Australian Centre Fellows
Mr Hugh Anderson
Hugh Anderson is a widely published writer in fields as diverse
as history, literary criticism, school texts and biography, and has also
made significant contributions to the study of Australian folklore, most
particularly in the field of folksong. For his work in Australian history,
he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria in
1974. Since 1954, beginning with the Black Bull Chapbooks series published
by Rams Skull Press, Anderson has written, edited and co-edited works
central to folklore studies in this country. These works include: Colonial
Ballads, The Story of Australian Folksong, The Goldrush Songster,
Farewell to Old England: A Broadside History of Early Australia, Folk
Songs of
Australia, George Loyau, The Man Who Wrote Ballads, 'On the Track' with
Bill Bowyang. He also founded Red Rooster Press which has been instrumental
in producing a number of folkloric studies and collections. His personal
view of Australian Folklore is set down in Taking Aim Against the Sun:
The Making of Traditions in Australia.
Dr Peter Attiwill
Peter Attiwill has 45 years of teaching and research
experience in plant ecology. He has more than 100 publications,
particularly in eucalypt and bushfire ecology. He is co-author of a number of books
including Forest Soils and Nutrient Cycles (MUP, 1987) and co-editor
of Nutrition of Eucalypts (CSIRP Publishing, 1996) and Ecology:
An Australian Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2003).
Peter Attiwill is active in community affairs. He is currently a member of the boards of the Natural Resources Conservation League and of the Western Port Seagrass Partnership. He has been involved with the boards of a number of international journals and is currently a member of the board of Forest Ecology and Management.
Dr Martin Ball
Martin Ball holds a M.A. in medieval poetics from the University of
Melbourne, and a Ph.D. in Australian cultural history from the University
of Tasmania. His research focuses on cultural and narrative poetics, with
particular interest in the role of Anzac mythology in the construction of
Australian nationhood and national identity. Among his many interests he
has published on C.E.W. Bean, Arthurian literature, J.R.R..Tolkien, and
modern Russian literature. Martin was formerly editor of the Tasmanian
literary/arts journal Siglo. He is currently writing a book on 'The Anzac
Revival'.
In another life Martin Ball is music critic for the Australian, and also
writes for The Strad (London). He is an advisor to various arts funding
and award bodies. In addition to some 300 hundred reviews, he has
published articles on string quartet writing in Australia, and on the
cultural and historical poetics in Peter Sculthorpe's music.
Dr Ros Bandt
Dr Ros Bandt is an internationally acclaimed sound artist, composer,
researcher and scholar. Since 1977 she has pioneered interactive
sound installations, sound sculptures, created sound playgrounds, spatial
music systems and some 45 sound installations worldwide. She has curated
many sound performances, exhibitions and events. Her original works are
recorded on New Albion Records (USA), Move Records (Melbourne), Wergo
(Germany), and EMI/ABC (Sydney). Her new book on Sound Sculpture was published
by Fine Arts Press.
She is senior research fellow at the Australian Centre, the University of Melbourne, steering a large analytical study of sound design practice in Australia where she directs The Australian Sound Design Project and other sound focused research. 1.Blue Gold commissioned by Charisma on the politics of water, 33 minutes electro-acoustic sound, DVD, clarinet cello and sculptures, and 2.Sydney Road, the world in a street. 12 minute radiophonic piece commissioned by the ABC, a kaleidoscope of improvisatory meetings, journeys, resting places, a multi-cultural melee profiling the Road as it is experienced in March - April 2005.
Ms Michele de Kretser
Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka and migrated to Australia with her
family in 1972. She has worked as an editor and book reviewer, and is the author
of two novels that have been published internationally and translated into several
languages. Awards for her fiction include the Commonwealth Prize for South-East Asia
and the Pacific, and the Tasmania Pacific Fiction Award. Her most recent novel,
The Hamilton Case, was a New York Times and Time magazine book of the year. Michelle
now lives in Melbourne with her partner, the poet and translator Chris Andrews.
Dr June Factor
Dr June Factor, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Centre,
is well-known as a writer, folklorist and public advocate for civil
liberties and free speech. She is past president of the Victorian Council
for Civil Liberties and of Friends of the ABC in Victoria.
In 1999, Dr Factor presented Australia's major archive of children's
lore and language, the Australian Children's Folklore Collection,
to the Museum of Victoria. The ACFC is the only collection
held by the Museum
to be listed on UNESCO’s ‘Memories of the World’ Register. ‘Play
and Folklore’, the bi-annual publication Dr Factor co-edits, is
now available on the web, at www.museum.vic.gov.au/playfolklore. In 2005
Dr Factor co-edited ‘Child’s Play: Dorothy Howard and the
Folklore of Australian Children’ (Museum Victoria).
At present, Dr Factor is working on a social history of the 'friendly' and 'enemy' 'aliens' in the Employment Companies of the Australian Army during World War II, to be published by Melbourne University Publishing. She is also preparing another collection of children’s playground rhymes in the Far Out! Series, to be published by Brolly Books.
Her publications are numerous, and include: Captain Cook chased a Chook: Children's Folklore in Australia, Penguin; Australian Childhood: An Anthology, co-edited with Gwyn Dow, McPhee Gribble; the Far Out! Series (five books) beginning with Far out, Brussel Sprout!, Brolly Books; and Kidspeak: Australian Children's Words, Expressions and Games, MUP.
Dr Paul Fox
Paul Fox completed degrees at Monash and Melbourne Universities, and
developed many and varied interests; in landscape and garden history,
the built environment, and museums - amongst others. His appointment as
the Sir Thomas Ramsay Science and Humanities Scholar with the Museum of
Victoria resulted in a travelling exhibition which explored cross-cultural
understandings and representations of nature.
He has lectured and tutored extensively in history, urban design, landscape, and architectural aesthetics. Since 1994 he has been working with Australia Post: as Director of the National Philatelic Centre, and as an analyst.
His latest book, Clearings: Six colonial gardeners and their landscapes will be published in 2002.
Ms Alison Goodman
Alison Goodman is the author of Singing The Dogstar Blues, a science-fiction
comedy thriller, which won the 1998 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel,
was listed as a 1999 C.B.C. Notable Book, and was shortlisted for the 1999
Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction. In 2003 it was also
published in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, and has been
listed as an American Library Association's Best Young Adult Book of 2004. Alison was the 1999 D.J. O'Hearn Memorial Fellow at Melbourne University and is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Centre. She holds a Master of Arts, and teaches
creative writing at undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has also published
feature articles in The Age and various magazines, and her short stories have appeared
in journals and anthologies. Alison is currently working on a fantasy series for
young adults based on Imperial China; the first volume is due to be published in
2007 in both Australia and the United States.
Dr Barry Hill
Barry Hill's long narrative poem, Ghosting William Buckley,
won the 1994 N.S.W. Premier's Award for Poetry and his
labour history, Sitting In, won the same award for Non-Fiction
in 1992. He is the winner of other national awards for poetry,
non-fiction and works for radio. His short fiction has been widely
anthologised and translated. His most recent books include The
Rock: Travelling to Uluru, and The Inland Sea (poems). Broken
Song is his third and final book arising from a decade of work
out of Central Australia. It was awarded a Victorian Premier's
Literary Award, the Nettie Palmer Prize for non-fiction, in 2003.
Barry is Poetry Editor for The Australian and lives in
Queenscliff, Victoria.
Ms Sandy Kirby
Sandy Kirby is an art historian whose publications include Sight
Lines: Women's Art and Feminist Perspectives in Australia; Artists & Unions: a critical
tradition and the edited collection, Ian Burn Art: Critical, Political. She has
lectured at the School of Art and Design, Phillip Institute of Technology and
in the School of Applied Communication at RMIT University. Her current research
is exploring Australian visual culture, particularly art and advertising, in
relation to modernism and consumer culture. She is a member of the Eight Hour
Day Program Committee for the 150th celebration of the Eight Hour Day, 2006 and
a member of the Cultural Affairs Advisory Board, City of Melbourne
Mr Alan Loney
Alan Loney, poet and freelance writer, made limited edition books
by hand from 1974 to 1998, most recently as the printer and co-director of The Holloway Press
at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. In 1995 Loney convened the first
conference on The History of the Book in New Zealand and co-edited a series of
essays derived from that conference (A Book in the Hand, eds Penny Griffith,
Peter Hughes & Alan Loney, Auckland University Press 2000). Also published
by him this year is Mondrian's flowers, with drawings by Max Gimblett,
issued in a hand-made edition by Granary Books, New York. Due in November this
year is Imago Mundi poems in collaboration with artist Bruno Leti. He is currently
writing a descriptive bibliography of The Brindabella Press of Alec Bolton.
Dr Helen MacDonald
Dr Helen MacDonald is an award-winning historian and Senior Fellow at the Australian Centre, School of Historical Studies, University of Melbourne. She investigates how human remains are turned into anatomical objects in hospitals, research facilities, museums and art galleries; why unethical uses of the dead have not, historically, been successfully deterred by law; and the history of human dissection, post-mortem examinations and organ transplants. Helen held an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship between 2005 and 2008, during which she undertook a major comparative study exploring encounters between medical scientists, dead bodies and the law in Britain and Australia. Her book, Human Remains: Dissection and its Histories (Yale University Press 2006, published in Australia as Human Remains: Episodes in Human Dissection, MUP 2005) won the biennial Victorian Premier's Literary Award for a First Book of History and was short-listed for the Ernest Scott History Prize. Helen currently holds a literary grant from the Australia Council Literature Board. Her second book, Possessing the Dead: The Artful Science of Anatomy will be published in 2009. In addition, her work appears in journals, as well as newspapers, literary and science magazines. Amongst other activities, Helen is a member of the advisory boards of The Writing Centre for Scholars and Researchers, and the Centre for Health and Society at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Kevin Murray
Kevin Murray is Director of Craft Victoria. He has curated a number of exhibitions
that have toured nationally, including Symmetry: Crafts Meet Kindred Trades
and Professions, How Say You, Turn the Soil: What if Australia had been colonised
by someone else?, Water Medicine: Precious Works for an Arid Continent, and
Haven: The Art and Craft of Refuge in Tasmania. For two years, he was curator of the
interactive program for the Melbourne Film Festival. As well as articles for
art publications, he also writes features for The Age newspaper and produces
radio programs for the ABC. In 1996, he was awarded a VACB Writing Fellowship
and his book Neverland: The Lost Continent of Australia is published by Pluto
Press. His PhD was in the field of narrative psychology and he is currently
working towards a series of events and a book on the theme of the south. Most exhibitions
and articles are online at www.kitezh.com. Kevin Murray lives in Brunswick,
Melbourne.
Dr Belinda Nemec
Dr Belinda Nemec has worked in curatorial, registration and management roles with museums, heritage places and cultural collections for over 20 years. She holds degrees in music and museum studies, and completed her PhD at the Australian Centre in 2006 with a thesis on the topic 'The Grainger Museum in its museological and historical contexts'. She is particularly interested in the history and architecture of early 20th century museums; period rooms; and autobiographical museums and collecting. She is currently researching the museum work of the American architect and community planner Clarence Stein, with support from Cornell University. Belinda holds the position of Cultural Collections Coordinator at the University of Melbourne and is the convenor of the History of the University Unit.
Dr Sheridan Palmer
Dr Sheridan Palmer has had extensive experience in the fine art world in Australia, having worked at the Australian National Gallery, Canberra and the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, and a number of commercial galleries. She is a professional curator, arts writer and academic, and has degrees from the Victorian College of the Arts, La Trobe University and a PhD from the University of Melbourne. She is currently researching the cultural history of art history in Australia. Her forthcoming book, Centre of the Periphery. Three European Art Historians in Melbourne, 2008, to be published by Australian Scholarly Publishing, establishes the importance of the Europeans in the transformation of art and culture in post-war Melbourne. She has published widely in art journals, academic journals and exhibition catalogues and was a contributor to Victorian Icon: The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, The Exhibition Trustees in conjunction with Australian Scholarly Publishing, 1996, and to The Australian Dictionary of Biography. Her most recent exhibition is The Goddess Grins: Albert Tucker and the female image, at Heide Museum of Modern Art, March – October 2007. Sheridan has been an Honorary fellow of the Australian Centre since 2005.
Professor Emeritus John Poynter
Professor John Poynter has been a Professorial Fellow at the
Centre since 1995. A former Ernest Scott Professor of History
and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and one-time Dean of Music, Visual and Performing Arts, he has returned to writing
history. Publications since retirement include A Place Apart. The University of
Melbourne: Decades of Challenge (with Carolyn Rasmussen) (1996), Doubts
and Certainties: A Life of Alexander Leeper (1997), the chapter 'The Rhodes Scholarships
in Australia' in The History of the Rhodes Trust 1902-1999 (ed. Sir Anthony
Kenny, 2000), and Mr Felton's Bequests (2003), a biography of
Alfred Felton and a history of the Felton Bequests, which won the Victorian
Community History Award (Best Publication) in 2004. Work in progress includes a study based
on the diaries of Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, Governor-General of Australia
1914-1920.
Ms Hannie Rayson
Hannie Rayson is a graduate of Melbourne University and the Victorian College of
the Arts (VCA). She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from La Trobe
University in 1997. She is a senior fellow of The Australian Centre at The University
of Melbourne. Hannie co-founded Theatreworks in 1980 and has been Writer-in-Residence
at the Mill Theatre, Playbox Theatre, La Trobe University, Monash University and VCA.
Hannie's theatre credits include: Hotel Sorrento, Falling From Grace, Scenes From A Separation
(Co-written with Andrew Bovell) and Life After George which achieved critical acclaim across
Australia winning the 2000 Victorian Premier Literary Award, the 2001 Green Room Award for Best
New Australian Play and Best New Australian Work at the 2001 Helpmann Awards. It was the first
play to be nominated for the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award in its 44 year history.
In 2003, her play Inheritance opened at the Melbourne Theatre Company followed by a sold out season at Sydney Theatre Company, winning the 2004 Helpmann Awards for Best Play and Best New Australian Work. Last year, Sydney Theatre Company produced a highly successful revival of Scenes from a Separation at the Playhouse Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Hannie's latest play Two Brothers directed by Simon Phillips opened at Melbourne Theatre Company in April this year and recently transferred to Sydney Theatre Company and will tour regionally in NSW. Hannie has also written for television and film.
Dr Paul Sinclair
Dr Paul Sinclair Is an environmental historian and writer, and
author of The Murray: A history of a river, its people and ecology, published
by Melbourne University Press in 2001. He has worked on collaborative exhibitions with
internationally recognized artists including Mandy Martin and the late John
Davis. Since September 1999 Paul has been working at the 900 000 hectare Bookmark Biosphere Reserve
in South Australia documenting and publicizing landscape restoration and
conservation work being done by community volunteers and scientists. He has
established Bookmark's website, published weekly stories in the Murray Pioneer (Renmark's
local newspaper) and produced a Bookmark Brief.
Judith Smart
Judith Smart has published on Australian women's organisations in the first half of the 20th Century, as well as on women and political protest, women and religion, venereal diseases, labour youth organisation, the impact of war, the Miss Australia beauty contest and the Billy Graham crusade in Australia in 1959. She is currently working on a book on Melbourne during World War I, researching a history of mass women's organisations from 1915 to 1960, and (with Professor Marian Quartly) writing a history of the National Council of Women of Australia. She is part of the Australian Women’s Archive Project (led by Professor Patricia Grimshaw of the University of Melbourne) and is a past editor of Australian Historical Studies and present editor of the Victorian Historical Journal. She is also involved in an ARC Linkage project with Dr Suellen Murray (Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT University), together with Domestic Violence Victoria, to supervise a history of the women’s refuge movement in this state.
Mr Bob Speechley
Bob Speechley co-ordinates a wide ranging program of educational activities involving senior academic staff from The University of Melbourne and elsewhere. These activities include studies in aspects of management, planning, sustainability, cultural studies and general orientation to the Australian way of life. Special programs for teachers and other interest groups can also be arranged.
Bob has significant experience in university management, continuing education, international exchange and cultural development and a broad circle of important contacts in business, government and education. He is a member of the Australia China Business Council (ACBC), an Honorary Fellow of The Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) and a Life Member of University House.
Ms Sally White
Writer and former journalist Sally White has a long-standing association with the University. She graduated with a combined history/politics honours degree in 1965 and later returned to complete her Masters in the late 1990s. She served on the Arthur Norman Smith Memorial Lecture committee for several years and was vice-chair of the Department of Physiology’s Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee from 1991-94.
She was course co-ordinator in journalism and senior lecturer at RMIT University from 1992-96, having left daily journalism in 1987 after 16 years with The Age where she was variously a general reporter, feature writer, arts editor, science editor and executive assistant to the managing director. In the late 90s, she spent 18 months as visiting professor at the China School of Journalism in Beijing.
The author of Reporting In Australia, Australia’s leading journalism textbook, she has written four books, the most recent of which is an introductory text for international students, Understanding Australia. She has also written numerous book chapters and edited several conference proceedings and books. Among them is Conquerors’ Road: an eyewitness report of Germany 1945, by her father, noted war correspondent Osmar White. She is a founding board member of the C.E.W. Bean Foundation, one of the industry partners in the ARC linkage grant funding for Dr Fay Anderson and Dr Richard Trembath for their history of Australian war correspondents from the Sudan to the present.
Emeritus Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe
Professor Chris Wallace-Crabbe was the founding Director of the Australian
Centre 1989-1994 and returned to the Centre as a Professorial Fellow
in 1998. Chris is a distinguished poet and critic who has won many awards for his
work, including The Age Book of the Year, in 1995. He regularly gives readings, both here and
overseas, and was Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard,
1987-88. Recent publications include Imagining Australia: Literature
and Culture in the New New World, edited with Judith Ryan, (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Committee on Australian Studies, 2004) and
Next (Brunswick: Gungurru Press, 2004), as well as a series
of poems in a number of American,
British, Australian and Irish journals.
Chris has also recently completed three ABC broadcasts on the Lingua Franca programme, treating "The Language of Poetry" and was the recipient of a travel grant from Harvard to take part in A.A.A.L.S. conference in April 2005 and a forthcoming travel grant from the Palladio Foundation to work at the University of Venice, Ca' Foscari, for the month of October, 2005.