Monday 15th April 2024 - Centre for Contemporary History (CCH)

If you have any information to share in the Newsletter please send it through to Anna, the newsletter will be published every fortnight on Monday. You can read all our news here, but don’t forget we regularly put out information by our social media channels including Facebook.

News from Members

We have a new member this week – Dr Kasey Symons is a Lecturer of Communication – Sports Media in SCCA and has joined Deakin University from Swinburne where she was part of the Sport Innovation Research Group. Kasey’s research interests lie in amplifying the experiences of women in sport in history, popular culture, literature and sports media as well as working across fan engagement and sports marketing programs. Kasey is also an award-winning sports journalist and co-founder of the women in sport media collective, Siren Sport. Recent publications and projects include a book on the history of Women’s Football in Oceania (2023, Routledge), a co-edited collection Intersections of Sport and Society in Creative Writing (2023, Springer) and a Victorian Government funded project on the lived experiences of women involved in rural football-netball clubs (2022-23).
Huge congratulations to Klaus Neumann – his new book – Blumen und Brandsätze – has just been published.
Fiona Gatt has had an article published in the 2023/4 edition of Provenance, the Journal of the Public Record Office Victoria. If you have ever been curious about municipal rate books, her article has all the answers: ‘The value of rate books and multi-scale analysis: a Hotham/North Melbourne case study’, available here.

Seminar Series

If you missed our conversation about Category 1, 2 and 3 grants last Wednesday, you can catch up via the CCH Hub (Deakin login required).
This Wednesday (17th April) we have Carolyn Holbrook and Brad Underhill with their seminar Creating a Culture of Cancer Prevention.
For a special Anzac Eve seminar, on the 24th April Anna Wilkinson will present her paper “A love story that would have inspired immortal Shakespeare”: The history of Asian Australian war bride marriages and a case study of the Vietnam War.

APH News

On the APH website you can catch up on the recording of the event marking the 40th Anniversary of Medicare, organised by Carolyn Holbrook.

The Australian Policy and History Network is currently seeking EOIs for book reviewers. APH invites reviewers from all career stages and welcomes EOIs from HDRs who may be new to book review writing and the editorial process. EOIs, which contain a brief summary of interests or a specific book to be reviewed, can be emailed to APH’s books editor Lyndon Megarrity: drlyndon@bigpond.net.au

Events

HCV Book+Author Event
Thursday 18th April, 6pm – 7pm
The Wheeler Centre, State Library of Victoria

Dr Yves Rees will be in-conversation with Dr Kate Fullagar, award-winning historian and author of Bennelong and Phillip at the Wheeler Centre, housed in the historic State Library of Victoria. Kate’s fascinating work Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled is a dual biography of Bennelong and Phillip, leaders of their respective sides in the first encounters between Britain and Indigenous Australians, Phillip being the colony’s first governor, and Bennelong the Yiyura leader. The pair have come to represent the conflict that flared and has never settled. Through an innovative non-linear exploration, Kate not only provides the first biography of Bennelong but challenges common misconceptions of both men, while sharing their intriguing personal, domestic and familial lives as well. For bookings and more details see the HCV website.

Revisiting Classics in Australian Housing History
Friday 26 April 2024, 9am – 5pm
Deakin Downtown (Docklands, Melbourne) and via Zoom

This workshop comes out of a research agenda under the aegis of the NHHN, established in 2023, which has identified the current moment as a transformational one in understanding the cultural and social meaning of housing in Australia. The task of uncovering forgotten histories and historical imaginaries looms as an urgent task in our present moment, widely perceived to be one of exceptional historical crisis. Revisiting Classics in Housing History recognises the rich tradition of scholarship on housing across the twentieth century – much of which has slipped out of public consciousness – and asks what these texts might offer for readers today. RSVP by emailing newhousinghistorynetwork@gmail.com by Monday 15 April. You can find more detail here.

Russians in Cold War Australia – Book Launch
Tuesday 30th April, 12.00 – 1.30pm (via Zoom)

Russians in Cold War Australia, edited by Phillip Deery and Sheila Fitzpatrick, explores the time during the Cold War when Russian displaced persons, including former Soviet citizens, were amongst the hundreds of thousands of immigrants given assisted passage to Australia and other Western countries in the wake of the Second World War. With the Soviet Union and Australia as enemies, skepticism surrounding the immigrants’ avowed anti-communism introduced new hardships and challenges. This book examines Russian immigration to Australia in the late 1940s and 1950s, both through their own eyes and those of Australia’s security service (ASIO), to whom all Russian speakers were persons of interest. Registrations for the launch are required via this link.

CCH/ADI Work In Progress day for ECRs
Friday 10^th May, 2pm (via Zoom)

Do you have an article or chapter you’d like feedback on? A piece you are stuck on, almost ready to submit, or just received revisions for?We are running another Work in Progress day for ECRs, this time on Zoom. Every participant will read and receive 1-2 thorough reviews of their work.If you would like to participate, please email mia.martinhobbs@deakin.edu.au and virginie.rey@deakin.edu.au with a short bio, title, abstract, and any specific feedback requests by 19^th April so that we can match participants. Final drafts will be submitted by 3^rd May so that participants have enough time to review and give generous feedback.Weston Bate Oration, Royal Historical Society of Victoria
28th May 2024, 5pm – 7.30pm
Dr Fiona Gatt will be giving the annual Weston Bate Oration for the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV) on the evening of 28 May 2024. Her address will explore the role of shopkeepers in nineteenth-century Melbourne society and will ask the intriguing question: are they a forgotten class? The 2024 Weston Bate Oration will present Fiona’s research findings as Historian in Residence at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria 2023–2024. Details and RSVP link on the RHSV website.

HDR/ECR Statistics Workshop
Foundations of Social Statistics: A Beginner’s Workshop
27th June, 10am-2pm
Deakin Downtown/Zoom

In an increasingly data-driven academic landscape, grasping the basics of statistical analysis is invaluable. We are repeating our half-day workshop on social statistics, this time with an added focus on applying the methods to individual researchers’ data. Led by Professor Andrew Singleton, during this workshop, we will cover:

Discovering the Relevance: Understand why statistics are helpful in your social research pursuits.
Core Concepts: Gain familiarity with key statistical ideas, from sampling to data collection.
ABS Data and Excel: Learn to access and summarise ABS data effectively using Excel.
Visualising and Interpreting Data: Acquire skills to read and present data using tables, graphs and charts.
Real-world Impact: Explore how statistics contribute to addressing societal issues and shaping policies.

No prior statistical knowledge is required, but participants are encouraged to bring their own data to work with. Participants who attended the previous session in December may want to join for the after-lunch applied session.

The workshop will be held at Deakin Downtown and via Zoom. Please email mia.martinhobbs@deakin.edu.au if you would like to attend, indicating whether you intend to attend in-person (along with any dietary requirements) or via Zoom, by 27 May.

Graduate Oral History Intensive
4-day online course
April to May 2024 (Online)

In Autumn 2024, three of Australia’s leading oral historians, in partnership with Oral History Victoria, are pioneering an oral history intensive course aimed at university research students. We will teach you how to plan an oral history project and apply for ethics approval. You’ll learn how to create excellent interviews and document the recordings for use in research. We’ll explore approaches to analysing interviews and interpreting memories. And we’ll consider how to write a thesis using oral history as well as other types of oral history productions.

You will be active participants in the teaching and learning: reading a selection of key texts, bringing examples and issues from you own research, workshopping issues with the group, conducting practice interviews, discussing interview extracts from each participant, and developing a peer support group of graduate oral history researchers from around Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia. Each day school will be taught online via Zoom, from 9.30am to 4pm Australian Eastern Standard time. The course will be limited to 18 participants. Tickets are available here. Those without access to university funding for this event may be able to access a bursary – see the website for details.

New Projects

“Hidden Christian World Heritage in the Gotō” is a new Digital Humanities project of interest in the areas of History and Oral History, and led by Dr Gwyn McClelland was included in the new Japan Past and Present Website that went live last week. Collaborators on the project were Sakatani Nobuko (Hisaka Island) and Oosaki Satsuki (Nakadori Island).

The Hidden Christian World Heritage in the Gotō project focuses on UNESCO Hidden Christian World Heritage sites in the Gotō Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, incorporating five interview transcripts in English and Japanese as well as their associated audio (totalling six participants). This project centers on oral history methodology in Japanese Studies and the preservation of Hidden Christian history and heritage in many forms. You can enter the site to browse.

CCH Research Grants

Our very popular CCH Grant Program is on again this year. We have changed the grant guidelines for 2024, so it is important that you read the new guidelines before you apply for a grant. Check out the guidelines and the application forms in our hub site.

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

Ann Curthoys Prize 2024

Applications are now OPEN for the Ann Curthoys Prize 2024. This prize is awarded for the best unpublished article-length work by an Early Career Researcher in any one or combination of the following fields in which Ann has published: Australian history; feminist history; Indigenous history; transnational/comparative/colonial history; and history and theory. The Prize is generously funded by Ann and the Australian Catholic University, the institution of the current History Australia editors. The winner will receive a cash prize, a citation in History Australia, and will be considered for publication in the journal. For any queries concerning this prize, get in touch with History Australia Editorial Assistant Karen Downing (karen.downing@anu.edu.au). More details are here.

2025 National Library Fellowships

Applications are now open for the 2025 Fellowships offered by the National Library of Australia. The National Library of Australia Fellowships program offers researchers an opportunity to undertake a 12-week residency at the Library. Applicants may work in any field or discipline where the Library’s collections have appropriate depth and breadth to support the desired outcomes. There are several new Fellowships available this year, including a Fellowship in Asian Studies and a Fellowship in Australian rural, regional or environmental history.

You can find out more information about the Fellowships here. Applications will close on 5th May.

Axon: Creative Explorations
Creative Writing, Place and History (Dec–Jan 2024-25 issue)

This issue of the Axon: Creative Explorations journal will explore the relationships and connections between Creative Writing, Place and History and will be published in the December–January 2024-25 issue.

The editors, Paul Hetherington and Cassandra Atherton, now invite 150-word abstracts for proposed articles related to the relationships and connections between Creative Writing, Place and History, which might include topics such as:

Poetry and place
Poetry and history
Genius Loci as a concept
Creative writing and the factual
Writing about ‘what actually happened’
Recreating histories
The relationship between truth, facts and invention
Visiting writing locations
Understanding the ‘other’ in other places
The creative use of documentary resources
Biography and creativity

Abstracts for articles on other related topics are also welcome.

All abstracts should be submitted by 30 April 2024 at Axon’s Submissions Manager. You can find more information here – CFP_Creative Writing Place and History_Axon Journal.

Australia-Korea Foundation Visiting Professor of Australian Studies 2024-25

The Australia-Korea Foundation Visiting Professor of Australian Studies 2024-25 is intended to enhance Australian-Korean relationships via a funded, 10-12 month visiting position at Seoul National University. You can find more information about the position here.

The International Australian Studies Association will be running the Australian part of the application and interview process: please direct any queries about the process to Prof. Anna Johnston, copying her assistant Josh Szymanski. The closing date is 15 April 2024.

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.