Cirrus@Austlit

'Between 1847 and 1853, Charles Brentani was a noticeable character around Melbourne. Today, few have heard of him. There are occasional references, usually in relation to an 1849 gold discovery, or to silverware supplied by his retail jewellery business, but none gives comprehensive details of his life. He was one of those extraordinary 'ordinary men' whose story is lost in a history that tends to concentrate on 'big people'. In telling Brentani's story, this article supports the vision of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria that 'knowing the individual stories of past inhabitants gives present and future generations, links with local place and local community, bolstering a sense of identity and belonging, and enriching our cultural heritage'.' (Publication summary)

'Some way into her meticulously researched biography of Jean Galbraith, Meredith Fletcher mentions an interaction in the professional life of this influential naturalist, botanist and garden writer. Galbraith, having been asked by her friend Eva West to help prepare Victorian Girl Guides and their rangers for their naturalist badges, suggested some changes to the internationally prepared test to bring it into line with Australian bush conditions. Working from her knowledge of Australian eucalypts, she queried the merits of identifying a tree from a distance, commenting to her friend and mentor, John Inglis Lothian, that ‘no experienced botanist would undertake to recognise a tree at fifty yards—and it cannot always be done with certainty even if one lived among the trees’ (p. 51). As minor as this event was, it seems to me to encapsulate the Jean Galbraith that emerges in these pages: her attention to detail, her ability to ‘read’ and to learn from her experiences and observations of local environments, her firm but understated belief in her own hardwon knowledge, and her pedagogical commitment.' (Introduction)

'An arresting title, a striking cover and lively, flowing prose are likely immediately to engage and intrigue readers of this ‘biography’ of the murder mystery by Fergus Hume, which was published in Melbourne in 1886, in London in 1887, and widely thereafter and to this day. Lucy Sussex lays out the circumstances and introduces key players in the composition, publication, distribution and reception of what was a local and international publishing sensation. In so doing, she is putting living flesh on the bare bones of Pauline Kirk’s entry on Hume in the Australian Dictionary of Biography and amplifying brief references in Australian literary histories to his best-selling novel.' (Introduction)

'We are already indebted to Richard Broome for examinations of encounters of Aboriginal Victorians and settler regimes, including his book Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, which appeared in 2005. In Fighting Hard he has advanced our knowledge and understanding of this crucial area with a history of the highly important organisation, the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League (VAAL). The League has been the most prominent post-war Indigenous organisation in this state and, we learn, the longest continuous Aboriginal organisation in the country. Founded in 1957, the VAAL has served for close on six decades as an advocacy body for Victorian Indigenous rights and aspirations, and as a vital base for activists who influenced the formation of other state and national associations. Despite the high profile of the League there has been no previous scholarly history; Hyland House published a brief account thirty years ago, but its author had no access to the VAAL archives. In researching this story Broome has benefited considerably from collaboration with League members and their associates, who generously shared their knowledge through discussions and interviews. They have been aided in this collaborative endeavour by the agreement the League forged with the State Library of Victoria to house its substantial archive, a negotiation in which Richard Broome himself played a crucial part. In Fighting Hard, he offers a meticulously researched and accessibly written narrative of the League and its formidable efforts on behalf of fellow Indigenous Victorians and Aborigines nationally.' (Introduction)