Kate Fullagar

Questions for Mai – ABR essay Loved writing this more personal (for me) and reflective essay for Australian Book Review. It begins: Zoom in. The most unusual detail in this painting is the left hand, with tattooed dots carefull…

My ABR essay on Joshua Reynolds' Portrait of Mai is now available for *free* in audio version (29 mins) via Spotify or Apple Podcasts. (Print version behind ABR paywall - subscription always worth it!). katefullagar.com/2025/10/05/q...

A great example of innovative storytelling!

Unsettling the colonial gaze, one portrait at a time Published in History Australia (Ahead of Print, 2025)

Review of our podcast Unsettling Portraits 😮 www.tandfonline.com/eprint/W4SCS...

"the adulterations to Pepys began with Smith [the diaries' decoder] himself. He imposed his own punctuation and frequently omitted things he found “objectionable.” Very few people after Smith ever learned the code. This means that successive formal editors have only ever worked with Smith’s version"

Gateways to History and Samuel Pepys Another review for Inside Story, on a topic that I didn’t think I would know enough to write upon. But it turns out this great book by Kate Loveman on Pepys’s famous 17th-century diary …

Another review for Inside Story. On Kate Loveman, The Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Dairy @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org @kateloveman.bsky.social katefullagar.com/2025/10/31/g...

The fledgling UN tried to rein in mass-scale misinformation. The world turned its back and is now paying the price | Roland Burke The ruinous result of the US approach to freedom of information and media has made anti-democratic contagion impossible to ignore

The war against 'false news' is not 'new', but has been a concern of international organisations for over 100 years. The ever captivating Roland Burke launches a new Guardian column, Past/Present, sponsored by the @austhistassoc.bsky.social.

"What has been too often neglected is the sitter himself—Mai. While most observers of the portrait mention Mai’s two-year stay in Britain from 1774 to 1776, courtesy of James Cook’s second returning Pacific voyage, they usually skip over Mai’s motivations or post-visit life." 🗃️

Questions for Mai – ABR essay Loved writing this more (for me) personal and reflective essay for Australian Book Review. It begins: Zoom in. The most unusual detail in this painting is the left hand, with tattooed dots carefull…

katefullagar.com/2025/10/05/q...

Shorten reeeeeally grasping for straws here. “Can’t wave a wand.” My man, they’ve been in power for over three YEARS. They just spent 20b on debt relief. The cost of scrapping JRG (they say here) is 1b They have lost the messaging here @australianlabor.bsky.social archive.is/rxSze

Podcast on Enlightenment Loved doing this podcast with Richard Whatmore for the ANU’s new Urgent History series. It was based mostly on Richard’s last book, The End of Enlightenment (2023), which I reviewed in …

Enjoyed this (now rather old) podcast I did with Richard Whatmore on his book, The End of Enlightenment. We discuss eighteenth-century Europe, Trumpian USA, and Australia's Voice referendum. katefullagar.com/2025/08/27/p...

Job Ready Graduates. August 2025. @jasonclaremp.bsky.social #scottmorrisonneverforgive #ALPhardlybetteronhighered

Universities have lost their way, but cost-cutting and consultants are not the answer Last week in Sydney, we saw a melodrama acted out that could stand in for the state of Australian universities more generally.

A good piece about the situation in Australia HE (several years ahead of the rest of the Anglosphere in destroying its sector). Consultants must go - but before that happens, knowledge of what they do must increase among uni communities. Many don't even know consultants are involved in the debacle.

Week one Liz Kendall (or maybe Pat McF - not actually sure where unis are right now) earns some big points by banning/using state’s role as funder to massively disincentivise unis hiring these parasites

Podcast on Enlightenment Loved doing this podcast with Richard Whatmore for the ANU’s new Urgent History series. It was based mostly on Richard’s last book, The End of Enlightenment (2023), which I reviewed in …

Enjoyed this (now rather old) podcast I did with Richard Whatmore on his book, The End of Enlightenment. We discuss eighteenth-century Europe, Trumpian USA, and Australia's Voice referendum. katefullagar.com/2025/08/27/p...

Long-term vision for universities hung up on short-term politics Jason Clare’s blueprint calls into question the raison d’être of universities and whether they should exist merely to fill the pipeline of human capital for industry.

Why is Aussie media so bad, shallow, and right wing? archive.is/pNQrm afr. www.afr.com/policy/healt...

our judges' comments were: A bold and intellectually rich contribution to historical storytelling, this series tackles the inherent challenge of discussing visual sources in an audio format with ingenuity and sensitivity, vividly evoking colonial portraits for listeners without relying on visuals. By combining expert narration with scholarly and Indigenous voices, the series decodes artworks that span continents and centuries, situating Australian examples within the global processes of empire and colonialism. The series exemplifies original, decolonising historical work, challenging Eurocentric readings and expanding historical consciousness through cross-cultural and transnational perspectives. Particularly striking are the discussions with Indigenous scholars, which reframe the meaning and significance of colonial images and, importantly, ask what use such images are in the present day. The series’ analytical depth, emotional resonance, and imaginative use of sound make it a standout example of how non-print media can powerfully reframe public understanding of the past.

@historymatterssyd.bsky.social and I are delighted to see the UNSETTLING PORTRAITS podcast get Highly Commended in these Digital History Awards! www.sl.nsw.gov.au/awards/nsw-h... (link to the podcast in this linked page)

The @austhistassoc.bsky.social is proud to have initiated this open letter asking for the repeal of the egregious JRG punishment of humanities and social sciences in Australia. Read about the 100 signatories below, and please sign in solidarity yourself: www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...

Fascinating story. @newrepublic.com

Me three months ago:

Shorten reeeeeally grasping for straws here. “Can’t wave a wand.” My man, they’ve been in power for over three YEARS. They just spent 20b on debt relief. The cost of scrapping JRG (they say here) is 1b They have lost the messaging here @australianlabor.bsky.social archive.is/rxSze

Thank you @austhistassoc.bsky.social for addressing the abomination that is Job-Ready Graduates and petitioning the Albo Labor Government to repeal it #auspol. We need more grads and esp. lawyers from Indigenous and other minority backgrounds, not fewer!

@austhistassoc.bsky.social taking a lead here. Pls sign this petition and share it around:) www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...

Repeal Job-Ready Graduates Policy Now: Restoring Equity in Higher Education - Online petition We sign this petition in solidarity with those who signed the Open Letter to the Prime Minister on 28 July 2025 (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/28/open-letter-to-australian-govern...

Very cool. Though much of this research undertaken by @austhistassoc.bsky.social Help take action by addressing our petition: :) www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...

Great news. Such a pity Australia was not be a leader on this... a very great shame, in fact.

More media on this. Now me on ABC Lismore radio at the 45 minute mark: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr... See also our list of media growing here on the petition: www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...

The new HELP repayment system and lifetimes of student debt The prime minister says that a degree should not come with a lifetime of debt. For that goal, the government’s HELP legislation introduced last week is contradictory. It will cut all debt owe…

The government's proposed HELP repayment system puts more female debtors at risk of a lifetime of debt. andrewnorton.id.au/2025/07/29/t...

Now with a signatory Peter Tesch (former ambassador to Germany, Russia, and former Dep Sec Defence) on ABC radio at 35 minute mark, explaining and demonstrating the value of his BA: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Teaching Students to Read Secondary Sources with Age of Revolutions By Erika Vause In his seminal 1961 essay “The Historian and His Facts,” E.H. Carr compared writing history to preparing fish. Carr argued against seeing history as a “corpus of ascertained facts” l…

Working on fall syllabi? Consider incorporating @ageofrevolutions.bsky.social articles in your courses! Check out Erika Vause's "Teaching Students to Read Secondary Sources with Age of Revolutions" here. ageofrevolutions.com/2022/03/14/t...

Well, and the millions who voted for them. And the many more millions who appeased them. And the even more millions who decided that it was better to adore a US that never existed than get real about the suffering it inflicted on itself.

‘If Labor won’t act to defend equity in education, what is the point of them – I mean, what do they really stand for?’ Tim Winton in @australia.theguardian.com today. Good question @australianlabor.bsky.social