Kate Fullagar
@kfullagar.bsky.social
Historian of modern empire & Indigenous resistance 🇦🇺 History advocate. VP of https://theaha.org.au/ FAHA FRHistS. Professor at ACU. Latest book Bennelong & Phillip https://rb.gy/vebj23 My website is katefullagar.com
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...
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…
katefullagar.com
"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"
Kate Fullagar@kfullagar.bsky.social · 11mo agoAnother 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...
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...
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 …
katefullagar.com
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.
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
theguardian.com
"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." 🗃️
Kate Fullagar@kfullagar.bsky.social · last yr.Delighted to see this conversation out in J18, reproducing our workshop on #joshuareynolds, #mai and #18thcenturyart www.journal18.org/nq/reflectio...
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
archive.is
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...
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 …
katefullagar.com
Job Ready Graduates. August 2025. @jasonclaremp.bsky.social #scottmorrisonneverforgive #ALPhardlybetteronhighered
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.
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.
theconversation.com
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
QM_UCU@qmucu.bsky.social · last yr.VERY helpful compilation of pieces about Higher Education consultancy NOUS. They repeat the same pattern in Australia, Canada, & now #UKHE: prey on a sector under pressure, promise drastic savings to managers, and then cut staff input + blandify the programme + cut support, and pocket all the money.
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...
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 …
katefullagar.com
Why is Aussie media so bad, shallow, and right wing? archive.is/pNQrm afr. www.afr.com/policy/healt...
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.
afr.com
@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/...
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 (about:blank). We also write as individuals with a range of political beliefs. We are de...
openpetition.org
AHA (Australia)@austhistassoc.bsky.social · last yr."Earning a humanities degree was not only life changing, in terms of opening up a world of knowledge otherwise beyond my reach, it also turns out to have been enormously productive – for me and many, many people around me" Thank you Tim Winton for supporting the call to repeal the JRG policy.
Fascinating story. @newrepublic.com
Shannon Mattern@shannonmattern.bsky.social · last yr.“The NYPL, the MIT computing school, and Yale’s performing arts ctr all bear the name of Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of Blackstone. The idea that these men are facilitating free-market natural section has contributed to a lack of meaningful regulation—though the donations… certainly don’t hurt.”
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
archive.is
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!
Kate Fullagar@kfullagar.bsky.social · last yr.Very cool. Though much of this research undertaken by @austhistassoc.bsky.social Help take action by addressing our petition: :) www.openpetition.org/au/petition/...
@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...
openpetition.org
Crikey@crikey.com.au · last yr.Opinion | "Humanities and social sciences academics are signing petitions, writing open letters and organising actions in response to these threats to their jobs. They are anxious and angry."
Great news. Such a pity Australia was not be a leader on this... a very great shame, in fact.
Mark Carney@mark-carney.bsky.social · last yr.Canada has long been committed to a two-state solution — an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state living side by side with the State of Israel in peace and security. My statement on Canada’s recognition of a Palestinian state:
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/...
News: 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...
openpetition.org
Kate Fullagar@kfullagar.bsky.social · last yr.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/...
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...
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…
andrewnorton.id.au
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...
Kate Fullagar@kfullagar.bsky.social · last yr.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/...
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...
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…
ageofrevolutions.com
‘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
Kate Fullagar@kfullagar.bsky.social · last yr.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/...
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/...
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 (about:blank). We also write as individuals with a range of political beliefs. We are de...
openpetition.org
AHA (Australia)@austhistassoc.bsky.social · last yr."Earning a humanities degree was not only life changing, in terms of opening up a world of knowledge otherwise beyond my reach, it also turns out to have been enormously productive – for me and many, many people around me" Thank you Tim Winton for supporting the call to repeal the JRG policy.
"I can guarantee you no side of politics will justify a quarter of a billion dollars a year on someone’s Cybernetic futures interdisciplinary vanity project, no matter how well meaning they are." @ouranu.bsky.social www.reddit.com/r/Anu/commen...
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