Karen Fox Karen Fox i(A121373 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Meg Foster Uncovers the Stories of Australia’s ‘Other’ Bushrangers Karen Fox , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 20 no. 4 2023; (p. 603-604)

— Review of Boundary Crossers : The Hidden History of Australia’s Other Bushrangers Meg Foster , 2022 single work biography

'Bushrangers are national legends in Australia, and the names of figures like Captain Thunderbolt, Ben Hall, Jack Donohoe, and, of course, Ned Kelly, are well known to many. In her first book, Meg Foster sets out to reveal the unknown histories of the country’s ‘other’ bushrangers: those who were not the white men celebrated by the legend. Bushrangers who were female, Indigenous Australian, Chinese, or African-American, she argues, have been left out of ‘the national mythos’ (2), ignored in public culture and popular memory. Their extraordinary lives and stories are the focus of Boundary Crossers.' (Introduction)

1 Karen Fox Review of Mary Hoban, An Unconventional Wife: The Life of Julia Sorell Arnold Karen Fox , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , no. 6 2022; (p. 207-211)

— Review of An Unconventional Wife : The Life of Julia Sorell Arnold Mary Hoban , 2019 single work biography
'Women’s biography is a lively genre in Australia today. Among others published in the last decade, there have appeared biographical works about significant women in colonial history (Elizabeth Macarthur, Caroline Chisholm, Jane Franklin), visual artists (Olive Cotton, Nora Heysen), criminal women (Kate Leigh, Dulcie Markham), literary figures (Aileen Palmer, Judith Wright), and feminists (Vida Goldstein, Germaine Greer, Eilean Giblin).' 

 (Introduction)

1 There Have Always Been Arguments about Who Gets What : The Surprising History of Australia’s Honours System Karen Fox , 2022 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 24 January 2022;
1 3 y separately published work icon Honouring a Nation : A History of Australia's Honours System Karen Fox , Canberra : Australian National University Press , 2022 23707068 2022 multi chapter work criticism

'The first detailed history of imperial and national honours in Australia, Honouring a Nation tells the story of the honours system’s transformation from instrument of imperial unity to national institution.

'From the extension of British honours to colonial Australasia in the nineteenth century, through to Tony Abbott’s revival of knighthoods in the twenty-first, this book explains how the system has worked, traces the arguments of its supporters and critics, and looks both at those who received awards and those who declined them. Honouring a Nation brings to life a long history of debate over honours, including wrangles over State rights, gender imbalances in honours lists, and the emergence and hardening of the Labor/Liberal divide over British awards, illuminating issues that are still part of Australian life—and of the honours system—today. The history of the honours system is equally the history of the nation, revealing who Australians were, what they have become, what they value, and the things that have unified and divided them.' (Publication summary)

1 Karen Fox Review of Lainie Anderson, Long Flight Home; Ann Blainey, King of the Air; and Sir Ross Smith, Flight to Fame Karen Fox , 2020 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , no. 4 2020; (p. 175-180)

— Review of Long Flight Home Lainie Anderson , 2019 single work novel ; King of the Air : The Turbulent Life of Charles Kingsford Smith Ann Blainey , 2018 single work biography ; Flight to Fame : Victory in the 1919 Great Air Race, England to Australia Ross Smith , 2019 single work autobiography

'At 2:06 pm on 10 December 1919, Keith and Ross Smith, along with the air mechanics James Bennett and Wally Shiers, spied the coast of Australia, the end point of a long flight from England that had begun almost 28 days prior. A common experience for many a weary traveller today, the first sight of the coastline solidifying into view on the horizon was for these 4 men both a triumph and a relief. Landing their Vickers Vimy twin-engine bomber in Darwin less than an hour later, they were met by the administrator of the Northern Territory and the mayor of Darwin, and swarmed by an enthusiastic crowd, excited to meet the men who had just completed the first-ever flight from England to Australia. When they had left England, not quite a month ago, they had been one crew among 6 to enter the ‘great air race’ sponsored by the government of the Commonwealth of Australia; today they were the winners of the £10,000 prize, and had ensured their place in history as the first men to fly from England to Australia. Of their competitors, only one other team would arrive safely in Darwin, and 4 men were killed, 2 only moments after taking off from Hounslow to begin their journey.' (Introduction)

1 The Cultural Journeys of Dictionaries of Biography Karen Fox , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: ‘True Biographies of Nations?’ The Cultural Journeys of Dictionaries of National Biography 2019; (p. 1-18)
'Fifty years after the publication of the first volume of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, in mid-2016 participants from around the English-speaking world gathered in Canberra for the conference ‘“True Biographies of Nations”? Exploring the Cultural Journeys of Dictionaries of National Biography’.1 Organised by the National Centre of Biography at The Australian National University (ANU) and supported by the National Library of Australia (NLA), the conference provided a rare opportunity for those involved in the production of dictionaries of national biography to come together, along with archivists, librarians, fellow researchers, and members of the public, to reflect on the purpose and place of national biographies in the twenty-first century. The aim was to explore the cultural journeys taken by dictionaries of national biography, to consider the challenges and opportunities facing such projects today, and to gauge the extent of their development into truly national biographies.'  (Publication summary)
1 1 y separately published work icon ‘True Biographies of Nations?’ The Cultural Journeys of Dictionaries of National Biography Karen Fox (editor), Canberra : Australian National University Press , 2019 16950189 2019 anthology criticism

'Dictionaries of national biography are a long-established and significant genre of biographical and historical writing, existing in many forms across the globe. This book brings together practitioners from around the English‑speaking world to reflect on national biographical dictionary projects’ recent cultural journeys, and the challenges presented to them by such developments as the transition to a digital environment, a new alertness to the need to represent diversity, and the rise of transnationalism. Exploring their paths forward, the chapters of this book collectively make a powerful argument for the continued value and importance of large‑scale collaborative biographical dictionary research.' (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon Maori and Aboriginal Women in the Public Eye: Representing Differences 1950-2000 Karen Fox , Canberra : Australian National University Press , 2011 Z1838951 2011 single work criticism

'From 1950, increasing numbers of Aboriginal and Māori women became nationally or internationally renowned. Few reached the heights of international fame accorded Evonne Goolagong or Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and few remained household names for any length of time. But their growing numbers and visibility reflected the dramatic social, cultural and political changes taking place in Australia and New Zealand in the second half of the twentieth century.

'This book is the first in-depth study of media portrayals of well-known Indigenous women in Australia and New Zealand, including Goolagong, Te Kanawa, Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Dame Whina Cooper. The power of the media in shaping the lives of individuals and communities, for good or ill, is widely acknowledged. In these pages, Karen Fox examines an especially fascinating and revealing aspect of the media and its history — how prominent Māori and Aboriginal women were depicted for the readers of popular media in the past.' (Publication summary)

1 Life Sentences Karen Fox , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: ANU Reporter , Spring vol. 42 no. 3 2011; (p. 8)
'Karen Fox explores the intersections between the Australian honours system and the Australian Dictionary of Biography.'(Editor's abstract)
1 Rosalie Kunoth-Monks and the Making of Jedda Karen Fox , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Aboriginal History , no. 33 2009; (p. 77-95)
'Filmmaker Charles Chauvel described the casting for Jedda, released in Australia in 1955, as ‘a unique experiment’. He referred to the casting of two Aboriginal people, who had never acted before, as the film’s stars. Much scholarship has examined the film itself, analysing its themes and its representations of Aboriginal people. Less attention has been paid to the ways in which its Aboriginal stars, Rosalie Kunoth-Monks and Bob Wilson, experienced starring in the film.1 This paper focuses on Kunoth-Monks, who was for a brief time widely known and acclaimed throughout Australia, and whose starring role continued to be remembered throughout her life, even as she moved into areas of activity far removed from the film industry.2 Writing on the practice of film history, Barbara Klinger has advocated an approach which seeks to provide a ‘total history’ through investigating ‘a film’s “ancillary” texts’ (for example, promotional material and popular media texts).3 For historians interested in filmic representations of, by or for Indigenous peoples, the narratives found in texts surrounding the participation of Indigenous peoples in filmmaking can be as rich as the films themselves for analysis. In this paper, I critically explore narratives about Kunoth-Monks’ experience of filmmaking, and recurring representations of her, which appeared in the popular print media, in publicity material for the film and in the memoirs of Chauvel’s wife and filmmaking partner, Elsa, as well as Kunoth-Monks’ own memories. Exploring her brief time as a film star provides insight not only into the film and the Chauvels’ attempt to represent Aboriginal people on film, but also into the ambiguous and sometimes uncomfortable experience of being simultaneously a traditional Aboriginal woman and a film star.' Source: Karen Fox.
1 Oodgeroo Noonuccal : Media Snapshots of a Controversial Life Karen Fox , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Indigenous Biography and Autobiography 2008; (p. 57-68)
'I narrate several controversial incidents or issues Oodgeroo was involved in which featured in the pages of Australia's large-circulation daily newspapers. I contrast these narratives of controversies in Oodgeroo's life, and selected representations of her in the media, with her own views and understandings of events and of herself. I demonstrate the way in which she both used the media to convey her message of Aboriginal rights and challenged media portrayals of herself and her work, publicly articulating her own understandings of her life' (p. 57).
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