Dr Sue Taffe
Research Fellow
View contact details in Monash Staff Directory
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, Monash University 1967
- Trained Secondary Teachers’ Certificate, University of Melbourne 1969
- Master of Arts, Monash University, 1995
- PhD (History), Monash University, 2001
Professional Profile
Dr Sue Taffe is a graduate of Monash University. She completed her doctoral thesis ‘The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders: the politics of inter-racial coalition in Australia, 1958- 1973 ‘in 2001’. Black and White Together, FCAATSI: the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, 1958-1973 was published by University of Queensland Press in March 2005.
She has contributed to edited collections, most recently Tim Rowse’s Contesting Assimilation, API Network, 2005, and to a collection edited by Seamus O’Hanlon and Tanja Luckins on Melbourne in the 1960s (in press), as well as to various journals.
She is currently an ARC post-doctoral fellow working with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, National Archives of Australia, National Library of Australia, National Museum of Australia and the State Library of Victoria on ‘Collaborating for Indigenous Rights, 1958-1973’ an exhibition project to mark the 50th anniversary of black and white Australians working nationally for Indigenous rights. This project is supported by the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies and the School of Historical Studies, Monash University.
Other current research interests include a study of the role of the Communist Party of Australia and the left –wing maritime unions to the Aboriginal rights activism of the 1950s and 1960s, and biography.
Recent Positions
- 2001–2002
- Lecturer, School of Historical Studies, Monash University
- 2003
- Curriculum Development, Historical Studies, Monash University
- 2004–2006
- Post-doctoral Fellow, School of Historical Studies, Monash University
- 2007–2008
- Consultant Historian, Reconciliation Australia, Research Fellow, Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, Monash University.
- 2008
- Harold White Fellow, National Library of Australia
- 2007–2009
- Consultant Historian, National Museum of Australia
- 2009
- Adjunct Research Associate, Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, Monash University
Publications
Book
- Black and White Together, FCAATSI: The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders 1958-1973, UQP, St Lucia, 2005 (runner-up for the 2006 Hancock award for a first book in history)
Chapters in Books
- 'Wharfies and Communists: the Genesis of the Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League', in B. Oliver (ed), Labour History in the New Century, Black Swan Press, Curtin University of Technology, 2009.
- 'The 1967 Referendum' in D. Gare and D. Ritter (eds), A Land Without Limits, Thomson, 2008.
- 'Campaigns, Petitions, Vigils and Marches: Aboriginal Rights' in Seamus O'Hanlon and Tanja Luckins (eds) Go! Melbourne in the Sixties, Circa, Melbourne, 2005
- 'FCAATSI and the 1967 Referendum: challenging assimilation' in Tim Rowse (ed), Contesting Assimilation: histories of colonial and Indigenous initiatives, API Network, Perth, 2005.
- 'Language, Culture and Viewpoint' in Koorie Studies in SOSE, years 7-10, Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 1998. This was also published in Guiding Tracks: Literacy and the Indigenous Learner, Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, 2002
- 'Widening Understandings: Seven Different Approaches to the Task' in Strategies for Inclusion: Aboriginal Perspectives in Catholic Secondary Schools in Victoria, Catholic Education Office, Melbourne, 1995.
Journal Articles (refereed)
- Fighting for Lake Tyers, LaTrobe Journal, [forthcoming] 2010.
- The Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League and the Community of the Left Labour History, [forthcoming] 2009.
- Witnesses from the Conference Floor: Oral History and the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders Journal of Australian Studies, No. 97, 2001.
- Making A Difference: a 1960s partnership opposing racial discrimination, vol 61, Overland, summer 2000.
- Health, the Law and Racism: the campaign to amend the discriminatory clauses in the Tuberculosis Act, Labour History, no 76, May 1999.
- Australian Diplomacy in a Policy Vacuum: Government and Aboriginal Affairs, 1961-1962, Aboriginal History, volume 19, part two, 1995.
Encyclopaedia Entry
- ‘Council for Aboriginal Rights’ entry in Encyclopaedia of Melbourne, 2005
Recent Articles (non-refereed)
- 'The 1967 Referendum: Myths and Meanings' Agora, 9journal of the history teachers' association of Victoria, vol 42, no 3, 2007
- 'The 1967 referendum: remembering the struggle', in Memento, National Archives of Australia, winter 2007
- 'The 1967 referendum remembering the struggle', Trust News, vol 1, no 2, November 2007
- 'Women Fight for a Common Goal' in Koorie Mail, 14 March 2007
- 'Hidden Battle to get Plight on the Table', The Age, 19 May 2007
- Obituary, 'Shirley Aldythea Andrews OAM, Australian Historical Studies, No 119, April 2002