Maria Nugent - School of Historical Studies Staff

Personal History

I am a graduate of the Australian National University, the University of Sydney, and the University of Technology, Sydney. Before undertaking doctoral studies, I worked for ten years in the field of Aboriginal adult and community education. My doctoral thesis, completed in 2000, explored the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal histories of La Perouse in Sydney. It was named on the UTS Chancellor's List for excellence in doctoral research. In 2005, I published a book based on my thesis titled Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet, which was awarded the inaugural Allan Martin Award for innovative research in Australian history, was short listed for the W. K Hancock award and a Victorian Premier's Literary Award, and won the New South Wales Premier's History Award for Community and Regional History.

I arrived at the School of Historical Studies at Monash University in 2002 to take up a two-year lecturing position in Australian and Aboriginal history. In 2004, I commenced an ARC postdoctoral fellowship on a project exploring Aboriginal history-making and historical remembrance. Before coming to Monash University, I worked as a research historian in the Cultural Heritage Division of the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. In 2002 I held the Nancy Keesing Fellowship at the State Library of New South Wales, and in 2006 I was awarded a research fellowship at the National Museum of Australia.

Current Research

I am currently working on a project called Blackfella Historians, which explores the nature of Aboriginal history-making and historical remembrance in south-eastern Australia. I am completing some further research on the history of Botany Bay and on the commemoration of Captain Cook in Australia.

Major Publications

Books

Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2005
(with Denis Byrne), Mapping Attachment: A Spatial Approach to Post-contact Aboriginal Heritage, Department of Environment and Conservation, Sydney, 2004

Areas of Research & Supervision

Australian Aboriginal history (1770 to present), including Aboriginal history-making; historical memory and oral history; public history; postcolonialism and history.

Teaching

No teaching commitments.