Coming to NEXTGATe forum on Failures & Letdowns (Monday 18 Aug #ESEH2025)? You may like this thoughtful paper (free to air Int Review of Env Hist) press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/pr... @wildpasts.bsky.social @mcookhistory.bsky.social @ncushing12.bsky.social @ruthamorgan.bsky.social

Our 6th 'Studies in North Queensland History' retrospective for @austhistassoc.bsky.social #AHA2025 @jcucase.bsky.social @jcuofficial.bsky.social is @ncushing12.bsky.social on "Arctic Regions In a Torrid Zone: The Ross River Meatworks 1892-1992 jculibrarynews.blogspot.com/2025/07/arct...

Would you want a pet’s life? https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-face-an-uncomfortable-truth-maybe-our-pampered-pets-would-be-better-off-without-us-256903

I recently reviewed the series "Eat the Invaders" for History Australia. It is a well made and thought provoking series hosted by the charming Tony Armstrong. I thought it could have gone further. Watch it here: iview.abc.net.au/show/eat-the... www.tandfonline.com/eprint/MWUCR...

Open Access article on "Crook Cook" and "Nazi Cook" - what to do about kitsch on a monumental scale in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. @clairebrennan.bsky.social @nikolasorr.bsky.social read.dukeupress.edu/radical-hist...

Taking up the mantle from the EHN started by @libbydeq.bsky.social, the Australian and Aotearoa NZ Environmental History Network brings together EH scholars, offers prizes and issues a regular newsletter. Join us!

It is that time of year again - the State Library of NSW Fellowships are open for applications. I am greatly enjoying my time as the Coral Thomas Fellow, and look forward to welcoming the next incumbent. Think about applying now. www.sl.nsw.gov.au/about/awards...

Another round coming in the US statue wars.

Spent the last couple of weeks at @slnsw looking for animals on detailed plans of Sydney city street blocks from 1880s to 1930s. Not much to see. Mainly the odd stable hidden away behind the street fronts. So then I visited the grand daddy of Sydney stables.

Top morning last Friday talking history with these legends and many others during a Museums of History NSW symposium at the Mint. Looking forward to joining efforts to connect historians working across the state. Photo © Joshua Morris for MHNSW.

Looking for historical animals in Sydney’s Centennial Park. And why historians need a stout pair of boots.

ECRs and HDRs: don't forget the AHA offers prizes and grants to help you get to the annual conference, help you with your research, and reward your stellar contributions! Check out the Awards and Prizes page for more info!

Is this happening in your place? Theft of plaques from monuments and memorials apparently for the value of the metal? Are the thieves unwitting allies of iconoclasts?

Which Australian bark are you?

“For researchers and developers alike, these findings offer a roadmap for improving AI’s understanding of global history, paving the way for tools that better support scholarly inquiry into the past.” Or, they indicate that some types of thinking are best done by humans, not by artifices.

There is some irony in seeing that my former colleague, the late Professor Lyndall RYAN AM, has been made an officer of the Order of Australia today "For distinguished service to tertiary education, particularly Indigenous history and colonial settlement through research and publications."

I have updated the Academic Workload Tracker for 2025. I strongly encourage all academics to track how long you actually work, and at what tasks. It's a crucial way to counter the deliberate wage-theft of obfuscatory university workload models. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

1940 bushfire poster from New South Wales linking them with the housing shortage that existed before the war and became much worse as it progressed, as resources were shifted to war purposes.

It is Christmas day here in Australia and as part of my bushfire series, what seems like a highly inappropriate way to wish someone Christmas joy.

In 1948, the Bush Fire Advisory Committee reminded the people of New South Wales of their Christian duty to provide stewardship to birds and animals. They put a strong emphasis on charismatic native species but didn't forget the economically important sheep in the background.

Citizen humanities for you to join in on.

Playing with perspective in this 1947 anti-bushfire poster. The white cuff and well groomed hand suggest this is a city dweller unfamiliar with the protocols that needed to be observed in the bush.

A series in the lead up to Christmas Australian-style. What is more seasonal than the threat of bushfires? Some cautionary posters from the NSW Rural Fire Service, starting with this tasteless one from 1946. All nicked from www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/ourstory/gal...

Great to see this recognition of historians working outside of the academy. Also, to see what the ABS says that we do. I would add “more than” before human history.

An ibis’s work is never done. At Sydney Botanic Gardens.

A simple message post the Riding Tide protest in Newcastle, Australia. But the ships keep coming and leaving a day later full of coal mainly bound for Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and China. More coal is exported here than through any other port. #coalmustfall.

Wild Life always seems to promise something different than wildlife does. The crocodilian binding suggests this book could go either way. 🐊

Public disappointment with universities has reached epidemic proportions. Christopher Newfield suggests the answer lies in redefining #HigherEducation around intellectual and social benefits, not monetary ones. Join us Mon, 11/18, @ 4pm EST on Zoom - register: websites.umass.edu/feinberg/nov... 🗃️

YES. See also the RHS report (come to think of it, @smidbob.bsky.social, might the RHS join us on here?) College/uni recruiters and university managers are working with a completely unrealistic picture of the world. files.royalhistsoc.org/wp-content/u...

Just a proof of life post as I have not been using this account. A bluebottle and a seagull on Newcastle Beach, Australia.