Minoru Hokari, Gurindji Journey. Brilliant and paradigm shifting. Intimate and revelatory. What happens to the Western tradition of the historical discipline when it takes seriously the Dreaming, Everywhen, and Indigenous epistemologies? Truly wonderful things.

Fernand Braudel, Identity of France vol. I. The attention to detail is breathtaking. Linking regions’ roofing materials with local economies and geographies (pp. 53 & 171) to paint a longue durée history, to give one example. Siân Reynolds’ translation is fantastic.

Yves Rees, Travelling to Tomorrow. I am in awe. Rees has taken great care to rewrite the thesis as a book that will appeal to everyone. The scene setting is so rich and the interrupted chronologies are very clever. The women’s stories are spectacular and, with Rees, fun!

Ruth A. Morgan, Climate Change and International History. A much-needed exploration of the globalisation of the changing climate and responses to this. It’s backed by some brilliant archival finds and is so damn readable despite its attention to politicking and bureaucracy.

Sandra Swart, The Lion’s Historian. Swart shows the non-human in all its multifaceted complexity. They are much more than the Disneyfied cartoonish innocents or the unthinking ferals of the popular imaginary. And the punny subheadings: delectable!

For the third year in a row, I read one book per week. Hopelessly, only one was fiction (Joseph Heller, Picture This); the rest history, animal studies, memoir, archaeology, pedagogy, and the like. Some highlights include:

It’s giving Franklin Dam

The SoPHIS postgrad cohort was very much cohort-ing at our end of year event

Monash’s main library is binning half its collection over the summer. Just look at the shelves! 😢

Standing room only for the launch of Judith Buckrich’s latest!

The website for the 2025 AHA Conference is live! Hosted by James Cook University and Central Queensland University, the CFP is now open on any area of history, including those on the conference theme, 'Looking Up'. https://t.co/zmQGqYf8Av

Feeling very full following a week in Canberra "thinking planetarily", writing, scouring archives, and catching up with friends and family :)

Retweeting this CfP for a special issue of @AJPandH on the 49th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam Government/appointment of Malcolm Fraser as PM. Proposals due 13 November! Feel free to DM if you want any further details 😊

https://t.co/nCyqrKZ9fo

The AHA welcomes the Australian Government's proposed 20% cut to HECS-HELP student debts. But this modest cost-of-living relief cannot, on its own, make Higher Ed debts more equitable. 'Job-ready Graduates' must give way to a better, fairer fee system https://t.co/UmD7NVs16p

Had the pleasure of getting this bumper @ANZ_EHN publication round up on the website this week! Dozens of phenomenal new works in Australian and New Zealand environmental history by a fabulous group of scholars! #environmentalhistory #history

https://t.co/MCxwweshp0“Climate%20change%20is%20also%20impacting,pollen%20patterns%20in%20two%20ways.

Repping @WildPasts_ merch at yesterday’s postgrad conference!

Tonight’s the night! Counting down to hear @WildPasts_ on Kinship! #envhist

A platypus was almost sent to Churchill in '43 (Cushing & Markwell 2009), but tragically died en route. Here's some (provisional) data from the platypus attendant's log, showing changes in food, air, & water temp as they made the crossing from MEL to Liverpool (NAA: A2908, V23/2)