Contact Details
| Organization: | Social and Political Sciences, Social and Political Sciences |
| Position: | ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR |
| Email: | |
| Work: | 8344 3670 |
Biography
BA (Hons), Melbourne
MA (research), politics, Monash
PhD, history, Melbourne.
He previously taught at RMIT University and was Director of the Centre for Applied Social Research. His research focuses on Australian social, political and policy history, public narratives about welfare, masculinity and nation, and memory, historiography and biography.
Recent publications:
A Decent Provision: Australian welfare policy, 1870 to 1949, (Ashgate, UK, 2011). www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&title_id=9802&edition_id=13231
Half a Citizen: Life on welfare in Australia, with Suellen Murray, Jenny Chalmers, Sonia Martin & Greg Marston, (Allen & Unwin, 2011), won an Australian Human Rights Commission 2011 Award. www.musse.unimelb.edu.au/january-12-78/university-researcher-wins-human-rights-award-literature
and www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781742376059
- (2011) “Church and State in the history of Australia welfare”, Hilary Carey & John Gascoigne (eds), Church and State in Old and New Worlds, Brill, Leiden/Boston, pp. 261-285.
- (2010) "Path Dependence and the Stagnation of Australian Social Policy between the Wars", The Journal of Policy History, 22, 4, Oct., pp. 450-473.
- (2010) "Memory, identity and public narrative: Composing a life-story after leaving institutional care, Victoria, 1945-1983", Cultural and Social History, 7, 3, Sept., pp. 297-314
- (2010) "Welfare Regimes and Risky Speculations", Greg Marston, Jeremy Moss & John Quiggan (eds), Risk, Welfare and Work, pp. 24-47, (MUP)
Previous books:
- Imagining the Fifties: Private Sentiment and Political Culture in Menzies' Australia (UNSW Press, 2000),
- Harvest of Fear: a History of Australia's Vietnam War (Allen and Unwin, Sydney and Westview Press, USA, 1993),
- with Suellen Murray, Elizabeth Branigan and Jenny Malone, After the Orphanage: Life beyond the children's home; (UNSW Press, 2009) www.newsouthbooks.com.au/isbn/9781921410901.htm
< Teaching:
A Century of Australian Social Policy
Australia and Asia in war and peace
Memory, Identity, Narrative, Biography [PhD coursework elective]
Current RHD supervision:
• Stephen Bain, The Port Phillip Protectorate, PhD
• Penny Duckworth, Constructing Community: The state in everyday life, PhD
• Karolina Kurzak, The face of the poor: A history of charity and poverty in Victoria PhD
• Gareth Sobey, 'Putting the Family First': The Christian Right in Australia, PhD
Recent RHD completions
• Sybil Nolan, The young Robert Menzies and the Age: A relationship in liberalism, PhD, 2011
• Bill Garner, The ephemeral settlement of Australia: a history of camping, PhD, 2010
• Bob Marmion, Gibraltar of the South: Colonial Defence in Victoria, 1851-1901, PhD, 2009
• Terry McDonnell, The 1922 election, MA, 2009
• Peter Stell, The Sydney Dance Company, 2009
Research Expertise and International Linkages
Research Expertise
| Research Interest | Key Words | Country of Expertise |
|---|---|---|
| Australian history, primarily since the second world war. | Politics, social history | Australia |
| Biography, memory, narrative and historiography | Gender, culture | Australia |
| The history of Australian social policy; contemporary social policy and welfare to work | Civil society; religion and welfare | Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom |
Qualifications, Honours, Fellowships and Other Awards
Qualifications
| Title | Institution | Date Awarded | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|---|
| BA (Hons) | University of Melbourne | 31-Dec-1978 | |
| MA | Monash University | 31-Dec-1984 | |
| PhD | University of Melbourne | 31-Dec-1992 |
Memberships
| Membership Type | Membership Body | Description | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Australian Historical Association | Member | 01-Jan-1992 |
Other Awards
| Award Type | Awarding Body | Comments | Date Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prize | RMIT University | The Centre for Applied Social Research, of which I was Director, won the RMIT Research Team Award in 2003 | 01-Jul-2003 |
| Other (Award) | Australian Human Rights Commission Literature / non-fiction Award | Awarded for Half a Citizen: Life on Welfare in Australia (Allen and Unwin, 2011); joint author | 09-Dec-2011 |
Government Research Classifications
Research Fields, Courses and Discipline Classifications
- Public Policy (POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION) (360201)
- Social Policy and Planning (SOCIOLOGY) (370102)
- Gender Specific Studies (OTHER STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY) (379901)
- History: Australian (HISTORICAL STUDIES) (430101)
Socio-Economic Objective Classifications
- Employment (WORK) (750101)
- Changing work patterns (WORK) (750102)
- Preserving institutional and histories (WORK) (750104)
- Gender (COMMUNITY SERVICE EXCL. WORK) (750303)
- Community services not elsewhere classified (COMMUNITY SERVICE EXCL. WORK) (750399)
- Understanding Australia's past (UNDERSTANDING PAST SOCIETIES) (750901)
- Other social development and community services (OTHER SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY SERVICES) (759999)
Grants and Contracts
Research Grants, Contracts and Consultancies awarded to the University of Melbourne as the administering institution (since 2003) as recorded in Themis Agreements.
Grants
| Title | Role | Funding Source | Scheme | Award Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150 low income Australians: a group biography over time | Chief Investigator | AUST RESEARCH COUNCIL | Linkage Projects | 01/01/2007 |
| The face of the poor: a history of poverty through the eyes of the St Vincent de Paul Society | Chief Investigator | AUST RESEARCH COUNCIL | Linkage Projects | 01/02/2007 |
| Evatt: A Biography | Chief Investigator | AUST RESEARCH COUNCIL | Discovery Projects | 01/01/2012 |
Additional Grant and Contract Information
Current ARC-funded research projects:
• ARC Linkage grant (2007-10): "The face of the poor: a history of poverty through the eyes of the St Vincent de Paul Society." This PhD project is conducting research in a unique collection of minute books of parish level groups of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Victoria over the 20th century, to write a social history of poverty and contribute to understanding how one Christian denomination imagined poverty and social exclusion. The PhD student on this project is Karolina Kurzak.
Recently completed ARC-Funded research projects:
• ARC Linkage grant (2007-10): "150 low-income Australians: a group biography over time". With Suellen Murray at RMIT, Greg Marston at University of Queensland and Jenny Chalmers at UNSW. This project consisted of life-history interviews with 150 low-income Australians. The Industry Partner was Jobs Australia.
• ARC Linkage grant (2005-8): "Life after care: the life-histories of those who left institutional care, 1945-1989". With Suellen Murray of RMIT University. The Industry Partner was MacKillop Family Services. Outcomes included After the Orphanage: Memory, identity and personal history in post-war Australia.
• ARC Discovery project (2006-8): "Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds: Designing Everyday Modernism for Australian Communities 1920-1970." With Kate Darian-Smith and Philip Goad, Hannah Lewi and Julie Willis (Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning).
Publications
Publications produced at the University of Melbourne and reported in the Annual Publications Collection and 'Research Report' since 2001. The Themis Publications module, released in November 2006, allows additional publications from previous institutions and publications from past years to be entered.