Histories of Australian Childhood

Nov
21
Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 05:00 PM

Event contact

Stephanie Holt

World Children’s Day, celebrated on November 20 each year, offers an opportunity to both look back on the history of childhood and of children’s rights and forward to the ways in which childhood is changing and child rights are contested.

How do historians investigate and recover the lives, experiences and perspectives of children in the past? How have understandings and experiences of Australian childhood changed over time? And how and why have understandings of the rights, roles and responsibilities of children changed?

In this Making Public Histories seminar, three historians working at the cutting edge of research in this field will discuss histories of children and childhood in Australia.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Dr Isobelle Barrett Meyering is a historian of feminism, the family and childhood. She is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of History and Archaeology at Macquarie University, which she joined in 2018 after completing her PhD at UNSW. Isobelle is the author of Feminism and the Making of a Child Rights Revolution 1969-1979 (Melbourne University Press, 2022), and her work has featured in a wide range of Australian history and gender studies journals. She was the David Mitchell Memorial Fellow at the State Library of New South Wales in 2019 and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University’s Humanities Research Centre in 2022. Isobelle is currently working on a history of children’s rights in modern Australia and, in December 2024, she will commence a new project, ‘Child Citizens: Young People and Australian Democracy since 1945’, supported by an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.
Catherine Gay is a historian and curator. She completed her PhD in October 2024 and was a Hansen Trust PhD Scholar in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her doctoral research examined the experiences of Aboriginal and settler girls in nineteenth-century Australia using girl-produced material culture. Her research has won several awards, including the Australian Historical Association's 2022 Jill Roe Prize and the 2024 SHAPS Fellow's Essay Prize. 
Dr Emily Gallagher is a historian and research editor at the National Centre of Biography at the Australian National University. Her PhD thesis was a history of the childhood imagination in Australia and won the Australian Historical Association’s Serle Award in 2024. Emily is currently working on a book for La Trobe University Press.

The seminar is part of an ongoing series, Making Public Histories, that is offered jointly by the Monash University History Program, the History Council of Victoria and the Old Treasury Building. Each seminar aims to explore issues and approaches in making public histories. The seminars are open, free of charge, to anyone interested in the creation and impact of history in contemporary society. Click HERE to learn about other events in the series.

We thank the series sponsors, Monash University Publishingthe Monash University History Program and the Old Treasury Building.

Posted by on July 31, 2024

Will you come?

Recent responses

About

The History Council of Victoria Incorporated (HCV) is the peak body for history in the Australian state of Victoria. Its vision is to connect Victorians with history and to inspire engagement with the past, their identity and the world today. The HCV champions the work of historians and the value of history. It recognises that history can be written about any place, any person, any period. The HCV advocates why history matters.


Read More

Events

Our calendar lists all upcoming public events arranged by the History Council of Victoria (HCV), plus events in Victoria, Australia, that are added by our Friends and Members.

If you are organising an event that relates to History, we encourage you to publicise it on our website.


Read More

Advocacy

As the peak body for history in Victoria, the History Council makes submissions on current issues. In doing this, the HCV Board is guided by its Advocacy Policy and by the Value of History, a statement developed co-operatively by the HCV and the History Councils of New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia.


Read More

Prizes

Since 2015, the HCV has been pleased to sponsor the Years 9 and 10 category of the Historical Fiction Competition organised by the History Teachers' Association of Victoria.


Read More

Support

Ways to support us:

Subscribe to our free newsletter: https://www.historycouncilvic.org.au/subscribe
Endorse the Value of History statement: https://www.historycouncilvic.org.au/endorse
Find us on socials: Twitter / Facebook / YouTube


Read More
 

Follow

Summary

The HCV was formed as an advisory body in 2001 and incorporated in 2003. It comprises representatives from cultural and educational institutions and heritage bodies; history teachers and curriculum advisors; academic and professional historians; and local, Indigenous, community and specialist history organisations.

As the peak body for history, the HCV has both ‘outward-looking’ roles (including advocacy and representation to government and the wider community, consultation, community education, and networking with allied interest groups) and ‘inward-looking’ roles (including member support, information dissemination, and networking between members).

 
 

Credits

The History Council of Victoria acknowledges the State Library of Victoria and the Public Record Office Victoria for supply of the archival images that appear on this website.

We acknowledge the National Film and Sound Archive for the right to use of the video footage on the home page, titled "Melbourne: Life in Australia (1966)".

Image credits

  • Italian sailors on ship at Port Melbourne 1938, Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs, State Library of Victoria
  • Chinese procession in Collins near Elizabeth Street 1901, Harvie & Sutcliffe, photographers, State Library of Victoria
  • People’s homes, Aboriginal station Coranderrk 1878, Fred Kruger Photographer, State Library of Victoria
  • Chinese nurses at Children’s Hospital under scholarship 1947, Argus Newspaper Collection of Photographs, State Library of Victoria
  • Ladies physical culture class VRI Melbourne c1931, Public Record Office Victoria VPRS 12903/P0001, 011/02
  • Melbourne Cup, Derby and Oaks Day, Flemington Racecourse 1936, Public Record Office Victoria VPRS 12903/P0001/4802, 372/30
  • Flinders Street viaduct at foot of Market Street with advertisement for McRobertson’s Chocolate on bridge, Public Record Office Victoria VPRS 12800/P0003, ADV 1342