Treating Criminals from Shore to Ship: Public Health, Humanitarianism and Convict Transportation. This project aims to explore the impact that penal reforms had on the diet and health of convicts on land and at sea. It intends to establish the extent to which the remarkable record of health amongst prisoners transported to Australia (monthly death rates were half those for fare paying trans-Atlantic passengers) can be attributed to their treatment prior to embarkation. The project aims to resul ....Treating Criminals from Shore to Ship: Public Health, Humanitarianism and Convict Transportation. This project aims to explore the impact that penal reforms had on the diet and health of convicts on land and at sea. It intends to establish the extent to which the remarkable record of health amongst prisoners transported to Australia (monthly death rates were half those for fare paying trans-Atlantic passengers) can be attributed to their treatment prior to embarkation. The project aims to result in new ways of communicating history to diverse audiences using innovative data visualisations.Read moreRead less
Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Austr ....Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Australia’s largest cities are under growing pressure from environmental change and population growth. Project findings will inform the development of policies and practices that produce sustainable, equitable urban water systems.Read moreRead less
Imagining the National Story: Australian history reconsidered. Australian history has been revised and reinterpreted by successive generations of historians, writers, governments and public commentators. However, there has been no systematic attempt to trace Australian historiography from its earliest origins to the contests dominating public historical discussion today. This project responds to this critical gap in Australian historical research and proposes a bold and expansive history that ex ....Imagining the National Story: Australian history reconsidered. Australian history has been revised and reinterpreted by successive generations of historians, writers, governments and public commentators. However, there has been no systematic attempt to trace Australian historiography from its earliest origins to the contests dominating public historical discussion today. This project responds to this critical gap in Australian historical research and proposes a bold and expansive history that examines the changing and contested project of Australia’s national story for the first time and aims to make a significant contribution to Australian historical scholarship and understandings of the practice of history itself.Read moreRead less
The Australian Council of Trade Unions in the Making of Modern Australia. This project brings political, economic and social history together with a feminist analysis to explore the Australian Council of Trade Unions' significance in shaping modern Australia. Positioned within a national framework of labour politics and economic restructuring, and an international context of Cold War adversarialism, the project goes beyond the ACTU's key role in workplace bargaining to an assessment of its inte ....The Australian Council of Trade Unions in the Making of Modern Australia. This project brings political, economic and social history together with a feminist analysis to explore the Australian Council of Trade Unions' significance in shaping modern Australia. Positioned within a national framework of labour politics and economic restructuring, and an international context of Cold War adversarialism, the project goes beyond the ACTU's key role in workplace bargaining to an assessment of its international profile and the impact on the organisation of a feminising labour market and emergent women’s leadership. In an innovative study that highlights the Hawke era to show the ACTU's history as one of transition to governance, we aim to reveal the potential of the Australian labour movement to effect change. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100317
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$434,895.00
Summary
Chinese Business: economic and social survival in white Australia,1870-1940. This project aims to uncover the social and cultural significance of Chinese economic activity in Australia. Documenting enterprises that Chinese migrants pursued, under conditions that restricted non-white immigration and labour, it seeks to offer the first national account of the strategies these migrants used to pursue collective economic interests. Large datasets are needed to reveal this. Court archives will be use ....Chinese Business: economic and social survival in white Australia,1870-1940. This project aims to uncover the social and cultural significance of Chinese economic activity in Australia. Documenting enterprises that Chinese migrants pursued, under conditions that restricted non-white immigration and labour, it seeks to offer the first national account of the strategies these migrants used to pursue collective economic interests. Large datasets are needed to reveal this. Court archives will be used to investigate Chinese agricultural and remittance economies, re-centering Chinese Australians in the nation's history. Benefits include the digitisation of these records, expected to form a major online archive accessible to descendants and future researchers, whose economic activity buttressed Australian prosperity.Read moreRead less
Wild cities: an environmental history of urban nature in Australia. This project aims to understand relationships between people and nature in modern cities through their history. In an increasingly urbanised world, nature in cities is crucial for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, but today’s urban wildlife, trees and reserves—and residents’ relationships with them—are legacies of a largely unknown past. By providing insights into the drivers of urban residents’ everyday relation ....Wild cities: an environmental history of urban nature in Australia. This project aims to understand relationships between people and nature in modern cities through their history. In an increasingly urbanised world, nature in cities is crucial for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, but today’s urban wildlife, trees and reserves—and residents’ relationships with them—are legacies of a largely unknown past. By providing insights into the drivers of urban residents’ everyday relationships with nature from 1880-2020 and engaging the public through historical narratives, the research will inform current urban greening, conservation and restoration projects and policy. The project expects to promote urban sustainability and produce vital new insights into changing urban cultures and environments.Read moreRead less
Postwar Russian displaced persons arriving in Australia via the China route. This transnational project plans to study Russian and Russian-speaking Jewish refugees who came to Australia via the ‘China’ route (mainly from Harbin and Shanghai) after World War Two. In Australia, they coexisted with the former Soviet citizens ‘displaced persons’ of Russian, Ukrainian and Baltic nationality who reached Australia via Europe. Their pre-war experiences led many of the refugees to be strongly anti-Commun ....Postwar Russian displaced persons arriving in Australia via the China route. This transnational project plans to study Russian and Russian-speaking Jewish refugees who came to Australia via the ‘China’ route (mainly from Harbin and Shanghai) after World War Two. In Australia, they coexisted with the former Soviet citizens ‘displaced persons’ of Russian, Ukrainian and Baltic nationality who reached Australia via Europe. Their pre-war experiences led many of the refugees to be strongly anti-Communist, but a minority were not, and became subjects of interest both to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Soviet KGB. The project plans to investigate their trajectories of exile, migration and settlement, and the impact of this refugee experience on the development of Australian anti-communism in the 1950s.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100578
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$308,820.00
Summary
Aristotle's Australia: Civic Republicanism from Federation to the Apology. This project seeks to examine the impact of civic republican ideas in Australia. It will be argued that civic republicanism represents a unique understanding of freedom and that these ideas have shaped the national consciousness. Can the cult of White Australia, the conscription debates, the campaigns for women’s and Indigenous rights be better understood through the prism of civic republicanism? Building on significant r ....Aristotle's Australia: Civic Republicanism from Federation to the Apology. This project seeks to examine the impact of civic republican ideas in Australia. It will be argued that civic republicanism represents a unique understanding of freedom and that these ideas have shaped the national consciousness. Can the cult of White Australia, the conscription debates, the campaigns for women’s and Indigenous rights be better understood through the prism of civic republicanism? Building on significant revisionist works, this project plans to examine key moments in Australia's democratic evolution and suggest that an Aristotelian concept of virtue, in opposition to both liberalism and conservatism, has been a crucial defining factor. This project aims to broaden our understanding of Australian history and the principles that shape our democracy.Read moreRead less
Russian Immigrants and Anti-Communism in Cold War Australia, 1946-1966. The project explores the experience of Russian immigrants in Australia during the Cold War. It examines the ambiguity and complexity of what it meant to be Russian at a time of heightened anti-Soviet and anti-Communist sentiment, when ‘Red’ and ‘Russian’ were often equated, and when ASIO took a keen interest in the Russian migrant community. The project will generate new knowledge in the fields of immigration and politics, b ....Russian Immigrants and Anti-Communism in Cold War Australia, 1946-1966. The project explores the experience of Russian immigrants in Australia during the Cold War. It examines the ambiguity and complexity of what it meant to be Russian at a time of heightened anti-Soviet and anti-Communist sentiment, when ‘Red’ and ‘Russian’ were often equated, and when ASIO took a keen interest in the Russian migrant community. The project will generate new knowledge in the fields of immigration and politics, by exploring the factors that influence political activism for newly arrived migrants and diasporas. Expected outcomes of the project include a deepened knowledge of Australia’s Cold War and immigrant politics, and important benefits for Australian understanding of migrants who carried significant political baggage.Read moreRead less
Red Dirt Dreaming: Re-Imagining the History of Mining in Australia. The resources boom, and slowdown, have once again placed mining at the centre of the Australian economy and consciousness. Mining is a milieu of profound paradox, with changing national/international contexts and competing interests. The story of mineral exploration and exploitation thus demands fresh assessments of its social, cultural and political impact in Australia. This timely history of Australian mining examines the comp ....Red Dirt Dreaming: Re-Imagining the History of Mining in Australia. The resources boom, and slowdown, have once again placed mining at the centre of the Australian economy and consciousness. Mining is a milieu of profound paradox, with changing national/international contexts and competing interests. The story of mineral exploration and exploitation thus demands fresh assessments of its social, cultural and political impact in Australia. This timely history of Australian mining examines the complex interactions of people, land and governments and explores historical actors previously silenced—Aborigines, women, ethnic minorities and environmentalists—thereby providing an innovative new narrative of the multiple and diverse historical protagonists and processes created by Australia’s mighty geological windfall.Read moreRead less