Cirrus@Austlit

'In early 1971, two Newcastle teenagers are overcome with sapphic appetites. Each is inflamed with lust for her childhood best friend, the literal girl next door. What to do about this forbidden desire? The first – Limb One – acts on her hunger. She enjoys a golden summer of covert fucking, before being discovered by her parents in flagrante delicto. After being beaten and kicked out of home, she hitches a ride to Sydney. True to herself, she is homeless and alone at sixteen. The second – Limb Two – follows the more well-worn path of repression. She buries her desires, acquires a boyfriend, studies hard. The good girl, beloved by her parents. One conundrum, two choices. How will the dice fall?' (Introduction)

'A celebrity decorator with blue hair. A single mother who advised JFK in the Oval Office. A Christian nudist with a passion for almond milk.

'A century ago, ten Australian women did something remarkable. Throwing convention to the wind, they headed across the Pacific to make their fortune. In doing so, they reoriented Australia towards the United States years before politicians began to lumber down the same path.

'For the artist Mary Cecil Allen, this meant spreading the word about American abstract expressionism. For the naturopath Alice Caporn, it meant evangelising fruit juices and salads. For the swimmer Isabel Letham, it was teaching synchronised swimming. Others imported the latest thinking in dentistry, fashion, economics, law, music, medicine and more. They were rebels, they were trailblazers, they were disruptors. Individually, they have extraordinary stories; together, they change the narrative of Australian history.' (Publication summary)

'Alot can change in a few years. In March 2020, on the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic, I wrote a review essay for ABR about the proliferation of trans and gender diverse (TGD) life writing. Back then, the most notable examples came from overseas, and – with the exception of established names like ABC’s Eddie Ayres (now Ed Le Broq), author of the 2017 memoir Danger Music – major Australian publishers had yet to take a chance on local trans voices.' (Introduction)

'In the late 1920s, poet Mary Gilmore – the woman on the A$10 note – declared she’d encountered only two instances of “genius” during her four decades in Australian literature. The first was a man who remains a household name: Henry Lawson, bush poet, author of iconic stories like The Drover’s Wife, who upon his death received a state funeral. Today, Lawson’s work is still widely taught in schools.' (Publication summary)

'I’ve always wanted to be a historian. From childhood, I was captivated by the idea of spending my days bringing the past to life. At first, I aspired to be a historical consultant on BBC period dramas. Later, I set my sights on becoming a professor.' (Introduction)

 (Publication summary)

'On an overcast Monday in March 2021, ten thousand people flooded into Melbourne’s Treasury Gardens for the March4Justice. It was a public outpouring of rage in response to a belated #MeToo moment within Australian federal politics. After sexual assault campaigner Grace Tame was named Australian of the Year, former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins went public with allegations she had been raped in Parliament House. Mere weeks later, a historic rape allegation against Attorney-General Christian Porter hit the headlines. To all appearances, the scourge of sexual violence was running rampant within the highest offices in the country. In Treasury Gardens, the crowd voiced their disgust, joining a chorus of 110,000 at over forty events across the country. Many of those holding signs were older women, veterans of Women’s liberation, who expressed dismay that – five decades on – they were still protesting rape and gendered violence. From beneath the plane trees, march organisers led the Melbourne crowd in a rendition of Helen Reddy’s 1972 single ‘I Am Woman’. The anthem of women’s lib was back to rouse the masses once more.'  (Introduction)

'On the night of Tuesday 10 August, Australia’s population came under the microscope. The 2021 Census counted the number of engineers, of Buddhists, and single person households. It recorded the number of cars and tabulated our diseases. It even counted past and present ADF personnel.' (Introduction)

'A timely and thought-provoking memoir about the trans experience.

'Rees provides us with their deep insights into contemporary trans and gender diverse history as it's being made . . . All About Yves is the book I wish I'd been able to give my mother when I was transitioning.' Sam Elkin, Transgender Victoria Board Member

'Was I always trans, part boy beneath my skin, or was it that I landed in a place where 'girl' was a container so small it could break your bones?

'I learn that a ready smile and sympathetic ear are the only props required to impersonate a woman. The performance becomes so familiar I almost forget that it's staged.

'What happens when, aged 30, you understand you're transgender?

'This was the question that confronted Yves Rees, a historian whose life was upended by gender transition in 2018. Then known as a woman called Anne, Yves was forced to grapple with the sudden knowledge that they were not, in fact, female at all.

'But when you've lived a lie for so long, how do you discover who you really are? And how do you re-learn to live in the world as a different gender?

'All About Yves tells their moving journey of re-becoming, at the same time laying bare the messiness of bodies, gender and identity. It shares the challenges and joys of being transgender in Australia today, and reveals how trans experiences like Yves' can teach all of us about what it means to be human.

(Publication summary)

'The next generation of Australian historians face daunting challenges: the imperative to craft new historical narratives that inform and redirect unfolding ecological, economic and political crises, while facing escalating academic precarity and associated anxiety and depression. Honours level and PhD pedagogy, which remains little changed from the mid-twentieth century, is arguably insufficient for these challenges. How might we, as educators, find creative and pragmatic ways to better train and nurture tomorrow’s scholars? Critically reflecting on our Histories of Capitalism Winter School piloted in 2019, this article argues for the potential of grassroots ‘micro-utopias’ structured around interdisciplinarity, collegiality, inclusivity and public mindedness.' (Publication abstract)