Well, this is very exciting to see! Volume 2 covers the first 80 trials out of Rabaul 1945-51, hence the (Part A) in the title. Volumes 3 and 4 will cover the remainder of the Rabaul trials.

It’s an academic thing!

There’s something quite disturbingly classist? Elitist? about this coverage of a junior doctor who allegedly was “involved” in a death in Fremantle. Do we get this level of attention for everyone “involved” in a death? No, it seems to me it’s entirely because he’s a university graduate and doctor ..

I was in the final peak of undergrads in Japanese Studies in the late 1990s and I have a PhD in Japanese Studies. There’s a reason I’m an A/Prof in a law school. Asian Studies hasn’t had sustainability in 25 years. It’s almost gone. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...

Honestly, what is up with the NAA RecordSearch? It's been getting slower and less responsive all week. Now, clicking on buttons like 'search' do not work, the search engine is failing to connect to the database and even if it does, it then times out! @austhistassoc.bsky.social

Just 🤷‍♀️ at the headline but 🤦🏻‍♀️ at the time it *apparently* took to notice they were gone.

I’m so pleased that my yelling on Twitter was partially responsible for the AHA pursuing this research on the role of the book to historians! theconversation.com/australians-...

It’s going to be interesting seeing the size of the bureaucracy that *will* be required to support this new watchdog not due to it actually be required 24/7 but to deal with the sov cits, vexatious litigants and other nutters who will bombard it.

Gah, NAA RecordSearch is down just when I need it for checking something.

Millionth example of why Google AI Overviews (indeed all Gen AIs) can't be trusted. Here is it confidently telling me that Shimokado Zentaro was an Imperial Japanese Navy officer who was tried at Rabaul for mistreating, starving and forcing labour upon POWs and the civilian population ... cont 2/

CFP: Workshop The Political Afterlives of Sexual Violence Allegations: The ICC as Case Study drive.google.com/file/d/1z8Ci...

Legendary. Birmingham, not Om. Or maybe that should be Birmingham on Om.

Celebrating the 80th anniversary of the International Court of Justice 🎉: a cornerstone of the international legal order. As proud host country, the Netherlands remains committed to peaceful dispute settlement and the rule of law. #ICJat80

I offered to revise and update the finding aid to the Papers of Sir William Flood Webb KBE Kt for the Australian War Memorial and it is now 'live'! This is the sole place where you can see the hundreds of pages draft opinion that he never submitted to the IMTFE in 1948 www.awm.gov.au/collection/a...

And we need Gen AI rules for judges too, not just bland PR statements about how a court or tribunal goes about selecting and purchasing AI systems. See my article last year: search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/...

Hallucinations—the other “H” index 🤦‍♂️

Images must be submitted as original photographs only. Kodak preferred.

Owing apologies all over the bloody country at this rate!

The Evacuations Research Hub @kaldorcentre.bsky.social at UNSW Law & Justice is excited to offer two PhD scholarships in law to examine the role of evacuations in different contexts. Applications due 18 May 2026; details here: www.unsw.edu.au/law-justice/...

Here is a PhD position in arts law at UNSW investigating AI, copyright and the private regulation of creativity. You'll work with the fantastic @kathybowrey.bsky.social and Louise Buckingham from the Arts Law Centre of Australia, wider team myself and Marie Hadley. www.unsw.edu.au/law-justice/...

Oh boy do I have thoughts. Buckle up buckaroos, we're going to take some broadsides at legal academia.

Now let’s hope we see an Australian court follow suit. And also refer the lawyers for misconduct investigation leading to being struck off. Someone(s) need to be struck off for the lesson to sink in.

Vale Mason CJ. He was such a towering figure on the High Court when I was a law student. Critiqued for activism but really he and his fellow judges were just ahead of the community in recognising the inevitability of necessary change. www.smh.com.au/national/for...

Ongoing apologies for this one it seems www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Apologies to Queenslanders in advance www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Well. This would be hard to improve. The rage is bubbling off it.

To celebrate our 50th volume, JAS invites you to contribute to a special issue on (the Journal of) Australian Studies at 50. Please see the CFP below for details - and please circulate it far and wide! @intlausstudies.bsky.social #CFP #OzStudies #OzLit #OzHist #auspol #AustralianStudies

Let’s hope so? No sympathy here for either but it sounds like a marvellous opportunity for someone to return for their hat. www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-a...

Keeping in mind that reading at night in 1908 is mostly still by gas light or candle light, although electricity is on the way in in Australia. So yes, reading probably did induce eye strain issues, no matter who it was.

The Epstein files name prominent Australians and senior US and UK officials. I’m calling on the Australian Government to order an independent review for survivors, for accountability, and for our national security. No one is above the law. Full statement 👇

Extreme lawful evil is a pub with dense paragraphs with 1 footnote at the end of each and ~10+ sources sans page now. It’s the height of arrogance from established scholars meaning the sources are impeccably there but it’s a degree’s worth of reading to find the specific source for one point.

Every word of this is perfection.

Including me!

Delighted to become FRHistS on my 50th birthday!

Of course they do. Symptomatic of the election displays of $$$ empathy with tradies and ghosting of nurses, educators and carers. Yes, I know, not all men or women in either category.

Not a word apart from the backing track but you know exactly what it’s about. The arts are powerful. No wonder every tinpot dictator hates the arts. Kudos.

Congratulations to last night’s Curtin Uni graduates, especially all the law and business law grads.

I think he’d be among all the tech execs, current or former, to shriek for excellent legal representation if he needed it. But, by all means dude, consider representing yourself because you don’t consider sustained effort worthwhile.

This is awesomely fun reading. Also check out the transcript of the “on oath” discussion between the lawyer and the court that someone posted in the comments.

Now if only my name was Nicole … 🤔

Astounding. I learned to ocean swim in and around Dunsborough as a kid through seaweed and stingers. I regularly do 1 km in a pool. 4 km through those waters at age 13 is some strength of stamina and will. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

Today is the birthday of Sir William Flood Webb, born in South Brisbane on 21 Jan 1887. During WW2 he served as the Australian judge and President of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. This is the earliest photograph I have of him, as a newly appointed judge in 1925.

So “Stanger Things” [sic] is one of the most watched Netflix shows ever but apparently we still must ask the question: is being a geek cool? This was stale and tired stereotyping in the 1980s! www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

What a conference to be! I’ll be submitting an abstract but on what? So many ideas! 🤷‍♀️

Who is “the woman”? As opposed to whom exactly? Is gender relevant to being a royal commissioner? How about titling her correctly too? Honestly ABC News, do better!

*That hat* must surely now count amongst the most expensive headwear of modern times. At least the High Court will be the end of the line. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

Fascinating thread here on issues that I’ve pondered, albeit in the Australian context, not US. Corollary issues include legal academics wading into public advocacy for law reform completely outside their areas of expertise but always not so quietly pointing to their role.

Farewell to 2025 from Falcon WA. Happy NYE to all and sincerely hoping the next quarter century is an improvement.