Media Release

Fellow

Project Outline

Dr Norman Abjorensen
Researcher, Crawford School of Economics & Government, ANU

Will take a revisionist approach to Deakin seeking to explain the collapse of his social liberal constituency in the first decade of Federation. The project will be loosely based on George Dangerfield’s work The Strange Death of Liberal England.

Dr Anna Cole
Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Anthropology Department, University of London

Aims to research and document John Gorton’s involvement in the first national Aboriginal debutante ball. In using this event, Cole will explore the relationship between Gorton’s nationalism and the symbolics of Indigenous cultural politics at the time.

Dr Jacqueline Dickenson
ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Melbourne

Aims to raise awareness of the achievements of Whitlam and Fraser in promoting government accountability. The study will start with their support for the establishment of a Commonwealth Ombudsman in the late 1960s.

Dr Lindy Edwards
Australian Research Council Post Doctoral Fellow, Political Science Program, ANU

The project will look at the role of ideologies in shaping policies commonly known as ‘the Australian Settlement’, with particular focus on the world views of Deakin, Reid and Hughes.

Dr Shirley Fitzgerald
Independent scholar;
Former City Historian, City of Sydney

Research and write material to extend the biographical entries on prime ministers in the online Dictionary of Sydney. The project will focus on those who had a living connection with Sydney in the pre-WWII period including Barton, Watson, Reid, Cook and Hughes.

Dr John Hirst
Emeritus Scholar, La Trobe University

Reassessment of Curtin’s record as prime minister to determine if he was, as he is commonly judged, the best prime minister. The project will aim to establish criteria for success in the office and examine other claimants to the label.

Dr Evan Smith
Teaching Assistant, Department of History, Flinders University

Examination of how Prime Ministers and their respective Governments in the period 1975 to 2007 have viewed the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s and early 1970s in Australia, together with an analysis of how the events of the ‘decade of dissent’, from 1965 to 1975 have impacted upon Federal Government political decision making in the last 30 years.

Professor John Warhurst
Adjunct Professor, School of Social Sciences, ANU and School of Political and International Studies, Flinders University

Named ‘The Faith of our Prime Ministers’ this study will examine the place of religious belief in Prime Ministers’ public and political lives, including their public policies.

Dr Auriol Weigold
Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra

Examination of the reasons for the failure of Menzies and Nehru to form a constructive relationship during their shared years as Prime Minister. The research will also look at Menzies’ failure to engage with India within the context of his concerns with Cold War alignments and regional alliances. Menzies’ relationship with Casey as his Minister for External Affairs, and a supporter of Nehru and regional relationships, will also be examined.