Professor EmeritaPenny Russell

PhD Melbourne BA Hons Monash; Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities

Penny Russell’s research seeks out the political intricacies of gender and class, race and colonisation that lie in private writing and the intimacies of social encounters. She is fascinated by snobs and social climbers, scandals large and small, and the mysterious ways people lived, loved and learned in times past. Her main field of interest lies in the social experience of colonisation in nineteenth-century Australia. Her most recent book, Savage or Civilised? Manners in Colonial Australia (NewSouth 2010) won the NSW Premier’s Award for Australian History and was shortlisted for four other award in 2011, including the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History. From 2009 to 2012 she was editor, with Richard White, of History Australia, the official journal of the Australian Historical Association. In 2012 she was elected to the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Penny has a particular interest in the craft of history writing. She is drawn to history by its unique combination of imaginative reconstruction and hard evidence, the way story telling is enriched by analysis, while analysis unfolds through story. Writing lies at the heart of the discipline of history, and Penny strives in her teaching and research supervision to encourage students to wield the curious power of words. She has received both the SUPRA 'Supervisor of the Year' award and the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Higher Research Degree Supervision. Penny is currently Chair of the Department of History.