public lecture: The heritage of Aboriginal Sydney: placing lost histories When:6pm for 6.30pm start, Thursday 24th SeptemberWhere:John Niland Scientia Building, UNSW Kensington campus

Media please RSVP to: Susi Hamilton, UNSW Media, 9385 1583 or 0422 934 024