SA History Festival – A Historical Heist at Stirling

South Australia’s History Festival wraps up this week – and the final days are packed with events worth covering.

Now in its last stretch, the Festival has delivered more than 550 events across 16 regions throughout May, under the theme of Connections. From family histories to criminal pasts, antique treasures to the state’s kitsch history, the festival has brought South Australia’s stories to life.

▸ A Historical Heist: An Evening with the Author of ‘The Butterfly Thief’
Friday 29 May, 7–8.30pm | Coventry Library, Stirling

Journalist Walter Marsh tells the story of one of the more extraordinary chapters in the country’s natural history.

In 1947 over 3,000 butterfly specimens vanished from Australia’s most prestigious museums in Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. Marsh explores this scientific crime caper and the enigmatic Englishman at its centre.

‘The Butterfly Thief‘ also begs an uncomfortable but vital question: What if Western museums were crime scenes all along?