My keynote, from the just-finished Labour History conference 'The Spirit of 1975' at Melbourne Trades Hall, part of the Congress of HASS. The Dismissal from below, on Inside Story inside.org.au/the-dismissa...

Delighted that the University of Canberra has announced my appointment as Donald Horne Professor of History and Public Ideas, and Director of UC's new Vice-Chancellor's Centre of Public Ideas. Looking forward to developing this exciting initiative from early 2026. www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/med...

My colleagues and I are embarking on the first history of grandparenting in Australia, you can be involved too grandparentsaustralia.net

Excited to be part of this incredible team writing the first history of grandparenting in Australia! grandparentsaustralia.net

The Canberra Writers Festival begins this week (22-26 October 2025). I'll be in conversation with David Day on Bob Hawke on Sunday, but it is only one event in a rich program! Tickets available for many events at multiple venues. Check them out at: tickets.canberrawritersfestival.com.au/Events

Hugh Mackay - one of our wisest - and the splendid Alex Sloan are in conversation at the ANU on Monday, 3 November at 6pm on Hugh's beaut "Just Saying: Exploring twenty-five remarkable quotations to enlighten, challenge and inspire." Free, but bookings at: events.humanitix.com/meet-the-aut...

Much looking forward to this conversation with David Day on his new Bob Hawke biography at the Canberra Writers Festival (Museum of Australian Democracy) on Sunday, 26 October. Bookings for all events available at: It's going to be a brilliant Festival! www.canberrawritersfestival.com.au

Can you help us boost this signal? UTS colleagues are doing a governance project to talk back to the consultant led 'reform' of their university. Please repost!! UTS people please have your say! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

*Call for papers!* The Children’s History Society, Fifth Biennial Conference 'Space, Place, Belonging and Identity in Intergenerational Histories of Childhood and Youth ' To be held at the University of Sheffield, 1-3 July 2026. Details here: www.histchild.org/pages/sheffi...

Spotted in the wild at the State Library of NSW bookshop - congrats Emily @as-ruby.bsky.social #books #historyofchildhood #history #huzzah

So delighted to see 'Playtime' reviewed by Marian Quartly alongside 'Fathering' and its stellar collective of authors!

Flinders University has abolished the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Another destructive restructure is about to happen.

Join us at 6pm Tuesday 23 September at UTS in Sydney for this one! Places still available. events.humanitix.com/a-new-austra...

Canberra friends, don't miss this opportunity to celebrate the launch of brilliant childhood historian Emily Gallagher's new book!

In her new book, Dr Emily Gallagher, a historian at the ANU, charts the history of childhood play and imagination in pre-war Australia — bringing age to the centre of historical analysis as a critical category alongside class, gender and ethnicity. Read 👉 humanities.org.au/power-of-the...

In Canberra next week? Come along and celebrate the launch of Playtime 🧸 Delighted to have Play School actress & singer Justine Clarke launch the book! 🗓️ 22 September, 6pm 📍 ANU Harry Hartog

In Canberra next week? Come along and celebrate the launch of Playtime 🧸 Delighted to have Play School actress & singer Justine Clarke launch the book! 🗓️ 22 September, 6pm 📍 ANU Harry Hartog

For a project I am working on - how do you think John Howard fundamentally changed Australia - what did he do that we are still feeling the effects of? (Housing, immigration debates, loss of workers rights, black arm band of history, jingoism etc) Really interested in your takes.

Melbourne Uni needs to explain this bullshit. This is destroying critical cultural infrastructure. Unimelb axing Meanjin, ANU scuttling the Australian National Dictionary Centre, and then universities wonder why they can’t seem to exert any influence over the national discourse.

Please sign and share this petition for ANU Council to: 🛑Stop forced redundancies 🛑Stop proposed school/center closures and amalgamations 🛑Sack the Chancellor and VC It’s open not only to students and staff but also to all members of the broader ANU community. nteu.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT...

ANU School of History invites applications for a PhD scholarship to research the Communist Party of Australia, 1970-91. The project continues the work of the late Prof Stuart Macintyre and is valued at AU$100,000 over a four year period. programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/program/9520... #phavictas

My book is available for preorder @melvillehouse.bsky.social! It’s about The Hite Report—the 50M-copy feminist sexology bestseller—its wild, visionary author Shere Hite and culture wars then and now. Out April '26! mhpbooks.com/books/the-bo...

ANU and the Search Foundation are offering a PhD with $100,000 top up to complete the final (1970-91) volume of the history of the Communist Party of Australia. 👇

I am one of the staff members impacted by this. I truly thought when I first read the email that it might mean my job is safe because I have not yet been made redundant, but, no, I am still facing the axe. It was a maliciously cruel email to send.

Chancel Culture, David Pope

Your support is needed - sign the petition opposing the Job-ready Graduates Scheme www.openpetition.org/au/petition/... @austhistassoc.bsky.social

If you would like to add your voice in support, you can sign here: url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/w2nbCBNqgB...

More than 100 high-profile and distinguished Australians -and BA graduates- have signed the @austhistassoc.bsky.social open letter calling for the repeal of Job-Ready Graduates: a policy that punishes humanities students with life-changing debts: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

No country for historians. History matters but not to this government and this Minister who was himself once a historian. Et tu, Brute! 25 years ago the Ministry (my first job as a historian) was a powerhouse and now just a shadow. #HistoryMatters #history www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

We 💜 #ANU students. Students led yesterday's incredible rally, and School of Music students have staged an all-night concert until this morning. Well done to #Woroni covering it. @nteunion.bsky.social members know that staff working conditions are student learning conditions.

"Who else will nurture and defend the languages, cultures and histories of this continent, who else will tell the life stories of this place, who else will cultivate our capacity to share a common reference point of understanding?" @ausdictionarybiog.bsky.social insidestory.org.au/the-jewel-in...

ADB team members @michellestaff.bsky.social & @as-ruby.bsky.social have reviewed the National Library of Australia's Fit to Print exhibition for @historyaustralia.bsky.social 📸 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 📷 Women playing rugby, 1930, NLA

Never mind that they're the top ranked anthropologists in Australia, and in the top ten in the world. This is how they're treated

Read Prof Bongiorno’s full response to the CASS change proposal here: shorturl.at/VBhCO We have published it alongside other staff feedback on ANU CMPs. We welcome everyone to publicly share their own responses to ANU cuts (anonymously if you prefer) by emailing them to: [email protected]

Rally tomorrow 12pm. We’re protesting ANU cuts. Come join us and make some noise! And at 1pm come hear personal stories of senseless cheap cuts at the arts and social sciences people’s town hall. ✊

This is such cultural and intellectual vandalism. The Australian National Dictionary Centre is straightforwardly the sort of thing a national university worthy of the designation would support and sustain

'[T]he proposed closure of long-standing national infrastructure and capabilities—including the Humanities Research Centre, the European Studies Centre, and the Australian National Dictionary Centre...represents the loss of irreplaceable national assets.' humanities.org.au/news/alarm-o...

ANU executives spent $11M on travel, in the latest available reporting year. This year, ANU college of arts and social sciences is being forced to cut $6.1M. Make this make sense. vimeo.com/1098376260/f...

We've teamed up with the @nationalmuseumaus.bsky.social to produce a special entry on the creator of Mr Squiggle, Norman Hetherington 🎨 Have a read, then check out the exhibition Mr Squiggle and Friends: The Creative World of Norman Hetherington adb.anu.edu.au/biography/he... 📷 NMA

Next month the National Centre of Biography is teaming up with Harry Hartog for an in-conversation event all about Dr Kerrie Davies' new book, Miles Franklin Undercover. Register to attend now 👇 www.harryhartog.com.au/blogs/author... @kerriecanwrite.bsky.social @michellestaff.bsky.social

Finding and telling the stories of LGBTQI+ people from the past can be challenging, especially when the archives are full of silences. But, as Sylvia Martin shows, it can be done 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pa... 📷 Aileen Palmer ANU Archives

I'm excited to share details about The Identifying Precarious Victorian Oral History Collections Project! This project is identifying & creating a list of precarious oral history collections held in Victoria, Australia. Tell us about your collection via www.precariousoralhistories.com #oralhistory

Postdoc opportunity. Please distribute widely. We’re looking for an emerging scholar doing community-centred or community-led research in Pacific History. Minimal teaching duties, research, relocation funds and visa sponsorship available. usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/USYD_E...

This analysis of the election by Frank Bongiorno is perfect. Will the Liberals listen? I doubt it. insidestory.org.au/are-the-libe...

“Much has changed since the nuclear power discussions of the 1950s, 60s and even 70s. But the similarities between those debates and the one we are having today are stark.” Jessica Irwin on seventy on-again, off-again years…

🚨OUT NOW🚨 "Great history combines warm-heartedness and cool appraisal. Peter Woodley brings both to this superb history of the place of his own origins, the farmlands of the Dubbo district" — @frankbongiorno.bsky.social Purchase a copy or download doi.org/10.22459/WAF...

If you have 10 mins and want to watch real Edwardian women talk about their experiences of being teenagers at the turn of the century, then this is for you. youtu.be/pv6V1yHvJyo?...

ANU’s latest scandal shows us why transparency is so important, and where to start. New from @jack-thrower.bsky.social and @joshuablackjb.bsky.social ⤵️

Announcing our first seminar for the year! Friday 28 March, 1-2pm AEDT, on Zoom. Anna Gilderdale, Edgar Liao and Nell Musgrove will discuss "The Challenges of Researching the Histories of Childhood and Youth." ChiYHA is a network of scholars in Australasia working on children's and youth history.