Over the last few weeks I have made great strides with my book and am now starting to write it. My book is about the beliefs of Australian men who fought in World War I. The book will focus on the interior lives of a number of men as recorded in diaries, letters and court martials. There will be mention of attendance of church services but I am more interested in the faith, the … [Read more...] about History as a Cast of Characters
How historians work
The Professional Sceptic
This blog post introduces something new to Stumbling Through the Past. I want to help authors at the start of their book-writing careers but I can't possibly review every debut history or biography that is published. So I hope to post the occasional post written by an Australian or New Zealander author who has just published their first history or biography to help them connect … [Read more...] about The Professional Sceptic
Vale Jill Roe
It is with sadness we heard about the passing of Australian historian Jill Roe late last week. During her life she made a significant contribution to Australian history. Through her passing Australia has lost a great contributor to our society, but her work lives on and enriches our lives. Jill Roe is best known for her biography of Australian literary icon, Miles Franklin. … [Read more...] about Vale Jill Roe
Australian Professional Historians and Conference Excellence
Hello again! I have been very busy the last couple of months with some projects that will come to light in due course. But one of the causes of my 'busyness' was one of the best conferences I have attended. Read on... “Things they never taught me at history school” was the topic of a panel at last month’s national conference of the Professional Historians Association of … [Read more...] about Australian Professional Historians and Conference Excellence
Blogging the 2016 Australian Historical Association Conference
Social media has transformed conferences. No longer are conferences a private experience which might be shared months or years later when some papers are published. Live reporting of conferences on Twitter has gone a long way to enlarging the audience of a conference to interested people around the world. Where conference attendees are particularly engaged on Twitter the … [Read more...] about Blogging the 2016 Australian Historical Association Conference