Sydney historian Anna Clark's new book Making Australian History (Penguin 2022) explores how each wave of Australian historians asks new questions and creates distinctive narratives of the past. In conversation with Monash historian Alistair Thomson, Anna will reflect on what brought her to the study of Australian history-making, the challenges she faced in researching and crafting her book, and what historians and Australians more generally can learn by thinking carefully and critically about our past and how we use and abuse it in the present.

Anna Clark is an ARC Future Fellow in Public History at the University of Technology Sydney. She is the author of Making Australian History (Penguin, 2022) and has written extensively on history education, historiography and historical consciousness, including: Teaching the Nation: Politics and Pedagogy in Australian History (2006), History’s Children: History Wars in the Classroom (2008), Private Lives, Public History (2016), the History Wars (2003) with Stuart Macintyre, as well as two history books for children, Convicted! and Explored! Reflecting her love of fish and fishing, she also recently wrote The Catch: The Story of Fishing in Australia.

Alistair Thomson is Professor of History at Monash University and President of Oral History Australia. His books include: Anzac Memories (1994 and 2013), The Oral History Reader (1998, 2006 and 2015 with Robert Perks), Ten Pound Poms (2005, with Jim Hammerton), Moving Stories: an intimate history of four women across two countries (2011), Oral History and Photography (2011, with Alexander Freund), and Australian Lives: An Intimate History (2017, with Anisa Puri). He is currently part of a team researching the history of fathering in twentieth century Australia.

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 Publishing, the Monash University History Program and the Old Treasury Building.