Nancy Cushing

Coming to NEXTGATe forum on Failures & Letdowns (Monday 18 Aug #ESEH2025)?
You may like this thoughtful paper (free to air Int Review of Env Hist)
press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/pr... @wildpasts.bsky.social @mcookhistory.bsky.social @ncushing12.bsky.social @ruthamorgan.bsky.social

Thanks Libby. I didn’t realise it was out.

Arctic Regions In a Torrid Zone: The Ross River Meatworks 1892 - 1992 This year James Cook University celebrates its proud legacy in historical research, writing and publishing through the  Studies in North Que...

Our 6th 'Studies in North Queensland History' retrospective for @austhistassoc.bsky.social #AHA2025 @jcucase.bsky.social @jcuofficial.bsky.social is @ncushing12.bsky.social on "Arctic Regions In a Torrid Zone: The Ross River Meatworks 1892-1992 jculibrarynews.blogspot.com/2025/07/arct...

Would you want a pet’s life?
https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-face-an-uncomfortable-truth-maybe-our-pampered-pets-would-be-better-off-without-us-256903

A case for cannibalism? What ‘Eat the Invaders’ doesn’t say Published in History Australia (Vol. 22, No. 2, 2025)

I recently reviewed the series "Eat the Invaders" for History Australia. It is a well made and thought provoking series hosted by the charming Tony Armstrong.
I thought it could have gone further.
Watch it here: iview.abc.net.au/show/eat-the...
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/MWUCR...

Open Access article on "Crook Cook" and "Nazi Cook" - what to do about kitsch on a monumental scale in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. @clairebrennan.bsky.social @nikolasorr.bsky.social
read.dukeupress.edu/radical-hist...

Taking up the mantle from the EHN started by @libbydeq.bsky.social, the Australian and Aotearoa NZ Environmental History Network brings together EH scholars, offers prizes and issues a regular newsletter. Join us!

Fellowships The Library offers a number of prestigious and competitive fellowships to support the study, writing and teaching of Australian history and culture.

It is that time of year again - the State Library of NSW Fellowships are open for applications. I am greatly enjoying my time as the Coral Thomas Fellow, and look forward to welcoming the next incumbent.
Think about applying now.
www.sl.nsw.gov.au/about/awards...

It ruins — everything.

Another round coming in the US statue wars.

These are fire insurance maps. They record whatever was on the block including number of storeys, building materials, business type and owner’s name. Lots of fascinating insights from them about dispersed and clustered uses, eg.
https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/74VKdd0yByqO

Plan of Market Street block showing stables behind building facing the street.

Grand building with turrets. Current Sydney Conservatorium, built as the stables for Government House, Sydney.

Spent the last couple of weeks at @slnsw looking for animals on detailed plans of Sydney city street blocks from 1880s to 1930s. Not much to see. Mainly the odd stable hidden away behind the street fronts. So then I visited the grand daddy of Sydney stables.

I agree, Lisa. Both sides of the conversation were engaging, informative and heartfelt.

Top morning last Friday talking history with these legends and many others during a Museums of History NSW symposium at the Mint. Looking forward to joining efforts to connect historians working across the state.
Photo © Joshua Morris for MHNSW.

Statue of Charles Dickens attached to a stool for stability.

Bronze Statue of Henry Parkes with plaque noting it replaces one destroyed in 1971.

Just for you

Bronze lion surrounding statue

Former bird sanctuary, wrought iron gates with wetland plants and bird donated by Gould League of Birdlovers.

Paperbark / melaleuca trees with flying foxes hanging from them.

My feet in muddy white sneakers.

Looking for historical animals in Sydney’s Centennial Park. And why historians need a stout pair of boots.

Awards and Prizes - The Australian Historical Association The AHA administers a range of prizes and awards annually and biennially. The Association is also proud of their partnership with the National Archives of Australia to offer scholarships to…

ECRs and HDRs: don't forget the AHA offers prizes and grants to help you get to the annual conference, help you with your research, and reward your stellar contributions! Check out the Awards and Prizes page for more info!

Newcastle (Australia) coal monument (1909) missing illustrative and informational plaques.

Is this happening in your place? Theft of plaques from monuments and memorials apparently for the value of the metal? Are the thieves unwitting allies of iconoclasts?

Which Australian bark are you?

“For researchers and developers alike, these findings offer a roadmap for improving AI’s understanding of global history, paving the way for tools that better support scholarly inquiry into the past.”
Or, they indicate that some types of thinking are best done by humans, not by artifices.

They could always play hockey (well, ok, they would have had to invent it) but I wanted to share this photo of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment hockey team awaiting transport to England in 1917, and especially, their adorable sweaters. Some skilful women behind them, I think.

Photograph from 1938 of a group of Aboriginal men, women and children with a sign saying Aborigines Conference/ Day of Mourning/ Aborigines Only [final word obscured]. One holds a sign saying Aborigines Claim Citizen Rights.

It contributes to making the case for why the 26th of January, the day on which the colony of New South Wales was officially launched, is not a day of celebration but a day of mourning for the continent's First Peoples.

Lyndall's research and especially the Colonial Frontier Massacres Map c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmass... helped to extend the understanding of Australia's violent colonial history.

Photograph of EP Lyndall Ryan with a book open in front of her on a table.

There is some irony in seeing that my former colleague, the late Professor Lyndall RYAN AM, has been made an officer of the Order of Australia today "For distinguished service to tertiary education, particularly Indigenous history and colonial settlement through research and publications."

Still waiting for a news outlet to include in their title the name of the woman who won rather than one of the two men who lost.

@cfwriter.bsky.social Is this within your profound knowledge of the book?

Academic Work Tracker Template v2.2 (2025)

I have updated the Academic Workload Tracker for 2025. I strongly encourage all academics to track how long you actually work, and at what tasks. It's a crucial way to counter the deliberate wage-theft of obfuscatory university workload models.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Stylised view of a heavily burned forest with black and grey tree trunks on a background of red soil and sky. Text: Burned trees build no homes. Prevent Forest Fires.

1940 bushfire poster from New South Wales linking them with the housing shortage that existed before the war and became much worse as it progressed, as resources were shifted to war purposes.

Three exhausted looking men holding green boughs and axes watching as a bush fire burns around their dwelling. Labelled “The Enemy” but with the words “To wish you joy” added.

It is Christmas day here in Australia and as part of my bushfire series, what seems like a highly inappropriate way to wish someone Christmas joy.