May 2024
Lessons in legacy-building from history’s most tenacious rulers
The NGV’s winter blockbuster will take a deep dive into what it meant to be pharaoh – and the complex power systems they needed to maintain their supremacy.
- John McDonald
December 2023
See inside Michelangelo’s ‘secret’ Florence room
In 1530, when the Medici family returned to power in the city, the artist went into hiding. He spent his days drawing on the walls of his tiny refuge, and you can now view the artworks for yourself.
- Josephine McKenna
April 2023
The spy hiding in plain sight in my family tree
It’s thrilling to discover a familial link to someone who lived so large, writes an Australian Financial Review reporter whose relative was David Walker.
- Tom McIlroy
October 2022
Hidden French treasures revealed as the library of libraries reopens
“Vive la Bibliothèque Nationale de France!” proclaimed the nation’s prime minister as she inaugurated the renovated Richelieu library and its extraordinary contents.
- Elaine Sciolino
July 2022
Why these top drops from the 1950s have been restored to life
A South Australian winemaker and two Victorian sherry drinkers have pulled out all the stops to revive their long-lost favourite tipples.
- Max Allen
June 2022
A tin of Dulux costs $80. Discerning buyers pay this company $130
The founder of Porter’s Paints, a company that redefined Australian paint finishes and colours in the 1980s and ’90s, has a new focus.
- Jemima Whyte
March 2022
WA is back: Revel in the colours, dust and diversity of Broome
You’ll learn about the town’s rich history – ancient and modern – and much, much more on a Salty Plum Social walking tour.
- Catherine Marshall
February 2022
Aspiration nation: how competition, the GST and the internet changed Australia
After the ‘recession we had to have’, Australia went on to notch up the first of three decades of uninterrupted economic growth, writes Andrew Clark.
- Andrew Clark
December 2021
Why Sydneysiders are rediscovering The Rocks
Five new bars and restaurants are opening in the historic precinct as part of a $15 million transformation.
- Jill Dupleix
August 2021
- From The Archives
- Platinum Year
Classic letters: Report of Nation magazine’s exit a misconception
The editor of the Nation magazine questions a report that it has ceased to exist — and a Sydney film festival fan argues in favour of keeping it open to all.
What I learnt from the AFR archives
The best blow-by-blow account of the growth of Australian business, finance, the economy and politics is in the pages of the Financial Review.
- Updated
- Michael Stutchbury
July 2021
Meet the heroes and villains of Australian mining
From the Poseidon boom to the rise of Sir Arvi Parbo and Gina Rinehart, the Australian Financial Review has charted every colourful turn of Australian mining.
- Trevor Sykes
January 2021
- Opinion
- Culture wars
‘She won’t be right’ is a rising worry for Australians
Some of the material things that made Australia special are being lost – and sometimes quite quickly.
- John Roskam
George Orwell was neither on the left nor the right
The famous author despised dictators and herd mentality. Above all he advocated "common decency".
- Jason Cowley
Woman believed to be last Civil War widow dies
Helen Viola Jackson, 101, was believed to be the last surviving widow of a Civil War soldier when she died last month. In 1936, she was 17 when she secretly married 93-year-old former Union soldier James Bolin.
- Jim Salter
December 2020
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
Time to tell the truth about 2020
As the year draws to a close, Australians should stop indulging in forgetting and myth-making about how the nation responded to the crisis of COVID-19.
- John Roskam