Around New Year I usually back-track though my non-professional reading and compile a top five. Last month I came up with these: 1) Music and Freedom, Zoe Morrison—an Oz writer, though this is set largely in Oxford, UK; excellent storytelling, strong characters, lots of music. 2) 4321, Paul Auster, a rare male entry! I didn't … Continue reading Yearly Faves
Yesterday I found these notes in my inboxes: Hiya Kate - I'm doing a story about the friendship between arthur phillip and bennelong for tomorrow's paper..I'd love to get your input...Chris Hook, Journalist, Daily Telegraph. And: hello there ...I'm a daily tele journalist doing a story for tomorrow about Australia Day and the friendship between … Continue reading “History Lesson”
In November 2017 I was delighted to be a part of an online roundtable blog on 'Native American Revolutions' hosted by the innovative Age of Revolutions historioblog. It begins: The usual story told of the Cherokees in the revolutionary era is a dire one. Starting with the catastrophic Anglo-Cherokee War of 1760-61, this story traces … Continue reading Cherokees in the Revolutionary Era
Consequences for higher education, work, and the care of bodies. That’s a rather grandiose title for this post, which spruiks just two pieces recently uploaded by historians. But I think they are among the best short things I’ve read this year; and they speak unusually well to each other. The first is by Frances Flanagan, an … Continue reading Historians on the Automated Future
Some of my colleagues are really good at engaging with local history. Since Australian history is not my speciality, my professional "engagement" tends more towards school teachers and international traveling art shows and so on, rather than the immediate world around me. However, recently inspired by my near-and-dear Australianists, I decided last year to become … Continue reading Erko History
My first foray into the mainstream press was both stimulating and disconcerting. A version of the article appeared here in The Guardian on 8 July. But my original is pasted below... Bangarra’s current production Bennelong opened last week, and tells the first contact story of the Aboriginal warrior. It is exquisite, captivating, quick-paced and deeply moving. But … Continue reading Bennelong’s Contested History
Indigenous Intermediaries: New Perspectives on Exploration Archives. Edited by Shino Konishi, Maria Nugent, and Tiffany Shellam. Canberra: ANU Press and Aboriginal History Inc., 2015. Pp. 205. A$33.00. This books ends with Len Collard and Dave Palmer discussing indigenous terms for ideal approaches to history-making. The Noongar’s sense of kanya and the Kimberley people’s notion of … Continue reading Review of Indigenous Intermediaries
