Contact Details
| Organization: | Historical Studies |
| Position: | ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AUSTRALIAN CENTRE |
| Email: | |
| Homepage: | www.australian.unimelb.edu.au/aboutus/people/murphy.html |
| Work: | 8344 3670 |
| Level: | 01 |
| Building: | 131/137 Barry St. |
| Campus: | Parkville |
Biography
Associate Professor John Murphy was Director of the Australian Centre in 2006, and has now taken on the position of Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Arts.
After an honours degree in history at the University of Melbourne, John completed an MA in politics at Monash, and then a PhD in history at the University of Melbourne. From 2000 to early 2005, he was Director of the Centre for Applied Social Research at RMIT University, where he also taught history and politics for many years. He is the author of Imagining the Fifties: Private Sentiment and Political Culture in Menzies' Australia (UNSW Press & Pluto Press, 2000) and Harvest of Fear: a History of Australia's Vietnam War (Allen and Unwin, Sydney and Westview Press, USA,, 1993), both of which were short-listed for the NSW Premier's Award.
In addition, he has co-edited The Forgotten Fifties: Aspects of Australian Society and Culture in the 1950s (with Judith Smart, Melbourne University Press and special issue of Australian Historical Studies, 1997) and the papers from an Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia workshop, Working Mothers and Social Change (with Pat Grimshaw and Belinda Probert, Melbourne Publishing Group, 2005.)
John's research focuses on Australian social and political history since the second world war, on the historical development of Australian social policy, on public narratives about welfare, masculinity and nation, and on the interplay of memory, history and biography. He is completing an ARC Discovery project about the non-government welfare sector in the mixed economy of welfare in Australia, which focused on the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Wesley Central Mission and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, examining their shifting place in welfare provision, and the influence of their different faiths on how they imagine the poor.
After an honours degree in history at the University of Melbourne, John completed an MA in politics at Monash, and then a PhD in history at the University of Melbourne. From 2000 to early 2005, he was Director of the Centre for Applied Social Research at RMIT University, where he also taught history and politics for many years. He is the author of Imagining the Fifties: Private Sentiment and Political Culture in Menzies' Australia (UNSW Press & Pluto Press, 2000) and Harvest of Fear: a History of Australia's Vietnam War (Allen and Unwin, Sydney and Westview Press, USA,, 1993), both of which were short-listed for the NSW Premier's Award.
In addition, he has co-edited The Forgotten Fifties: Aspects of Australian Society and Culture in the 1950s (with Judith Smart, Melbourne University Press and special issue of Australian Historical Studies, 1997) and the papers from an Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia workshop, Working Mothers and Social Change (with Pat Grimshaw and Belinda Probert, Melbourne Publishing Group, 2005.)
John's research focuses on Australian social and political history since the second world war, on the historical development of Australian social policy, on public narratives about welfare, masculinity and nation, and on the interplay of memory, history and biography. He is completing an ARC Discovery project about the non-government welfare sector in the mixed economy of welfare in Australia, which focused on the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Wesley Central Mission and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, examining their shifting place in welfare provision, and the influence of their different faiths on how they imagine the poor.
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 |
| Autobiography, memory, narrative and historiography | Gender, culture | Australia |
| The history of Australian social policy; contemporary social policy and welfare to work | Australia |
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 |
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 |
Additional Grant and Contract Information
Current ARC-funded research projects: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, this project is conducting interviews with care leavers to investigate how memories of childhood in an institution contribute to their contemporary sense of identity. The Industry Partner is MacKillop Family Services.
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). This project is studying the relationship from 1920 to 1970 between experiences of community and the municipal-level buildings such as maternal and child health centres and public libraries that were intended to be part of those communities.
ARC Linkage grant (2006-9): “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. It is intended to write a social history of poverty, to include comparison between urban and rural experiences, and contribute to understanding how one Christian denomination imagined poverty and social exclusion.
ARC Linkage grant (2006-9): “150 low-income Australians: a group biography over time”. With Belinda Probert at University of Melbourne, Mark Peel at Monash, Greg Marston at University of Queensland, and Jenny Chalmers at UNSW and Suellen Murray at RMIT. This project consists of life-history interviews with 150 low-income Australians, combined with a longitudinal panel design. The project aims to illuminate how incentives and obstacles are perceived, to describe patterns of interdependency, and to understand people’s discourses and values about justice, obligation and welfare reform. The Industry Partner is Jobs Australia.
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.