Geoffrey Bolton
Encyclopedia
Geoffrey Curgenven Bolton AO
is an Australia
n historian
born on 5 November 1931 in North Perth (now called Northbridge), Western Australia
. He attended Wesley College, Perth
from 1943 to 1947. He has been publishing works on Australian history
since 1952, and has authored 13 books, most recently Land of Vision and Mirage: Western Australia since 1826. He is still engaged in preparation of further works and has been a frequent contributor to radio in Western Australia and has done much to bring Western Australian history and socio-political development to life. He currently acts as Chairperson of the Western Australian Maritime Museum's Archaeology Advisory Committee.
Professor Bolton is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
(London), Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
, Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
, and Fellow of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society
.
In 2005, Bolton was named Western Australia's 2006 Australian of the Year
. He is married to Carol Grattan and has two sons and five grandchildren.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
is an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
born on 5 November 1931 in North Perth (now called Northbridge), Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. He attended Wesley College, Perth
Wesley College, Perth
Wesley College, informally known as Wesley, is an independent, day and boarding school for boys and girls , situated in South Perth, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia....
from 1943 to 1947. He has been publishing works on Australian history
History of Australia
The History of Australia refers to the history of the area and people of Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by boat from the Indonesian archipelago between 40,000 to...
since 1952, and has authored 13 books, most recently Land of Vision and Mirage: Western Australia since 1826. He is still engaged in preparation of further works and has been a frequent contributor to radio in Western Australia and has done much to bring Western Australian history and socio-political development to life. He currently acts as Chairperson of the Western Australian Maritime Museum's Archaeology Advisory Committee.
Professor Bolton is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
(London), Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia is an autonomous, non-governmental organisation, devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It was established in 1971...
, Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Australian Academy of the Humanities
The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia...
, and Fellow of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society
Royal Western Australian Historical Society
Royal Western Australian Historical Society has for many decades been the main association for Western Australians to collectively work for adequate understanding and protection of the cultural heritage of Perth and Western Australia...
.
In 2005, Bolton was named Western Australia's 2006 Australian of the Year
Australian of the Year
Since 1960 the Australian of the Year Award has been part of the celebrations surrounding Australia Day , during which time the award has grown steadily in significance to become Australia’s pre-eminent award. The Australian of the Year announcement has become a very prominent part of the annual...
. He is married to Carol Grattan and has two sons and five grandchildren.
Quotations
Publications
- Alexander Forrest : his life and times. 1958
- Dick Boyer, an Australian humanist. 1967
- A fine country to starve in. 1972 ISBN 0-85564-061-8 (reprinted 1994, ISBN 1-875560-36-X)
- Britain's Legacy Overseas. 1973 ISBN 0-19-888076-6
- Spoils and spoilers : Australians make their environment 1788-1980. 1981 ISBN 0-86861-218-9 (second edition 1992, ISBN 1-86373-094-X)
- History of Royal Perth Hospital. 1982 ISBN 0-9597039-1-8
- It had better be a good one : the first ten years of Murdoch University. 1985 ISBN 0-86905-082-6
- John Ramsden Wollaston : the making of a pioneer priest. 1985 ISBN 0-9588841-0-2
- The Oxford history of Australia. Volume 5, 1942-1988 : the middle way. 1990 ISBN 0-19-554613-X
- Who owns Australia's past?. 1993 ISBN 0-7022-2578-9
- Daphne Street. 1996 ISBN 1-86368-167-1
- Claremont: a history. 1999 ISBN 1-876268-38-7
- Edmund Barton: The One Man for the Job. 2000 ISBN 1-86508-409-3
- The Fuss That Never Ended: The Life and Work of Geoffrey BlaineyGeoffrey BlaineyGeoffrey Norman Blainey AC , is a prominent Australian historian.Blainey was born in Melbourne and raised in a series of Victorian country towns before attending Wesley College and the University of Melbourne. While at university he was editor of Farrago, the newspaper of the University of...
. 2003 ISBN 0-522-85034-0 (joint author with Stuart MacintyreStuart MacintyreStuart Forbes Macintyre , Australian historian, academic and public intellectual, is a former Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne. He has been voted one of Australia's most influential public intellectuals...
, Deborah Gare and Tom StannageTom StannageCharles Thomas "Tom" Stannage AM is a prominent Western Australian historian and academic. He edited the major work A New History of Western Australia, which was published in 1981....
) - May it please Your Honour : a history of the Supreme Court of Western Australia 1861-2005. 2005 ISBN 0-9590067-7-X (with Geraldine Byrne)
- Land of Vision and Mirage: Western Australia since 1826. 2008 ISBN 978-0980296-402
Academic career
- Educated at the University of Western AustraliaUniversity of Western AustraliaThe University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
and Oxford University - Research Fellow at the Australian National UniversityAustralian National UniversityThe Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
in 1957 - Senior Lecturer at Monash UniversityMonash UniversityMonash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
in 1962 - Professor of Modern History at the University of Western Australia in 1966
- Foundation Professor of History at Murdoch UniversityMurdoch UniversityMurdoch University is a public university based in Perth, Australia. It began operations as the state's second university in 1973, and accepted its first students in 1975...
in 1973 - Pro Vice-Chancellor of Murdoch University from 1973 to 1975
- Dean of the School of Social Inquiry at Murdoch University from 1976 to 1978
- Visiting Commonwealth Fellow at St John's CollegeSt John's College, CambridgeSt John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
, CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
1978 and 1979. - Professor and head of the Australian Studies Centre at the University of LondonUniversity of London-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
from 1982 until 1985 - Professor of Australian History at the University of QueenslandUniversity of QueenslandThe University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
in 1989 - Professor of History at Edith Cowan UniversityEdith Cowan UniversityEdith Cowan University is located in Perth, Western Australia. It was named after the first woman to be elected to an Australian Parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman....
, Western Australia - Retired from academia in 1996
- Chancellor of Murdoch University from July 2002 to November 2006.