Professor Nicholas Brown
Areas of expertise
- Australian History (Excl. Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander History) 210303
- Australian Government And Politics 160601
- Public Policy 160510
- Environmental Politics 160605
- Biography 210304
- International Relations 160607
Research interests
Australian twentieth century cultural, political and environmental history, Australian biography.
Biography
My PhD is in Australian History from the ANU, where I also worked as a research fellow in the Urban Research Program. After a period in the Australian Public Service and as Professor of Australian History, University College Dublin (2002-4), I returned to the ANU to join the Australian Dictionary of Biography and, in 2007, commenced a split appointment to the Centre for Historical Research at the National Museum of Australia. My research interests encompass a wide range of Australian history, with a focus on twentieth century social, environmental and bioigraphical history. I am particularly keen to work across disciplines, and am closely involved in several intensive workshops that support postgraduate research in biography and environmental history.
Researcher's projects
J.G. Crawford: Placing Australia in the World, examines the life and work of John Crawford (1910-1984) in framing new paradigms of economic policy that shaped Australian approaches to social reform, industry assistance, education and research while also contributing to international programs of aid, development and security.
A history of Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory, combing social, environmental and political aspects of the national capital in its region, and with an emphasis on its evolving community.
Ten Years is Enough: a biography study of Rick Farley (1953-2006), dealing with his association with the political activism in primary industries, the establishment of Landcare, the Council for Indigenous Reconciliation, the Native Title Tribunal, and the negotiation of native title and land use agreements throughout Australia.
Testing Ourselves: a history of Australian international engagement, and the role of the concept of 'the international', in Australian political culture through the twentieth century.
Down There: a social and environmental history of the south coast of New South Wales since 1920.
Publications
- Huf, B, Rees, Y, Beggs, M et al. 2020, 'Capitalism in Australia: New histories for a reimagined future', Thesis Eleven, vol. 160, no. 1, pp. 95-120.
- Brown, N 2020, 'Book Review: Idling in Green Places: A Life of Alec Chisholm', Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 161-162.
- Brown, N 2020, 'Book review: 'I Wonder': The Life and work of Ken Inglis edited by Peter Browne and Seumas Spark', Australian Book Review, no. 421, pp. online.
- Brown, N 2019, 'Never Enough: the Australian War Memorial Redevelopment', Australian Historical Studies, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 255-260.
- Brown, N 2019, 'Cosmopolitan Obligation: Australian Engagement with Issues of Aid and Development in the 1950s and 1960s', Journal of Australian Studies, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 525-540.
- Brown, N 2018, ''Far more than anyone could possibly dream of': The League of Nations in Australian economic analysis of the nation, the region and the world', in Joy Damousi and Patricia O'Brien (ed.), League of Nations: Histories, legacies and impact, Melbourne University Press (an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing), Melbourne, Australia, pp. 61-82pp.
- Brown, N 2018, 'Transnational protest: Australia and the 1960s', The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 109-111pp.
- Brown, N 2017, 'CABINET RECORDS - Background to the 1992 and 1993 Cabinet records'.
- Brown, N 2017, Cabinet papers 1992-93: the balance of head and heart.
- Brown, N 2017, 'Canberra The Bush Capital', in Jennifer Sanders (ed.), Collecting for the nation The Australiana Fund, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, pp. 24-32.
- Brown, N 2016, 'CABINET RECORDS - Background to the 1990 and 1991 Cabinet Records'.
- Brown, N 2016, Cabinet Papers 1990: leadership scrutiny distracts from historic Hawke reforms, pp. 1-3.
- Brown, N 2016, 'Book Review: Douglas Copland: Scholar, Economist, Diplomat', Australian Historical Studies.
- Brown, N 2015, 'Albert Hall: The Heart of Canberra', Australian Historical Studies, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 492-493.
- Brown, N 2015, ''Delusions of Purity': Reflections on Writing a History of Canberra', Canberra Historical Journal, no. 74, pp. 15-20.
- Brown, N 2015, 'The Seven Dwarfs: A Team of Rivals', in Samuel Furphy (ed.), The Seven Dwarfs and the Age of the Mandarins: Australian Government Administration in the Post-war Reconstruction Era, ANU Press, Canberra, pp. 3-30.
- Brown, N 2015, 'History on Demand: Defining moments in Australian history', reCollections: Journal of the National Museum of Australia, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1-11.
- Brown, N 2014, 'Agricultural Reporting', in Bridget Griffen-Foley (ed.), A Companion to the Australian Media, Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty Ltd, North Melbourne, pp. 15-17pp..
- Brown, N 2014, 'Book review - The Archetypical Contingent Narrative by Barbara Caine. Biography and History. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, pp viii+152', Life Writing, vol. 00, no. 00, pp. 1-4.
- Brown, N 2014, 'Age of Anxiety: Reflections on the Present State of Australian History', Journal of History for the Public, vol. 11, pp. 87-105.
- Brown, N 2014, A History of Canberra, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne.
- Brown, N 2014, 'Background to the 1988 and 1989 Cabinet records', National Archives of Australia.
- Brown, N 2014, 'Never Lost for Words: Canberra's Archives', Public History Review, vol. 21, pp. 81-101.
- Brown, N 2013, 'Australia in the World', in Michelle Hetherington (ed.), Glorious Days Australia 1913, National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra, pp. 3-13.
- Brown, N 2013, 'Canberra 1913', in Michelle Hetherington (ed.), Glorious Days Australia 1913, National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra, pp. 71-85.
- Brown, N 2013, 'Government, law and citizenship', in Alison Bashford and Stuart Macintyre (ed.), The Cambridge History of Australia, Cambridge University Press, United States, pp. 403-428.
- Boden, S & Brown, N 2013, 'Made in Canberra', in David Headon and Andrew MacKenzie (ed.), Canberra RED: Stories from the bush capital, Allen & Unwin, Crow's Nest, pp. 171-192.
- Brown, N 2013, 'Entering the Salami and Pumpernickel Range: the Cultural Transformation of Canberra in the Post-War Decades', Canberra Historical Journal, no. 71, pp. 11-20.
- Brown, N 2012, 'Rayner, Rhoda Elspeth (Betty) 1907-1981', in Melanie Nolan, David Horner (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography Volume 18: 1981-1990 L-Z, Melbourne University Publishing Limited, Melbourne Australia, p. 3.
- Brown, N 2012, 'Using Lives: Working with Life Stories in a Time of Revolution', in Tony Gibbons and Emily Sutherland (ed.), Integrity in Historical Research, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, New York, USA and Abingdon, UK, pp. 108-130pp..
- Brown, N & Boden, S 2012, A way through: The life of Rick Farley, NewSouth Publishing (an imprint of University of New South Wales Press), Sydney, Australia.
- Brown, N 2011, 'Student, Expert, Peacekeeper: Three Versions of International Engagement', Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 34-52.
- Brown, N 2010, 'History and Policy Making', Cultural Conflict in a Democracy: 2010 Conference of the Independent Scholars Association of Australia Inc, ed. Gretchen Poiner, Independent Scholars Association of Australia Inc, Canberra, pp. 25-42.
- Brown, N 2009, 'Review of Kim E. Beazley's Father of the House and Ashley Hogan's Moving in the Open Daylight', History Australia, vol. 6, no. 3, p. 4.
- Brown, N 2009, 'Book Review: Andy, come up!-Andrew Fisher: An underestimated man', Australian Book Review, vol. September 2009, no. no.314, pp. 49-50.
- Brown, N 2009, 'Book Review: The Zealous Conservator: A Life of Charles Lane Poole', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 133-135.
- Brown, N 2009, For Labour and Humanity, The National Library Magazine.
- Brown, N 2008, 'Book Review: Thinking Black', Australian Book Review, vol. April 2008, no. No.300, pp. 34-35.
- Brown, N 2008, 'Book Review: To the last man', Australian Book Review, vol. Dec 2008-Jan 2009, no. No.307, pp. 11-12.
- Brown, N 2008, 'Book Review: The art of black-boxing', Australian Book Review, vol. September 2008, no. no.304, pp. 27-28.
- Brown, N 2008, 'Enacting the international: R.G. Watt and the League of Nations Union', in Desley Deacon, Penny Russell and Angela Woollacott (ed.), Transnational ties: Australian lives in the world, ANU ePress, Canberra, ACT, pp. 75-94.
- Brown, N 2008, 'Using Lives: Biographers in the museum', reCollections: Journal of the National Museum of Australia, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 1-10.
- Brown, N 2007, ''They are still people': economics, welfare and advocacy in Australia', in David Callahan (ed.), Australia, Who Cares?, Network Books, Perth, pp. 67-85.
- Brown, N 2007, 'The Gamekeeper's View: A memoir', in Stuart MacIntyre and Sheila Fitzpatrick (ed.), Against the Grain: Brian Fitzpatrick and Manning Clark in Australian History and Politics, Melbourne University Press (an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing), Melbourne, pp. 223-231.
- Brown, N 2007, 'Richard Ivan Downing', in J E King (ed.), A Biographical Dictionary of Australian and New Zealand Economists, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 89-92pp.
- Brown, N & Cardinal, L, eds, 2007, Managing Diversity - Practices of Citizenship, University of Ottawa Press, ottawa.
- Brown, N & Cardinal, L 2007, 'Introduction [to Managing Diversity: Practices of Citizenship]', in Nicholas Brown and Linda Cardinal (ed.), Managing Diversity: Practices of Citizenship, University of Ottawa Press, ottawa, pp. 1-15.
- Brown, N 2007, 'Dunk, Sir William Ernest', in Di Langmore (ed.), Australian dictionary of biography. Volume 17 (1981-1990 A-K), Melbourne University Press (an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing), Melbourne, pp. 343-345.
- Brown, N 2006, 'Public Lives, Private Lives: the Fundamental Dilemma in Political Biography', in Tracey Arklay, John Nethercote and John Wanna (ed.), Australian Political Lives: Chronicling political careers and administrative histories, ANU ePress, Canberra, Australia, pp. 35-40.
- Brown, N 2005, 'The Changing Resonance of The International in Australian Politics and Culture', in Russell West-Pavlov (ed.), Who's Australia - Whose Australia? Contemporary Politics, Society and Culture in Australia, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, Trier, pp. 43-63.
- Brown, N 2005, 'Born Modern: Antipodean Variations on a theme', The Historical Journal, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 1139-1154.
- Brown, N 2002, 'Everybody says that the trees talk to you: the NSW south coast', in Tim Bonyhady and Tom Griffiths (ed.), Words for Country: landscape and language in Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney, pp. 84-101.
- Brown, N 2002, 'Till, Peter Leonard (1937 - 1976)', Australian Dictionary of Biography (Online), vol. 16, pp. 395-396.
- Brown, N 2001, Richard Downing: Economics, advocacy and social reform in Australia, Melbourne University Press (an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing), Melbourne.
- Brown, N 2000, 'Between Consistency and Humanity', in Troy, P. (ed.), Equity, environment, efficiency: ethics and economics in urban Australia, Melbourne University Press (an imprint of Melbourne University Publishing), Carlton South, Victoria, pp. 110-133.
- Brown, N 2000, 'Making Oneself Comfortable, or More Rooms than Persons', in Troy, P. (ed.), A History of European Housing in Australia, Cambridge University Press, Oakleigh, Vic, pp. 107-124.
- Brown, N 2000, 'Making Oneself Comfortable, or More Rooms Than People', in Troy, P. (ed.), A History of European Housing in Australia, Cambridge University Press, Oakleigh, Vic, pp. 107-24.
- Brown, N 1999, 'Its a Case of Any Stick to Beat a Dog: R.I. Downing and the Keynesian Revolution', History of Economics Review, vol. 30, pp. 90-107.
- Brown, N 1999, '"It's a Case of Using Any Stick to Beat a Dog": RI Downing, the Keynesian Revolution and Reconstruction', History of Economics Review, vol. 30, pp. 90-107.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- JG Crawford: Shaping Australia's Place in the World (Primary Investigator)
- Ten years is enough: the life and afterlife of Rick Farley (Primary Investigator)