Q&A with Richard Broinowski, author of Under the Rainbow: The Life and Times of E.W. Cole

E.W. Cole, proprietor of Cole’s Book Arcade in Melbourne’s Burke Street Mall, was an amazing man. He condemned the White Australian policy when it was unpopular to do so and had decidedly progressive views about religion. He published the famous Cole’s Funny Picture Books and met his wife through an advertisement he placed in the newspaper. Carolyn Holbrook […]

Q&A with Jacqueline Kent, author of Vida: A Woman For Our Time

Vida Goldstein is one of Australian history’s most interesting and accomplished figures. She campaigned for the rights of women—including the vote —and the disadvantaged, opposed conscription and the First World War and stood unsuccessfully for federal parliament several times. She ought to be more widely known. Carolyn Holbrook interviewed the acclaimed biographer, journalist and broadcaster […]

The Fatal Lure of Politics: A Q&A with Terry Irving on Vere Gordon Childe

Vere Gordon Childe was among the most influential archaeologists of the twentieth century but his connections to the intellectual worlds of the British and Australian Left have, until now, received less attention. In a major new biography, Terry Irving sheds light on Childe’s life as a political theorist, radical intellectual and pre-historian. History PhD student […]

Q&A with Clive Moore, author of Tulagi.

In this Q&A session, Clive Moore talks to Bethany Keats about his recent book, Tulagi, which focuses on the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP) and its original administrative centre, Tulagi. Why is Tulagi an important story that needs to be told? Tulagi, a small island in the Ngela or Florida Group, was the first […]

Q&A with Russell McGregor, the author of Idling in Green Places: A Life of Alec Chisholm

Idling in green places: A life of Alec Chisholm has been published by Australian Scholarly Publishing and has been shortlisted for the National Biography Award, State Library of NSW. How and why did you become interested in Alec Chisholm (1890-1977) as a biographical and historical subject? The simple answer is that Alec Chisholm was a […]

The Trials of Portnoy: Michelle Arrow in conversation with the author, Patrick Mullins

The Trials of Portnoy: How Penguin brought down Australia’s censorship system has been published by Scribe. Your previous book, Tiberius With A Telephone, was a widely-acclaimed work of biography, the winner of the 2020 National Biography Award and the winner of the 2020 Douglas Stewart Prize in the NSW Premiers’ Literary Awards. One aspect of The Trials of […]

Becoming John Curtin and James Scullin: A Q&A with the author, Liam Byrne.

Becoming John Curtin and James Scullin is available through Melbourne University Publishing. Your new book chronicles and analyses the early political development of two important figures in the twentieth century Australian Labor Party (ALP). Why did you decide upon a joint biography of Curtin and Scullin’s formative years? Curtin and Scullin are both well-known as […]

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 […]