From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting

A Q&A between John Doyle and award-winning political historian Judith Brett about her latest book, From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting, and her forthcoming Quarterly Essay on Australia’s addiction to coal, out in June. In your Q&A with us last year about The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, you said the impetus […]

A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods

A Q&A between Lionel Frost and Margaret Cook discussing Margaret’s book – A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods. (UQP 2019.) Margaret – congratulations on the book. Can you tell us what motivated you to do the research? As I watched the events of the 2011 floods unfold and witnessed the […]

Q and A with Iola Mathews

Jacquelyn Baker interviews Iola Mathews about her recent memoir- Winning for Women: A Personal Story. Your book provides a comprehensive insight into your important and highly influential work in the women’s and union movements, as well as your experience in balancing a career and family. What were your motivations in writing your book? This is […]

Paper Emperors: an interview with Sally Young

The following is an interview between Professor Matthew Ricketson and author of Paper Emperors, Professor Sally Young. Media history in Australia is a field that has developed substantially in the past two decades or so, the fruits of which were evident in A Companion to the Australian Media published in 2014. What do you think […]

Q&A with Dr Ana Stevenson and Dr Alana Piper

Jacquelyn Baker interviews Dr Ana Stevenson and Dr Alana Piper about their new book- Gender violence in Australia: Historical perspectives. Gender Violence in Australia: Historical Perspectives provides huge insight into the history of gender violence in Australia. From the range of topics to the array of primary sources and the variety of methodologies, was there […]

The sulphurous intrigue of the past

This review first appeared in Inside Story on 12 July 2019. It is republished here with the approval of the author. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland By Patrick Radden Keefe | HarperCollins | $44.99 | 528 pages What happened when the genteel world of the university library met the grubby […]

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

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 […]

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 […]

Benjamin T. Jones, This Time: Australia’s Republican Past and Future

Bookshelf is a new section, which features interviews with authors of new books on history, policy and politics. If you would like your book featured, please contact us at carolyn.holbrook@deakin.edu.au. This week, Dr Benjamin Jones talks about his new book on the history of Australian republicanism and prospects for a future republic. Can […]