The Stained Man: A Crime, a Scandal, and the Making of a Nation (Scribe, 2026)  tells the story of Richard 'Dick' Meagher, theSydney solicitor who incited a campaign to free a man he knew was guilty of attempted murder and subsequently lost it all, including his reputation and ability to practise. This 'work of true crime with a twist' shares one of Australia's greatest scandals and follows Meagher on his twenty-five-year quest to rewrite the ‘Dean case’. In the process, it sheds light on the making of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Australia.

Join award-winning writer and historian Patrick Mullins as he discusses his latest bookwith the NCB's Emily Gallagher. 

Attendance is free but registrations are essential. Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing at the event thanks to Harry Hartog booksellers. 

Patrick Mullins is a Canberra-based writer and academic who has a PhD from the University of Canberra. Tiberius with a Telephone, his first book, won the 2020 NSW Premier’s Non-Fiction Award and the 2020 National Biography Award. He is also the author of The Trials of Portnoy: how Penguin brought down Australia’s censorship system.

Emily Gallagher is a historian at the Australian National University and a research editor with the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Her first book Playtime: A History of Australian Childhoodwas published with La Trobe University Press/Black Inc. in 2025.