Leadership now: what can history tell us?

James Walter Australians are ‘good at elections’ as Judith Brett has persuasively argued. Our practices of mandatory and preferential voting have saved us from the institutional entrenchment of extremes of opinion that have surfaced in the public domain, and that have pushed parties and politics in, say, the United States, to brinkmanship over positions […]

Review of the The Indigenous Voice Co-design Process: Final Report to the Australian Government

Emeritus Professor Tim Rowse reviews The Indigenous Voice Co-design Process: Final Report to the Australian Government (Canberra: National Indigenous Australians Agency) July 2021 Conservatives who are unsure what position to take on Indigenous constitutional recognition seem to be the intended audience of the Final Report of the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process, released in December […]

International Symposium on Public Health Systems: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University and Australian Policy and History International Symposium on Public Health Systems: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives A virtual conference Tuesday 9 November 2021, Australian Eastern Daylight Time (UTC + 11) Register here (free) About this event Australian Policy and History and the Contemporary Histories Research Group at Deakin University […]

Q&A with Carolyn Collins, author of Save Our Sons: Women, Dissent and Conscription during the Vietnam War

Jacqui Baker interviews Carolyn Collins about her new book Save Our Sons: Women, Dissent and Conscription during the Vietnam War. Congratulations on the publication of your fascinating book, Carolyn! You wrote that you came across Save Our Sons while researching a different topic and time period. What were you researching at the time and how […]

Aide memoire: Swine flu in Australia, 2009-2010

Remember the swine flu? It’s the pandemic that Australia forgot, arguably to our detriment when it came to wrangling COVID-19. In this article, Dr Richard Trembath looks back on the H1N1 swine flu outbreak, and the impact on Australia, and his own family. During these times, there was a pestilence[i] Procopius On 8 May 2009 […]

Review – The Carbon Club

Jeff Hole reviews Marian Wilkinson’s recent book The Carbon Club: How a network of influential climate sceptics, politicians and business leaders fought to control Australia’s climate policy, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 2020 Anyone interested in the question of whether business interests wield too much influence over politicians and policy in Australia should read The Carbon […]

Review: Biting the Clouds

Jacqueline D’Arcy reviews Biting the Clouds, a recent publication by Fiona Foley. Biting the Clouds: a Badtjala perspective on the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act, 1897, by Fiona Foley, UQP When one thinks of Fraser Island (K’gari), images of white sands, dingoes, and, more recently, bush fires, come to mind. […]

Q&A with Jenny Hocking, author of The Palace Letters

In our latest author Q&A, Jacquelyn Baker interviews Emeritus Professor Jenny Hocking about The Palace Letters, which describes her long and extraordinary campaign to gain access to the correspondence between the Australian Governor General Sir John Kerr and Queen Elizabeth II in the prelude to the dismissal of the Whitlam government on 11 November 1975. […]

Celebrating the knowledge production of Aboriginal women: Jacquelyn Baker reviews the 20th anniversary edition of Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s ‘Talkin’ up to the white woman’.

In our latest book review, Jacquelyn Baker reviews the 20th anniversary edition of Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s Talkin’ up to the white woman: Indigenous women and feminism (University of Queensland Press). By Jacquelyn Baker 2020 has already been dubbed a historic year. As the new year ticked over, record-breaking bushfires continued to burn throughout New […]

Angie Sassano reviews ‘Indigenous Self-Determination in Australia’, edited by Laura Rademaker and Tim Rowse

In our latest article, Deakin University PhD Candidate Angie Sassano reviews a new collection about the history of Indigenous self-determination edited by Laura Rademaker and Tim Rowse. By Angie Sassano Despite the shift to self-determination in Indigenous policy making in 1973, Australia has faltered, with critics such as Megan Davis (2016) claiming self-determination has […]

Gwyn McClelland reviews Lesley Blume’s ‘Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World’

Dr Gwyn McClelland’s review of Lesley Blume’s Fallout describes how the US government sought to cover up the horrific effects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Blume tells us the story of journalist John Hersey’s scoop in the New Yorker in August 1946, which signalled the beginning of a propaganda contest about the […]

The media and Indigenous political aspirations: Michael Dillon reviews Amy Thomas, Andrew Jakubowicz & Heidi Norman’s ‘Does the media fail Aboriginal political aspirations?’

What role does the media play in perpetuating social and economic disadvantage among Indigenous peoples in Australia? Michael Dillon reviews Amy Thomas, Andrew Jakubowicz & Heidi Norman’s survey of media reporting of key political moments, Does the media fail Aboriginal political aspirations? While Dillon agrees with the authors’ conclusions about the inadequacy of media coverage, […]

In Godwin We Trust: Debunk[er]ing the Hitler/Trump Analogy

Academics have been busy in the last few years calling out ham-fisted analogies between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler, and the contemporary United States and 1930s Germany. It’s easy to laugh at clumsy historical references, but harder to make informed judgements about the validity or otherwise of these references. In our latest article, Dr Mathew […]

After COVID-19: Reviews of ‘Upturn’ and ‘What Happens Next?’

The Austrian economic historian’s Walter Scheidel’s 2017 book, The Great Leveler, argues that gross inequality is the natural state of human affairs. This structure is only interrupted by events such as mass war, revolution, state failure and pandemic disease. Does COVID-19 present an opportunity to halt growing inequality and reset our economic and social order? These […]

Australian Soldier Atrocities in Afghanistan: Why We Should Not Be Surprised

By Dale Blair The allegations of atrocities committed by Australian special forces in Afghanistan may be shocking, but they suggest continuity rather than rupture with our military past. In this article, Dr Dale Blair outlines Australia’s past involvement in war crimes, and the exalted status of Australia’s soldiers and official patronage that have obscured the […]

Managing the Federation During a Pandemic: Spanish Influenza and COVID-19

Global health pandemics, it would seem, make us reach for local remedies and cling to local identities. As state borders have closed and parochialism has increased, COVID-19 has made Australians more aware of their federal system of government than they have been for a long time. In this piece about the 1919 Spanish influenza outbreak, […]

Ever-present possibilities and the status quo.

This piece is part of the Urgent Histories forum which has been organised by the Australian Historical Association. Klaus Neumann has written an engaging response to the articles in this forum, which can be found in History Australia. Humankind needs to tackle climate change. Urgently. Historians may want to reconsider their professional practices in light of this […]

Policy Brief: Embedding circular economy practices in the tertiary sector

Dr Lorinda Cramer and Dr Deborah Lee-Talbot give themselves the task of recommending to Australia’s university vice-chancellors that circular economy practices and knowledge be embedded in the tertiary sector. ATTENTION Australian university vice-chancellors cc. Minister for Education, Hon Jason Clare MP Purpose It has been a decade since Australia adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development […]

Reusing, reworking and rewearing: Fashion circularity

This is one of a series of articles on Circular Economy by Lorinda Cramer and Deborah Lee-Talbot, published for #WorldEnvironmentDay 2025 As community repair groups and repair cafés spring up around Australia, a grassroots movement to decelerate our throwaway culture and divert goods from landfill grows.[1] From furniture to televisions to toys, repairers give our […]

‘Bean Thinking Green – How Australians are Slow-Sipping Their Way Into a Circular Economy’

This is one of a series of articles on Circular Economy by Lorinda Cramer and Deborah Lee-Talbot, published for #WorldEnvironmentDay 2025 Tumble out of bed and stumble to the cafe, order myself a cup of…circular economy ambition? This version of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” may not be as toe-tappin’ as the original, yet […]

No Worries, No Waste: Australia’s contribution to the global circular economy

This is one of a series of articles on Circular Economy by Lorinda Cramer and Deborah Lee-Talbot, published for #WorldEnvironmentDay 2025 First used in 1953 by the American economist Howard Bowen, the term “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR) acknowledges the growing social power of organisations.[1] Typically, CSR manifests as corporations “giving back”, a process that has […]

Friday essay: ‘War has made me a pacifist’. Why are we so reluctant to acknowledge Australia’s anti-war veterans?

Friday essay: ‘War has made me a pacifist’. Why are we so reluctant to acknowledge Australia’s anti-war veterans? Mia Martin Hobbs, Deakin University “I have seen enough of the horrors of war, and want peace. War has made me a socialist and a pacifist,” announced Gallipoli veteran and Victoria Cross winner, Hugo Throssell, on Peace […]

Book Review – Beyond the Broken Years: Australian Military History in 1000 Books

One can’t change the past, but you can choose who you get your History from. Stanley’s guidance and wisdom is an indispensable guide to navigating a crowded and often perilous field

Australian Policy and History ECR Writing Fellowships

The Centre for Contemporary Histories and Australian Policy and History are offering 10 Writing Fellowships for Early Career Researchers, of a value of $500 each. Successful applicants will be commissioned to write one opinion piece and one policy briefing note related to their research. Successful applicants will be mentored by academics from the Centre for […]

Book review: Working for the Brand: How corporations are destroying free speech

Josh Bornstein, Working for the Brand: How corporations are destroying free speech, Scribe, 2024. On 20 December 2013, Justine Sacco, a public relations executive for InterActiveCorp, was passing through Heathrow on a flight from New York to Cape Town when she tweeted: ‘Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get Aids. Just kidding. I’m white!’ […]

Book review: On Xi Jinping

Kevin Rudd, On Xi Jinping. How Xi’s Marxist Nationalism is Shaping China and the World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024) In On Xi Jinping, a work based upon his PhD research, Kevin Rudd has provided perhaps the most thorough account yet available of the rise to dominance in China of Xi Jinping’s ideological thinking. […]

Book Review – The Cubbies: the Battle for Australia’s First Adventure Playground

The Cubbies offers a healthy reminder to educators and parents/carers alike, that patience is key as time is needed for kids to try different approaches and engage in trial and error to construct their own knowledge, work out solutions and carve out their own path.

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