Since graduating from the New York School of Interior Design after a career as an Australian law professor, Gerard loves sharing fascinating stories about his twin passions of Pacific history and interior design.

Illuminated with beautiful images, his lectures bring to life the adventures of the Spanish, Dutch, English and French explorers who first mapped the Pacific Ocean. A particular focus, the subject of his latest book, is their encounters with the First Australians before white settlement began in 1788.

Gerard’s lectures on interior design depict through spectacular images the evolution of design in Europe and North America from the baroque to art deco and post-modernism. These lectures, like all his lectures, are custom designed to relate to the itinerary of each cruise.

Gerard is a seasoned public and media presenter, having given many public talks and interviews. Most recently he was engaged by the renowned Australian journalist, Ray Martin, to appear with him in a television documentary based on Gerard’s High Court lecture on the origins of the Australian states.

For cruises around Australia:

1. Why Australia was nearly Dutch: the story of Abel Tasman and his colleagues: with extraordinary bravery and luck, much of the Australian coastline was charted by many Dutch explorers between 1606 and 1644, especially the northern and western coastlines and half of Tasmania.

2. Australian Encounters with James Cook 1770: Cook deserves to be praised not condemned for his charting of the east coast of Australia and his two significant encounters with the First Australians at Botany Bay and Cooktown.

3. French/British Rivalry for Australia: Matthew Flinders v Nicolas Baudin: between 1801 and 1803 in the midst of the Napoleonic War, Napoleon commissioned Baudin to chart the unknown southern coast of Australia at the same time as Matthew Flinders undertook his circumnavigation. How did these rivals perform?

4. The Australian who completed the first map: Phillip Parker King: the first Australian born maritime explorer who completed the gaps left by Flinders, especially the Kimberley Coast and Tiwi Islands.

The above four topics tell the story of the original charting of the Australian coastline over two centuries. They can, however, be rearranged to suit the particular itinerary of each cruise around the Australian coastline. Each lecture is a story of extraordinary bravery, skill, and mostly success - albeit with occasional instances of tragedy (less than one may have thought!).

5. The Origins of Australia: the gradual establishment of six British colonies between 1788 and 1859, each of which eventually gained self-government before agreeing to federate as the Commonwealth of Australia.

6. Sailing through the Australian Constitution: written in the 1890s, approved by referendum in each colony, enacted by the British Parliament in 1900, came into effect on 1 January 1901. What it says and what it omits to say.

7. The reasons for and against Australia remaining a monarchy: HM King Charles III is King of Australia (as well as of the UK, Canada, New Zealand and 11 other countries). Why is Australia not a republic?

For cruises around New Zealand and across the Pacific:

8. The earliest Spanish exploration of the Pacific

9. French and British rivalry for the Pacific

For Mediterranean cruises:

10. History of European Design: this topic can be custom-made to fit each of the countries visited, such as, French Design, Italian Design, Spanish Design, Mediterranean Design, Scandinavian Design, and Ancient Greek & Roman Design.

For Transatlantic cruises:

11. Art Deco Design

12. Art Nouveau Design

13. UK Westminster System & the US Federal System Compared

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.