The figurative gods are looking out for me. I am writing a book review that I thought needed to be 800 words, but I have written 1010 (and will be difficult to reduce). I just checked the original request and, lo and behold, they've actually asked for 1000 words. Me right now:

Amazing History of Medicine PhD scholarship opportunity at the University of Newcastle (Australia), part of Prof Cathy Coleborne's ARC grant on Australian experiences of polio: www.newcastle.edu.au/study/resear...

Happy to share my new book 'Quiet Protest: A New History of Activism during the Vietnam War', which will be published by UNSW Press on 1 April 2026.

Nanas joined a packed public gallery today at NSW Parliament House as Kobi Shetty gave a powerful second reading to repeal NSw protest laws. NSW stands condemned by the UN, human rights lawyers and organisations for its anti-protest laws. The worst in Australia.

Just spent the first bit of my last day of work before a couple of weeks of annual leave (to visit Greece before going to the EAHMH conference in Berlin) setting the automatic reply on my work email.

Josh Lees this morning on Channel 9’s the Today show speaking about the March for Humanity on the Sydney Harbour Bridge today for Palestine and Palestinians. (Apologies for the blurry photo, I was on a treadmill when I took it) 🇵🇸👏🏼

The attempts by the NSW ALP government to block the pro-Palestine protest on the Sydney Harbour Bridge this weekend has so many parallels with the second Vietnam Moratorium rally of 30 September 1970, when activists attempted many times to work with police so they could show...(1/2)

Thank you to @theconversation.com for sharing the open letter calling for @albomp.bsky.social to repeal Job-Ready Graduates. theconversation.com/top-australi...

Please sign this open letter urging the Federal Government to remove unrealistic assumptions about ‘job-ready’ graduates from the future vision of Australia, as well as onerous fees on students who want to study all-important Arts degrees. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Well this is quite exciting: Michel Foucault’s personal library has been catalogued and will be searchable online from this September eman-archives.org/Foucault-fic... 🗃

MEDIA RELEASE: A National Crisis in HASS The Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) has issued a public call for urgent action in response to widespread cuts to staff, programs and entire disciplines across Australian universities. chass.org.au/docs.ashx?id...

The first hors d’oeuvre I was offered at the Australia and New Zealand Society for the History of Medicine conference dinner tonight was…Beef Wellington. 😬

If Napoleon Bonaparte was still around, he would be absolutely loving this.

See, what I’m mainly interested in is how the Erin Patterson case is going to influence the popularity of Beef Wellington as a dinner option. I know that if I was having a dinner party this week, I’d be tempted to make it for a laugh (although I don’t expect my guests would enjoy the joke).

Knitting Nannas at last nights Sydney premiere of @risingtideaus.bsky.social new film “Turning the Tide”. 100’s showed up adding to the “swell” of us wanting more #ClimateAction from NSW government that must include a stop to more gas and coal mine extensions and approvals. 🌡️🔥🌊 🥵

Lake Macquarie (NSW) this morning!

A fun lunch today w some of the brilliant historians who taught into the UofNewcastle 700+ student topic HIST1051: The Australian Experience that I convene. Pictured: Pearl Nunn, Rob Wyse, Srishti Guha & Laura Ticehurst (only half of the full team)! I’m very lucky to work with these amazing people 👏🏼

Over the past year, Cathy Coleborne, Elizabeth Roberts-Pedersen, Ann Hardy, Robyn Dunlop & I have been examinin the health-related archives of Merv & Janet Copley, Newcastle unionists and CPA members, & here is one of the outcomes! The image is from a UON health services poster from the 90s.

The black swans are back on Lake Macquarie! A picture from my walk this morning.

Last night we were treated to a screening of Mary Zournazi’s fabulous documentary Dogs of Democracy at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music, plus a Q&A afterwards hosted by our wonderful University of Newcastle HCISS Head of School Kate Nash. 👏🏼👏🏼

Obsessed with this hilariously mundane letter to the editor of the Argus (dated 28 March 1944) that I found while looking for something else. Is this the equivalent of posting on Twitter/IG/Facebook when a company disappoints you?

"once criticism of Israel is conflated with antisemitism … you’ve successfully manufactured the catalogue of silenced artists we have witnessed in recent years.” @louiseadler1.bsky.social #auspol www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Flying over Sydney this morning:

Friends, if you are free on Friday morning I will be speaking at Flinders University and online about war trauma and the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide (in the same room I first presented as an Honours and PhD student some years ago). Here is the flyer - DM me for more details.

Ep of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo playing at the gym showed a crowd throwing confetti on a bride & groom, interspersed w shots of Skippy having confetti thrown on him (imagine being the person having to confetti Skippy?) then wiping off the confetti using a tiny fake paw. I laughed out loud #poorskippy

A call from Zora Simic, Jordy Silverstein and Ben Silverstein for historians to take up the cause for Palestine and oppose the genocide we are all seeing unfold in front of our eyes. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Congratulations to AHA member Effie Karageorgos for the publication of her new collection "Critical Mental Health in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand", co-edited with Natalie Ann Hendry. Take a look by following the link! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

High Art.

My copies of our book finally arrived! Thanks again to all the amazing authors whose work has made this book so insightful and thoughtful.

Not a bad view on a walk before a frantically busy day.

Medicine on a Larger Scale is available OA now from @cambridgeup.bsky.social at www.cambridge.org/core/books/m... Also available in print at a discount according to this flyer #histstm #socmed #histmed #STS

Does everyone else also spend the 15 minute wait after getting the flu/COVID vaccination in sheer panic that anaphylaxis is going to begin at any minute, or are you all functioning/non-hypochondriacal members of society?

The University of Newcastle Callaghan campus is so pretty, even on rainy days.

On this momentous day I’d like to remind everyone of this iconic photo from the 2019 election - when Abbott lost Waringah to Zali Steggall. I wonder if we’ll see a similar result in Dickson today? Happy voting everyone! (Sorry I don’t know who took this!)

Since COVID I've asked my 1st year Austn history students to think about similarities between the Depression & COVID period (job losses, social welfare etc) & this is the first year where students seem to be viewing the COVID lockdowns etc as 'historical events'. This makes me feel younger than ever

🙋‍♀️ in TC’s Anzac Day Friday Essay - it’s time to listen to the voices of soldiers and veterans who turned against war and fascism #Anzac #OzHistory

Our co-edited book has been published in Palgrave's Politics of Mental Health and Illness series (edited by Bruce M.Z. Cohen), w chapters on Māori mental health, depathologisation of trans health, community mental health, digitalisation of mental health & more /1 link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Lots of love and support and everything good to all my trans and gender diverse friends (and anyone else I don’t know). You are all amazing ❤️

📣 ECR OPPORTUNITY 📣 In collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Histories, we are offering 10 Writing Fellowships for ECRs! Fellows will write one opinion piece and one policy briefing note, mentored by academics from the CCH and APH. Deadline: 10 May 2025 Info: aph.org.au/2025/04/aust...

Today I’m speaking to the History & Philosophy of Science group at Melb Uni about how Vietnam veterans self-advocated by skilfully positioning their diagnosis & experience of PTSD between medical & social models of mental illness so as to ensure quality of life. Details: www.hpsunimelb.org/seminars

I’m so looking forward to this: I’ll be focusing on public servant activists and Liberal Party supporters who opposed the war in Vietnam.

I was just writing, in a message to a friend, the words 'anti-Tr*mp', which for some reason auto-correct changed to Auntie Trump, and I don't think I've read anything more appropriate. Bravo auto-correct!

This is an absolutely crucial piece of history that needs to be preserved. If you can donate, the link is here: www.gofundme.com/f/preserve-u...

Our team is recruiting a PhD scholar for our ARC Discovery research project on news media and diversity, focusing on experiences of marginalised workers, including Indigenous, LGBTIQA+ and disabled individuals. Rather timely -- in ways we hoped it wouldn't be! Info: www.mq.edu.au/research/phd...

In studying the NSW anti-Vietnam War mvmt, I've noticed that there were surprisingly larger numbers involved from these groups: 1. Veterans 2. CEOs of transport companies 3. People called Ken Needless to say, this isn't a major argument in my upcoming book, but something to be said nonetheless.

My view from dinner last night (it was my birthday!)

DEADLINE!!! Don't forget to submit your paper or panel proposal for #EAHMH25 in Berlin by March 10. It's going to be a fantastic conference with keynotes @historyelaine.bsky.social , Projit Mukharji and Birgit Nemec. More information and link to submission site at eahmh25.org #histmed #histSTM

The AHA Executive Committee has issued a statement in response to the proposed definition of antisemitism put forward by Universities Australia. Read the full statement here:

The ARC Board has proposed a major shake-up of the National Competitive Grants Program ▶️ www.arc.gov.au/engage-us/co... I've only skimmed so far, but they propose reducing 13 grant schemes to 6, with intent & scope in the table👇 Submissions are being accepted in response until 13 April. Get to it!

This semester the UON course I teach (HIST1051: The Australian Experience) has over 700 students, which means so so so many emails, but this year to avoid exhaustion-by-typing I've started using the speech to text button on Outlook and it is INCREDIBLE. Recommend. 5 stars. 10/10.