Facing new worlds: comparative histories of Australasia and North America. This project aims to develop comparative research into Indigenous and settler experiences in Australasia and North America in order to discover new connections or distinctions between the two regions for both public and academic audiences. The project will centre on a major exhibition with a focus on biography and life representation and will develop new methodologies for examining the shared or different histories of com ....Facing new worlds: comparative histories of Australasia and North America. This project aims to develop comparative research into Indigenous and settler experiences in Australasia and North America in order to discover new connections or distinctions between the two regions for both public and academic audiences. The project will centre on a major exhibition with a focus on biography and life representation and will develop new methodologies for examining the shared or different histories of complex indigenous-settler relations across "New World" sites. The expected outcomes of this project are to promote a deeper appreciation of Australia’s place in a Pacific world with as yet unexplored links to the Americas, and also to model new ways for art history and socio-cultural history to come together to explicate a shared, complicated past.Read moreRead less
Australian art exhibitions 1968-2009: a generation of cultural transformation. The years 1968 to 2009 witnessed a transformation in the way Australians saw the art of their country. This project investigates the impact of increased funding (government and private) and new scholarship on the curating of art exhibitions, and traces the reconfiguration of Australia’s art history that took place in exhibitions during this period.
Heritage in the limelight: the magic lantern in Australia and the world. The project aims to discover and analyse the large number of glass magic lantern slides that remain under-used in our public collections. International scholarship has recently begun to show that lantern slide shows were a ubiquitous, globalised and formative cultural experience. The project aims to explore the international reach and diversity of this globalised modernist apparatus from the Australian perspective. It plans ....Heritage in the limelight: the magic lantern in Australia and the world. The project aims to discover and analyse the large number of glass magic lantern slides that remain under-used in our public collections. International scholarship has recently begun to show that lantern slide shows were a ubiquitous, globalised and formative cultural experience. The project aims to explore the international reach and diversity of this globalised modernist apparatus from the Australian perspective. It plans to understand how diverse audiences affectively experienced these powerful forms of early media, and to develop ways for today’s Australians to re-experience their magic, invigorating and expanding our cultural heritage.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101322
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$343,526.00
Summary
Capturing foundational Australian photography in a globalising world. This project will combine archival research on the foundational years of Australian photography, 1839-54, with new methods of multimedia database design to network early photographs: daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and calotypes, with dispersed manuscripts, journalism and legal proceedings that document their creation. These images are prized by Australian collecting institutions but their significance to our cultural heritage rema ....Capturing foundational Australian photography in a globalising world. This project will combine archival research on the foundational years of Australian photography, 1839-54, with new methods of multimedia database design to network early photographs: daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and calotypes, with dispersed manuscripts, journalism and legal proceedings that document their creation. These images are prized by Australian collecting institutions but their significance to our cultural heritage remains unrecognised. This project will analyse how colonial Australian photographers’ distance from Europe prompted them to innovate with processes, materials and apparatuses. It will excavate this neglected dimension of colonial modernity, assessing its resonance for media heritage, culture, and law.Read moreRead less
Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Austr ....Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Australia’s largest cities are under growing pressure from environmental change and population growth. Project findings will inform the development of policies and practices that produce sustainable, equitable urban water systems.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100042
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$435,991.00
Summary
Self-determination for Indigenous Australia: histories, visions and voice. This project aims to provide a historical exploration of the experiences of self-determination in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. Working in partnership with Indigenous collaborators, it expects to generate new knowledge of the challenges and opportunities which arose from the process of self-determination. Expected outcomes include a new history of the Northern Territory as shaped by self-determination, ....Self-determination for Indigenous Australia: histories, visions and voice. This project aims to provide a historical exploration of the experiences of self-determination in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. Working in partnership with Indigenous collaborators, it expects to generate new knowledge of the challenges and opportunities which arose from the process of self-determination. Expected outcomes include a new history of the Northern Territory as shaped by self-determination, together with innovative methods for community-based collaborative research which give voice to historical Indigenous experiences. This should provide significant benefits for policymakers engaging with Indigenous communities and generate deeper cultural understanding of an important era in Australia’s Indigenous history.Read moreRead less
Anzac Day at home and abroad: a centenary history of Australia's national day. Australia is fast approaching the centenary of Anzac Day and many believe this is the one day of the year that captures the spirit of the nation. This project will examine Anzac Day's complex and much contested history, retrieving private and collective memories of war through archival research and novel and participatory public history.
Don Dunstan and political and social reform in Australia. Don Dunstan, Premier of South Australia in 1967-68 and 1970-79, was an extraordinarily influential politician whose sweeping reforms led the way nationally and internationally in areas ranging from constitutional reform, Aboriginal land rights, equal opportunities, decriminalisation of homosexuality and civil liberties to urban planning, the arts and food culture. This project will produce the first full-length, comprehensive biography of ....Don Dunstan and political and social reform in Australia. Don Dunstan, Premier of South Australia in 1967-68 and 1970-79, was an extraordinarily influential politician whose sweeping reforms led the way nationally and internationally in areas ranging from constitutional reform, Aboriginal land rights, equal opportunities, decriminalisation of homosexuality and civil liberties to urban planning, the arts and food culture. This project will produce the first full-length, comprehensive biography of Dunstan. It will also use Dunstan’s political and cultural transformation of South Australia to examine the wider dynamics of reform in Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, to understand how and why such change occurred at both state and national levels.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100578
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$308,820.00
Summary
Aristotle's Australia: Civic Republicanism from Federation to the Apology. This project seeks to examine the impact of civic republican ideas in Australia. It will be argued that civic republicanism represents a unique understanding of freedom and that these ideas have shaped the national consciousness. Can the cult of White Australia, the conscription debates, the campaigns for women’s and Indigenous rights be better understood through the prism of civic republicanism? Building on significant r ....Aristotle's Australia: Civic Republicanism from Federation to the Apology. This project seeks to examine the impact of civic republican ideas in Australia. It will be argued that civic republicanism represents a unique understanding of freedom and that these ideas have shaped the national consciousness. Can the cult of White Australia, the conscription debates, the campaigns for women’s and Indigenous rights be better understood through the prism of civic republicanism? Building on significant revisionist works, this project plans to examine key moments in Australia's democratic evolution and suggest that an Aristotelian concept of virtue, in opposition to both liberalism and conservatism, has been a crucial defining factor. This project aims to broaden our understanding of Australian history and the principles that shape our democracy.Read moreRead less
Second shock: Australia's Great Depression and the legacy of World War I. This project aims to produce an innovative history of the Great Depression by examining how Australian responses to this crisis were shaped by the earlier traumatic experience of World War One. In both crises the structures of Australian society remained intact, despite great social distress and political upheaval. It remains an unanswered question as to why this was so. Addressing this question, the project intends to inc ....Second shock: Australia's Great Depression and the legacy of World War I. This project aims to produce an innovative history of the Great Depression by examining how Australian responses to this crisis were shaped by the earlier traumatic experience of World War One. In both crises the structures of Australian society remained intact, despite great social distress and political upheaval. It remains an unanswered question as to why this was so. Addressing this question, the project intends to increase understanding of the impact of war on Australians and the sources of the resilience of Australian political and social structures. The project's outputs will be designed to reach a wide public readership.Read moreRead less