History End-of-Year Review, 2023

Historians in the News – a quick summary

In 2023 our historians have graced TV screens, written in print media, and broadcast the past on radio. Noteworthy are Cindy McCreery, Marco Duranti, and James Curran’s manymedia engagements (local, nation, and international) including James’s work as International Editor at the Financial Review. A special highlight was the ABC’s Natasha Mitchell hosting Chris Hilliard and Niro Kandasamy for the Challis Lecture in History at a packed-out event broadcast on Radio National’s Big Ideas program. 2023 also witnessed the creation of five history podcasts, titled “History of University Life – Whose University? Whose Culture?”, “Monarchy in Peril”, “An Australian World”, “Making Sense of History” and “Speaking of History”. For lovers of art, John Gagné presented in the popular Art Appreciation lecture program at the Art Gallery of NSW. While on campus, History on Wednesday seminars continued to engage audiences from within and outside the university. The discipline’s commitment to outreach continued through the History Extension Mentoring Program. The 2024 program kicked off in November with an enthusiastic uptake from regional high schools. Looking ahead to the new year, two major public events are on the horizon; Professor N. Bruce Duthu (Dartmouth) will be running a public screening of his Emmy award winning documentary ‘Dawnland’ and a public workshop on narrating stories in refugee and Indigenous communities in March, and Professor Chris Clark (Cambridge) will deliver the Ward Lecture in May.

Historians and their Craft

David Brophy: I finished up the editing (all 1000+ pages!) of some WWII diaries I’ve been working on, which have now been published as A Decade in Sino-Soviet Diplomacy: The Diaries of Liu Zerong 1940-49 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023). I had a journal article accepted as part of a special issue on the concept of the “Persianate” for the Papers of the Modern Language Association and submitted another article to ReOrient: The Journal of Critical Muslim Studies.A couple of book chapters also came out in 2023. One was part of a project with Japanese colleagues on “Historical Narratives and the Utilization of the Past in Central Asia”. The other was a chapter in Ben Kiernan’s Cambridge World History of Genocide, on mass killings during the Qing empire’s expansion into Central Asia. As part of an international group project on “Sects and Sectarianism in Chinese Islam” I was lucky enough to participate in workshops in Tokyo (January) and Riyadh (December), with the group working towards a special issue on this theme in 2024.

Roberto Chauca: I, for the first time, coordinated two units, including my own HSTY2719 and was also part of co-teaching teams in two first-year units, INGS1004 and HSTY1002. An article is forthcoming in Cartographica, journal published by the University of Toronto Press. In November I was invited to lead a seminar at The Amazon Basin as Connecting Borderland symposium organised by the Getty Foundation and colleagues from universities in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. I was also accepted to participate in the First Book Workshop in Map History at the Newberry Library in Chicago, USA and in the Fourth World Congress in Environmental History in Oulu, Norway, in February and August 2024, respectively.

Frances Clarke: I spent the first half of the year in the U.S., on long service leave, trying to catch up on a few projects delayed during covid. Our book came out in January (Frances M. Clarke and Rebecca Jo Plant, Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in Civil War America, New York: Oxford, 2023). We wrote half a dozen blog posts and short pieces to publicize this work and have done seven or eight interviews so far. My collaborator, one of her students, and I also spent several months completing a document project for classroom use, consisting of a dozen letters written by poor women during the Civil War along with an accompanying article: Cayla Regas, Rebecca Jo Plant, and Frances M. Clarke, “‘Do not toss this letter away’: Women’s Hardship Petitions to the U.S. Federal Government during the Civil War,” Women and Social Movements in the United States 1600-2000. (Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street, 2023). I’m also part-way through an ARC discovery project with a number of collaborators, which focuses on the aftermath of war from the Napoleonic era to WWII. We had an article accepted earlier in the year in English Historical Review and we completed several additional chapters of our co-authored book. Coming back to teaching in second semester, I taught a first year American history unit, and a history workshop, as well as running the postgraduate seminar. Now I’m looking forward to starting something new.

James Curran: After spending the first half of the year on long service leave, I commenced a 0.6 position as International editor at the Australian Financial Review (AFR), where I write a weekly column on geopolitics and longer pieces/reviews/ essays for the Weekend AFR. I have also published a long essay in Australian Foreign Affairs on the narrative of the China ‘threat’ and in November was inducted into the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences. I also began a podcast for the discipline and faculty on the history of Australia’s relations with the world (to be released in February and available wherever you get your podcast:) and also signed a book contract with Simon & Schuster for a study of Paul Keating’s foreign policy as PM. During the year I also wrote a number of longer commentaries for Australian Book Review, appeared on the 730 Report and other ABC and local radio nations, and attended and spoke at a conference in Singapore on the Chinese economy. I also spoke at the annual conference of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

Marco Duranti: Chris Hilliard and I had an article accepted in the Law and History Review on the birching of youth on the Isle of Man. All of us in History collectively won a couple of education awards thanks to Mike McDonnell. I sold out to the mainstream media. My daughter dressed up as a ‘Bluey Monster’ for Halloween and my son succeeded in getting me to watch horror movies with him.

James Findlay: The through-line for this year has been the efforts to finish my first book. A process that could be summarised by the attached drawing my 8-year old son did. I’m happy to say that as of yesterday the last sentence of the last chapter was written. Intro and conclusion still to come, but the submission date looms, and it’s beginning to feel veryreal. Other research work in 2023 included a chapter in an edited collection, Writing Australian History on Screen, and jointly writing an article with a colleague at Deakin University on the controversy generated by the BBC historical television series Banished. I was lucky enough to travel to Paris (sigh) on a successful Partnership Collaboration Award between USYD and the Sorbonne University titled ‘Surveillance Imaginaries’. We also hosted some wonderful French scholars in Sydney in Sept and introduced them to the competitive world of Australian pub trivia. Teaching this year meant coordinating first, second, and third-year Australian history subjects. Extra-curricular activities such as an excursion to Cockatoo Island (thanks Kirsten and Brad!), weekly Australian history film screenings and (very nearly) having students’ work featured in this year’s Vivid festival added further excitement to each semester. I was also thrilled to have my first two honours students Liz Bowmer and Alice Tompson submit their theses. Their work is brilliant and I’m so very proud of their efforts. Guest teaching included lecturing for the Master of Museum and Heritage Studies and delivering a masterclass for postgrad students at the Sorbonne. Ongoing work with colleagues Mike, Niro, and Thomas in the History Extension Mentoring Program has been immensely rewarding. Running History on Wednesday and co-OEI Lead with Niro has also been a real joy (apart from glitchy technology in Lvl 8 conference room). Speaking at the FASS Teaching Symposium and receiving a Commendation for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Teaching Excellence award was a lovely way to round out the year. Writing it all down now is helping me understand why it has all gone so fast.

John Gagné: Together with his co-editors Stephen Bowd and Sarah Cockram, John published a collection of essays titled Shadow Agents of Renaissance War (Amsterdam UP, 2023). He’s also finishing a book, Vibrant Banners, with co-author Timothy McCall for the ‘Elements in the Renaissance’ series (Cambridge UP). He delivered talks (in person and virtual) in Rome, Liège, and Hong Kong. He directed the Medieval and Early Modern Centre and coordinated the History Honours Programme. John co-taught History’s senior capstone class and 2 first-year units. He worked with 8 postgraduate students, and would like to congratulate Kathryn Hempstead for her highly-praised MA thesis (which passed without revision) and Paddy Holt, who submitted his excellent PhD thesis in late September. John was nominated for a SUPRA ‘Supervisor of the Year’ award. He lectured at the Art Gallery of NSW and was interviewed in Honi Soit and on the ABC. Finally, he finished the year with a promotion to Associate Professor.

Chris Hilliard: On SSP in semester 1 I worked out the argument of my next book and wrote the first 20,000 words of it. Marco Duranti and I published an article about corporal punishment and the British constitution (well, that’s how I see it) in Law and History Review. Niro Kandasamy and I spoke at an event organized by the School of Humanities and broadcast on the ABC’s Big Ideas podcast. I continued to co-edit the OUP journal Twentieth Century British History, which is re-launching as Modern British History at the beginning of 2024. I served my first year as a member of the Council of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and became its Treasurer. I stepped in as interim Head of School at the end of October. 

Niro Kandasamy: I spent the first semester teaching two units in the International and Global Studies degree. It was gratifying watching students engage with diverse concepts, histories, and case studies, especially as they hone their critical thinking skills to grapple with contemporary questions of sovereignty, justice, and freedom. A trip to London in June provided me invaluable research time at the archives, which culminated in a journal article submitted to History Workshop Journal. I spent the second semester teaching another unit in INGS, and beginning work on some exciting new projects, including co-organising two Workshops that will be held at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, and the University of Sydney. A highlight of the year has been organising the History on Wednesday seminars with James Findlay – there is so much interesting work happening among fellow researchers! Finally, ongoing work on the History Extension Mentoring program with James, Michael McDonnell, and Thomas Café has been truly rewarding.

Cindy McCreery: 2023 has been another busy year for me both professionally and personally and I took Long Service Leave in Semester 2 to support my family through some big milestones. At work the highlights included extending my engagement with object-based learning in the classroom through my Honours seminar ‘Modern Monarchy and Material Culture in Global Perspective’ and my third-year seminar ‘Eighteenth-century Britain and Ireland’. I was delighted to reflect on this experience during a co-presentation with my former student Emma Slee at the University Museums Annual Conference held at the University’s Chau Chak Wing Museum in August. Another highlight was seeing my four 2022 History Honours students graduate on a beautiful day – lovely to see them reach this milestone – as well as to co-supervise another History Honours student through to successful completion at the end of 2023! It was also a pleasure returning to the Great Hall later in the year to receive a joint Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence award (alongside a Faculty award!) with my History colleagues for Student Experience Excellence. I also enjoyed running co-writing sessions for School of Humanities colleagues on weekdays throughout the year – so nice to bond over coffee and the clicking of our keyboards. With Professor Emeritus Robert Aldrich and Dr. Falko Schnicke I co-edited Global Royal Families (Oxford University Press 2024). Robert and I also recorded a six- episode podcast series ‘Monarchy in Peril’ produced by the School of Humanities’ Peter Adams – listen out for it in the new year. Our Modern Monarchy in Global Perspective Research Hub continues to thrive with over fifty members from across the globe. This year we hosted regular formal seminar papers via ZOOM as well as several special roundtable discussions on ‘Succession in Modern Monarchy’ and ‘The Coronation in Modern Monarchy’. I also continued my media work and in addition to interviews, participated in two television documentaries, one for French national TV on 19c. French explorers in Australia and one for Swedish national TV on 20c. British and Scandinavian monarchies. On the home front I shepherded my three children through Years 12, 10 and 7 respectively and survived the HSC, NAPLAN, AMEB and NSW driving exams. In 2024 I am looking forward to another busy and productive year – but with fewer acronyms.:)

Michael McDonnell: It has been a busy but rewarding year after taking on the role of Chair of History in January. Much of my energy has been spent learning the ropes, understanding how the University works, and figuring out how we might be able to make it work better. The best part of the job, however, has been learning much more about the varied and diverse work of my terrific colleagues in History, and getting to know more and more students through the various events and talks at which we’ve come together – as well as recent graduates. In between a fairly demanding schedule of meetings and events, I’ve managed to make some progress on a couple of research projects, including a three-part podcast series on Indigenous portraiture and empire with colleague Kate Fullagar, and a co-edited three-volume Cambridge History of the American Revolution, both of which should be out next year. I did not make as much progress on the monograph on Revolutionary War Memoirs as I would have liked, in part because I have been getting too interested in new research projects with colleagues in the School and beyond – on refugee history, and on working with community organisations to support their history-making. I’ve also been working closely with one of our amazing former students, Darcy Campbell, to write some scholarly articles about the unit History Beyond the Classroom, andwas very happy to be involved in the successful nomination of colleagues in History for a Faculty Student Success Award, and a Vice Chancellor’s award for Supporting the Student Experience. Finally, and as always, I’ve enjoyed being involved in the Social Inclusion program which this year has focused on supporting History Extension high school students in diverse, low-ses and regional/rural schools. It is a pleasure to work alongside colleagues Thomas Café, Niro Kandasamy, and James Findlay and our great volunteer student mentors to support the many wonderful teachers and students who are part of the program. 

Kirsten McKenzie – First semester was an intense teaching experience with a new Honours seminar and teaming up with John Gagné for our new core third year unit, HSTY3903 History and Historians. That was a wild ride with timetabling and other challenges including the last gasp of RE/CC teaching. There were times when I didn’t think we could make it work, but watching such a large cohort of students come up with outstanding projects and reading the wonderfully warm responses we got in student evaluations made it all worthwhile. Second semester saw five months overseas on sabbatical leave – a very welcome opportunity to get stuck into archives again, mostly in Scotland. Reading through an extraordinary collection of family documents from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century letter by letter was like being plunged into an undigested version of War and Peace or Vanity Fair as viewed through the lens of Edward Said. With photography forbidden I came away with more than 300 000 words of transcription. Now I face the challenge of securing permission to use the material. Debate over the legacy of empire in Britain has made these questions more than usually politically fraught. Never one to accumulate annual leave, I also managed to fit in some close encounters with lions and elephants on safari,  reconnected with in-laws in the mountains of Sicily and scrubbed up in a public bath built in 1556. As the year draws to the close I’m in the last stages of two books that will come out with Cambridge University Press next year – copyediting one and preparing another for final submission. I’m looking forward to new challenges next year when I take over as Director of the Vere Gordon Childe Centre for the study of humanity through time. 

Jess Melvin: Together with my co-editors Annie Pohlman and Sri Lestari Wahyuningroem, I am very pleased that our new book Resisting Indonesia’s Culture of Impunity: Aceh’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been published by ANU Press. This book examines the role of Indonesia’s first truth and reconciliation commission- The Aceh Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or KKR Aceh- in investigating and redressing the extensive human rights violations committed during three decades of brutal separatist conflict (1976-2005) in the province of Aceh. Most excitingly, each chapter has been written by a team of authors, composed predominantly of commissioners and staff from the KKR itself, members of key civil society organisations in Aceh and Jakarta and academics. In other news, my family and I were adopted by a new kitten, Hunter. His favourite activity is annoying our two other cats. He also likes to eat durian.

Andres Rodriguez: Andres has enjoyed being on Long Service Leave after working for ten years at USYD. He also has enjoyed explaining to his non-Aussie friends what this actually means. He became an Aussie citizen along with his family, but still not quite appreciating the joys of eating Vegemite. Earlier this year Andres hit the archives at the National Library of Australia working with its Chinese language materials as part of his new Burma Road project. He then travelled to London and worked at the British Library – and left the day the library system came under a ransomware attack. He is also feeling more ‘senior’ this year. 

Hélène Sirantoine: How to sum up another busy year?!? I guess for me 2023 has been most of all a constant ‘lost in translation’ experience. Among other things, I’ve finally published a book chapter (‘When being king was not enough: imperatores in medieval Iberia’, freely available here) that quickly summarises for an English audience the contents of my 2012 French-language monograph on medieval imperial Spanish experiments (Imperator Hispaniae: Les idéologies impériales dans le royaume de León, Casa de Velázquez). I’ve got an article accepted in the French journal Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, that explores the Latin narration of the eighth-century Islamic conquest of Spain by the twelfth-century English cleric Ralph the Black. All the while I’ve been trying to remember my Spanish grammar, co-drafting with a Catalan colleague a Latin edition, translation into Castilian, and Spanish commentary of the chronicle composed by Genoese consul Caffaro di Rustico about the conquest of Andalusí coastal towns of Almería and Tortosa in 1147-1148 by an alliance of Castilian, Genoese and Catalan terrestrial and naval forces. Needless to say, ya no sé ahora dans quel monde (et langue!) je vis

Celebrating the Launch and Expansion of the 2024 HSC History Extension Mentoring Program

This November the History discipline celebrated the successful launch of the 2024 History Extension Mentoring Program, a key component of our Social Inclusion Program (click through for more info). More information about the program is available. Building on the success of our collaboration with Corowa High last year, we expanded our reach with a conscious effort to support regional and rural schools. As a result, we welcomed three new partners from regional NSW: Bomaderry High, Hastings Secondary College, and Gloucester High School. In addition to these new participants, we had two metropolitan returnees—Cecil Hills High and Canley Vale High. Following our successful launch, we are excited to see how a diverse range of interests and perspectives will develop into amazing History Extension projects.

This year we hosted three separate launch days to meet the various needs of our schools. We kicked off on November 16th with the Cecil Hills students and their enthusiastic teacher, Joshua Banks, coming to the University of Sydney campus. The students met their mentors, explored classic campus spots, and engaged in unstructured discussions with our academic team. On November 22nd, we conducted a Zoom launch with two of our new regional schools, Gloucester and Hastings, located along the Central and Northern NSW Coasts, respectively. Special thanks must go to the teachers Skye Sylvester and Lucy Neville for their hard work and initiative in bringing their students to our program! Our final launch on November 30th brought together Canley Vale and another new partner, Bomaderry High School, from the NSW South Coast. This third session went well despite the challenges posed by end-of-term assessments. We want to acknowledge the flexibility and dedication of each school’s teachers, Sue Neferis and Natalie Langley, who were critical in helping this session go ahead.

All three launches were attended by our academic team—Michael McDonnell, Niro Kandasamy, and James Findlay—who met the students, teachers, and our wonderful batch of mentors. James and Niro delivered a helpful presentation for the extension students titled ‘Turning Interests into Questions,’ exploring the surprisingly difficult process of transforming general interest into a tight question for historical interrogation. After these presentations, we broke the mentors off with their mentees, who reported many productive and friendly conversations. They exchanged emails and shared resources. Now, we look forward to seeing what they will achieve in the coming months!

We have several sessions moving forward, the next of which is scheduled for February in the new year. Until then, we want to express our gratitude to everyone involved in helping launch the program this year! Most importantly, we want to thank this year’s cohort of mentors for the enthusiasm, intelligence, and compassion they have brought to the program so far.

We look forward to seeing you all in the new year!

Powerful Stories: Indigenous and Refugee Histories of Dispossession and Displacement 

Workshop – Call for Presentations

March 14-15,  2024, The University of Sydney

Mununjali Yugambeh and South Sea Islander Professor Chelsea Watego lamented that the powerlessness of dispossession comes from stories told about you; about feeling your own account is not worthy of being told (Another Day in the Colony). Indigenous peoples and refugees can sometimes share this sense of powerlessness. But as Watego argues, power can be reclaimed by exercising sovereignty – one’s own sovereignty: “and that is exercised in the stories we tell of ourselves…our power is found within; it is embodied and it is enacted, every day. It is in knowing one’s own power, even – and especially – in those most violent encounters, that we are able to remember how powerful we really are.” Refugee writers have echoed these claims. As Iranian-American writer Dina Nayeri notes, “our stories were drumming with power.” (The Ungrateful Refugee).

We invite proposals from community members, groups and academics about the ways and means by which they have shared and continue to share their stories, reclaimed their own histories, and/or uncovered different kinds of self-representations in their current work or research. Indigenous peoples and refugees share and have shared an experience of exile, of dispossession. How have they narrated and preserved those stories? How does displacement interrupt memory and history-making? How has trauma been represented over time? What kind of work have those stories done, and what do they do now? 

We aim to showcase short papers or presentations (10-15 minutes maximum) that unveil different and varied ways of telling stories in the past and present. We would love to hear from a wide array of presenters about how those stories have been told, for what purposes, and with what results.

We hope that participants will help expand our collective understanding of what constitutes self-representations or self-histories, amid ongoing settler colonial violence, and how we might ethically and collaboratively work toward supporting the telling of those stories.  

This workshop coincides with the visit of Samson Occam Professor N. Bruce Duthu, an enrolled tribal member of the United Houma Nation of Louisiana. He is an internationally acclaimed scholar of Native American law and policy. In addition to authoring American Indians and the Law and Shadow Nations, he has also contributed to Felix S. Cohen’s widely praised Handbook of Federal Indian Law and co-edited “Sovereignty, Indigeneity, and the Law,” a volume of South Atlantic Quarterly that won the 2011 Council of Editors of Learned Journals Award for Best Special Issue. 

Professor Duthu also co-produced the Emmy-Award winning documentary film, Dawnland, which we will screen as part of the program. For decades, child welfare authorities have been removing Native American children from their homes to “save them from being Indian.” In Maine, the first official Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the United States begins a historic investigation. Dawnland goes behind-the-scenes as this historic body grapples with difficult truths, redefines reconciliation, and charts a new course for state and tribal relations. Dawnland aired on Independent Lens on PBS in November 2018 and 2021, reaching more than two million viewers. The film won a national Emmy Award for Outstanding Research in 2018 and made the American Library Association’s list of 2020 Notable Videos for Adults.

Proposals of no more than 250 words accompanied by a short CV or website link should be sent in by February 1, 2024. Successful applicants will be notified by February 10, 2024. We have very limited funds for the workshop. Please indicate in your submission if you would like financial assistance to attend the workshop. 

Please send your proposals to Thomas Cafe at tcaf4450@uni.sydney.edu.au

Please contact Niro Kandasamy and/or Michael McDonnell if you have any enquiries at michael.mcdonnell@sydney.edu.au; niro.kandasamy@sydney.edu.au

History Alumni – Stay in Touch

If you did a History major, minor, or a special field for your Education degree, or even just did an elective with us and want to stay in touch, please take a few minutes to fill out this short form. We’d love to stay in contact, and also have your feedback if you have any.

Most of our students lose their Uni email address after leaving – and so we have no way of being in contact with you. So please do leave whatever email addresses work best for you, and any other information you are happy to share.

You don’t have to answer all the questions on the survey. Just the first couple. But if you want to leave us some feedback, we would love to hear it.

We promise we won’t bombard you with messages – but will from time to time send out details of any alumni events, public talks, etc., that might be of interest.

And please be assured we will not share your information with other students, organisations, or groups without your express written consent.
Any questions or concerns, please let me know at Michael.mcdonnell@sydney.edu.au

Many thanks,

Mike M.

Chair, History

Cuts to Arts and Social Sciences at ACU

Dear Colleagues,

Many of you will have heard of the recent change plan being implemented by management at ACU that will cut more academic jobs. This is another in a long line of changes and redundancies that will affect many Humanities and Social Sciences scholars there – and in particular the disciplines of History, Philosophy, Politics, and Theology, and the closure of the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern History.

At the heart of this, the decisions of management at ACU are deeply damaging to the international reputation of Australian Universities, further undermine confidence in governance throughout the University sector, and affect many former staff and students of the University of Sydney. 

The Australian Academy of the Humanities, along with many other cultural bodies and organisations have weighed in on the matter. As the AAH notes: “We are dismayed to learn of ACU’s decision to gut its disciplines of History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Pol. Science, and the entirety of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. While we respect the University’s autonomy in research and course provision, the ramifications will not only be felt by our humanities scholars, but incrementally these closures are impacting our national ability to understand and shape society. We are calling on the Government to implement the Accord recommendation for a Tertiary Education Commission, based on the principles of independence and expertise, and mandated to take a national view of how teaching and research programs are advancing Australia’s interests. Our humanists must be supported and valued in the same way we value scientists and technologists. Our Accord Submission: http://bit.ly/44RJsyz

There have been thousands of job cuts in the academic sector since the pandemic, many of them in the Arts and Social Sciences. Students have begun openly asking why there are fewer options and where the support is for the Arts and Social Sciences. We cannot afford to lose more academic jobs in these areas if we are to sustain the mission and core business of our Universities, teaching and research across all areas. 

Much of the history and detail of the cuts at ACU can be found in the four petitions below that you are welcome to review to inform yourselves of the situation. I have also pasted several newspaper articles about the latest round of proposed cuts.

Save the Humanities at ACU

Save Early Modern and Medieval Studies

ACU Senate: Don’t Make Staff pay for Overspending

If you would like to you could also contact the VC and/or senate at ACU at senate@acu.edu.au and zlatko.skrbis@acu.edu.au. All those contacting the University have been told that no feedback to the change plans will be considered unless it is copied to change@acu.edu.au. Submissions must be in soon.

We call on ACU and other Unis thinking of implementing change plans first to implement independent reviews of financial records and budgeting particularly at the level of Faculties and above – these are non-profit and public institutions that need to put transparency and accountability first – and the preservation of the Arts and Social Sciences. 

Should you have further concerns about the implications of this move for higher education, the Minister for Education can be contacted at jason.clare.mp@aph.gov.au, and contact the Minister for Immigration Andrew Giles at andrew.giles.mp@aph.gov.au if you have concerns that there are immigration sponsorship and credibility implications of ‘disestablishing’ staff for whom ACU has secured Visas. If there are any queries about the financial situation at ACU, the Minister for Charities, Andrew Leigh, can be emailed at  Andrew.Leigh.MP@aph.gov.au

Finally, we hope that our Faculty and Uni Leaders – many of whom are Fellows of the Australian Academy of Humanities – will join us in protesting these short-sighted cuts to the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. 

Thanks,

Mike McDonnell

History, USyd

Image
Lament for the Australian Catholic University – ABC Religion & Ethicst.co
Image
Australian Catholic University sparks anger over scrapping medieval history and philosophy departmentst.co
Image
Catholic university cuts ‘ability to engage with own heritage’t.co

History and the Voice

Statement in support of the Voice Referendum

Discipline of History at the University of Sydney

The 2023 Voice Referendum

We, the undersigned members of the Discipline of History, our students, and friends of History at the University of Sydney, support the upcoming referendum on the Constitutional recognition of First Nations by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

In 1901, the Australian Constitution was founded on principles that silenced First Nation Australians and excluded them from the Commonwealth. That legacy lives on. The referendum presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Australians to change the constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and to provide a constitutionally protected Voice that gives them a say in the laws that affect them, allowing for real, practical improvements in areas like jobs, health, education, and justice.

The Australian Constitution is a document that its founders knew would be changed—not by politicians through the parliamentary process, but by the will of the people through a referendum. The 2023 Voice referendum is a crucial opportunity for Australians to tell parliamentarians that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders should not be forgotten or unheard citizens of Australia.

We will vote yes to recognise past injustices, to acknowledge our shared history, to end the exclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from Australia’s constitution, to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about matters affecting their communities, and to commit to continuing to work towards outcomes that make a practical difference with concrete results.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart

Our position in support of the Voice stems from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which was issued after First Nations-led deliberative discussions with constituent communities across the country in 2017. It was the largest and most extensive consultation process in First Nations history, and possibly Australian history, and was designed and coordinated by First Nations people for First Nations people.

The Uluru Statement established a call for Voice, Treaty and Truth. 

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to the Australian people from First Nations Australians. It asks Australians to walk together to build a better future by establishing a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution, and the establishment of a Makarrata Commission for the purpose of treaty making and truth-telling.

The Statement recognised a consensus among First Nations communities about what kind of constitutional recognition might answer a long history of calls by First Nations peoples for a say in the law and policy that applies to and has so often disadvantaged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. 

We encourage all Australians to inform themselves about the steps leading up to the Statement from the Heart and the call for the Voice, listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait voices, to read The Statement from the Heart, and to accept this invitation from First Nations people. 

Why we support the Voice

The upcoming referendum on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament is a profound moment of importance in history, and asks us to make a crucial decision, to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Australian Constitution.

Mindful of the importance of this decision, the Discipline of History at the University of Sydney joins with so many others in supporting the Voice, including the National Centre for Cultural Competence (NCCC) the History Council of NSW, the Australian Historical Association, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and a host of land-based First Nations bodies and peak-service organisations. 

Indeed, we support the Voice in the understanding that polling confirms the Voice continues to receive overwhelming Indigenous support. Two polls from 2023 confirm that 80% and 83% of Indigenous people support the Voice.

In doing so, the Discipline of History acknowledges and condemns the long history of past wrongs and injustices committed against First Nations people: the invasion and seizure of land without treaty, compensation, or consent; unlawful conflicts and massacres of innocent people; the separation of families and stolen generations; the denial of basic human rights to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and the past and ongoing destruction of First Nations cultures.

We also recognise that these past wrongs and injustices continue into the present day, and that First Nations communities and individuals continue to struggle against overt and systemic racism and structural discrimination, as well as extreme disadvantage. 

We acknowledge that a Voice in the Constitution will not be a panacea and will not absolve us from continuing to support First Nations peoples’ self-determination. Nor does a Voice preclude the need for Treaty, or Treaties. We also recognise the concerns of many Indigenous critics of the Voice that it does not go far enough in addressing the many injustices past and present. There is still lots of work to be done even after a referendum is passed. And we abhor all efforts to silence debate and discussion about the Voice, particularly those that are racially-motivated.

But, with the NCCC, we hope that the Voice will be a new starting point: “It will provide a mechanism for First Nations people to give advice to the Federal Parliament, to have appropriate input into laws and policies which affect their communities. It will change the relationship between government and communities and how real and practical change is created and delivered.”

We see the Voice as an important step in a new era that includes Treaty and Truth as well. Despite the extreme disadvantages that First Nations continue to suffer, we recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures remain strong and are vital repositories of deep knowledge about our shared history, and about how to care for Country and for each other. As settlers living on unceded Aboriginal lands, we are committed to listening closely and doing all we can to support the telling of historical and contemporary truths.

We believe it is vitally important to support a yes vote in the upcoming referendum “to honour and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their rightful place as the First Peoples of this land.” (NCCC)

We, the undersigned members of the Discipline of History at the University of Sydney thus support the Voice to Parliament to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution and encourage all colleagues and students, and all those who value learning from the past, to do so as well.

* The NCCC has created a webpage intended to be a hub to help you find resources that will assist you in understanding the issues and to make your own decision. As has the University of Sydney. The University of Sydney Faculty of Law has also produced an excellent video explaining the history beyond the Voice, and what it will mean in practical terms. You can also listen to a conversation between Dr. Nick Eckstein and Emeritus Professor Mark McKenna about the history behind the Voice in a new podcast series on “Making Sense of History.” You can find it on Spotify, Transistor, or Amazon Music.

Signatories

Professor Michael A. McDonnell, Chair, History

Dr. Niro Kandasamy

Dr. Roberto Chauca

Dr. Marco Duranti

Professor Julia Horne

Professor Kirsten McKenzie, Chair in Australian History

Associate Professor Cindy McCreery

Associate Professor Nicholas Eckstein

Emeritus Professor Mark McKenna

Dr. James Findlay

Dr. Jess Melvin

Dr. Hélène Sirantoine

Associate Professor Frances Clarke

Dr John Gagné

Sophia Werner

Angelina Gu

Annalise Doyle

Marisa Austin

Matthew Sullivan

Kristian Marijanovic

Rose Gilliatt

Anneka Sach

Xavier Uhlmann

Mark Pigot

Alana Lavery

Dr. Kim Kemmis

Emeritus Professor Penny Russell

Alan Atkinson

Roy MacLeod, OAM, PhD, DLitt

Emeritus Professor Ann Curthoys

Richard White

Thomas J Adams

Prof. Emeritus Robert Aldrich

Dr Jane Morlet Hardie

Judith Keene

Jacqui Newling

Jasmine Donnelly

Sophia Semmler

Xavier Watkins

Elizabeth Bowmee

Annaliese McGuirk

HT Chan

Ellis Birrer

Ella Walsh

Krista Church-Young

Imogen Ladmore

Ivan Chen

Youran Xu

Alison Betts

Thomas Cafe

Ella McGrath

Professor Keith Dobney

Melissa Kennedy

Jack Story

Andrew Wilson

Grace Mitchell

Professor James Martin

Luke Norton

Nicole Cipoletti

Dr Deirdre O’Connell

Tahlia Arnold

Luke Cass

Charlotte Feakins

Julien Klettenberg

Angela McLoughlin

Alexa Appel

Peter Brownlee

Skye Dannaher

Dr Darren Smith

Andrew Wilson

Glenda Sluy

Joanna Molloy

Timothy Jackson

Will Shanahan

James H. Collins II

Caitlyn Salter

Professor Monika Bednarek

Jake Davies

Shauna Phillips

Benjamin McGrory

Prof Hugh Harley

Helen Proctor

Lawrence Ashford

Professor Adrian Vickers

Natali Pearson

Clair sole 

Sarah Gleeson-White

Professor Annie Clarke

James Dunk

Dr Mareese Terare

Susan Thomas

Emily Simmons

Leanne Stevenson

Laura Heron

Charlotte Carney

Melissa Hardie

Susan Orlovich

Olivia Karaolis

Ann Elias

Dr. Matthew Sussman

Associate Professor Antonia Rubino

Dr. Paul Riser

Miikskimmiato’si (GERALD MCMASTER) 

Margaret Van Heekeren

Professor Nicole Mockler

Nikki Whipps

Dr Sam Shpall 

Fiona R. Martin

Cathie Burgess

Rosemary Whitecross

Ryan Mouthaan

Olaf Werder

Dr. Yeow-Tong Chia

A/Prof Avril Alba

Peter Adams

Raewyn Connell

Victoria Sweeney

Elizabeth Kwok

Elizabeth Connor

Lachlan Griffiths

Frank Stilwell

Dr. Lynne Swarts

Professor Emerita Suzanne Rutland

Warwick Anderson

Eirini Cox

Dr Isabelle Hesse

Zoe Yiannakis

Dominic Hearne

Huw Griffiths

Georgia Peters

Suzanne Pope

Dr Caitlin Biddolph

Dr. Lucas Thompson

Dr Claire Golledge

Angela Collins

Jen Peden

Amy Griffiths

Susan Heward-Belle 

Maryanne Large

Dr Greta Werner

Kim Bell-Anderson

Meaghan Morris

Ruth Phillips

Camilla Pilgrim

Patrick O’Mara

Shane White

Dr Marama Whyte

Pamela Maddock

Lynette Olson

Brigid Rooney

Dr Yvette Debergue

 Cheryl O’Byrne

Alexandra García

Margaret Cassidy

Minglu Chen

John Mikler

Josiah Hill

Friday Film Feature – for Historians!

Did you know that Heath Ledger once played Ned Kelly on the big screen?? “When the Law tried to Silence him, a Legend was born….”

Our own Dr. James Findlay is running a 3000 level unit seminar on Australian history on Screen, and as part of that unit, he will be screening a film – and facilitating a short discussion about it – every Friday from 11-2 pm in the Law Annex Lecture Theatre 101.

But James has invited any and all interested students to come along to these FREE FILM SCREENINGS, and learn something new about Australian history and film history, more generally! James is super-knowledgeable about Australian film history and is finishing a book on the topic. He has also worked in the industry!

Please mark the time in your diaries and come along – and meet other History students. We might even provide some popcorn or snacks…..or bring your own! It starts next week – see the powerpoint below for the full program!

Mike

Chair, History

AHoS Film program_2023[65].pdf

Big Ideas Events – Aug 9 & 10

Dear History Community,

I know it is a busy week and apologies if you are bombarded with emails and canvas notifications.

I just wanted to draw your attention to two BIG events coming up next week, including one involving some fabulous History Lecturers here at USyd, including Dr. Niro Kandasamy and Challis Professor Chris Hilliard.

Booking is essential. Why not come along after the seminar, listen to some fascinating discussion, and have some free drinks and hors d’oeuvres. If you come to the History lecture, please do say hello to myself or any other staff you recognise. Many of us will be there.

For complete information, please see here, https://soh-events.sydney.edu.au/calendar/challis-10-08-2023/

But here’s the gist:

Four researchers from the School of Humanities at the University of Sydney will be joined by the ABC’s Big Ideas over 2 nights.*

 Challis Lecture in Philosophy  | 9 August, 5pm, Chau Chak Wing Museum

  • The new sciences of sex and reproduction
    Paul E. Griffiths
    , Challis Professor of Philosophy; Luara Ferracioli, Associate Professor of Philosophy

Rethinking Assimilation and Multiculturalism in Contemporary History 
Chris Hilliard, Challis Professor of History; Niro Kandasamy, Lecturer in History

It’s a pretty big deal with the ABC’s ‘Big Ideas’ radio programme coming on board and the whole thing being chaired by it’s host and presenter – Natasha Mitchell.

You can go to one of them or both of them. Please do feel encouraged to come -and again, please say hello and tell us who you are….!

Mike M.

Chair, History