Dr Ngaire Douglas has been lecturing on cruise ships since 1986. Her PhD is in Pacific History and she has been researching, travelling, living and teaching in this incredible part of the world for many years. She is author and co-author of many books and articles about the region, including The Pacific Islands Yearbook, for a long time the world's leading reference work on the area.

Ngaire is a passionate traveller and communicator. Her lectures are lively and very topical, presenting the bigger historical and geographical picture of a destination to give context to current events. She is skilled at identifying the interests and knowledge of her audience.

1. Fiji; crossroads of the Pacific geographically and culturally
Fiji has played a vital role in opening up travel across Pacific from early ships to modern aircraft. It's a cultural mix because of its British colonial past and now a 21st century complex society.

2. French Melanesia: independent Vanuatu and colonial New Caledonia.
These two small nations have always been confused in the minds of outsiders who are usually unable to distinguish one from the other. They are very different...trust me.

3. Norfolk Island: violent past, peaceful present.
This tiny island has played a huge role in Australia's own history. How and why?

4. Australia and New Zealand; close together but far apart.
The rest of the world think these two nations down under must be very alike. This lecture introduces only the many geographical, historical, cutlural and social differences. You might be surprised...

5. In the Wake of the First Fleet: New South Wales in history and Sydney today.
We examine 65,000 years of First Nations' history, the arrival of Euopeans in 1788 and the outcomes before visually sailing up Sydney Harbour with a commentary of what we are seeing in this most spectacular location...with some points of humour along the way. Welcome to Sydney.

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