B+A events are free for Friends of the HCV (registration required) and $10 for non-friends. If you have booked/registered and can no longer attend, please let us know ASAP so we can pass on your spot.

Bookings are now open for our final Book+Author event for the year, Thursday 30 October!

Liam Byrne will discussing his book No Power Greater: A history of union action in Australia, in conversation with Professor Sean Scalmer (University of Melbourne) at the beautiful Bard's Apothecary in the Melbourne CBD. There will be time for audience questions after the talk. 

In this lively history of Australian unionism Liam Byrne seeks to illuminate what unionism means, exploring why successive generations of working people organised unions and nurtured them for future generations. Foregrounding the pioneering efforts of women workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers, culturally and linguistically diverse workers, and LGBTIQA+ workers as central to the union story today, Byrne uses case studies of worker action and struggle to better understand the lived reality of unionism, its challenges, and its contribution to Australian life.

General public tickets / $10: https://www.historycouncilvic.org.au/book_author_hcv_-_october_2025_liam_byrnes 

Book as a Friend of the HCV / Free (RSVP required): https://www.historycouncilvic.org.au/book_author_hcv_friends_event_-_october_2025 

PAST EVENTS - catch up on our Book+Author events by checking out the blog below

28 August 2025

Lost Souls: Soviet Displaced Persons and the Birth of the Cold War, Sheila Fitzpatrick

Report by Stephanie Holt

A full room gathered at Bard’s Apothecary on Thursday 28 August to hear Sheila Fitzpatrick in a fascinating conversation with Peter McPhee. The discussion focused of her latest book — Lost Souls: Soviet Displaced Persons and the Birth of the Cold War — but roamed generously beyond it. 

Along the way Sheila also shared some of her own story: a Russian history specialist returning to Australia; a personal connection to refugee stories through her husband Michael (Misha) Danos, a former Displaced Person from Latvia; and the impact of Covid isolation on her research and writing process. 

Sheila began with something akin to a provocation: that this was a rare case of a refugee crisis that was solved. Almost all these DPs were resettled by 1951. Unpacking that assertion involved a complex picture of the West led by a USA, alert to the propaganda value of freedom-seeking former Soviet citizens, that funded and facilitated resettlement outside Europe. 

The daily lives of Displaced Persons, prior to resettlement, were brought vividly to life. Sheila gave a fascinating account of her mother-in-law, Olga, establishing small businesses to make clothes and to restore war-damaged monuments, while also commenting on the relaxation of sexual mores — and strategic social and sexual alliances — within this world, noting wryly the sharp contrast with the conservative suburban norms that often prevailed where DPs settled. 

Australia’s role, in receiving almost 20% of DPs, second only to the vastly larger USA, was noted. This came, however, with a requirement that few could avoid, to spend two years in labouring or domestic work on arrival. 

There was a nuanced discussion of shifting perspectives on the use and reliability Soviet archives, and on the vexed question of bringing war criminals from within these communities to justice.  
 
As wide-ranging as it was, the conversation (and this report) can only touch on a few of the themes of the book. Many attendees were quick to snap up copies from our regular bookseller, the Paperback Bookshop, to further immerse themselves in this significant story. It is highly recommended!

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26 June 2025

Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne - Volume 1: Truth, Vol 1

In the week that the Yoorrook Justice Commission delivered its final reports to the Victorian Parliament, completing its historic truthtelling mission, it was particularly timely to have Ross Jones as the guest of our Book+Author series. Dhoombak Goobgoowana, the book he co-edited with Marcia Langton and James Waghorne, brings a tighter focus to truthtelling, putting the University of Melbourne in the spotlight.

It is, as Dr Yves Rees forewarned in their introduction, a confronting read, a “raw, brave and profound reckoning”. While its focus is tight, its scope is extensive. Alongside an expected emphasis on the racist science promoted and enthusiastically taught at the university over decades are chapters drawn from such disciplines as history, education and linguistics.

Given his specialist work on its history, Ross was particularly illuminating and trenchant when highlighting the bad science – even by the standards of days past – that underpinned eugenics. The beliefs and role of lauded figures such as Macfarlane Burnett was discussed at length, inevitably raising questions of renaming of buildings and public institutions. By contrast, the non-racist beliefs of his scientific peers such as Frederick Wood Jones are less well known, and the contribution of Indigenous advisors to Western science is rarely remembered, even when acknowledged (as by Baldwin Spencer) at the time.

Ross also drew attention to the work of Tony Birch and Gary Foley in leading the admittedly slow progress of the university to rename buildings that honoured proponents of racist views and policies, such as Richard Berry. However, without public acknowledgement of such deliberate renaming, he argued, it risked simply whitewashing history.

One challenge was to produce an accessible, readable and impactful book from diverse contributions. Ross explained how the editors strove to collate a “continuous story”, ensured the scholarly writing was not unduly arcane, and crafted careful introductions to the book’s discrete sections. It was also, importantly, made available as a free ebook or PDF.

The conversations audience pressed particularly for how the decolonising project, of which the book is a part, can and will be advanced. Ross noted the Indigenous Knowledges Institute shortly to open at the university, related exhibitions such as 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art and a forthcoming conference, amplified by student projects such as a planned podcast series. Beyond the university, he suggested (drawing laughter with a nod to Donald Trump) a “flood the zone” strategy was recommended - more research, more information, more public attention.

Dhoombak Goobgoowana, volume 2 (Voice) will be released in August.

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1 May 2025

Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions: How the people of Yirrkala changed the course of Australian Democracy

27 February 2025

Critical Care, Geraldine Fela 

On Thursday 27 February, our first Book+Author event of the year was held in the downstairs salon of Bard's Apothecary, with Dr Geraldine Fela joining convener Dr Yves Rees in conversation about her 2024 publication, Critical Care. 

The art-filled walls and low ceilings made for an intimate feel as our convener Dr Yves Rees took us on a journey into the role of nurses in the 1980s AIDS crisis. 

We started the conversation with a discussion of what motivated the research; Geraldine explaining that within the queer community, the AIDS epidemic is present as "a very dark time thats always hovering in your community, that you dont always know a heap about."

Geraldine decided to interview nurses because she noticed a notable gap in the research - there are many studies and memoirs about the role of doctors, but nurses had been left out of the picture: "I want to give a voice to those who havent had one." Nurses, Geraldine told the audience, were often on the front line of extrememly punitive policies, for example detaining people the Department of Health had determined as dangerous to public health.

Looking at the role of nurses in the AIDS epidemic, discovered Geraldine, somewhat problematised the narrative of world-leading best practice that has been circulated about Australia's response to AIDS.

The conversation moved on to methodology, particularly Geraldine's use of oral history, an emotionally demanding  mode of research. "I really hated it in the end... it was quite intense," said Geraldine. But, it is important, because you can "use it to breathe life into documentalry evidence."

We ended the conversation by drawing paralells to the recent COVID-19 epidemic and other public health crises. The AIDS epidemic highlighted how community led responses are the most effective - "giving people the tools they needed to fight disease" - a lesson that, sadly, wasnt consistently carried into the COVID pandemic, said Geraldine.  

By HCV Publicity Officer, Molly Mckew

Dr Yves Rees and Dr Geraldine Fela

Taking an audience question 

Our wonderful audience arriving for the event

31 October 2024 - Cruel Care: A History of Children at Our Borders

“How can we make people see state-sanctioned violence against children?” 

That was just one of the incisive questions posed to Dr Jordana Silverstein by a highly engaged audience at our recent Book+Author event, the last for the year. As the author of Cruel Care: A History of Children at Our Borders, Jordana spent years interviewing those who develop, promote and implement repressive policies in the name of child protection. Her insights were striking. 

Jordana’s answer to that question was perhaps startling but certainly clarifying. She suggested we expand our political imaginations, and start by not separating out children in our discourse. “Exceptionalising children serves to demonise parents,” she noted, emphasising links to other policies devised by white authorities, from the “Children Overboard” scandal to the Northern Territory Intervention.  

As always, it was a broad sweep of ideas and conversation at Book+Author. These conversations, guided by Yves Rees, are always engrossing, shedding new light on history and how historians work, and even finding some humour in unlikely places. (As Yves noted, “children and disturbing things” was perhaps an apt theme for our Halloween gathering, while Jordana got a wry laugh when she noted the “bonkers rationalising” she heard from those in power.) 

Jordana shared her own path, from the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees to a historian exploring refugees, delving into child protection, and now focussing on statelessness, informed particularly by Patrick Wolfe’s development of settler-colonial theory. It was their focus on refugee children that made archived social-worker case files from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s open for scrutiny. Jordana shared her discomfort with this “rich but complicated” source. While so valuable to her research, she noted that equivalent files for non-refugee children would not have been publicly available, given privacy protection for Australian citizens. 

Beyond archival material, Jordana undertook extensive interviews with the policymakers and bureaucrats associated with these policies. These formed the core of Cruel Care. 

While some people refused interview requests, others agreed, albeit sometimes requiring approval over final use. Inevitably, some of the most revealing slips and observations didn’t make it into the book. Many interviewees were “surprisingly forthcoming”, according to Jordana, which led to interesting speculation on what motivates such candour. There are true believers justifying their actions and those who respect the need to create a full record. There are those wishing to spin the record and others perhaps just wanting to be heard. 

As Yves prompted, it must be challenging to sit with people who have been “reprehensible in their public life”, especially those being generous with their time and hospitality. While Jordana acknowledged these sessions could be difficult, she emphasised that the task of the oral historian requires a professional respect. As she put it, “The task of the oral historian is to sit and listen … to support the person to tell their story.” Nonetheless, she left us pondering “the utility of what we [oral historians] do”. 

For those wanting to explore these ideas further, Cruel Care is a powerful and highly readable book. Jordana’s current work is also available on the podcast “Being Stateless: An Oral History Podcast”. 

This was the last Book+Author for the year. We have been lucky to enjoy such a diverse and stimulating range of conversations and highlighted books for our return to in-person events. The 2025 series is now being planned – we look forward to sharing details with HCV friends and followers in due course. 

By HCV executive officer Stephanie Holt

Dr Yves Rees and Dr Jordana Silverstein 

Dr Jordana Silverstein 

29 August 2024 - The Floating University: Experience, Empire & The Politics of Knowledge 

On Thursday, 29 August the HCV was lucky to host historian and author Dr Tamson Pietsch at our fourth Book+Author event for the year. Tamson spoke about her fascinating book The Floating University with convener Dr Yves Rees. 

Yves introduced Tamson with the promise of a book that was both "intellectually sophisticated" and "a wonderful Jazz Age jaunt". Tamson added that this tale of a "floating university" of American students and educators was an authorial obsession that grew from a chance discovery.

The floating university began as the brainchild of Professor James Edwin Lough, a pioneer of experiential pedagogy, although its sponsoring university had pulled out before the ship set sail with its 500 passengers, 350 of them American university students. The project promised a shipboard education and enriching on-shore experiences, but as Dr Pietsch argued, served largely to reinforce a narrative of American progress and exceptionalism as it voyaged through Cuba, Panama and Hawaii, on to South East Asia and Japan, and finally to Europe. Even so, baseball and basketball losses to overseas teams shook national pride, and at least some of the students began challenging received wisdom during what Tamson dubbed their "Great Gatsby Gap Year".

Along the way, this lively conversation delved into the history of university credit courses, the changing economics of international shipping, and the impact of emerging US newspaper conglomerates, which were happy to elevate standard campus hijinks into scandalous national headlines.

If there was a key takeaway for the audience, Dr Pietsch suggested that those inside a university bubble might get better at listening to people unlike themselves to understand what knowledge might be - and that a history of ideas required thinking about and studying failure. 

Dr Tamson Pietsch (l) and Dr Yves Rees (r) in conversation.

Tamson and Yves with the History Council of Victoria's intern Harper Hamilton-Grutzner, Communications Officer Molly McKew, and Chair Prof. Peter McPhee, preparing for the Book+Author event.

27 June 2024 - Science and Power in the Nineteenth-Century Tasman World: Popular Phrenology in Australia and Aeoearoa New Zealand

On Thursday night the Wheeler Centre debuted its new workshop space with our Books+Author conversation between Dr Yves Rees and Dr Alexandra Roginski. Our largest live audience to date heard a fascinating account of phrenology, its popularity and its popular manifestations in nineteenth century Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. As Alexandra Roginski pointed out, phrenology arose alongside popular fascination with new sciences such as evolution, and the public grappled with The Origin of Species, science became entertainment, and “scientist” emerged as a professional identity. We met a cast of “colourful, eccentric and disturbing” characters (in Yves’s pithy summary). We heard how they practised phrenology in arcades, packed lecture theatres and private studios, competing for audiences, and “quack-calling” each other, in Alexandra’s memorable phrase. Despite its apparently determinist foundations, Alexandra offered stories of people of colour for whom phrenology shows provided work, income and an opportunity to burlesque ideas of racial difference, and women who built careers and supported networks of kith and kin through work as popular phrenologists. In a reflection on the historian’s craft, Alexandra also shared that she loves “works that reflect on the practice, limitations and mysteries of what we do”.

By HCV Executive Officer, Stephanie Holt

Dr Alexandra Roginski, Dr Yves Rees, and HCV Book+Author attendees 

Yves and Alexandra in conversation 

18 April 2024 - Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled 

Our second Book+Author seminar of the year took place on Thursday 18 April at The Wheeler Centre, located within the State Library of Victoria. After an introduction and acknowledgement of country by HCV chair Peter McPhee, Dr Yves Rees spoke with author and historian Kate Fullagar, author of Bennelong & Phillip, about the inspiration behind her focus on these particular figures in Australian history and the challenges and benefits of "writing history backwards". Fullagar discussed considerations such as writing a history of Bennelong "without it being another form of cultural appropriation" and offered some reinterpretations of the lives of Bennelong and Phillip – presenting a new reading of Bennelong as a loyal and beloved leader of his community. The talk was concluded with an audience Q&A, where, among other things, Fullagar delved into Phillip's surprisingly unconventional relationships with women. Thank you to Dr Kate Fullagar, Dr Yves Rees and Dr Peter McPhee for a fascinating discussion of a colonial relationship that is much mythologised but little understood. 

By HCV Publicity Officer, Molly Mckew

Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee AM with author Dr Kate Fullagar and convener Dr Yves Rees

Kate and Yves in conversation 

29 February 2024 - Courting: An intimate history of love and the law 

Our first Book+Author seminar of the year took place on Thursday, 29 February at The Wheeler Centre, in the State Library of Victoria. After an introduction and acknowledgement of country by HCV chair Peter McPhee, Dr Yves Rees spoke with Dr Alecia Simmonds, award-winning historian, about her book Courting: An Intimate History of Love and the Law (La Trobe University Press, 2023). Simmonds discussed the importance of personal letters in historical research, what drew her to the cases detailed in the book, and the class aspects of the ways in which we understand history. "Histories of love", said Simmonds, "have traditionally been told by the bourgeoisie". Simmonds went on to explore the ways in which histories of love and marriage in Australia are intertwined with settler colonialism and asked contentious questions about whether the decline of marriage really is a win for women in a society which, she suggested, does not "take seriously the ethics of love".

By HCV Publicity Officer, Molly Mckew

Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee AM with author Dr Alecia Simmonds and convener Dr Yves Rees