Welcome to our fortnightly newsletter. If you have things you’d like to share with the CCH community, please email Anna before the next fortnightly newsletter. We will also share news and updates on LinkedIn. Please tag us in the news that you are posting on Linkedin so we can share it!
News from Members and Associates
- Huge congratulations to Tony Joel and Mat Turner who have won the Australian Society for Sport History (ASSH) Book Award for 2025 – for their book Line & Length: A History of the Geelong Football Club. The judging committee noted that the book was “a forensically researched, detailed and deep exploration of the Geelong Cricket Club. The Committee noted that the text was written with energy, passion and exceptional clarity, and that you broadened the history of a cricket club into a social history of Geelong and its hinterland including the city and the region’s global links.”
- Congratulations to Scott McCarthy who’s PhD thesis has recently been passed. Titled ‘Britishness, Irishness, and the Catholic Elite: Victoria and New South Wales, 1878–1923’, it was called ‘the work of a fine historian with enormous potential,’ by Ciaran O’Neill, from Trinity College Dublin.
- Anna Kent spent two days last week at the University of Sydney, participating in two Policy Roundtables – Humanities and Higher Education Policy: Towards a Framework for Engagement and Fair Access and International Education.
- Anna has also been announced as the inaugural Margaret Cameron Resident at the Deakin Library. During her residency, Anna will explore the history of international education at Deakin and its predecessor institutions.
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The Australian Historical Association has sent an Open Letter to the Prime Minister to Repeal the Job Ready Graduates legislation. This letter was co-ordinated by the AHA and signed by more than 100 distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to Australian cultural, social and political life. All completed a Bachelor of Arts degree. There is also an open petition that you can sign.
Seminar Series
| 6th August, 11am | Nick Ferns – From Postwar Reconstruction to Pacific Decolonization: Australia’s Historical Engagement with the World Bank. Nick will be presenting from Burwood. |
| 13th August | Mid-trimester break |
| 20th August, 11am | Mike Finch – Creating the ‘Sage of Medmenham’: Basil & Kathleen Liddell Hart and the States House Boys. Mike will be presenting from Burwood. |
| 27th August, 11am | Kate Ariotti – From Death to Disposal: The Treatment of the Dead in Changi POW Camp |
Call for Papers
2025 Labour History Conference
The Spirit of 1975: Transformations in Australian Labour History
In 2025, the Melbourne Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History (ASSLH) will host the Society’s 19th Biennial Conference. The venue is the beautifully renovated Trades Hall Council building.
The conference will be held from 26 to 28 November 2025 and commemorates the 50th anniversary of the International Women’s Year, the dismissal of the Whitlam Government, and the end of the American War in Vietnam.
The Spirit of 1975: Transformations in Australian Labour History invites historians and activists to take up this theme, as well as addressing wider issues and developments epitomised by that year. We welcome a wide range of papers considering the significance of the events of the 1970s in politics, protests, ideas, and cultural and social movements in Australia and abroad. For abstract submissions and panel proposals, go to this link. Abstracts are due by 1 September 2025. For keynote speakers and registration go to this link.
Hosted by the Victorian Trades Hall, The Spirit of 1975: Transformations in Australian Labour History is held under the general auspices of the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Events
‘Old North Melbourne’ by Dr Fiona Gatt
28 August 2025, Doors open at 5:30PM for a 6PM start
City of Melbourne Bowls Club, Flagstaff Gardens, Dudley St, West Melbourne
This book is the culmination of Fiona’s PhD, completed at Deakin University. Bookings are essential – use this link.
Book+Author — Lost Souls: Soviet Displaced Persons and the Birth of the Cold War, Sheila Fitzpatrick
28 August, 6-7pm
Bard’s Apothecary
When World War II ended, about one million people whom the Soviet Union claimed as its citizens were outside the borders of the USSR, mostly in the Western-occupied zones of Germany and Austria. These “displaced persons,” or DPs—Russians, prewar Soviet citizens, and people from West Ukraine and the Baltic states forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1939—refused to repatriate to the Soviet Union despite its demands. Thus began one of the first big conflicts of the Cold War. In Lost Souls, Sheila Fitzpatrick draws on new archival research, including Soviet interviews with hundreds of DPs, to offer a vivid account of this crisis, from the competitive maneuverings of politicians and diplomats to the everyday lives of DPs. Bookings are available here.
CCH Research Grants and other opportunities
If you have plans for research in 2025, apply for a research grant now!
It is important that you read the guidelines before you apply for a grant. Check out the guidelines and the application forms in our hub site.
There are also research training opportunities available through Deakin eResearch for high-performance computing, MS Excel, programming, data management, cleaning, visualisation, exploration and more. More details are here.
CCH Shut Up and Write
every Monday, 9am-1.30pm, via Zoom.
Start the week strong with a Shut Up and Write! We will run 4 x 50 minute blocks of writing/focus, with breaks in between to chat, grab coffees, etc. All CCH colleagues welcome, especially ECRs, HDRs, and those who work remotely. Feel free to join at any time – it doesn’t matter if you can’t make it to every session, or every block in a session, just come when you can.
The zoom link is here. (Meeting ID: 822 0730 8335, Password: 65182364)
If you would like a recurring invite in your calendar, or you have any trouble joining, email Mia at mia.martinhobbs@deakin.edu.au
Opportunities
InASA ECR Publication Subsidy Scheme
In 2018, the International Australian Studies Association (InASA) established a publishing subsidy scheme designed to assist early career researchers working in Australian Studies. The subsidy is designed to assist early career researchers in a publishing venture, or for the inclusion of essential items such as illustrations, photographs or maps. InASA are excited to invite submissions for the 2025 Early Career Researcher Publication Subsidy Scheme. The application window is open until 5pm, 8 September 2025. You can find more information here.
Deakin University Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (DUPRF) Scheme
2026 Deakin University Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (DUPRF) scheme is now open for applications. Applications close11:55pm (AEST) on Sunday 10 August 2025.
Applicants must have been awarded a PhD on or after 1 January 2022 or, together with allowable career interruptions, have an award of PhD date that would be commensurate with a PhD Award Date of 1 January 2022. The Fellowship provides up to 3 years of salary support from a Level A, Step 6 up to the top a Level B classification, commensurate with experience. Successful fellows also receive a once-off research support grant of $15,000, to be used throughout the Fellowship. Applicants must ensure that their proposed supervisor has agreed to host their Fellowship prior to submitting their application. Applicants are required to obtain a supervisor support statement confirming their agreement to host the fellowship and attach to the application. You can find the guidelines here.
Journal of Pacific History Publication Incentive Grant
The Journal of Pacific History Inc. invites qualified persons to apply for a Publication Incentive grant. These competitive grants are offered to help support early career Pacific historians to prepare manuscripts for submission to the Journal of Pacific History for peer review. Anyone who has completed a PhD or MA since 2019 in a field relevant to Pacific history, or who is currently enrolled for a doctorate in such a field, can apply for a grant of $3,000 to prepare a manuscript for submission to peer review. Applications are due by the 30 September 2025, and more details and instructions are available in this link.
The Pacific History Association Teresia Teaiwa Prize 2025
The Pacific History Association (PHA) established the Teresia Teaiwa Prize in 2018 to honour the profound legacy of Teresia Teaiwa, former President and Secretary of PHA. The inaugural prize was awarded at the PHA’s 2021 conference. The 2025 winner will be decided and announced at the PHA’s biennial conference to be held on 2-5 December 2025 at the National University of Samoa. The prize is for a conference presentation. Finalists will be shortlisted on the basis of an essay submitted prior to the conference. The 2025 winner will receive a prize of $1000. You can find further information and eligibility requirements here.
Gunson Essay Prize
A prize of AUD $1,000 will be awarded at the 2025 Pacific History Association Conference, for the winner of the Gunson Essay Prize Competition. Postgraduate or senior students from any country are invited to submit an essay in English between 5,000 and 8,000 words on any topic relating to the pasts of the Island Pacific and its peoples by 1 November 2025. For further details and eligibility requirements see this link.
CCH Hub Site
We now have a Sharepoint site (for Deakin staff and students only). This is where you can find CCH templates and logos, and importantly – new grant application forms. CCH members should have access, but you will need to use your Deakin login.
Cover Photo
March for Reconciliation on the Sydney Harbour Bridge – 28th May 2000. National Museum of Australia
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