Karen Downing
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drink-an-ocean.bsky.social
Karen Downing
@drink-an-ocean.bsky.social
99 followers 110 following 13 posts
Historian, living and working with gratitude on Ngunnawal and Ngambri land.
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Reposted by Karen Downing
laurarad.bsky.social
What should historians do with AI? Check out History Australia's latest forum www.tandfonline.com/journals/rah...
History and AI
Explore the article collection: History and AI. Published in History Australia.
www.tandfonline.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Karen Downing
jonpiccini.bsky.social
Yet, for a time in 1975, Australian democracy appeared a fragile thing. It proved robust in the end – thanks in large part to the creativity of ordinary Australians who agitated for their country’s democratic culture, system and institutions.
In a world with democracy in decline, we have much to learn from those who rallied against Whitlam’s dismissal | Frank Bongiorno and James Watson
In 1975, few Australians believed the dismissal of a democratically elected government was business as usual
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
chriswallace.bsky.social
Good idea @aunz.theconversation.com - well worth reading.

Sign of the times at University of Canberra that three out of ten contributors (@michellegrattan.bsky.social @frankbongiorno.bsky.social & me) are #UniCBR academics.

theconversation.com/how-did-the-... #auspol #thedismissal
How did the 10 prime ministers since Whitlam change Australia?
As prime minister, Whitlam changed the country in profound ways. 10 experts assess how the prime ministers since shape up as agents of change - for better or worse.
theconversation.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Karen Downing
sighmonger.bsky.social
Have any historians watched The Idea of Australia on SBS yet? Any hot takes? Anyone think they might have a review up their sleeve? 👀 www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-...
Watch The Idea Of Australia
Watch The Idea Of Australia for free with SBS On Demand, your ultimate destination for diverse entertainment. Stream now!
www.sbs.com.au
November 4, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
austhistassoc.bsky.social
Thinking of applying for the Allan Martin Award, Kay Daniels Award, Serle Award, or the Hancock Prize? EOIs close next Tuesday, so make sure you reach out in time! Find all the information here: theaha.org.au/awards-and-p...
September 25, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
historyaustralia.bsky.social
Issue 22(3) of History Australia is out now! www.tandfonline.com/toc/raha20/c... #openaccess
September 16, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
jbhist.bsky.social
Please share widely!
victorianhand.bsky.social The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · Sep 1
3 weeks to go until the deadline for abstracts for our conference The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity (8-9 Jan 2026).

Are you getting yours ready?✍

Send abstracts and bios to victorianhand@fashionarts.ac.uk by 22 September 2025. We can't wait to hear from you!
A sculpture maquette of a hand, photographed in close up. Text reads '3 weeks to go! CfP Deadline 22 Sept'
September 2, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
laurarad.bsky.social
"These are just highly talented and idealistic young people... These are the kind of people the country needs, now and in the future."
July 21, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
drdemography.com
ANU cuts are impacting an innumerable amount of people. Here are just some of their stories. www.shoesofanu.com
Shoes of ANU
July 21, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
laurarad.bsky.social
The Wild Australia Show, now out as a free download! Congratulations to the authors! doi.org/10.22459/WAS... doi.org/10.22459/WAS...
The Wild Australia Show
<p>The Wild Australia Show was a troupe of 27 Aboriginal performers recruited from northern Queensland in the 1890s for a world tour that would culminate at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago...
doi.org
July 8, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
historyaustralia.bsky.social
James Watson’s new article in 22(2) is available open access
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
#historyaustralia
July 8, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
hannahforsyth.bsky.social
With a million thanks to @stplbrk.bsky.social for the best collegiality ever, I had two incredible days but a bazillion heartbreaking conversations in North Queensland hannahforsyth.substack.com/p/the-world-...
The world is going troppo: and things in universities are not looking up.
This week I went to a *really* good conference with the theme 'Looking Up'. But I was alarmed at the experience of those currently working in universities, many of whom are not able to look up rn.
hannahforsyth.substack.com
July 3, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
hannahforsyth.bsky.social
Re-posting this message in solidarity with university staff facing job cuts. You, our students and our society and economy deserve better than what university “leadership” is giving.

hannahforsyth.substack.com/p/message-fr...
Message from the Vice-Chancellor [republished]
In Australia, massive cuts to staff are underway at Macquarie, Western Sydney, University of Wollongong, University of Technology Sydney and the Australian National University.
hannahforsyth.substack.com
June 25, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Karen Downing
austhistassoc.bsky.social
HDRs and ECRs! Coming to Townsville for the 2025 AHA Conference? Clear your Monday afternoon: explore the city and make friends with the inaugural AHA scavenger hunt! Register at the link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
June 24, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
historyaustralia.bsky.social
#openaccess from the Editors: Laura Rademaker, Yves Rees and Alecia Simmonds share the focus of the new issue 22(2) of History Australia www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
June 16, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
jordanstein.bsky.social
"i asked grok" "i asked chagpt" yeah well I asked a rare books librarian and they found things I didn’t even know I was looking for, while answering questions about provenance
June 15, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Karen Downing
austhistassoc.bsky.social
Haven't registered for the 2025 AHA Conference ?? Get moving, today's the last day you can! Follow the link to secure your place and join us in sunny (and warm) Townsville! www.eventbrite.com.au/e/looking-up...
June 15, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Karen Downing
jas-jozstudies.bsky.social
First up in 49.2, ‪@drink-an-ocean.bsky.social‬ applies Connell's idea of "patriarchal dividends" colonial NSW to show how elites are a reconfiguration of patriarchal power in capitalist democracies.

#OzStudies #masculinity #SettlerColonialism #auspol

tinyurl.com/2a2ehw7k
Screenshot of journal article: "Patriarchal Dividends and the Creation of Political Elites in Colonial New South Wales". Author: Karen Downing, ANU. Abstract: Across the 19th-century industrialising world, expectations of access to power became based on expertise and economic role rather than birth. In the early White settler Australian colonies—where no non-Indigenous hereditary aristocracy or political institutions existed—the men who pursued status and influence and designed the political institutions of self-government justified their ambitions on the basis of their “independence”, a long-held marker of masculinity. In this article, I consider the gendered rhetoric of debates about the meaning of independence in colonial New South Wales through the lens of Raewyn Connell’s concept of the “patriarchal dividend” to argue that elites are a reconfiguration of patriarchal power in capitalist democracies. Because the criteria for rights to vote and stand for election were debated in terms of the character and conduct of men rather than their family lineage, political power accommodated more men but continued to make winners of particular men and losers of other men, as well as women.
June 11, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
sybiln.bsky.social
Thinking anew about the possible application of Raewyn Connell's work on masculinities to the history of the nineteenth century. Congratulations, Karen @drink-an-ocean.bsky.social
June 11, 2025 at 1:21 AM
drink-an-ocean.bsky.social
Congratulations to @chriswallace.bsky.social & @sybiln.bsky.social for pulling together this terrific collection of articles. I'm very pleased to be part of it and grateful for the opportunity to consider lines of enquiry that I might not have thought through without the focus of this special issue.
June 10, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
australiainstitute.org.au
Here at the Australia Institute, we're working toward a fairer, better Australia

But we can't do it without your help!

If you like what we do, please support our end of financial year appeal! ❤️
👉 theaus.in/greg_eofy_rally

All donations are tax-deductible!
#auspol @grogsgamut.bsky.social
May 23, 2025 at 6:03 AM
drink-an-ocean.bsky.social
I'm one of 12,000 or so people who have signed this petition, but @australiainstitute.org.au needs to deliver as many signatures as possible to show just how many of us reject new gas and coal projects. Please sign!
May 20, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
mariecolemanao.bsky.social
In 1974 I had responsibility for design of the Whitlam policy on child care building on the 1972 Child Care ACT. 1976- 1982 I ran the Liberal government child care program. Commonwealth funding of child care was exclusivel to local government & not for profits. No scandals
May 17, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Reposted by Karen Downing
sethabramson.bsky.social
The world needs more of this and less of most other things
May 12, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Karen Downing
zarasaunders.bsky.social
An insightful & sharp new article from Ana Stevenson

‘The Rudd-Gillard era’s political humour not only indicated the perverse limits of industriousness in the twenty-first century but also foretold the future’

doi.org/10.1080/1449...
‘Workin’ 9 to 9, 24/7’: political humour about Australian politicians and ministerial staffers during the Rudd-Gillard era
In the decade before Kate Jenkins’ landmark Set the Standard report into parliamentary workplaces, small screen political humour in Australia challenged the sustainability of industriousness in gov...
doi.org
May 2, 2025 at 9:38 AM