Menzies Centre for Australian StudiesReport for the year 2009-10

Ann

ual R

epor

t

Supervisory Board Membership 2009-10ChairmanMr Michael Cook

Ex officio membersThe Head of the School of Humanities, King’s College London (Professor Jan Palmowski)Rhodes Professor of Imperial History, King’s College London (Professor Richard Drayton) from May 2010The Head of the Centre (Professor Carl Bridge)The Dean of the School of Advanced Study (Professor Sir Roderick Flood) until May 2009Acting Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (Professor Warwick Gould) until October 2009Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (Professor Philip Murphy) from May 2010

Nominated by the King’s College London Academic BoardProfessor Chris HamnettDr Tanya Aplin

From Monash UniversityProfessor Bruce Scates

Nominated membersA representative of the Australian High Commission (Mr Adam McCarthy)A representative of Universities Australia (Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor, University of Melbourne)A representative of the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust, UK (Mr Richard Link)A representative of the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Foundation, Australia (Sir Guy Green)

Other personsMr David Buckingham (Agent-General for Victoria) until October 2009Ms Kerry Sanderson (Agent-General for Western Australia) from May 2010Mr Michael CookLady Lynn GarlandProfessor Philip Payton (Exeter)Rev. Dr Philip Raymont (Cambridge) until May 2009Professor Donald Markwell (Warden, Rhodes House, Oxford) from October 2009

StaffHead: Professor Carl Bridge, BA, Dip Ed, PhDSenior Lecturer: Dr Frank Bongiorno, BA PhDLecturer: Dr Ian Henderson, BA, PhDDistinguished Visiting Fellow: Michael Cook AO, LLBRydon Fellow: Dr Julie McIntyre, BA, PhDAdministrators: Marie Berry, Amber Burrow-Goldhahn, Kirsten McIntyre

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

1

Contents

Supervisory Board Membership inside front coverStaff insidefromcoverObjects of the Menzies Centre 2

An overview 3Public lectures 4Conferences & symposia 6Teaching & supervision 8Staffresearch,public&otheractivities 9RydonFellow2009-10 13Researchprojectreports 13Seminars 14Readings&booklaunches 15MenziesCentrepublications 16PrizeEssays 17MenziesCentrePodcast 17Scholarships&fellowships 18HonoraryProfessors,SeniorFellows&ResearchAssociates 18Visitors 19Monash-King’sFellows 19AustralianBicentennialScholar 19

The future 20

The Menzies Centre in brief inside back cover

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

2TThe object of the Menzies Centre for

Australian Studies within the School of Arts & Humanities, King’s College

London, shall be the promotion in Britain, and in Europe more widely as opportunity offers, of the understanding of Australia, its past, its present, and its future directions, by means appropriate to an academic institution including:

• teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, supervising theses, and engaging in research, particularly in the fields of history, literature, and the social sciences

• organising public seminars, conferences, briefings, readings and lectures, and promoting publications, where appropriate in conjunction with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies or the Australian High Commission or Australian Business or like bodies

• developing the Centre’s role as a major source in Britain of public information and comment on Australia, particularly in political, social, economic, educational, historical, literary, cultural and business fields

• providing opportunities for discussion and personal contact among those interested in Australia

• arranging for British scholars to work in Australia and for Australian scholars to work in Britain

• administering the Australian Bicentennial Scholarships and Fellowships scheme, the Northcote Graduate Scholarship, the Menzies Studentships and like schemes.Obj

ects

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

3

An OverviewIn 2009-10 the Menzies Centre had one of its most productive academic years. We had two Menzies Lectures delivered by two of Australia’s finest public intellectuals, Professor Graeme Davison, the social historian, and Mr David Marr, biographer, journalist and television commentator. Our Reese Lecture was given by Australian media historian Associate Professor Bridget Griffen-Foley of Macquarie University. We organised a major international conference on Patrick White, 3 other conferences, 24 seminars, 5 readings and 4 book launches. A highlight of the session was the launch in Australia House of the Centre’s book The High Commissioners, by Mr Steven Smith, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen, to mark the centenary of British-Australian diplomatic relations. Enrolments continued to be healthy, and we produced one PhD, Dr Tim Causer. A major research project came to an end when the text of Australia and Britain, 1960-1975, a volume in the Documents on Australian Foreign Policy series, went to the printer. A new project for a further volume in the series, however, is in the planning.

The permanent academic staff of the Centre remained unchanged. Dr Julie McIntyre, History, University of Sydney, a wine historian, was our Rydon Fellow for the session, and Dr Simon Sleight, formerly of the Department of History, Monash University, joined us late in the session as a part-time research assistant. Dr Mark Gibson, Australian Studies, Monash University, and Dr Anna Eriksson, Law, Monash University, both joined us as Monash-King’s Fellows, and Dr Erin Guiliani, University of Queensland, came to us as an Australian Bicentennial scholar. Kirsten McIntyre, the Centre’s much-loved and very able administrator, retired after nineteen years’ service, in January 2010. Mr David Buckingham, Professor Warwick Gould and the Reverend Dr Philip Raymont left the Centre’s Supervisory Board. We thank them very much for their service, and we welcome to the Board Mrs Kerry Sanderson, the Agent-General for Western Australia, Professor Philip Murphy, Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Professor Donald Markwell, Warden of Rhodes House, Oxford, and Professor Richard Drayton, Rhodes Professor of Imperial History. Kirsten McIntyre, Marie Berry and Amber Burrow-Goldhahn gave the Centre excellent administrative support.

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

4

Public lecturesThe Menzies LecturesThe Centre’s annual Menzies Lecture is designed to provide an opportunity for a distinguished person of any nationality to reflect on a subject of contemporary interest affecting Britain and Australia. Uniquely to date, this session saw two Menzies Lectures delivered.

Narrating the Nation in AustraliaProfessor Graeme Davison (Monash University)20 October 2009

The Menzies Lecture for 2009 was given in the Old Anatomy Theatre at King’s Strand campus by Graeme Davison, Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor of History at Monash University. For the first time the Menzies Lecture was part of King’s Arts and Humanities Week. Professor Davison, one of Australia’s most eminent social historians, is the author of numerous books, including The Rise and Fall of Marvellous Melbourne, The Unforgiving Minute, and Car Wars. In his lecture he argued that nations imagine their identities as informed by a range of common master narratives,

which he identified as: Genesis (foundation), Exodus (diaspora), Deuteronomy (constitution-making), and Odyssey (going forth to make one’s mark on the world and returning with enhanced experience). He rehearsed these narratives as they applied in the public histories, particularly the memorials and paintings, of Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States, ranging over such examples as depictions of the Pilgrim Fathers, Captain Cook, the Voortrekkers, the Treaty of Waitangi, the Canadian Bill of Rights, and various invocations of the ‘New World’. He argued that none of the first three master narratives had gained sufficient traction in the Australian popular imagination, but that the fourth or Odyssey narrative had, in the form of the Anzac legend, though even it was too exclusive to satisfy as a full-blown national narrative, which needed to be grounded on home soil and be socially inclusive. About 100 people attended the lecture. Professor Davison’s lecture has since been published by the Menzies Centre.

Patrick White in London Mr David Marr23 June 2010

Mr David Marr delivered the 2010 Menzies Lecture on a warm summer evening in the Beveridge Hall at Senate House, University of London, to an audience of about 150. Mr Marr was invited to speak as one of Australia’s most admired and respected writers, and the winner of the 2009 Australian PEN Keneally Award. He reflected upon the London life of Patrick White, the subject of his award-winning biography, Patrick White: A Life (1991), widely regarded as a masterpiece of its genre. A large audience was in attendance, including Mr John Dauth, High Commissioner for Australia, and UK-based members of Patrick White’s family. Delegates to our conference on Patrick White: Modernist Impact, Critical Futures also attended. Both the lecture and the conference (see below) were supported by: King’s College London; the Institute of English Studies, University of London; Australian Literature at the University of Sydney; the Lincoln Britain-Australia Trust; and the British Australian Studies Association. Before turning to White’s experiences in London, Mr Marr reflected upon the writer’s encounter with Australian Prime Minister (Sir) Robert Menzies at the presentation of the first Miles Franklin Award in

Below: Professor Graeme Davison

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

51958, the only time ‘the nation’s most honoured writer and most durable prime minister’ met face to face: at the time Menzies had White’s vote ‘and would have it for at least another poll’. They would not, however, have seen eye to eye with regard to ‘the modern idiom’ in literature. But they did share, as Mr Marr noted, a commitment to Australia, mental and cultural horizons that nonetheless stretched well beyond Australia’s shores, and a strong attachment to London in particular. White’s ‘affection’ for London, though, ‘was not sentimental. He complained about London all his life, with the love and despair of a native’. Mr Marr provided insight into White’s ambivalent responses to the city over his many visits, peppering the lecture with often hilariously barbed comments from White’s letters. It soon became apparent how important London was in White’s literary

career: the formative experience of the Blitz; the eclectic characters and social groups he encountered; the gossip; and the continuous testing of his new work by re-visiting the city. The lecture gave a portrait of London, a new perspective on White’s entire life, and snapshots also of an era when the lives, attitudes, and experiences of Australians in London were often quite different to those today. Mr Marr’s lecture was enthusiastically received, and prompted much discussion both at the reception that followed and during the course of the three-day conference. A transcript of the 2010 Menzies Lecture will be published by the Centre. The lecture has also already been published by Black Inc press as part of the Best Australian Essays 2010 collection edited by Robert Drewe (see below).

Public lectures

The Reese Memorial LectureThe Reese Lecture is an annual event of the Menzies Centre, held in association with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. It is in honour of the late Dr Trevor Reese, a distinguished historian of the British Commonwealth and Australia who was Reader at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, the Centre’s home from 1982 to 1999. The lecture is always given by a younger scholar in the disciplines of history or political science.

Broadsheets, Broadcasts & Botany Bay: History in the Australian Media Associate Professor Bridget Griffen-Foley(Macquarie University)27 May 2010

This year’s Trevor Reese Memorial Lecture was given by Australian media historian Associate Professor Bridget Griffen-Foley, speaking to an audience of about 60 in the Downer Room of Australia House. Associate Professor Griffen-Foley is the author of several books on Australian media history of which the most recent is Changing Stations: The Story of Australian Commercial Radio. Her lecture emphasised the influential role played by newspapers, radio and television in presenting

Australians with stories about their past. In the era before the ‘Tele-don’, there were academics who appeared regularly in the media, just as there were journalists, publicists and popular authors who used the then new

medium of radio to present Australian history for popular consumption. Some of this work was well-researched and even willing to explore subjects that many academic historians tended to avoid or underplay, such as settler violence towards Aborigines. Associate Professor Griffen-Foley’s lecture paid particular attention to the work in print and on the airwaves of Frank Clune, whose contributions to the research, presentation and popularisation of Australian history have been mainly ignored. At a time when many of the voices heard over the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) bore more than a passing resemblance to those heard on the BBC, the ABC’s managing director told Clune that his material did not need ‘a silky Oxford accent’: ‘We want a He-Man’s voice: perhaps you may have it.’ The lecture revealed that the ubiquitous 1970s-80s historical TV mini-series, the more recent presentation of Australian history on television through such reality shows as The Colony and Outback House, and of high-quality historical documentaries on both Australian radio and television – and particularly the ABC – are part of a much longer tradition.

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

6

Conferences & symposiaAntipodean Experiences: Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans & Zimbabweans in BritainThis conference, held in the Downer Room, Australia House, met on 3 September 2009. It was co-organised by Professor Bridge, Menzies Centre, Professor John Nieuwenhuysen, Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements, and Dr Robert Crawford, former Monash South Africa Fellow at the Centre and Institute, now Senior Lecturer in Public Communication, University of Technology, Sydney. Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, and Zimbabweans in the UK are commonly grouped together as ‘Antipodeans’. But what does ‘Antipodean’ actually mean? This conference brought together leading researchers and representatives from the different community organisations and media bodies, to interrogate this notion. Speakers discussed who these Antipodeans are, what they do in the UK, and how they relate to their homeland, their new home, and to each other. The speakers were: Professor John Eade, Roehampton University, on antipodean diasporas; Professor Bridge and Dr Simon Sleight, Monash, on Australians; Dr Alan Latham, University College London, and Professor Wendy Larner, University of Bristol, on New Zealanders; Dr Crawford and Dr Dominic Pasura, University College London, on South Africans and Zimbabweans; Sylvana Caloni, Advance Global Australians, John Battersby, Global South African Network, Anna Groot, Kea New Zealand Global Talent Network, and Dr Alex Magaisa, Zimbabwe Diaspora Development Interface, on organizations linking Home and Way; and Daniel Landon, TNT, Piet van Niekerk, South African Times, Gordon Glyn Jones, The South African, Conrad Heine, The Economist, and Paola Tataro, Fairfax, on personal and professional perspectives. Some 30 people attended. Afterwards, Mr Adam McCarthy, Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom launched a book which arose from a previous phase of this research project: Australians in Britain: The Twentieth-Century Experience, edited by Carl Bridge, Robert Crawford and David Dunstan (Monash ePress)

Australian Studies Research RoundtableFollowing a highly successful similar event in January 2009, another Australian Studies Research Roundtable was held at the Menzies on 20 November 2009, this

time convened by Dr Bongiorno. There were twelve participants. Several postgraduate students reported on their work. Erin Guiliani, our Bicentennial Scholar, spoke on the history of colonial policing in Australia and India. Another PhD student who has been visiting the Centre from the University of Western Australia, Andrew Thackrah, provided an overview of his recent work on Australian neo-liberal think-tanks. The Centre’s own postgraduate research students, Richard Cox and Alison Clark, each gave an account of their projects; Richard on the life of his ancestor, William Cox, and Alison on the British Library’s Australian ethnographic photo collection, which she is studying as part of her Collaborative Doctoral Award. Anne-Marie Cook, who had recently completed her MA (Australian Studies) and carried out field work for her dissertation in Australia, spoke about her research on the Australian film-making sisters of the 1920s, the McDonaghs, while Aruna Wittmann, who was commencing postgraduate work on Peter Carey, presented an early outline of her plans for a project on Carey and psychoanalysis. Dr Anna Eriksson, a criminologist and Monash-King’s Fellow affiliated with the Centre, provided an overview of her comparative work on prisons in English-speaking countries, including Australia, and Scandinavia. Once again, the interdisciplinary character of the event was much in evidence. Sarah Thomas, a London-based Australian curator and art historian studying for her PhD through the University of Sydney, presented the results of some of her research on Augustus Earle. Earle, known mainly to Australians as a painter in the early-colonial period, also spent time in Brazil where he produced some powerful images of slaves and the brutality of slavery. Also on art history, Dr Ian Coates of the National Museum of Australia, but then a guest curator at the British Museum, revealed his exciting recent discoveries of work by Tom Roberts buried in the British Museum collections. Dr Kerry Kilner of the University of Queensland, Director of the AustLit database, provided a demonstration of some recent innovations in that major digital humanities project. Menzies Centre staff Dr Sleight, Dr Henderson and Dr Bongiorno reported on their recent work: Sleight on his comparative study of urban youth, Henderson on the 1955 film Jedda, and Bongiorno on war and sexuality. Once again, the Research Roundtable was a valuable forum for the exchange of information and ideas in Australian Studies.

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

7Australia and New Zealand Libraries and Archives Group Convened by Dr Henderson, the annual ANZLAG workshop took place at the University of London’s Senate House on 10 May 2010, co-hosted by MCAS and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library, as represented by Dr David Clover. Themes for discussion included Australian literature collections, with presentations from Dr Clover, Dr Nicholas Martland (British Library) and Dr Kevin Halliwell (National Library of Scotland) and a researcher’s perspective given by Dr Henderson. After lunch insight was afforded into the collections of the Library and Museum of Freemasonry by Archivist and Records Manager Ms Susan Snell and researcher Mr James Daniel. Dr Maria Castrillo, Manuscripts Curator, then gave an overview of manuscript emigrants’ diaries and journals relating to Australia and New Zealand held by the National Library of Scotland. The day concluded with a discussion about publishing and distribution of New Zealand and Australian books in the United Kingdom, and issues of legal deposit, joined by Ms Clare Drysdale (Allen and Unwin), Dr Martland and Dr Halliwell.

Australian Studies Centrelink: University of Copenhagen, University College Dublin and King’s College LondonThis annual gathering of staff and students from the Australian Studies centres based in Copenhagen, Dublin and London was this year hosted by the Menzies Centre, with Dr Bongiorno as convener, on the afternoon of and evening of 21 May 2010 in the History Seminar Room. It is a valuable opportunity for many of those working in the field in Europe to present research, exchange ideas and meet socially – as on previous occasions, the evening was devoted to a dinner for participants. It also, incidentally, tends to bring together major Australian-based scholars with those working in the northern hemisphere. The Centre was fortunate this year in being able to take advantage of the presence in London of Professors Ann Curthoys and John Docker, invited visitors to the Menzies Centre from the University of Sydney, who each presented papers on their recent research. The occasion also included papers by the Monash-King’s Fellow, Dr Mark Gibson, and the Rydon Fellow, Dr Julie McIntyre, on work completed while at the Menzies Centre. The University of Copenhagen’s Visiting Professor, David Walker, and the Keith Cameron Professor of Australian

History at University College Dublin, Katie Holmes, also spoke. Topics ranged over national identity, cultural diplomacy, violence in war, creative industries, museums, wine-making, gardens and Paul Robeson’s 1960 tour of Australia. About 30 people participated. The Australian Studies Centrelink, while remaining informal, has become an important event on the European Australian Studies calendar, promoting networks between individuals and centres not only within Europe, but between Europe and Australia.

Patrick White: Modernist Futures, Critical ImpactThis major international conference (23-25 June 2010) was convened by Dr Henderson and supported by the English Department at King’s, the Institute of English Studies University of London, Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, the Lincoln Britain-Australia Trust, and the British Australian Studies Association. Designed to create new critical perspectives on the work of Australia’s greatest writer, the conference brought together delegates from Australia, the United Kingdom, North and South America, and continental Europe, including keynote speakers Professors Tim Armstrong (Royal Holloway), Simon During (Queensland) and Elizabeth Schafer (Royal Holloway). Professor Armstrong, well known for placing the history of literary modernism in global contexts, opened the conference with a comparative study of White’s work. The 2010 Menzies Lecture, delivered by Mr David Marr, also formed part of the conference (see above). Professor During gave the keynote on the second day of the conference and provided it with its most controversial moments, including a lively, even heated, discussion which ranged in focus from the role of the critic in the contemporary world to the meaning of dance. On day three Professor Schafer’s keynote detailed exciting new research on the collaboration between White as playwright and director Neil Armfield. Throughout the conference other new perspectives were offered on White, notably via the recently rediscovered papers now at the National Library of Australia, by Professors Margaret Harris and Elizabeth Webby (Sydney) and Dr Angus Nicholls (Queen Mary). The conference will engender a number of publications on White edited by Dr Henderson and co-organiser Dr Anouk Lang (Birmingham) in the lead up to the 2012 centenary of White’s birth in London. About forty people attended.

Conferences & symposia

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

8

Teaching & supervisionDr Bongiorno taught in the following BA History modules: History of Australia since 1788 2nd year, full year (13 students) as convener, Historical Sources and Approaches, 1st year, full-year (20 students) as tutor; 2 lectures to the 1st year Worlds of the British Empire class, and one lecture to the 2nd year History and Memory class. He was a member of the BA (History) Federal Board and the BA History Undergraduate Programme Board (King’s College London). He was also deputy chair of the latter.

Professor Bridge convened the BA History Group III module, Australia during the Second World War: Strategy, Politics, and Diplomacy (5 students), supervised 4 BA dissertations, gave 2 lectures in the History of Australia since 1788 2nd year; and a lecture each to the 1st year Worlds of the British Empire and 3rd year History and Memory classes.

Dr Henderson convened the following BA modules: Australian Literature and Film (19 students) and Postcolonial Australian Literature (19 students); and he also taught in Postcolonial Literature and Theory and in Reading Poetry. He taught the following MA modules: Australian Film, Text, Culture, Theory (5 students) and Colonial Modernity/Australian Modernism (5 students); and Comparative Theories.

Collectively, Centre staff taught Australian Studies modules to more students than ever before. BA Literature numbers increased from 33 in 2008-9 to 38 in 2009-10, and BA History numbers from 20 to 42. MA numbers remained stable at 2 students, while the Centre’s MA was phased out and the modules integrated into offerings in the Departments of English and History.

Postgraduate research students supervised: Alison Clark, PhD and AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Scholar, ‘Aborigines, White Women and the Museum; a Historical Analysis of the Changing Contexts and Perceptions of the British Museum’s Collections of Mary Montgomery Bennett and Jessie Litchfield’ (Dr Henderson and Dr Lissant Bolton, British Museum); Richard Cox, MPhil, ‘William Cox and the Making of an Australian Landed Gentry’ (Dr Bongiorno and Professor Bridge); Aruna Wittmann, MPhil, ‘Peter Carey’s Fiction: A Psychoanalytical Approach’, MPhil (Dr Henderson and Dr Neil Vickers, Department of English Language and Literature). Dr Tim Causer, PhD and AHRC Scholar, ‘“Only a place fit for angels and eagles”: the Norfolk Island Penal Settlement, 1825-55’ (Professor Bridge and Dr Henderson), was awarded his degree during the session.

Below: The High Commissioners book cover –

seep16forreportonthispublicationBelow: Dr Ian Henderson

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

9

Staff research, public & other activitiesDr Frank Bongiorno

Publications• Co-edited book: and Carl Bridge and David Lee, eds,

The High Commissioners, Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010, Department of

Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, 2010, viii+342 pp.

• Book chapter: ‘Whatever Happened to Free Trade Liberalism?’, in Paul Strangio and Nick Dyrenfurth, eds, Confusion: The Making of the Australian Two-Party Political System, Melbourne University Press, 2009, pp. 249-74.

• Book chapter: ‘Sir Richard Bourke’, in David Clune and Ken Turner, eds, The Governors of New South Wales 1788-2010, The Federation Press, Annandale (NSW), 2009, pp. 167-88.

• Book chapter: ‘John Beasley and the postwar world’, in Carl Bridge, David Lee and Frank Bongiorno, eds, The High Commissioners, Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010, Department of

Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, 2010, pp. 111-26.

• Book chapter: and Carl Bridge, and David Lee with Jeremy Hearder, ‘Introduction’, in Carl Bridge, David Lee and Frank Bongiorno, eds, The High Commissioners, Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, 2010, pp. 1-9.

• Book chapter: ‘Who were the early agents-general?’, in Carl Bridge, David Lee and Frank Bongiorno, eds, The High Commissioners, Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, 2010, pp. 241-5.

• Book chapter: ‘The Two World Wars and the Remaking of Australian Sexuality’, in Martin Crotty and Marina Larsson, eds, Anzac Legacies: Australians and the Aftermath of War, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2010, pp. 84-106.

• Refereed article: ‘“Real Solemn History” and its Discontents: Australian Political History and the Challenge of Social History’, Australian Journal of

Politics and History, Special Issue, Jacqueline Dickenson, Nick Dyrenfurth and Sean Scalmer, eds, ‘The Rebirth

of Political History’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, Vol. 56, No. 1, March 2010, pp. 6-20.

• Book review: Anglo-Australian Relations and the ‘Turn to Europe’, 1961-1972 (Andrea Benvenuti),

Diplomacy and Statecraft, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2009, pp. 372-4.

• Book review: The Changing World of Gay Men (Peter Robinson), Journal of Australian Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3, September 2009, pp. 372-3.

• Book review: Manning Clark: A Life (Brian Matthews), Journal of Australian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 1, March 2010, pp. 110-12.

Other• ‘Unhealthy Differences’, Inside Story, 4 September

2009 [also published as ‘In Sickness and Wealth’, Canberra Times, Forum, 5 September 2009, pp. 10-11].

• ‘The Milk of Human Kindness’, Inside Story, 15 October 2009.

• ‘Who’s afraid of Margaret Thatcher’, Inside Story, 25 November 2009.

• ‘Tony’s War’, Inside Story, 15 December 2009.

• ‘London Transported, Inside Story, 9 February 2010.

• ‘The Writing on the Wall’, Inside Story, 18 March 2010 [also published as ‘Writing’s on the wall for UK academia, Canberra Times, 20 March 2010, Forum, pp. 10-11].

• ‘New Labour in History’, Australian Policy and History, March 2010

• ‘A Tale of Woe’, Inside Story, 14 April 2010, [also published as ‘Britain’s parties will feel voters’ woes’, Canberra Times, 17 April 2010, Forum, pp. 12-13].

• ‘Hanging About’, Inside Story, 10 May 2010.

• ‘A Dawning Realisation’, Inside Story, 23 June, [also published as ‘Britain wakes to another new dawn’, Canberra Times, 26 June 2010, Forum, pp. 8-9].

• ‘Labour’s Leadership Marathon Reaches Manchester’, Inside Story, 11 August 2010 [also published as ‘Britain’s “miserable” Labour marathon’, Canberra Times, 14 August 2010, Forum, pp. 8-9].

Conference & Seminar Papers• ‘Global War and Australian Sexuality’, Department of

History, King’s College London, Seminar Series, 26 January 2010.

• ‘Australian Sexual Revolution: 1960-80’, Department of History and Archives Seminar Series, University College Dublin, 6 April 2010.

• ‘Aspects of the History of Sexuality in Early Colonial Australia’, Menzies Centre for Australian Studies Seminar Series, 28 April 2010.

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

10

Staff research, public & other activities• ‘The British Legacy in Australia; Australia’s

Commonwealth Perspective’, Commonwealth Policy Studies, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Summer Youth Conference 2010, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 23 June 2010.

• and Erik Eklund, ‘The Problem of Belonging: contested country in Australian local history’, Victoria County History International Symposium, Institute of Historical Research, 28 June 2010.

• Invited Chair and Discussant, Scholarly Networks in the British Empire: Transnational and Imperial Connections after 1850, conference, University of Oxford, 5-6 July 2010.

Media• Interview: ‘History of Unorthodox Religion in

Australia’, Radio New Zealand, November 2009.

• Quoted: in ‘Boot to Our Pride’, Australian Times (London), 10 November 2009.

• Interview: ‘Bounty Immigration to Australia’, BBC Radio Scotland, December 2009.

• Interview: ‘Convict Records on ancestry.co’, BBC 24 Hour News Channel (TV), 24 January 2010; and BBC Radio Wales, 26 January 2010.

• Interview: ‘British Child Migrants in Australia’, Radio Wales and BBC World Service, 24 February 2010.

• Quoted: in ‘Climate policies may hit Aussie-UK ties’, April 2010, Australian Associated Press (various outlets).

• Interview: ABC Radio National, Life Matters, 5 May 2010.

• Interview: ‘History of the Labor Party, ABC Radio Overnight, 10 May, 2010.

• Interview: ‘Congestion Tax, ABC Radio National, Australia Talks, 10 May 2010.

• Interview: ‘Australian Voting Systems’, BBC World Service (Radio), 11 May 2010.

• Interview: ‘The Negative Campaign’, The Diplomat, 20 August 2010.

• Adviser: on BBC1 (TV) Who Do You Think You Are? (Episode on William Cox/Jason Donovan).

Other Academic Activities• Convener, Menzies Centre Seminar series

• Co-convener, Imperial and World History Seminar, Institute of Historical Research

• Co-editor, Reviews in Australian Studies

• Co-editor, London Papers in Australian Studies

• Co-editor, Menzies Lecture

• Co-editor, Reese Lecture

• Assessor for Australian Research Council and Arts & Humanities Research Council

• Committee Member, Bicentennial Fellowships/ Scholarships

• Assessed two book manuscripts and one proposal for publishers, and many articles for academic journals

• External examiner of an MA and 3 PhDs from Griffith, LaTrobe, Massey and Monash universities

• International Adviser, Labour History

• Editorial Board, Journal of Australian Studies

• Editorial Board, History Australia

• Editorial and Management Committee of Australian Policy and History online

• Board Member, Discovery and Empire Project, Foreign & Commonwealth Office Historical Collection, Maughan Library, King’s College London

Other Outreach Activities• Commentary/answering audience questions on

Contact at a London Australian Film Festival Docspot, the Barbican Arts Centre, 24 March 2010

• Trustee, Lincoln-Australia Bicentennial Trust

Professor Carl Bridge

Publications• Co-edited book: with David Lee and Frank

Bongiorno, The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010, Canberra: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2010, viii+342 pp.

• Book chapter: and Frank Bongiorno and David Lee with Jeremy Hearder, ‘Introduction’, in Carl Bridge, David Lee and Frank Bongiorno, eds, The High Commissioners, Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, 2010, pp. 1-9.

• Book chapter: ‘Undependable busybody’: S.M. Bruce as High Commissioner during World War II’ in Bridge, Lee and Bongiorno, eds, The High Commissioners, 1910-2010, Canberra: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2010, pp. 103-10, 273-4.

• Book review: The Dark Pocket of Time. War, Medicine and the Australian State, 1914-1935 (Kate Blackmore), Social History of Medicine, Nov. 2009, doi:10.1093/shm/hkp070

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

11• Book review: Supreme Federalist: A Life of Sir John

Downer (John Bannon), Australian Historical Studies, 41, 2010, pp. 244-5.

Other academic activities• Member, Supervisory Board of the Menzies Centre

for Australian Studies

• Chair, Australian Bicentennial Scholarships and Fellowships Committee

• Chair, Northcote Scholarships Committee

• Member, Monash-King’s Fellowships Committee, King’s College London

• Member, Academic Board, Promotions Committee (Arts, Law & Social Sciences Panel)

• Member, King’s College London Executive Board, School of Arts & Humanities

• Member, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, International Advisory Committee

• Trustee, Lincoln-Australia Bicentennial Trust

• Chaired appointment committees for two lectureships in Defence Studies (King’s College London) and sat as an external on selection committees for two senior lectureships at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and for the Deputy Director of the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies

• Assessor for appointments and promotions at Cardiff University, University of Wales-Aberystwyth, the University of Melbourne, the University of Western Australia, and University College, Galway

• External assessor, research grants for the Australian Research Council, the ESRC, and the Leverhulme Foundation.

• Examined PhDs for Massey University, University of Sydney, University of New England (2), University of Melbourne

• Assessor or publishers’ reader for Exeter University Press, Oxford University Press, Penguin Books, Manchester University Press, Melbourne University Press, I.B. Tauris, English Historical Review, Journal of Historical Geography, History Compass, National Identities, Journal of Canadian Studies, Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History, War & History

• Co-editor, London Papers in Australian Studies

• Co-editor, The Menzies Lecture

• Co-editor, The Reese Lecture

• Co-editor, Reviews in Australian Studies

• Member of the editorial boards of Australian Studies, History Compass, and South Asia

• Represented the Menzies Centre at a wide range of public events, often at the Australian High Commission: Anzac Day, Australia Day, the Arthur Phillip Memorial Service, Western Australia Foundation Day, the Arthur Boyd Lecture, the Matthew Flinders Memorial Service, and numerous university alumni events.

Conference convened• Antipodean Experiences: Australians, New

Zealanders and South Africans and Zimbabweans in Contemporary Britain, Monash-Menzies Conference, Australia House, co-convened with Prof. John Nieuwenhuysen, Monash, and Dr Robert Crawford, University of Technology Sydney, September 2009

Research Grants• Australians in Britain: the Twentieth Century

(Monash University grant: £25,000)

• Antipodean Experiences: Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans and Zimbabweans in Contemporary Britain, September 2009 (Monash conference grant: £5,000)

• The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010 (Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade grant: $AUD 70,000)

Academic Conference & Seminar Papers• ‘A British World Perspective on John Darwin’s

The Empire Project’, Global and Imperial History Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, May 2010

• ‘Reassessing Billy Hughes’ Menzies Centre Research Seminar, King’s College London, March 2010

• ‘Australians in London: a demographic and spatial analysis’, Antipodean Experiences, Monash-Menzies Conference, London, September 2009

• ‘An Australian looks at Canada’s empire’, Canada House, London, June 2009

Public Lectures• ‘William Dampier’, Britain Australia Society (West of

England Branch), East Coker, June 2009

• ‘Botany Bay’, Historical Association, Hertfordshire Branch, July 2009

Staff research, public & other activities

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

12• ‘Australians in Britain’, The Cook Society (British

chapter), London, February 2010

• ‘Aussies and Brits’, Britain-Australia Society (West of England Branch), Stoke-on-Trent, June 2010

Media• Interview, Cricket International 20/20, interview,

BBC Asian Radio, April 2010

• Quoted: The Tamworth Country Music Festival, Metro, 28 January 2010

• Interview: Internationalising Aboriginal culture, interview, Al Jazeera TV News, January 2010

• Interview: The British Child Migrant Apology, BBC TV, The One Show, November 2009

• Adviser, BBC TV Who do you think you are?, September 2009

• Adviser, ABC TV series on Australia House, September 2009

• Interview, The Australian Child Migrant Apology, CNN TV World News, July 2009

Dr Ian Henderson

Publications• Book chapter: ‘The Body of an Australian Girl: Miles

Franklin’s My Brilliant Career (1901)’, in Catherine Kevin, ed., Feminism and the Body: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009, pp.116-133.

• Book chapter: ‘Noongar Modernity and Jack Davis’s The Dreamers (1982)’, in David Carter and Wang Guanglin, eds, Modern Australian Criticism and Theory: A Critical Guide, Shanghai: China Ocean University Press, 2010, pp. 229-42.

• Refereed article:‘Stranger Danger: Approaching Home and Ten Canoes (2006)’, South Atlantic Quarterly vol. 108, no. 1, Winter 2009, pp. 53-70.

• Refereed article: ‘Uncommon Reading: Sight, Science and the “Savage” Reader, 1850-1915’, Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 2010, Special Issue: ‘Common Readers and Cultural Critics’, ed. Russell Smith and Monique Rooney.

• Refereed article: ‘“Freud Has A Name for It”: A.A. Phillips’s “The Cultural Cringe” (1950)’, Southerly, vol. 69, no. 2 (2009), pp.125-45; also published in ‘Freud and the Cultural Cringe’, Best Australian Essays 2010, ed. Robert Drewe, Melbourne: Black Inc., 2010, pp. 105-116

Conference papers• ‘Beyond Text Workshop 3: Heritage and Material

Culture’, 10th Biennial European Association for the Study of Australia conference: Dis/solutions: the future of the past in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 24 September 2009

• ‘Uncommon Reading: Sight, Science, and the Savage Reader’, 9 July 2009, Common Readers and Cultural Critics, Association for the Study of Australian Literature conference, 8-11 July 2009, Australian National University, Canberra

Guest Lectures• ‘Indigenous Australian Cinema’, Port Talk, William

Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square, London, April 2010

• ‘Modernism, Antipòdernism, and Australian Aboriginality’, University of Cologne Australian Studies Lecture Series, July 2010

Chair/panellist• Chair and panellist, launch of Nicholas Jose, ed.,

The Literature of Australia: an anthology, Norton, with Nicholas Jose, Clive James, and Emma Jones, Australian High Commission, London, Septembe 2009

• Chair, Professor Marcia Langton (Melbourne), ‘Let Them Eat Ideology: The Historical Collapse of Aboriginal Economies and the Postcolonial Dilemma of Australianist Anthropology’, King’s College London Postcolonial Seminar Series, supported by the King’s Annual Fund, October 2009

• In conversation with Christos Tsiolkas, author of The Slap, UK launch, Australian High Commission, London, May 2010

• In conversation with Jonathan auf der Heide, Producer, Director and Co-writer of the film Van Diemen’s Land (2009), Beyond the Stain: a symposium on Australian convict history, King’s College London in association with Monash University’s National Centre for Australian Studies, September 2010

• Chair, Connecting Colonial Spaces panel, First Commodities and Culture in the Colonial World Workshop, King’s College London and the Museum of London, Docklands, supported by the Leverhulme Trust, July2010

Staff research, public & other activities

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

13

Rydon Fellow 2009-10Dr Julie McIntyre, History, University of Sydney, was Rydon Fellow from February to June 2010. While at the Centre she researched her book First Growth: Wine in New South Wales, Imagining an Australian industry (Australian Scholarly Publishing), which is a history of winemaking in New South Wales in global perspective. Her archival work took her to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the British Library and the Natural History Museum. She also had productive interactions with Wine Australia, our neighbours in the Australia Centre, and the Centre for Anthropology at the British Museum. She submitted two research articles: ‘Adam

Smith and “a permanent and almost universal sobriety”: faith in the transformative qualities of wine in colonial New South Wales’ to Australian Historical Studies; and ‘Arthur Phillip, Joseph Banks and the imagining of a wine industry in colonial New South Wales from the time of the First Fleet’ to the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society. She also spoke at the Centrelink conference in May on “‘All the mysteries of the manufacture of European wines’: research into the non-British culture of wine growing by British migrants to colonial New South Wales’.

Research Project ReportsAustralia and Britain, 1961-75This major project, funded by the Menzies Foundation and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was managed by Professor Bridge, and also involved Dr Stephen Ashton (Honorary Senior Fellow) and Professor Stuart Ward (University of Copenhagen). It produced an authoritative volume of official documents on Australia-Britain relations from the first British application to join the European Union, through the British withdrawal from East of Suez, to the Whitlam Government’s attempts to abolish Privy Council appeals and fully repatriate the Australian constitution. This was a turbulent time when the tectonic plates of the Australia-Britain relationship shifted fundamentally. A text of some 1500 pages of documents with scholarly introductions and editorial annotations was finished in the summer. The book, Australia and the United Kingdom 1960-1975, will be published in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Documents on Australian Foreign Policy series in late 2010.

Centenary of British-Australian Diplomatic RelationsProfessor Bridge and Dr Bongiorno, with Dr David Lee, Editor of Historical Documents, Department of Foreign Affairs, Canberra, edited The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910–2010, a volume of scholarly essays to mark the centenary of British-Australian diplomatic relations. In the Australian High Commission on 18 February 2010 the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, launched the book at a reception to celebrate the occasion. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband, was also present. A video clip of the editors’ presentation of the book to the Queen may be found at www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/Australia/Australia.aspx

Pilgrimage to the Grave of Sir George Reid – 8 April 2010This pilgrimage to the grave of Australia’s first High Commissoner, Sir George Reid, at Putney Vale Cemetery, was part of the commemoration of the Centenary of British-Australian relations. The memorial service was conducted by the present High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr John Dauth, and the Menzies Centre was represented by Professor Bridge and Dr Bongiorno. Sir George also served in the House of Commons after the expiry of his term as High Commissioner.

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

14

SeminarsTerm 1 • 30 September 2009

Liz Harvey (University College London): Fashioning Mothers of the next Generation: Philanthropy in Birmingham and Sydney, 1860-1914

• 7 October 2009

Penny Russell (University of Sydney): Australian Manners: reflections on colonial civility

• 14 October 2009 Anne O’Brien (University of New South Wales): Tracking “the spirit of pauperism” in 19th-century Australia

• 28 October 2009

Margo Huxley (Sheffield/Queen Mary University of London): Unsettling the Colony: home colonies, systematic colonisation and the management of population

• 30 October 2009

Professor Marcia Langton (University of Melbourne): Let Them Eat Ideology: The Historical Collapse of Aboriginal Economies and the Postcolonial Dilemma of Australianist Anthropology (with King’s Postcolonial Seminar Series, supported by the King’s Annual Fund)

• 11 November 2009

Erin Guiliani (University of Queensland and Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College London): Aliases: Police Identification and Surveillance Technologies across the British Empire, 1850 to 1900

• 18 November 2009

Judith Raftery (University of Adelaide): The Health of Australian Aboriginals: historical legacy and current challenges (Monash-Menzies Public Policy Seminar)

• 25 November 2009

Tiffany Shellam (Deakin University): Shaking Hands on the Fringe: Negotiating the Aboriginal World at King George’s Sound

• 2 December 2009

Andrew Thackrah (University of Western Australia): Think-tanks and ‘Neoliberal’ Identity during the Howard Years (Monash-Menzies Public Policy Seminar)

• 10 December 2009

Kerry Kilner (University of Queensland): New Developments in the AustLit Database(with Centre for Computing in the Humanities)

Term 2 • 20 January 2010

David Callahan (Universidade de Aveiro): Hacking through the rainforest: Writing on the work of Janette Turner Hospital

• 17 February 2010

Katherine Bode (University of Tasmania): Australian Publishing: A Trans/National Concern?

• 24 February 2010

Harriet Edquist (RMIT University): Pioneering Modernism: the early work of Anglo-Australian designer, Michael O’Connell

• 3 March 2010

Sarah Thomas (University of Sydney): The Wanderer, the Slave and the Aborigine: Augustus Earle in Rio de Janeiro and Sydney in the 1820s (with Portuguese & Brazilian Studies, and the Brazil Institute)

• 17 March 2010

Carl Bridge (King’s College London): Re-assessing Billy Hughes

• 31 March 2010

Ian Henderson (King’s College London): Reading, Modernity, and the Mental Lives of Savages, 1850-1910

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

15Term 3• 28 April 2010

Frank Bongiorno (King’s College London): Aspects of the History of Sexuality in Early Colonial Australia

• 12 May 2010

Gonzalo Villalta Puig (University of Hull): Intercolonial Free Trade: the drafting history of Section 92 of the Australian Constitution and its misinterpretation in Cole v Whitfield (Monash-Menzies Public Policy Seminar)

• 18 May 2010

Ann Curthoys & John Docker (University of Sydney): Is a history of humanity possible? (with the Department of History, King’s College London)

• 19 May 2010

Benjamin Mountford (Exeter College, Oxford):Australia’s Empire and the Chinese Question

• 9 June 2010

Fiona Paisley (Griffith University): Toy Skeletons outside Australia House: Aboriginal Internationalist Anthony Martin Fernando Stages a Unique Protest on the Strand in 1928

• 10 June 2010

Michael Gladwin (University of Cambridge): The Prayer Book and the flag? Church of England clergymen, Australia and the British Empire, 1788-1850 (with the Modern Religious History since 1750 seminar, Institute of Historical Research)

Readings & Book Launches• 22 September 2009

Nicholas Jose, ed., The Literature of Australia: an anthology King’s College London has a longstanding relationship with the Australian High Commission, one of its nearest neighbours on the Strand, through the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies. In September the High Commission, the College, and publishers W.H. Norton joined forces to celebrate the landmark anthology The Literature of Australia. Over one hundred invited guests attended a reception in the magnificent Exhibition Hall of Australia House to witness His Excellency Mr John Dauth, High Commissioner of Australia, launch the volume. Instigated by the Sydney branch of PEN International, and supported by Macquarie University (Sydney), the Australian Research Council and the Australia Council for the Arts, the anthology is published by Norton outside Australia and contains the work of over 300 authors ranging from the late eighteenth-century to the present. The evening’s panel discussion was chaired by Dr Henderson and included contributions by editor Professor Nicholas Jose (Harvard University), cultural commentator, writer and poet Mr Clive James, and Dr Emma Jones, current poet-in-residence at the Wordsworth Trust. The panel debate was not without controversy: Mr James upheld the contention of Australian critic Peter

Craven that some writing of deficient literary merit has been included in the anthology, particularly by Aboriginal Australian writers. The value of non-fiction writing in the anthology, and the literary significance of politically-inflected creative writing by Indigenous authors, were championed by other members of the panel. All agreed the anthology represents a magnificent resource for the promotion and teaching of Australian literature. Australian literature is taught at the College within its undergraduate and postgraduate English and Comparative Literature programmes.

• 14 October 2009

Jan Owen, read mainly from her recently published book, Poems 1980 – 2008, especially the section ‘Laughing in Greek’

• 11 November 2009

Angela Gardner, read from Views of the Hudson; Parts of Speech (selected poetry); an anthology In the Telling; and a few recent unpublished poems from the OzCo residency in Ireland

• 25 November 2009

Alan Wearne, read poems from his The Australian Popular Songbook and some more recent work

• 14 December 2009

Tim Soutphommasane, Reclaiming Patriotism: Nation-Building for Australian Progressives launched by Geoffrey Robertson QC, in partnership with Advance (London)

Seminars

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

16• 24 February 2010

Sophie Masson, read from her new historical novel for young people, The Hunt for Ned Kelly

• 14 April 2010

Katherine Gallagher, Carnival Edge: New & Selected Poems was launched by Dr Ian Henderson, with a reading and musical accompaniment by cellist-composer Kwesi Edman and oboist Uchenna Ngwe

• 21 May 2010

James Curran (University of Sydney) and Stuart Ward (University of Copenhagen), The Unknown Nation: Australia after Empire, was launched by Professor

Richard Drayton, Rhodes Professor of Imperial History, King’s College London

• 16 June 2010

David Lee, Stanley Melbourne Bruce: Australian Internationalist was launched by Professor Philip Murphy, Director, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, in the Bruce Rooms, Australian High Commission, London. Followed by panel discussion chaired by Dr Bongiorno: Dr Lorna Lloyd (Keele); Dr Andrew Stewart (King’s College London); Professor Carl Bridge (King’s College London). This event was held in association with the Australian High Commission.

Readings & Book Launches

Menzies Centre publicationsPublic Lectures• Sean Scalmer, The Rise of the Insider: Memoirs and Diaries in Recent Australian Political History, The Trevor Reese Memorial Lecture, 2009

• Graeme Davison, Narrating the Nation in Australia, The Menzies Lecture, 2009

Other publicationsCarl Bridge, Frank Bongiorno and David Lee, eds, The High Commissioners: Australia’s Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910-2010, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, 2010, viii+342 pp. This book – the result of a collaboration between the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Australian High Commission, London and the Menzies Centre – marks the centenary of the arrival in England of the first Australian High Commissioner to London, Sir George Reid, early in 1910. Reid’s posting began what is today Australia’s oldest diplomatic mission. The publication traces the history of the office of Australian High Commissioner in London and illuminates the larger story of Anglo-Australian relations in the twentieth century, the evolution of Australia from British colony to independent nation, and the transition of the United Kingdom from imperial power to European Union member. It is also a collective biography of twenty-two individuals, including former prime ministers and ministers, public servants and professional diplomats, who each faced the challenge of projecting Australia’s

image and representing the national interest in one of the world’s most important capitals. The book brought together 13 authors from Australia, the United Kingdom and continental Europe who between them covered every phase in the history of British-Australian relations since the early twentieth century. Professor Bridge wrote on the longest-serving High Commissioner, Stanley Melbourne Bruce, a former conservative prime minister who occupied the office from the early 1930s until after the Second World War, while Dr Bongiorno covered John Beasley, his immediate successor, a former government minister and Labor appointee. The High Commissioners also contains a chapter on the history of the building, written by another Menzies Centre historian, Dr Simon Sleight.

What the reviewers have said so far:

‘ ... an important contribution to Anglo-Australian history ... this excellent book will be of interest to all those who wish to learn more about Australia’s journey out of empire and ... diplomatic history’ Christopher Waters, Australian Journal of Politics and History‘This book provides an excellent insight into the way the relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom has evolved [It is] ... a major contribution to the study of the evolution of British-Australian relations.’ Derek McDougall, Round Table‘… an exceptionably valuable … publication.’ W. David McIntyre, Reviews in Australian Studies

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

17

Prize EssaysCultural Cringe”’, it was originally presented as a paper at the 2008 British Australian Studies Conference in a panel organised by the Menzies Centre. The essay then appeared in the prestigious Sydney-based literary journal, Southerly. It is rare for an academic essay to cross over into public culture in this way, and so is an important intervention by a Centre staff member in Australian cultural debate. The Centre – and Dr Henderson – can also claim paternity over another essay in the collection. ‘Patrick White’s London’, by Sydney Morning Herald journalist and White biographer, David Marr, also appears in the volume. Patrick White was the winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature, the first Australian to be so honoured. The text is Marr’s 2010 Menzies Lecture, delivered in London June as part of the Patrick White: Modernist Futures, Critical Impact conference. In his essay, Marr tells the story of White’s years in London in the 1930s and 1940s, and the important place that the city retained in his life and literary imagination even after his return to Australia in the late 1940s.

The Best Australian Essays 2010‘I wanted to showcase those subjects which thoughtful and talented writers were absorbed by in this particular year; Indeed (I thought), wouldn’t it be good to show what this country, and its culture, was about in 2010?’ This is how the editor of the 2010 edition of Best Australian Essays, the novelist and short story writer Robert Drewe, explained his purposes in compiling and editing the collection. It is produced by the Melbourne-based trade publisher, Black Inc. and reaches a broad audience of general readers. Its purpose is to present high-quality writing, to represent the most important and insightful things being said in and about Australia today, and to contribute to setting the agenda for public debate. It is, therefore, very pleasing that the Menzies Centre can claim to be represented in it this year not once, but twice. A version of Dr Henderson’s important revisionist interpretation of one of the most influential essays written on an Australian subject, A.A. Phillips’ ‘The Cultural Cringe’ (1950), was selected for the collection. Called ‘“Freud Has a Name for It”: A.A. Phillips’ “The

Menzies Centre PodcastLate in 2009, Dr Bongiorno, Professor Bridge and Dr Sleight collaborated with Professor Arthur Burns of the History Department at King’s College London and Hannah Andrassy, a producer and editor, to create a 15-minute podcast, Australia by the Thames: Representing Australian History for Business and Pleasure in London. It is part of a series of podcasts created by members of the History Department on sites around London. These are designed for 2nd year History students completing the compulsory History and Memory module, which is concerned with the ways in which ‘the past’ is located in ‘the present’, as well as for College and History Department promotional purposes. Other examples of podcasts took as their subjects Brick Lane, St Clement Danes Church, and the Foundling Museum in Brunswick Square.

Australia by the Thames focussed on two sites close to both the Centre and the College – the entrance to Australia House and the nearby Walkabout Bar at Temple. In each case, Frank, Carl and Simon were interviewed by Arthur about the meanings of the statuary at the front of Australia House – Sir Bertram Mackennal’s Phoebus Driving the Horses of the Sun and Harold Parker’s Awakening of Australia and Prosperity of Australia – and the symbolism of the building itself. The Walkabout Bar was chosen for its very different purposes, symbolic meanings and iconography. Each of these efforts to represent Australia in the heart of London tells us something about the manifold and changing ways in which the nation has been imagined across the last century. The podcast has already proven popular with students with assignments to complete; and it is intended that a version will be made accessible to the public. Find it at www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/depts/history/

podcasts.html

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

18

Scholarships & fellowshipsThe Menzies Centre administers a number of scholarships and fellowships. These are advertised annually and awards are on a competitive basis.

Australian Bicentennial Scholarships & FellowshipsThis scheme enables British and Australian scholars to visit each others’ countries to study in approved courses or to undertake approved research at tertiary or post-tertiary level. Scholars and fellows who gained awards in 2009-10 were:

Scholars• Andrew Bilski, University of Sydney, for an MSc in

Environmental Change and Management, University of Oxford

• Joanna Bullard, Loughborough University, for fieldwork and laboratory research, Griffith University

• Lee Cheong, Royal Northern College of Music, for Masters in Music, Royal Northern College of Music

• Samuel Churchill for an MSc Economics of Development, University of Oxford

• Alison Clark, King’s College London, PhD, for historical research for at Griffith University

• Joseph Gattas for a PhD in Engineering Science, University of Oxford

• Kristine Anne Healy, Royal Northern College of Music, for Masters in Music, Royal Northern College of Music

• Ben Jellis for a Bachelor of Civil Laws, University of Oxford

• Belinda Clare Mcrae for an LLM, Cambridge University

• Natasha Lee Moore, for PhD, Cambridge University

• Kathleen Neal, Monash University, for research at King’s College London

• Fiona Roughley for a Bachelor of Civil Laws and MPhil in Law, University of Oxford

• Claire Underwood for a PhD in Veterinary Science, University of Queensland

• Julia Chen Ying Xu for an MA in Conservation Studies, University of York

Fellows• Dr Karina Aveyard, Griffith University, for research

and fieldwork, University of East Anglia

• Dr Kent Fedorowich, University of the West of England Bristol, for historical research at Australian National University

• Dr Sarah Hamylton, University of Cambridge, for research at University of Wollongong

• Dr Sharon Hook, University of Cambridge, for laboratory research, University of Melbourne and University of Wollongong

• Dr Lawrence Warner, University of Sydney, for literary research at King’s College London

Northcote Graduate ScholarshipsThis scheme enables British students to undertake a postgraduate degree at an Australian university for a period of up to three years. There was one award in 2009:

• Charles Plumptre, University of Cambridge, for a PhD in Microbiology at the University of Adelaide

Honorary Professors, Senior Fellows & Research Associates

The Menzies Centre provided a base in London for the following researchers and writers:

• Associate Professor Jim Davidson, Rhodes Trust Fellow, a biography of Professor Sir Keith Hancock

• Professor Graeme Davison, Honorary Visiting Professor, the Australian Diaspora in Britain

• Dr Dan Foley, Research Associate, Early New South Wales

• Dr Katharine Haydon, Research Associate, a life of George Haydon

• Ms Sara Joynes, Research Associate, Australian Archives & Bibliography

• Professor John Nieuwenhuysen, Honorary Visiting Professor, the Australian Diaspora in Britain

• Associate Professor Nancy Underhill, Research Associate, Sidney Nolan

Menzies C

entre for Australian Studies A

nnual Report

19

VisitorsDistinguished visitors• The Earl of Buckinghamshire, Chairman, Britain-

Australia Society

• Professor David Callahan, President, European Association of Studies on Australia, Universidade de Aviero

• Sir Roger Carrick, former British High Commissioner to Australia

• Mr John Dauth, Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

• Mr Clive James, media commentator and writer

• Dr David Lee, Editor, Historical Documents Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Canberra

• Ms Kathy Lette, novelist and humorist

• Professor Jan Reid, Vice-Chancellor, University of Western Sydney

• Mr Geoffrey Robertson QC

• Mr Stephen Smith, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

Academic and other visitors• Dr Katherine Bode, English, University of Tasmania

• Professor Ann Curthoys, History, University of Sydney

• Dr James Curran, History, University of Sydney

• Professor John Docker, History, University of Sydney

• Dr Harriet Edquist, Architecture, RMIT University

• Mr Michael Gladwin, History, University of Cambridge

• Ms Erin Guiliani, History, University of Queensland and Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College London

• Ms Liz Harvey, History, University College London

• Dr Margo Huxley, Geography, University of Sheffield and Queen Mary University of London

• Professor Nicholas Jose, Australian Studies, Harvard University

• Dr Kerry Kilner, AustLit Database, University of Queensland

• Professor Marcia Langton, Aboriginal Studies, University of Melbourne

• Ms Sophie Masson, novelist

• Mr Benjamin Mountford, History, Exeter College, Oxford

• Associate Professor Anne O’Brien, History, University of New South Wales

• Ms Jan Owen, poet

• Dr Fiona Paisley, Humanities, Griffith University

• Dr Gonzalo Villalta Puig, Law, University of Hull

• Dr Judith Raftery, Public Health, University of Adelaide

• Associate Professor Penny Russell, History, University of Sydney

• Dr Tiffany Shellam, History, Deakin University

• Mr Andrew Thackrah, Politics, University of Western Australia

• Ms Sarah Thomas, Fine Arts, University of Sydney

• Professor Stuart Ward, History, University of Copenhagen

• Mr Alan Wearne, poet

Monash-King’s FellowsThis session two Monash-King’s Fellows were attached to the Centre working on research projects:

• Dr Anna Eriksson, Law, Monash, on a comparison of criminal justice systems in Australia and Europe

• Dr Mark Gibson, Australian Studies, Monash, on Cultural Industries in the Suburbs: A comparison of the British and Australian experiences

Australian Bicentennial ScholarThis session Erin Guiliani, a PhD student in History from the University of Queensland, was attached to the Centre as an Australian Bicentennial Scholar, working on policing and criminal detection in the British Empire.

Men

zies

Cen

tre f

or A

ustr

alia

n St

udie

s Ann

ual R

epor

t

202010-11 will see two major developments at the Menzies Centre. First, the Centre at long last will move physically into new offices on the main Strand campus, on the 6th floor of the King’s Building. Second, the tenured staff will be further integrated into the major teaching departments. Though, through their expertise, they will still have an intimate and continuing involvement in Australian Studies, the two lecturers will be full members respectively of the History and English departments. Professor Bridge will remain Head of the Centre, but he, too, will be a quarter in the History department. Teaching and research thesis supervision will thus in future fall under the auspices of the departments, while the Centre’s activities will concentrate solely on the programme of research projects, scholarship and fellowship schemes, publications, research seminars, public lectures, conferences, readings and book launches and the provision of expert advice. Next session’s Reese Lecture will be given by Professor Stuart Ward, University of Copenhagen. The Menzies Lecture is still to be finalised. Dr David Dunstan, Australian Studies, Monash University, will be Menzies Fellow, and Dr Simon Sleight, History, Monash University, will be Rydon Fellow. Symposia and conferences are planned on ‘The Convict Stain’ (with the University of New England and the Journal of Australian Colonial History), on the poet Peter Porter (with the Institute of English Studies), on Anzac Day (with a Monash University-led Australian Research Council grant), and on Food and Drink in Australia (the Lincoln Dialogue). A major new documentary research project involving the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, has been approved to produce a volume of documents on Australia and Britain, 1914-19, edited by Professor Bridge, Dr Bongiorno, and Dr David Lee (DFAT). Two new Centre staff, a Post-Doctoral Fellow and a Project Officer will be appointed to work on this project.

The

futu

re

The Menzies Centre for Australian Studies was established at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University

of London, in 1982. Initially known as the Australian Studies Centre, it assumed its present name in 1988. In 1999 the Centre became part of King’s College London, and was endowed by the Australian Government. The Menzies Centre’s object is to promote Australian studies at British and European universities. In its broadest manifestation, the Centre is an Australian cultural base in London, providing a highly regarded forum for the discussion of Australian issues. The Centre’s conferences, seminars and briefings attract a diverse audience and help to produce a more comprehensive, detailed and balanced perception of Australian politics, economics, life and culture than is popularly available. The Centre also administers scholarship and fellowship schemes which help cement intellectual links between Australia and Britain. The Menzies Centre for Australian Studies teaches at BA and MA levels in Australian history, literature and film and supervises MPhils and PhDs. The Menzies Centre offers, as well, an Australian bridge into Europe, both western and eastern. The Centre’s staff are closely involved with the British Australian Studies Association and the European Association for Studies of Australia. In particular, staff lecture throughout Europe and offer informed advice on matters Australian to academics, the media, the business world and governments. The Menzies Centre constantly updates its informative website, which includes news about the Centre’s conferences, seminars and other activities, and about Australian studies in general.

In b

rief

Menzies Centre for Australian StudiesKing’s College LondonStrandLondon WC2R 2LSemail menzies.centre@kcl.ac.ukwww.kcl.ac.uk/menzies