The painting has finally been bought back from its "foreign" buyer from 2001, by both the UK's National Portrait Gallery and the Getty in Los Angeles. It will now reside 50/50 in UK and USA. I'm still frustrated by the framing of the whole thing, which has been quite ludicrous since its sale to John … Continue reading On Reynolds’ Mai Portrait (again)
Reviewed in American Historical Review Sept. 2022. Oceanic metaphors do a lot of work in this new book by Sujit Sivasundaram. Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire analyses the “clash of waves” that occurred when Europeans moved into the Indo-Pacific region during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries... To … Continue reading Waves Across the South
At the enormous conference between Indigenous and colonial leaders in Augusta, Georgia, in November 1763, a Cherokee leader from Chota staged a piece of political theater. Kittagusta, “the Prince of Chota,” stretched out before the assembled delegates “a string of beads with three knots.”.... Read the full review of “The Chiefs Now in This City”: … Continue reading The Chiefs Now In This City
This short piece was written for the retirement surprise festschrift for Simon Schaffer, the funniest and most warm-hearted historian-of-science I know. It's on Phillip and a long-lost print of Sydney Cove found in a Bath attic.... The whole 400-page festschrift is open access here. My four-page tribute is here: schafferDownload
Well out of my comfort zone, I talked here with the wonderful crew at Hot&Bothered for their latest podcast on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I was invited to talk about Mr Darcy's dismissive line in chapter 5 that "any savage can dance." Back in 2012 I wrote a whole book on the British usage … Continue reading Mr Darcy and Savagery
In: Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, Volume 23, Number 1, Spring 2022 Empire and Indigeneity: Histories and Legacies By Richard Price. London and New York: Routledge, 2021. What was distinct about the early nineteenth-century British settler empire and what were its legacies? These are the two lead questions in Richard Price’s new book, Empire and … Continue reading Empire and Indigeneity
Just found this podcast recording of our session at the 2021 Sydney Writers Festival. Loved being a part of this with Keira Lindsay, James Dunk and several other stellar historians. Easy listening... check the audio bites on this link.
Another piece on Bennelong, but here also on Arthur Phillip, comparing their burial sites and posthumous lives. Preliminary work for my next book. Part of my quarterly gig with Inside Story. Click here for the 1500-word essay.
This is a videoed talk I gave at the conclusion of my 2021 fellowship at the National Library of Australia. It presents some of the research I undertook on fellowship to help us revise the biography of Bennelong (c1764-1813). My deep thanks to the excellent audience who showed how important Bennelong's history is to so … Continue reading Revising the Life of Bennelong
During NAIDOC week 2021 I was delighted to be a part of a webinar inspired by my latest Inside Story piece (see below). It was a major honour to talk alongside leading Uluru spokespersons Megan Davis and Eddie Synot, public lawyer Gabrielle Appleby, and historian Mark McKenna. Davis's unit at UNSW recorded the webinar. It … Continue reading Voice, Treaty, Truth webinar
Kate Fullagar 