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New Books in Australian and New Zealand Studies

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Rating
★★★★★
5
from
1 reviews
This podcast has
257 episodes
Language
English
Publisher
Marshall Poe
Explicit
No
Date created
2017/04/13
Latest episode
2026/10/28
Average duration
46 min.
Release period
14 days

Description

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies

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Check latest episodes from New Books in Australian and New Zealand Studies podcast


Education That Reflects Local Language, Culture, and Country
2026/10/28
In this episode of the Language on the Move Podcast, Dr Agi Bodis speaks with Dr Carly Steele (Curtin University, Perth) about researching education with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and how to enable culturally and linguistically responsive teaching. They discuss the importance of positionality when working in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander context, and why it matters in collaborative work with communities. Through her professional experience in the On-Country Teacher Education program in Western Australia, Carly reflects on the way educational scholarship is rooted in community engagement. The conversation provides insights into the needs of teacher education to better prepare graduate teachers and an example for an innovative pedagogical approach co-created with community and one that reflects the local language, culture and Country. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Edward Willis, "WWII in East Timor: An Australian Army Site and Travel Guide" (2/2 Commando Association of Australia, 2024)
2026/09/22
WWII in East Timor: An Australian Army Site and Travel Guide (2/2 Commando Association of Australia, 2024) is an overdue addition to the history of a campaign that remains surprisingly little known in Australia, despite its significance to Australia’s part in the war. Working district by district – from Dili south to Aileu, Ainaro and Manufahi, west to Liquiçá, Ermera, Bobonaro, Cova Lima and Oecusse, and east to Manatuto, Baucau, Viqueque and Lautem – this book offers a fresh, site-based perspective on the Second World War in East Timor (Timor-Leste). The book’s starting point is the “Gazetteer of Towns and Villages in Portuguese Timor”, compiled in 1943 by the Allied Geographical Section. With meticulous precision, Willis revisits these sites and adds GPS coordinates, maps, wartime photographs by Sergeant Keith Davis, contemporary photographs taken at the same locations, and paintings by Australian war artist Charles Bush. These are supplemented with accounts from the Australian War Memorial and National Archives, Trove, unit and campaign histories, Timorese testimony, and new material from sources in Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and Tetum. In doing so, it brings together diverse sources – archival, oral and site-based – that have not previously been assembled in one place. Following these sites, the book traces the arrival of Sparrow Force on the island of Timor in December 1941 and the landing five days later of a combined Australian and Dutch detachment in neutral Portuguese territory at Dili, through to the Japanese assault of 20 February 1942 and the guerrilla campaign that followed. It also covers sites relevant to the two and a half years of occupation after the January 1943 Allied withdrawal, including the extensive Japanese defensive infrastructure built using Timorese forced labour, famine, executions, Allied bombing of towns and villages, and the role of the covert Services Reconnaissance Department operations. The book is targeted toward Australian defence and diplomatic personnel posted to Timor-Leste, professional military education and staff, and veterans, descendants and travellers who want to locate the places where battles were fought and ambushes laid. It makes an important contribution to Timor-Leste’s potential as a heritage tourism destination, with the economic benefits such a sector brings. Above all, it serves to acknowledge the Timorese people whose support made the Australian campaign possible, and the landscapes on which this shared history is written. The book can be purchased from the 2/2 Commando Association of Australia. Edward Willis is a committee member of the 2/2 Commando Association of Australia and a former Deputy University Librarian at Curtin University. His father, William Edward (Bill) Willis, served with the Signals Section of the No. 2 Australian Independent Company on Portuguese Timor in 1942. He has been travelling to Timor-Leste to survey wartime sites since 2008, and prepared this guide with the support of a grant from the Australian Army History Unit. This episode is hosted by Dr Natali Pearson. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and Michael Quinlan, "Unfree Workers: Insubordination and Resistance in Convict Australia, 1788–1860" (Springer Nature, 2022)
2026/08/30
Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and Michael Quinlan’s Unfree Workers: Insubordination and Resistance in Convict Australia, 1788–1860 (draws on considerable Australian legal, archival and statistical sources to ensure that we not only see the management of unfree labour regimes deployed in settler colonies, but also to identify all the strategies that victims of the early imperial prison-industrial complex used to resist the regime. The first half of Unfree Workers provides a brilliant account of the diversity of coercive labour practices that were demanded under colonial and settler-colonial expansions. Their labour regime was incredibly violent: A sentence to penal transportation was no trivial thing. The convicts sent to New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land were regimented, disciplined and accounted for in ways that pre-empted later social controls. They were also subjected to high levels of state sanctioned violence. The punishments and conditions of work they experienced continued to shape their lives long after they became free, impacting on colonial family formation and life expectancy. Maxwell-Stewart and Quinlan show the material links between violence and colonial economic necessity. Unfree workers whose skills did not match those in demand were more likely to be accused of work refusal, which put them at risk of demotion to harder labour and increased violence. Maxwell-Stewart and Quinlan’s Unfree Workers, reminding us that while colonial capitalism is a system of exploitation, it necessarily depends upon class conflict. The process of transportation was a site for resistance. The convict ship, like the slave ship, was a factory that produced commodified labour for the colonies, ‘converting the idle poor into docile labourers.’ Mutiny offered convicts the opportunity to steal their prison and use it for emancipatory means. Though many conspired, few succeeded, but on-ship radicalisation nevertheless prepared convicts for resistance on land. This included making deals for improved working conditions (including sometimes wages) in exchange for industrious and non-violent work. To this end, imprisoned workers came together in common cause, conducting strikes and go-slows and withholding effort. Just as Caribbean plantations were sites of frequent slave uprising, Maxwell-Stewart and Quinlan show, so too were convict workers also legitimately feared for their capacity for violent rebellion, sometimes with potential support from settlers with wider political goals. Van Diemen’s Land’s extraordinary record-keeping—itself an instrument of the punitive surveillance characteristic of the prison-industrial complex—means that Maxwell-Stewart and Quinlan have recounted in meticulous, often mapped, detail the size, activity and consequences of collective action among unfree workers.  Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Taking The Scenic Route To High Quality Education For Indigenous Students
2026/08/19
In this episode of the Language on the Move Podcast, Dr Agnes Bodis talks to Hannah Madin and Catherine White. Hannah is a Teaching and Learning Officer at the Department of Education in the Northern Territory (Australia), and Catherine White is a Teaching and Learning Coach in secondary education. We are zooming in on learning English as an additional language or dialect in remote communities in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT). There are numerous Aboriginal languages spoken there as well as dialects of English. However, the language of schooling remains Standard Australian English. We discuss this mismatch between first or home languages, language of education, and teacher preparedness. Hannah and Catherine outline a collaborative project by the NT Department of Education to remove these barriers to learning in the school context. The project is called “Roadmap to Stage 1 Essential English and Mathematics” and includes not only the creation of teaching support materials, but the creation of an online Community of Practice, a professional learning program and school visits. For additional resources, show notes, and transcripts, go here. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Elizabeth Tynan, "Nuclear Archipelago: Secrets, Power and the Biggest Atomic Blast in Australia" (NewSouth, 2026)
2026/08/16
Nuclear Archipelago: Secrets, Power and the Biggest Atomic Blast in Australia (NewSouth, 2026) tells the shocking story of the two British atomic weapons test series held at Western Australia's Monte Bello Islands in 1952 and 1956. Operation Hurricane and Operation Mosaic took place at a rugged archipelago 100 kilometres off the Pilbara coast, and each of the three bombs sent fallout over vast distances across the country. One of the tests, Mosaic G2 in June 1956, the largest nuclear weapon test ever held in Australia, sparked panic at the time that it had been a nuclear accident. In both the Mosaic tests, the crew of a British ship was deliberately positioned in the path of fallout. The biodiverse natural environment of the islands was left contaminated and has never been cleaned up. The book explores the politics, the secrecy and the controversies, including the true nature of Mosaic G2 and its role in the clandestine development of the British hydrogen bomb. Elizabeth Tynan is professor in the Graduate Research School at James Cook University, Townsville. She is a prominent writer and researcher of the era of British atomic testing in Australia. Her book Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga Story (NewSouth, 2016) won the Prime Minister's Literary Award (Australian History) and the CHASS Australia Book Prize in 2017. Her follow-up book The Secret of Emu Field: Britain's Forgotten Atomic Tests in Australia was published by NewSouth in 2022. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Asher Emanuel, "The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City" (Bridget Williams Books, 2026)
2026/08/03
There were two days to Christmas and Lewis felt like everything was spinning out of control. He wondered what he would say to the judge this time. His client, Rikihana, was already on multiple shoplifting charges. What’s a few more? Lewis thought. These supermarkets were still making a killing. It’s late 2020. Rikihana Wallace, a prolific shoplifter of no fixed abode, is back in prison with little chance of bail. Nathan Morley, unemployed, is facing burglary charges and hoping his other, as yet undetected, offences don’t catch up with him. Lewis Skerrett, their overstretched legal aid lawyer, is trying to do right by them both. The culmination of over two years of field research and hundreds of hours of interviews, The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City (Bridget Williams Books, 2026) follows these three Hutt Valley men through courtrooms, prison, hospital, rehab, boarding houses and welfare offices. Told largely in verbatim dialogue, this up-close and personal account brings the realities of the New Zealand criminal justice system to life through the voices of those who experience it first-hand. Watch the book trailer here  Asher Emanuel is a writer and lawyer based in Wellington. His exposure to the criminal justice system began when he was a judges’ clerk at the Wellington High Court after graduating from law school in 2015. He later worked as an investigator for the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security and, as a lawyer, has assisted several government inquiries. His writing on justice and policy issues has appeared in The Spinoff, the New Zealand Herald, and specialist publications, and he is a former editor of Policy.nz, an election policy website. He began work on his first book, The Valley, in 2018 supported by grants from the Michael & Suzanne Borrin Foundation. Asher now works as a civil legal aid lawyer focusing on public law and human rights cases. He is a longstanding member of the executive of the Aotearoa Legal Workers’ Union. Asher grew up in Auckland before moving to Wellington where he studied law and English literature. Ed Amon has a Master of Indigenous Studies and is a PhD Candidate at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is a writer and a Stand-up Comedian. His main interests are indigenous studies, politics, history, and cricket. Follow him on twitter @edamoned or email him at [email protected] Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Thomas Richardson, "Soldiers and Bushmen: The Australian Army in South Africa, 1899–1902" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
2026/08/02
Soldiers and Bushmen: The Australian Army in South Africa, 1899–1902 (Cambridge UP, 2025) by Dr. Thomas Richardson examines the commitment to what was expected to be a short war. It presents a thematic, analytical history of the birth of the Australian Army in South Africa, while exploring the Army's evolution from colonial units into a consolidated federal force. Soldiers and Bushmen investigates the establishment of the 'bushmen experiment' – the belief that the unique qualities of rural Australians would solve tactical problems on the veldt. This, in turn, influenced ideals around leadership, loyalty and traditional combat that fed the mythology of the Australians as natural soldiers. The book also examines the conduct of the war itself: how the Army adapted to the challenges of a battlefield transformed by technology, and the moral questions posed by the transition to fighting a counterinsurgency campaign. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Tania Sengupta and Stuart King eds., "Reclaiming Colonial Architecture" (Routledge, 2024)
2026/06/09
Reclaiming Colonial Architecture (Routledge, 2024) explores the built inheritance of colonialism and considers how architects, heritage practitioners, students, communities, and activists might narrate, care for, transform, or challenge them today. Awarded the SAHGB’s Colvin Medal in 2025, the book draws on a variety of authors to combine historical context with thematically organised case studies across urban and architectural scales. This interview was conducted by Matthew Wells, Senior Lecturer in Architectural History at the University of Manchester. His research explores nineteenth-century European architecture, focusing on artistic techniques, technology, and political economy. Wells is the author of Modelling the Metropolis: The Architectural Model in Victorian London (2023). Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Geraldine Fela, "Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis" (UNSW Press, 2024)
2026/06/03
The claim that real change is enabled by grassroots, community-based movements might seem a distant ideal, but Dr Geraldine Fela shows such assertions are far from hypothetical. Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis (UNSW Press, 2024) shows that grassroots movements were what made Australia’s response to the AIDS epidemic better than elsewhere. HIV and AIDS devastated communities across Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. In the midst of this profound health crisis, nurses provided crucial care to those living with and dying from the virus. They negotiated homophobia and complex family dynamics as well as defending the rights of their patients. Bringing together stories from across the country, historian Geraldine Fela documents the extraordinary care, compassion and solidarity shown by HIV and AIDS nurses. Critical Care unearths the important and unexamined history of nurses and nursing unions as caregivers and political agents who helped shape Australia's response to HIV and AIDS. In addition to this NBN interview Geraldine Fela has a podcast episode on the ABC Rewind series, 'Blood Prejudice and Nursing' Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Many Cultures, One Hope: Cultural Competence in the Uniting Church with guest Reverend Seforosa Carroll
2026/06/01
In this episode of The Cultural Competence Collective, we speak with academic theologian and Uniting Church ordained minister Rev Dr Seforosa Caroll about the role cultural competence plays in inter-faith dialogue. Through her experience growing up in multi-cultural and multi-religious communities, Seforosa carries principles of cultural competence–empathy, openness and a willingness listen–into her advocacy and ministry. Join us as we explore how cultural competence plays a key role in bridging inter-faith communication, and dive into Seforosa’s work in gender equality, climate justice, and advocacy for Indigenous knowledge. Show notes This episode is hosted by Dr. Matthew Tyne, an Academic Facilitator at the National Centre Centre for Cultural Competence. He comes to cultural competence following 20 years of working in international community development, especially in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and sexual health promotion with diverse communities in Australia. Produced by: Adubi Plange, Dr Amy McHugh, Sarah Mashman Podcast Artwork: Zein Arif Resources You can access more of Rev Dr Seforosa Carroll’s work through her Research Output academic profile. Below are some of Seforosa’s works related to this episode of the Cultural Competence Collective: Article: Carroll, S. (2022). Climate change, faith and theology in the Pacific (Oceania): the role of faith in building resilient communities. Practical Theology, 15(5), 409–419. Report: Carroll, S & Theology of Disaster Resilience Working Group 2019, A Theology of Disaster Resilience in a Changing Climate (Framework Paper), UnitingWorld, Sydney. Book Chapter: Speaking Up! Speaking Out! Naming the Silences: Women, Power, Authority and Love in the Pacific. / Carroll, Seforosa. Routledge, 2021. Mental Health Support Services: For University of Sydney staff: CONVERGE Converge offers multiple dedicated helplines for specialist services: All staff: 1300 687 327 First Nations helpline: 1300 287 432 LGBTQIA+ Helpline: 1300 542 874 Domestic and Family Violence Helpline: 1300 338 465 Aged Care Helpline: 1300 035 337 Disability and Carers Helpline: 1300 243 543 Youth and Student Helpline: 1300 687 399 Spiritual and Pastoral Care Helpline: 1300 772 435 www.convergeinternational.com.au Wellmob – social, emotional and cultural wellbeing resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people https://wellmob.org.au/ 24-hour crisis hotlines 13 Yarn Beyond Blue LifeLine: NSW Mental Health Line Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Cultural Competence Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All: Talking culturally responsive teaching with Dr Remy Low
2026/05/31
In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by educator and researcher Associate Professor Remy Low to explore what cultural competence and culturally responsive teaching looks like in the classroom. He is committed to furthering culturally responsive education across schools, higher education, arts and cultural institutions, as well as community organisations. As a previous high school teacher, now published academic and lecturer, Remy chats to us about what “good teaching” is, and that cultural competence in the classroom is grounded in self-awareness, care, and responsiveness. This episode is hosted by Dr. Pooja Mittal Biswas. Pooja Mittal Biswas is an Academic Facilitator at the National Centre for Cultural Competence and an award-winning educator and author. She is the author of ten books of fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Her ninth book, Hunger and Predation (Cordite Books, 2023) was shortlisted for the 2024 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and her tenth book, The Maker of Garlands, was published by Vagabond Press in 2024. Produced by: Adubi Plange, Dr Amy McHugh, Sarah Mashman Podcast Artwork: Zein Arif Resources You can learn more about Associate Professor Remy Lowe through his University of Sydney Academic Research Profile. Below are some of Remy’s works discussed in this episode of the Cultural Competence Collective: Book: Low, R. (2021). The Mind and Teachers in the Classroom: Exploring Definitions of Mindfulness. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Book: Low, R. (2023). Learning to stop: mindfulness meditation as anti-violence pedagogy. Online: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer. Edited Books: Low, R., Egan, S., Bell, A. (2024). Using social theory in higher education. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan Mental Health Support Services: For University of Sydney staff: CONVERGE Converge offers multiple dedicated helplines for specialist services: All staff: 1300 687 327 First Nations helpline: 1300 287 432 LGBTQIA+ Helpline: 1300 542 874 Domestic and Family Violence Helpline: 1300 338 465 Aged Care Helpline: 1300 035 337 Disability and Carers Helpline: 1300 243 543 Youth and Student Helpline: 1300 687 399 Spiritual and Pastoral Care Helpline: 1300 772 435 www.convergeinternational.com.au Wellmob – social, emotional and cultural wellbeing resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people https://wellmob.org.au/ 24-hour crisis hotlines 13 Yarn Beyond Blue LifeLine: NSW Mental Health Line Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
“You Sound So Australian”: From Being Read to Rewriting the Room with guest Zindzi Okenyo
2026/05/30
Welcome to the first episode of The Cultural Competence Collective podcast! For our first episode, we are joined by the multi-talented actress, musician and director, Zindzi Okenyo! You may recognise her from your TV screen on shows like Fisk, Wakefield and Play School, on stage from her multiple shows with Sydney Theatre Company or maybe you’ve heard her hits like ‘A Woman’s World’ as a solo artist Okenyo, or ‘Love + Kindness’ from her fun, family-friendly kids project Zindzi & the Zillionaires. Tune into our first episode as we chat with Zindzi about the importance of cultural competence, diversity and representation across the arts. Show notes This episode is hosted by Dr. Matthew Tyne, an Academic Facilitator at the National Centre Centre for Cultural Competence. He comes to cultural competence following 20 years of working in international community development, especially in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and sexual health promotion with diverse communities in Australia. Produced by: Adubi Plange, Dr Amy McHugh, Sarah Mashman Podcast Artwork: Zein Arif Featured Music: - A Woman’s World by OKENYO - Anthropology by OKENYO You can find more of Zindzi’s music on her webpage OKENYO: http://www.okenyo.com/ You can find music by Zindzi & the Zillionaires on their webpage: https://www.zindziandthezillionaires.com/about. Resources You can read more about DESTINY, Zindzi’s most recent piece of directorial work through the Melbourne Theatre Company: https://www.mtc.com.au/discover-more/backstage/destiny-programme/. The Sydney Morning Herald article mentioned can be found here: https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/actor-musician-and-presenter-zindzi-okenyo-on-taking-risks-and-self-care-20180216-h0w7zu.html If you are interested in developing your knowledge about race and racism, and deepen your understanding of the diversity of the world's cultural histories and identities, you can enrol in the NCCC’s free online course Confident conversations about race and racism: https://www.coursera.org/learn/confident-conversations-about-race-and-racism Participants will learn about the dynamics of cultural difference, and how to increase their knowledge and ability to address inequity, bias and privilege, and to create space for effective dialogue about racism. Mental Health Support Services: For University of Sydney staff: CONVERGE Converge offers multiple dedicated helplines for specialist services: All staff: 1300 687 327 First Nations helpline: 1300 287 432 LGBTQIA+ Helpline: 1300 542 874 Domestic and Family Violence Helpline: 1300 338 465 Aged Care Helpline: 1300 035 337 Disability and Carers Helpline: 1300 243 543 Youth and Student Helpline: 1300 687 399 Spiritual and Pastoral Care Helpline: 1300 772 435 www.convergeinternational.com.au Wellmob – social, emotional and cultural wellbeing resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people https://wellmob.org.au/ 24-hour crisis hotlines 13 Yarn Beyond Blue LifeLine: NSW Mental Health Line Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Sean Scalmer, "A Fair Day's Work: The Quest to Win Back Time" (Simon and Schuster, 2025)
2026/05/29
Australia has a special place in the history of struggle for a Fair Day's Work. In giving a history of Australian worker struggles over the length of the working day, Sean Scalmer historicises things that might otherwise seem universal and stable, including time, leisure and productivity. Decades before any attempt by Australian timekeepers to standardise time, Scalmer shows that some of the earliest working-class activism in Australia was focused on the nature of time and the meaning of leisure. For what was the movement for the eight hour day, inspired by British activist Robert Owen, except for a battle over the ownership of time and the virtue of recreation? The length of the working day and the challenges of work–life balance are pressing issues for many people, as well as lively matters of public controversy. While the winning of the eight-hour day is celebrated as a past industrial achievement, contemporary discussions of working hours often overlook its rich history. Tracing 150 years of campaigns for rights and for the fair distribution of productivity gains, historian Sean Scalmer shows how these movements successfully reduced the length of the standard working week from 60 to 38 hours per week, and how economic, social and political shifts since the early 1980s have stalled this long-term progress. Today, industrial laws provide inadequate protection for excessive hours, and women increasingly shoulder long hours of paid work with the bulk of unpaid domestic labour. This has produced a social crisis for all Australians, but is yet to inspire adequate political action. As debate over our working lives intensifies amid ongoing political, economic and technological challenges, Scalmer’s labour of love on the history of work and play affords us a way to understand the past so we can win back our time—collectively. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Mia Martin Hobbs, Carolyn Holbrook⁠, and Joan Beaumont, "Challenging Anzac: Stories That Don't Fit the Legend" (NewSouth, 2026)
2026/04/25
Challenging Anzac: Stories that don’t fit the legend Edited by Mia Martin Hobbs, Carolyn Holbrook, and Joan Beaumont The Anzac legend has shaped Australia’s national identity for more than a century. Yet many experiences of war do not fit comfortably within this. In Challenging Anzac, leading historians explore some of these stories: Aboriginal activists, deserters on the Western Front, veterans who took their own lives and soldiers who became radicalized by their service. They reveal how episodes in Australia’s war history that unsettled the Anzac legend – from the relief of Tobruk, nuclear testing on Australian soil and feminist protests against war, to alleged atrocities in Afghanistan – have been elided or adapted to ‘fit’ the legend. Edited by award-winning historians Mia Martin Hobbs, Carolyn Holbrook and Joan Beaumont, Challenging Anzac examines how the reality of warfare has always been at odds with mythic representation and considers why, despite this, the Anzac legend has survived. Mia Martin Hobbs is an oral historian of war and conflict, with a research focus on the Vietnam War, War on Terror, gender, peace, security and postwar reconciliation. Her first book, Return to Vietnam: An Oral History of American and Australian Veterans’ Journeys, won the Oral History Australia Book Award in 2022 and was highly commended for the Memory Studies First Book Award in 2023. She has written widely on anti-war veteran activism, war crimes and the impact of the Anzac revival on Australian veterans’ war memory. She is presently an ARC DECRA fellow at Deakin University. Carolyn Holbrook is a historian at Deakin University. Her latest books are Challenging Anzac: Stories that Don’t Fit the Legend, co-edited with Mia Martin Hobbs and Joan Beaumont (2026), Australia Fair? Democracy, Bureaucracy and the Making of Modern Australia, co-authored with James Walter (2026), and Gold Standard? Remembering the Hawke Government, co-edited with Frank Bongiorno and Joshua Black (2026). She is the director of the Australian Policy and History network and the Australian Health and History digital archive. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Indigenous Employment and Cultural Safety: Building Real Pathways with guest Craig Seinor-Davies
2026/04/23
*Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this episode may contain the name of deceased persons.* Podcast description: In the final episode of our first season, we sit down with Craig Seinor-Davies about what it means to create meaningful pathways for marginalised groups across our institutions. Craig is a proud Darug man, and the Indigenous Employment Manager here at the University of Sydney. Tune in to hear Craig share his reflections on identity, home, culture, and how his professional experience in community work and supporting at-risk youth through mentoring and holistic support networks influences his work for creating culturally safe and inclusive spaces. We explore what cultural competence and cultural safety look like in practice and unpack the lessons that shape his approaches to equity and inclusion. Produced by: Adubi Plange, Dr Amy McHugh, Sarah Mashman Podcast Artwork: Zein Arif Resources: Mental Health Support Services: For University of Sydney staff: CONVERGE Converge offers multiple dedicated helplines for specialist services: All staff: 1300 687 327 First Nations helpline: 1300 287 432 LGBTQIA+ Helpline: 1300 542 874 Domestic and Family Violence Helpline: 1300 338 465 Aged Care Helpline: 1300 035 337 Disability and Carers Helpline: 1300 243 543 Youth and Student Helpline: 1300 687 399 Spiritual and Pastoral Care Helpline: 1300 772 435 www.convergeinternational.com.au Wellmob – social, emotional and cultural wellbeing resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people https://wellmob.org.au/ 24-hour crisis hotlines 13 Yarn Beyond Blue LifeLine: NSW Mental Health Line Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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