About the Australian Centre
The Australian Centre was founded in January 1989 with the assistance of a grant from the Hugh Williamson Foundation and funds from the University of Melbourne.
Based within the School of Historical Studies in the Faculty of Arts, the Centre has achieved national and international recognition for its teaching and research in Australian Studies, and for fostering an appreciation and critical examination of Australian society. The Centre's interdisciplinary teaching, research and outreach programs are committed to investigating Australian identity and issues of cultural and environmental diversity, with an emphasis on forms of public culture and public space. Under this overarching framework, the Centre focuses on exploring the interactions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures, and examining Australia within comparative and global contexts.
The Centre offers subjects at undergraduate level and has a graduate research program offering Masters and PhD degrees. The Centre also organises intensive and specialised courses for international undergraduate and graduate student groups from universities in Asia, North America and Europe.
The Australian Centre collaborates with a range of industry partners including local governments, museums, galleries and new media institutions to organise seminars, conferences, public lectures and exhibitions. As part of its public programs portfolio, it administers five major national cultural awards that recognise outstanding endeavour in the visual arts, creative writing and biographical studies.
The staff and research fellows at the Centre include leading academics, commentators, artists and creative writers working on a range of projects concerned with Australian identities, public cultures and attachments to place. The Centre's research projects in the humanities have attracted significant government competitive funding. This solid research base is augmented by the number and expertise of local and international scholars who regularly visit the Centre and contribute to its rich academic, cultural and public outreach programs.