Welcome to our fortnightly newsletter. If you have things you’d like to share with the CCH community, please e-mail Scott over the coming fortnight. We will also share news and updates on LinkedIn. Tag us in the news you post on LinkedIn, so we can share it!
News from Members and Associates
Congratulations to Michael Finch, whose Framing the First World War: How Divergent Views Shaped a Global Conflict, co-edited with Aimée Fox & David G. Morgan-Owen, has been awarded the 2025 Tomlinson Prize. The annual Norman B. Tomlinson Prize recognises the best work of history, in English, on the Great War. Fantastic news!
The latest edition of Sporting Traditions (Vol. 43, No. 1, May 2026) boasts a section on the scholarship and influence of Roy Hay, including contributions from renowned sports historians Wray Vamplew, Braham Dabscheck, Bill Murray, John Harms, and Paul Mavroudis. The highlight of the issue, according to Roy, is the cover image, which is of his grandson’s cat watching the Matildas. A well-deserved tribute to the scope of your scholarship, Roy!
Geraldine Fela has co-authored an article in History Australia, with Noah Riseman, on queer historiography in Australia. This is an important synthesis and field assessment, which will no doubt stimulate future researchers in the area. Nice one!
Bessie Mikelsons has published an article – ‘Bertha Monash’s War: Patriotic Women and the Demands of Emotional Labour in First World War Australia‘ – in Australian Historical Studies. Through an analysis of the war letters of Bertha Monash, daughter of General Sir John Monash, the article exposes more clearly the relationship between patriotic work and emotional labour for women on Australia’s home front during the Great War. A fantastic achievement – well done, Bessie!
Rebecca Cairns and Kerri Garrard have published an article in the Journal of Curriculum Studies: ‘History: a subject ‘in crisis’ in the Australian senior secondary curriculum context?‘ This article is the final in a sequence of publications reporting an ongoing project on the status of senior secondary school history. CCH members may be interested to see how they contrast with the discourse of crisis in higher education with the school context. Kerri also presented on some of this research at the recent AHA conference. Great work, Bec and Kerri!
A huge congratulations to CCH Co-Director David Lowe, whose book, The Colombo Plan: Development Internationalism in Cold War Asia, was highly commended for the 2026 NSW General History Prize. A snippet from the judges’ comments: ‘The distinctive achievement of The Colombo Plan lies in its ability to recast a familiar subject through a transnational lens that is both compelling and convincing. Lowe demonstrates how the Plan fostered regional connections, development networks and new forms of internationalism at a pivotal moment in Asian history. Combining careful scholarship with a clear and engaging narrative, he illuminates the ambitions, negotiations and relationships that underpinned this remarkable experiment in cooperation. Thought-provoking, insightful and ambitious, The Colombo Plan makes a significant contribution to Australian, Asian and international history while offering a fresh perspective on the origins of the modern Indo-Pacific.’
Seminar Series
| 26 August, 11am | Kate Rivington | The Informalities of the Transatlantic Antislavery Movement |
| 2 September, 11am | Yves Rees | Towards a History of Australian Drag |
| 9 September, 11am | Anna Kent | International education in the Deakin Archives – stories from the Margaret Cameron Residency |
Events
Symposium – ‘Social Reform in Melbourne: Past, Present, and Future’
Where: The Salvation Army Melbourne, Level 1/69 Bourke Street
When: 4 September, 9–5:30pm
Melbourne has long been at the forefront of social reform, from campaigns for workers’ rights and women’s equality to movements addressing poverty, housing, multiculturalism and social justice. This free one-day event brings together leading thinkers, researchers and practitioners to explore how social reform has shaped Melbourne’s past, influenced its present, and may help guide its future.
View the programme, and register your attendance, here!
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One-Day Festival – ‘Radical Melbourne! A People’s History Festival’
Where: Balam Balam Place, Brunswick, VIC
When: 21 November, 9–5pm
Radical Melbourne! is a full-day festival celebrating Melbourne’s incredible history of ordinary people fighting collectively for a better life and a better world – from Migrant strikes, to fighting the far-Right, to Aboriginal resistance to colonisation.
Radical Melbourne! is hosted by the People’s History of Australia podcast and is totally free to attend! Whether you want to stay for the whole day or pop in for a single panel, it’ll be an amazing opportunity to join hundreds of others, meet new people, discuss ideas, and hear how Melbourne’s history is full of stories of regular people like us fighting together for something better.
Find out more details, and register your attendance, here!
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CCH Shut Up and Write
Every Monday, 9am–12pm, on Zoom.
Start the week strong with a Shut Up and Write! We run 3 x 50 minute blocks of writing/focus, with breaks in between to chat and grab coffee. All CCH colleagues welcome, especially ECRs, HDRs, and those who work remotely. Feel free to join any time. The Zoom link is here (Meeting ID: 879 3895 9029, Password: 97747034). If you would like a recurring invite in your calendar, or you have any trouble joining, email Mia at mia.martinhobbs@deakin.edu.au
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Conference – ‘Imperialism and Resistance: Australia’s First Wars’
Date: 17–18 September 2026
Location: Australian War Memorial Theatre, Canberra
From the colonial frontiers of Australia to the South African veldt, Australia’s first wars were fought across the expanses of the British Empire.
‘Imperialism and Resistance: Australia’s First Wars’ is a two-day conference that brings together authors, historians, and curators to reflect on the Australian Frontier Wars and Australia’s earliest overseas military commitments to the British Empire.
Speakers will explore Australia’s nineteenth-century military history, with presentations on the Frontier Wars, the mid-century New Zealand Wars, and colonial deployments to Sudan, China, and the South African (Boer) War.
See here, for details on the conference programme and registration!
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History Council of Victoria Annual Lecture 2026 – ‘Direct Action, Protest and Democracy: An Historical Perspective on Contemporary Conflicts’
Where: State Library of Victoria
When: 24 September, 6–7:30pm
Across the globe, many polities are currently marked by the eruption of ‘direct action’ campaigns: for environmental protection; for peace; and against racial, gender, and class inequality. People march, demonstrate, disrupt, occupy, and boycott. They typically justify these actions as a legitimate response to the failures of political authorities. They also present their actions as an authentic form of ‘direct’ or ‘participatory’ democracy. Political elites sometimes tolerate these campaigns and selectively incorporate their demands. Increasingly, however, they seek to restrict the scope for ‘direct action’, and to portray ‘direct action’ as a threat to legitimate order, and as a violent assertion of minority interests.
Conflicts around ‘direct action’ and ‘democracy’ have a long history, seldom referenced in contemporary political argument. In this lecture, I trace that history, from the 1890s until the present. This helps to establish that the tension between insurgent protest and formal authority is not new. It also establishes that the prevailing meanings of ‘direct action’ and ‘democracy’ have changed over time, as each has shaped the other. An historical perspective also suggests a practical conclusion: attempts to limit and restrict protest threaten the vitality of democracy, along with its capacity for renewal.
Calls for Papers
Special Issue of the Journal of Palestine Studies
Health is not merely a biomedical condition but a reflection of the political, social, economic, and environmental realities that shape people’s lives. In Palestine, health and wellbeing are profoundly influenced by the ongoing conditions of Israeli military occupation, settler colonialism, apartheid, genocide, displacement, siege, and violence. Palestinian experiences of health therefore illuminate broader questions of survival, resilience, justice, and human dignity under conditions of structural oppression.
This special issue – ‘Health and Palestine’ – seeks to foreground Palestinian life through the study of health in its broadest sense at a time when Palestinian existence is under grave threat. We invite contributions that explore how occupation, apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and settler-colonial structures shape health and wellbeing, including their effects on healthcare systems, experiences of illness and disability, mental health, reproductive justice, environmental conditions, and collective forms of care. We particularly welcome scholarship that centres Palestinian voices, lived experiences, and knowledge production while advancing critical understandings of health as both an instrument of oppression and a terrain of resistance. Interdisciplinary contributions are encouraged from scholars working across public health, medicine, sociology, anthropology, geography, political science, history, law, environmental studies, disability studies, gender studies, psychology, and related fields.
The deadline for abstracts is 2 October 2026. Find out more here!
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Special Issue of Studies in Oral History
Contributors are invited to submit articles for peer review for the 2027 issue of Studies in Oral History, the journal of Oral History Australia (OHA). The issue, co-edited by CCH members Mia Martin Hobbs and Geraldine Fela, takes as its theme ‘Human Voices in a Changing World’.
Contributions are invited across the following themes (but are not limited to these):
- Experiences of social, cultural, political, economic, climate and technological change
- Methods and ethics of integrating new technologies (e.g. Artificial Intelligence) into oral history practice
- Authenticity and artifice in the oral history interview
- How our current changing world changes how we think about the past
To be considered for peer review, articles should be no more than 8,000 words, including references. Publication of the issue is anticipated in late 2027. The submission deadline for articles for peer review is 3 December 2026.
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Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History – Current Debates
In January 2025 The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History launched a section devoted to opinion and commentary. Here we publish shorter pieces (1–4,000 words) on topical issues or debates broadly construed within the field of the British Empire and Commonwealth, or imperialism and colonialism more generally. In order to address current affairs in a timely manner and to retain the integrity of the opinion piece essays/discussion, pieces published in this Current Debates section are not subject to peer-review.
The framing and argument are entirely up to authors although the editors are very happy to consider essays investigating themes such as: the dismantling of settler-state structures; truth, justice, and redress; global power hierarchies; current inter-imperialist rivalries; climate change and colonial legacies; past and present migration and colonialism. There are no set deadlines and pieces are usually published online within two-three weeks upon receipt.
If you have any questions, or are interested in pitching an idea, then please get in touch with Current Debates Editor Jonas Fossli Gjersø – jonas.f.gjerso@uis.no. Alternatively, find out more here!
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Australian Historical Association’s Guardian Column
CCH members may be interested in the opportunity to propose their work for inclusion in The Guardian’s ‘Past/Present’ column. Written by AHA members, the column aims to provide a historical perspective on recent events, showcase the important work that historians in Australia do, and demonstrate the value of history and historical thinking to a wide audience.
If you’d like to contribute to “Past/Present”, please send a short pitch to the Executive Officer of the AHA, following the pitch guidelines outlined here.
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SHAFR in the Asia Pacific Network
The Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations has established a network for historians in the Asia Pacific. The network will run small workshops with SHAFR scholars to develop works-in-progress, online seminars, and provide networking opportunities.
If your research explores any aspect of American foreign policy and you are interested in joining, visit the SHAFR website for further information. Or, reach out to our own Mia Martin Hobbs with questions!
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Publish in the Australian Policy and History Network
This is an open invitation for CCH members to contribute opinion pieces, policy briefs, and book reviews for publication in Australian Policy and History. Drafts will be workshopped with APH editors, so if you have an idea but are unsure if it fits, please do get in touch!
E-mail australianpolicyandhistory@gmail.com with pitches, book requests, or questions.
Opportunities
Australia Awards PNG 2026
When: 28 September – 3 October (inclusive)
Where: Melbourne (primary base at the State Library of Victoria, with excursions to additional locations)
Cost: Attendance at all scheduled Short Course activities (including lectures and learning activities, site visits/excursions, catered lunches all days, and some evening meals) will be covered for all participants. Australian participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation (if travelling from outside Melbourne) and any meals outside of scheduled program activities.
Join the conversation shaping the future of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Applications invited for an exciting short course opportunity, 28 September – 3 October 2026.
Just four kilometres separate Papua New Guinea and Australia at their closest point in the Torres Strait, but the relationship between our two countries stretches far beyond geography.
Our relationship is shaped by shared history, deep cultural links, colonial and military connections, and people-to-people ties that reach back thousands of years. Yet, despite this closeness, there is still much to discover about each other.
Over 6 days, Australia Awards will offer emerging leaders from both Papua New Guinean and Australia an opportunity to come together to learn about the past, present and future of this important relationship. Funded by the Australian Government’s prestigious Australia Awards program and delivered by the Deakin Centre for Contemporary Histories, the Australia-PNG Relations Short Course will offer an immersive learning experience in Melbourne, Australia.
Participants will explore the history of the Australia-PNG relationship, examine shared regional challenges such as climate change, and discuss the social, economic and political issues shaping our common future. You will learn from a team of Papua New Guinean and Australian scholars and experts, alongside leaders and policymakers from government, industry and the community. The course will take learning from the classroom into the real world, with excursions to showcase some of the diversity of Australia and PNG’s environments, cultures and communities.
At the end of the program, participants will receive a Certificate of Achievement in International Relations from Australia Awards, as well as the knowledge and networks in a partnership that is critical to the future of both nations.
This opportunity is intended for students (bachelors to postgraduate) and recent graduates.
To apply, complete the form HERE by 31 August 2026. Successful applicants will be notified by 4 September.
Queries? Contact anna.kent@deakin.edu.au
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Australian Queer Archives Research Fellowship
The AQuA Research Fellowship is a research award intended to assist scholars and historians further their research in Australian LGBTIQA+ history.
Funding of up to $5000 is awarded to assist with expenses of a research trip undertaken to the Australian Queer Archives in support of a project in Australian LGBTQA+ history. Applicants are required to show how the research is essential to the completion of the project and how the findings will be subsequently published or otherwise made available to the public. A copy of the outcome of the project (book/article/report/documentary etc) should be deposited with the archives.
Applications should be emailed to president@queerarchives.org.au by Monday 14 September.
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Deakin Science and Society Network Interdisciplinary Incubator Grants
Applications are now open for the Deakin Science and Society Network (SSN) Interdisciplinary Incubator Grants. The SSN supports collaborative research that brings together STEM and HASS disciplines to tackle complex, real-world challenges. Past grantees have gone on to secure major external funding and build lasting cross-faculty partnerships and this is a fantastic opportunity for early- and mid-career researchers to develop new interdisciplinary collaborations, with seed funding and mentorship support along the way.
Applicants can apply for up to AU$12,500 per project. Proposals should be well developed and viewed as springboards for future external grants.
See here for further information!
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Durham Collections Fellowship
The aim of the Durham Collections Fellowships is to enable and foster research across the three historic collections of Durham — those held by Durham University, Durham Cathedral and Ushaw Historic House, Chapels and Gardens, all of which have internationally significant collections of books and other materials that deserve to be brought to a wider scholarly and public audience.
Recipients of all fellowships are expected to be in continuous residence in Durham and to participate in and make a contribution to the intellectual life of the University. This may include an informal talk, other event or blog post about their research, as part of museum or special collections engagement programmes.
Applications should be submitted by noon on Wednesday 15 September 2026.
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Australian Historical Association Fellowships and Prizes
CCH members may be interested in applying for this year’s round of the following prizes:
- AHA ECR Fellowship
- Allan Martin Award
- Marilyn Lake Prize for Australian Transnational History
- Philippa Hetherington Prize
Cover Photo
Workers begin constructing the Berlin Wall, in East Germany, August 1961.
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