Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Christina Twomey is a Professor of History, and current Head of the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies. Her research focuses the cultural history of war, with a particular interest in imprisonment and internment, Australia-Asia relations, the history of humanitarian initiatives and the photography of atrocity.
Christina is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In 2012, she was the Distinguished Visiting Chair of Australian Studies at the University of Copenhagen. From 2012-15, she was Co-Editor, with Professor Catharine Coleborne, of Australian Historical Studies. She has been a member of the Executive of the Australian Historical Association and is a former President of the International Australian Studies Association.
Christina is a prize-winning historian of nineteenth and twentieth-century Australia. Her latest book is The Battle Within: POWs in post-war Australia (2018), winner of the 2018 NSW Premier's Prize for Australian History. She co-authored with Mark Peel A History of Australia (2011: 2nd Edition, 2017). Her book Australia's Forgotten Prisoners: Civilians Interned by the Japanese in World War Two (2007) won a 2008 NSW Premier's HIstory prize. In 2009, she was awarded the Frederick Watson Fellowship by the National Archives of Australia. Christina's first book, Deserted and Destitute: Motherhood, Wife Desertion and Colonial Welfare (2002), was the recipieint of an AHA/National Centenary of Federation prize, and published the results of her PhD research into gender and welfare in colonial Victoria.
Education/Academic qualification
History, PhD, University of Melbourne
External positions
College of Experts, Australian Research Council (ARC)
1 Feb 2019 → 21 Dec 2021Editorial Advisory Board, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) (Comm)
1 Feb 2017 → 30 Dec 2021Research area keywords
- 20th Century Australian History
- Gender and Welfare
- Australian Cultural and Social History
- Humanitarianism
- Cultural and Social History of War
- Photography of Atrocity
- War and Australian Society
- Internment and Detention
- Pacific War
- Prisoners of War
Network
Recent external collaboration on country level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots.
Projects
- 8 Finished
Australia's Asian garrisons and regional engagement, 1945-1988.
Twomey, C., Brawley, S., Koh, E., Sobocinska, A., Augustine, M. & Blackburn, K.
Australian Research Council (ARC), Monash University, Macquarie University, Nanyang Technological University, Kyushu University
1/03/16 → 31/07/19
Project: Research
Detention: The Humanitarian and Imperial Origins of Internment and Concentration Camps
Australian Research Council (ARC), Monash University
31/05/12 → 28/10/18
Project: Research
Australian generations: life histories, generational change and Australian memory
Thomson, A., Bradley, K., Holmes, K., O'Hanlon, S., Reiger, K., Twomey, C. & Rayner, M.
Australian Research Council (ARC), National Library of Australia, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, La Trobe University
1/07/10 → 31/05/16
Project: Research
Captive Australians: The place of POWs in post-war Australian culture
Australian Research Council (ARC)
4/01/10 → 31/12/12
Project: Research
Research Output
Australia’s Asian Garrisons: Decolonisation and the Colonial Dynamics of Expatriate Military Communities in Cold War Asia
Twomey, C., Sobocinska, A., Radcliffe, M. & Brawley, S., 30 Jan 2020, (Accepted/In press) In : Australian Historical Studies. 28 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
A History of Australia
Twomey, C. L. & Peel, M. A., 2018, 2 ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 308 p. (Palgrave Essential Histories)Research output: Book/Report › Book › Other › peer-review
Bring the Family: Australia's Overseas Military Communities and Regional Engagement, 1945-1988.
Twomey, C. L., Jul 2018, Beyond Combat: Australian Military Activity Away from the Battlefield. Moss, T. & Richardson, T. (eds.). Sydney NSW Australia: New South Books, p. 10-28 28 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
Peace in our region: prisoners of war and Australia's relationship with Japan 1945-1960
Twomey, C. L., 2018, Civil Society and Postwar Pacific Basin Reconciliation: Wounds, Scars, and Healing. Claremont, Y. (ed.). Abingdon Oxon UK: Routledge, p. 59-73 15 p. (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
Protecting slaves and aborigines: The legacies of European colonialism in the british empire
Twomey, C. L., Feb 2018, In : Pacific Historical Review. 87, 1, p. 10-29 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access
File
1
Citation
(Scopus)
Prizes
DEEWR Distinguished Visiting Professor of Australian Studies, University of Copenhagen
Christina Twomey (Recipient), 1 Aug 2012
Prize: Competitive Fellowships
Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia
Christina Twomey (Recipient), 2016
Prize: Election to learned society
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Christina Twomey (Recipient), 2016
Prize: Election to learned society
NSW Premier's History Award
Christina Twomey (Recipient), 2008
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
The Battle Within: POWs in post-war Australia
Christina Twomey (Contributor)13 Aug 2019
Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public lecture/debate/seminar
The Writers' Stories
Christina Twomey (Contributor)6 Apr 2019
Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public event
Telling the Truth or Telling History?
Christina Twomey (Contributor)6 Apr 2019
Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public event
The post-war lives of prisoners of war
Christina Twomey (Contributor)20 Nov 2019
Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public lecture/debate/seminar
Conflict, Collective Memory and the Creation of History
Christina Twomey (Contributor)20 Apr 2019
Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and Events › Public event
Press / Media
Myths of War - Changi and the POWs behind the wire (ABC Radio National)
23/12/19
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
ABC RN, Big Ideas: The Writing of War History
11/11/19
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
Prisoners of War and the Battle Within
25/04/18
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities