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A history of psychiatric institutionalisation and community care in Australia, 1830s-1990s. A vigorous debate is underway in Australia currently over the policy of closing mental institutions and caring for the mentally ill in the community. Whereas doctors, politicians and journalists have contributed to this debate, regularly resorting to history to bolster their arguments, historians themselves have had relatively little to say. A genuinely national history of mental health care simply does n ....A history of psychiatric institutionalisation and community care in Australia, 1830s-1990s. A vigorous debate is underway in Australia currently over the policy of closing mental institutions and caring for the mentally ill in the community. Whereas doctors, politicians and journalists have contributed to this debate, regularly resorting to history to bolster their arguments, historians themselves have had relatively little to say. A genuinely national history of mental health care simply does not exist. This study provides that comprehensive history, in the belief that policy making in such a vital area of health cannot be undertaken effectively without an informed understanding of the successes and failures of the last 150 years.Read moreRead less
Reading the Objects: Developing Online Personal Stories from Australia's 'Museums of Madness', 1870-1980. Museum Victoria's Psychiatric Services Collection contains over 1,600 objects from mental hospitals that operated in the state between 1870 and 1980. It is one of the largest collections of its type in the world. As the relative merits of psychiatric institutionalization and community care remain controversial, making digitized images of all these objects available online, accompanied by exp ....Reading the Objects: Developing Online Personal Stories from Australia's 'Museums of Madness', 1870-1980. Museum Victoria's Psychiatric Services Collection contains over 1,600 objects from mental hospitals that operated in the state between 1870 and 1980. It is one of the largest collections of its type in the world. As the relative merits of psychiatric institutionalization and community care remain controversial, making digitized images of all these objects available online, accompanied by expert historical commentaries, will not only throw light on the daily lives of patients and staff and the care offered in institutions now largely vanished, but it will also help promote a better informed public debate about this vital area of mental health policy.Read moreRead less
Understanding old age in Australian history as a foundation for improved social and economic policy. My history of old age in Australia since 1860 will provide the first book which maps our experiences of growing old in the past, as a foundation for improved social and economic policy. The national government's 'Inter-generational report' has started a process of review and planning at a time of dramatic demographic change. However, developing strategies for 'ageing well, ageing productively' d ....Understanding old age in Australian history as a foundation for improved social and economic policy. My history of old age in Australia since 1860 will provide the first book which maps our experiences of growing old in the past, as a foundation for improved social and economic policy. The national government's 'Inter-generational report' has started a process of review and planning at a time of dramatic demographic change. However, developing strategies for 'ageing well, ageing productively' depends on an informed understanding of previous and current expectations about and attitudes to ageing in Australia. The history of old age is a complex rather than simple story, and successful policy development will require a solid historical foundation.Read moreRead less
THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF DEATH AND BEREAVEMENT IN AUSTRALIA AND ENGLAND, 1914-1980. Death, bereavement and old age come to us all, but their history has been neglected for twentieth century Australia and England. I aim to write two substantial books and several articles on this vitally important subject, explaining how and why emotional and expressive death practices and attitudes were often transformed after 1918 into a silence about death, with minimal ritual and privatised grief. Th ....THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF DEATH AND BEREAVEMENT IN AUSTRALIA AND ENGLAND, 1914-1980. Death, bereavement and old age come to us all, but their history has been neglected for twentieth century Australia and England. I aim to write two substantial books and several articles on this vitally important subject, explaining how and why emotional and expressive death practices and attitudes were often transformed after 1918 into a silence about death, with minimal ritual and privatised grief. This comparative project has crucial outcomes for our understanding of the histories of medicine, war, religion and the family, as well as policy implications for current issues such as euthanasia, suicide, aged care, cancer and palliative care.Read moreRead less
Respectability and health: private life and the health transition in two capital cities, London and Melbourne, 1850?1980. This study will explore the relationship between the dramatic normative changes that occurred in working-class private life after 1850 and the health transition. Using grass-roots case studies and databases of both London and Melbourne, it will analyse the changing mortality experience of the poor?as infants, young, and older adults?in relation to changes in self-care, self- ....Respectability and health: private life and the health transition in two capital cities, London and Melbourne, 1850?1980. This study will explore the relationship between the dramatic normative changes that occurred in working-class private life after 1850 and the health transition. Using grass-roots case studies and databases of both London and Melbourne, it will analyse the changing mortality experience of the poor?as infants, young, and older adults?in relation to changes in self-care, self-image and family life made possible by the transition in these two mercantilist cities from casualised to regular labour markets. It will then endeavour to relate these findings about life chances among the most disadvantaged to health and social policy for the future.Read moreRead less
The Art of AIDS Prevention: Cultural Responses to HIV/AIDS in Australia and the United States. While a number of studies have examined HIV/AIDS as a biological entity, the crucial 'cultural construction' of AIDS, and the effect of this construction on people living with AIDS and the wider public, is poorly understood. This project will assist wider awareness of the fact that public understandings of disease and affected individuals are both culturally mediated and contestable. In examining the i ....The Art of AIDS Prevention: Cultural Responses to HIV/AIDS in Australia and the United States. While a number of studies have examined HIV/AIDS as a biological entity, the crucial 'cultural construction' of AIDS, and the effect of this construction on people living with AIDS and the wider public, is poorly understood. This project will assist wider awareness of the fact that public understandings of disease and affected individuals are both culturally mediated and contestable. In examining the important role that artists played in confronting AIDS, this project will also suggest how similar cultural interventions might be employed during existing and future disease epidemics and other public health threats.Read moreRead less
Trust and the Changing Moral Economy of Australian Medicine. There is strong evidence that patients sue their doctors because of inadequate doctor/patient communication, and this has been directly linked to low levels of trust. But unless doctors have become worse communicators over time, poor communication fails to explain recent rises in litigation rates. This historical study will examine the multiple factors affecting changing doctor/patient relationships. It will offer new insights into the ....Trust and the Changing Moral Economy of Australian Medicine. There is strong evidence that patients sue their doctors because of inadequate doctor/patient communication, and this has been directly linked to low levels of trust. But unless doctors have become worse communicators over time, poor communication fails to explain recent rises in litigation rates. This historical study will examine the multiple factors affecting changing doctor/patient relationships. It will offer new insights into the circumstances that fostered trust in medicine in the past, which will assist in understanding the current dynamics of changes in trust. This will help policy makers seeking to promote and maintain good health by strengthening the values of trust and reciprocity within Australia's healthcare system.Read moreRead less
A demographic and socio-medical history of the Aboriginal People of Victoria 1800-2000: reconstitutions and epidemiological analysis. We have produced a world-first historical demographic and epidemiological database that will be of continuing cultural and professional value to the Indigenous and research communities, and which can be copied to capture elusive mobile populations that are better identified genealogically than via conventional census methods. We will index and digitise the papers ....A demographic and socio-medical history of the Aboriginal People of Victoria 1800-2000: reconstitutions and epidemiological analysis. We have produced a world-first historical demographic and epidemiological database that will be of continuing cultural and professional value to the Indigenous and research communities, and which can be copied to capture elusive mobile populations that are better identified genealogically than via conventional census methods. We will index and digitise the papers of the late Dr Diane Barwick. Through this innovative study of past life courses we seek to understand the unique experience of 'fourth world' people in the health transition, and the deep historical forces structuring the persistent health problems of Indigenous Australians.Read moreRead less
Rural women, cross-racial collaboration and life writing in the Country Women's Association of New South Wales, 1956-1996. In an era when race relations in Australia are usually characterised by misunderstanding and conflict, this project brings to light a story of co-operation and hope. Investigating six Indigenous branches of the Country Women's Association in NSW from the 1950s uncovers collaborations between rural Aboriginal and white women that transgressed social barriers and launched two ....Rural women, cross-racial collaboration and life writing in the Country Women's Association of New South Wales, 1956-1996. In an era when race relations in Australia are usually characterised by misunderstanding and conflict, this project brings to light a story of co-operation and hope. Investigating six Indigenous branches of the Country Women's Association in NSW from the 1950s uncovers collaborations between rural Aboriginal and white women that transgressed social barriers and launched two significant Aboriginal matriarchs and authors into their public lives. This timely social and literary history project revalues conservative rural women's writing and activism, contributing to the reconciliation process and to the social health of Australia.Read moreRead less
The role of the Wittenoom Asbestos mine in the lives and deaths of Italian transnational workers. Reconstructing the lives of Italian workers in the context of transnational migration and the mining of one of the worlds' most hazardous minerals is significant in itself as part of Australian historical record. To the Italian community, the story exemplifies the disproportionate contributions and sacrifices of postwar migration. Importantly, the evidence produced will be of use in improving public ....The role of the Wittenoom Asbestos mine in the lives and deaths of Italian transnational workers. Reconstructing the lives of Italian workers in the context of transnational migration and the mining of one of the worlds' most hazardous minerals is significant in itself as part of Australian historical record. To the Italian community, the story exemplifies the disproportionate contributions and sacrifices of postwar migration. Importantly, the evidence produced will be of use in improving public health and policy responses to the legacy of asbestos disease, both in Australia and in Italy. In drawing on Italian and Australian scholarship, community networks and government initiatives, the project will provide valuable training to a doctoral candidate, and contribute to furthering the practical internationalisation of Australian research.Read moreRead less