Brisbane Free University is a community political education project co-founded in 2012 by Fern Thompsett, Briohny Walker & Anna Carlson. We began with the broad belief that education should be collective, liberatory, and joyful. For over a decade, Brisbane Free University has been creating autonomous spaces in which the empowering processes of teaching and learning belong to everybody.
At its heart, the Brisbane Free University is an ongoing, collective experiment in political education and solidarity building. We are an autonomous, ever-changing collective, dedicated to the radical possibilities of political education, and the urgent necessity of theorising against all forms of oppression, domination, and state violence. Everything we do is anchored in the recognition of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unceded and omnipresent sovereignty over these lands and waters, and our own (varied) relationships to this place. We come together to learn, think, organise, and strengthen communities of struggle in the ongoing fight against colonialism, racism, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, transphobia, ableism, and capitalism.
We are not affiliated with any formal universities, and we are committed to building relationships and coalitions of radical political education work. If you’d like to collaborate on a workshop, public lecture, or event, please get in touch.
As of 2024, Brisbane Free University hosts a fortnightly radical reading group (join the group & stay up to date with readings here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1441996329144836), as well as a research collective, a writing group, semi-regular public lectures and teach-ins, workshops, and short courses. You can join our mailing list and get involved by emailing brisbanefreeuniversity@gmail.com.
Contact: brisbanefreeuniversity[at]gmail[dot]com
If you would like to join our mailing list to receive updates about our upcoming sessions, please send an email to the above address.
Brisbane Free University 
This is fantastic. We too are creating an Education Fevolution (fast evolution) at http://www.sevgen.com.au. Can we connect!
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do u have a twitter account so I can keep up with upcoming events without being spammed?
cheers,
🙂
Andrew
I attended the session tonight on coal seam gas and found it both informative & inspiring. I seriously think the Westpac car park is the wrong space because it picks up the noise from the traffic & turns the space into an amplifier of traffic noise. I struggled to understand what people were saying even with the mike & without the mike I understood nothing. I have a science degree in sustainable cultural development & my intentional contribution to the world is to assist in the emergence of a new world civilization. I am happy to give a seminar or hold workshops but not inside a sound box. My best form of contact is 0439667116 but if you hate Ken Wilber, Alice Bailey & Fritjof Capra you will also hate what I have to say.
Hello,
Really impressed with the work you are doing in Brisbane.
I am a Ph.D student at the University of Lincoln and a member of the Social Science Centre in Lincoln: http://socialsciencecentre.org.uk/
The title of my Ph.D is ‘Re-imagining the idea of the university for a post-capitalist society’. A key element of my research is to try and create better networks between other free and alternative higher education projects and I am currently in the process of making a counter-cartography to help facilitate this: http://goo.gl/maps/gXHuw
It would be great to develop a line of communication between the us and other groups around the world. If you would like to discuss this more, please contact me at gsaunders@lincoln.ac.uk.
All the best
Gary
Hello,
Really impressed with the work you are doing in Brisbane.
I am a Ph.D student at the University of Lincoln and a member of the Social Science Centre in Lincoln: http://socialsciencecentre.org.uk/
The title of my Ph.D is ‘Re-imagining the idea of the university for a post-capitalist society’. A key element of my research is to try and create better networks between other free and alternative higher education projects and I am currently in the process of making a counter-cartography to help facilitate this: http://goo.gl/maps/gXHuw
It would be great to develop a line of communication between the us and other groups around the world. If you would like to discuss this more, please contact me at gsaunders@lincoln.ac.uk.
All the best
Gary
Congratulations on a great initiative! I am also passionate about lifelong education and try to help others to gain authentic experiences and learnings through travel – http://www.evvoke.com.au. I love Alain de Botton’s view on travel: “We are all on an inner journey. The point of travel is to go to places that can help us with our inner evolution”
our Ngara Insttute wouldlike to affliate with you. How should we make contact? love Liz