How it all ends

What lessons can we learn from history about navigating the crises besetting the world today?

Happy Roman Mothers’ Day

Mothers in Ancient Rome didn’t get breakfast in bed and a bouquet on their equivalent of ‘Mothers Day’ but served their slaves and offered flowers to a goddess instead.

The mystery and the legacy of Australia’s immigrant selectors

From 1860, a series of Land Acts in the Australian colonies allowed new farmers to select and buy some of the vast tracts of land controlled by squatters. The story of one family epitomises the struggles, heartaches and triumphs they endured to build the nation we call home today.

The long history of New Year’s resolutions

New year resolutions continue to capture people’s imagination, hopes, and promises for betterment. Even after 4,000 years of civilisation, the new year continues to symbolise a new threshold. An opportunity for a fresh start.

Hysterical history

A long running Twitter thread has unearthed hundreds of unexpected facts and insights from the nation’s academics and historians.

Remembering Indigenous figures in Australian history

The role played by an aboriginal woman called Turandurey and her daughter Ballandella in an early colonial expedition are among 25 new biographies published by the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

The history of the Hawkesbury

UNSW Sydney’s Grace Karskens reveals the complex and controversial history of the Hawkesbury River in her latest book People of the River.

Cheer up, it’s been worse before

2020 has been grim, but there have been worse years in history. In this article, experts from science, history and literature take us through just some of the other terrible times people have endured before now.

Toys for the boys: White men’s business at the War Memorial

The National Gallery of Australia has slashed its annual acquisitions from 3000 pieces a year to 100 and other core institutions are struggling, but there is no shortage of funding for the Australian War Memorial to present a very ‘Aussie’ view of history.

How Australian industry helped win the Pacific war

The efforts of Australian industry, as well as the heroism of its troops, supported allied efforts to wrest victory over Japan in the Pacific theatre in World War Two.

Facing up to our past

Australia’s history is complex and confronting, and needs to be known, and owned today to restore social harmony.

Looking back to glimpse the future

Monash historians and archaeologists take the opportunity to look at precedents for our current situation and find some consolation in our forebears’ pathways to recovery from the pandemic.