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

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: 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: 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

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 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

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

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

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 […]
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 […]
Q&A with Michael Dillon: History and Indigenous Policy

Q&A with Michael Dillon: History and Indigenous Policy

  In this Q&A, former senior bureaucrat Michael Dillon offers some very thoughtful insights into the last several decades of Indigenous policy-making and the role of historical knowledge in the policy process.    Michael Dillon is a graduate in economics and public policy. Early in his career he worked for Indigenous organisations in the East […]
Q&A with Dr Sally Percival Wood

Q&A with Dr Sally Percival Wood

Author of Dissent: The Student Press in 1960s Australia