Mothers explain how they navigated work and childcare, from the 1970s to today

Mothers explain how they navigated work and childcare, from the 1970s to today

We are republishing a piece written by Dr Carla Pascoe Leahy, from the University of Melbourne. Carla will be presenting a longer version of this piece at the History and the Hill Conference on Thursday 13 June. You can find out more information and register for the conference here.  Australian government support for working mothers […]
Vale Endeavour, Long Live the New Endeavour: The End of Australia’s World Leading Commitment to Internationalism and the Opportunity to Reassert Ourselves

Vale Endeavour, Long Live the New Endeavour: The End of Australia’s World Leading Commitment to Internationalism and the Opportunity to Reassert Ourselves

By Kent Anderson and Joanne Barker   I.  Introduction Vale Endeavour.  With the Government’s April 2019 budget, the long-standing Endeavour Leadership Program for supporting Australian students to study overseas and to bring the best and brightest here was axed.  The timing was interesting because, with an election imminent, many expected that this would be the […]
Are we there yet? Boring Elections and Campaign Tedium

Are we there yet? Boring Elections and Campaign Tedium

by Chris Monnox Is the election boring? This seems to be a common judgement about 2019’s contest. It’s not the first such verdict, either. The 2010 election was widely panned as boring until the results started coming in. Then the hype about a hung parliament started, and refused to abate for the next three years. […]
History and the Hill Conference 2019

History and the Hill Conference 2019

Second Annual ‘History and the Hill’ Conference 12-14 June 2019 Deakin University, Melbourne How can historical research inform public policy debates? How can historians ensure their expertise is heard by politicians and policy makers? Speakers include Katharine Murphy (political editor, Guardian Australia), Misha Ketchell (editor, The Conversation) James Button, Dr Peter Shergold AC, Terry Moran […]
War, Art and the Politics of Commemoration in Australia

War, Art and the Politics of Commemoration in Australia

By Margaret Hutchison Art occupies an important place in Australia’s commemoration of war. It plays a significant role in the way the nation’s participation in conflict is represented and how it is remembered. While war has traditionally been seen as a death knell for the arts, in Australia it has had the opposite effect. The […]
Yes, progress has been made: two cheers for science

Yes, progress has been made: two cheers for science

Opinion – By Dr Richard Trembath Each piece, or part, of the whole of nature is always merely an approximation to the complete truth, or the complete truth so far as we know it . . .The principle of science, the definition, almost, is the following: The test of all knowledge is experiment.  Experiment is […]
Q & A with Michelle Arrow

Q & A with Michelle Arrow

*Lyndon Megarrity talks to Michelle Arrow about her newly released book – The Seventies: The Personal, the Political and the Making of Modern Australia How did working with archival sources influence the shape and direction of your narrative?  The initial idea for the book came from finding the records of the Royal Commission on Human […]
A Conversation with Clare Wright

A Conversation with Clare Wright

A conversation with award-winning historian, author and media writer/presenter, Dr Clare Wright, about her latest book, You Daughters of Freedom: The Australians Who Won the Vote and Inspired the World, Australian ‘exceptionalism’ and the hard work of writing. Your latest book, You Daughters of Freedom, tells the story of Australia’s suffrage campaigners in the first […]
Northern Dreams by Lyndon Megarrity

Northern Dreams by Lyndon Megarrity

Lyndon Megarrity’s book Northern Dreams: The Politics of Northern Development in Australia was published last year by Australian Scholarly Publishing. In this Q&A Lyndon discusses the book with Carolyn Holbrook. In his speech to launch your book, Frank Bongiorno said that northern Australia had been a site of ‘political and economic fantasy’ for ‘boosters, adventurers […]
Ben Chifley—Internationalist

Ben Chifley—Internationalist

 Ben Chifley—Internationalist, with Dr Julie Suares   What kind of person was Ben Chifley? Tell us about the people and circumstances that shaped his personality and his political career. Joseph Benedict (Ben) Chifley was born in Bathurst in regional New South Wales. A locomotive engine driver and unionist, he became Australia’s prime minister on 13 […]
Seymour Hersh, Reporter

Seymour Hersh, Reporter

Famously, journalism has been called the first draft of history. Equally famously, it has been said that today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fish ‘n chips wrapping. What about journalism that is less perishable? That is, journalism that tells us what is actually going on in the world, despite the evasions – or worse – of those […]
Judith Brett: The Enigmatic Mr Deakin

Judith Brett: The Enigmatic Mr Deakin

By Dr John Doyle* A conversation with award-winning political historian Judith Brett about her latest book, The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, winner of the National Biography Award 2018 and shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, NSW Premier’s History Awards and Queensland Literary Awards. Why a new biography of Alfred Deakin? What […]