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Dr Keir Reeves

Senior Monash Research Fellow and Director of AITRU

BA (Hons) Mon; BEcon (Mon); MA (Melb); PhD (Melb)

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Biography

Dr Keir Reeves, a cultural historian and heritage practitioner, is a Senior Monash Research Fellow and Director of the Australia & International Tourism Research Unit at the National Centre for Australian Studies. He is currently working on a research project titled Heritage tourism and the historical landscapes of Australia, Asia and the Pacific. Keir is particularly interested how history tourism and heritage studies can be understood as part of sustainable regional development throughout the regions investigated as part of his fellowship.

Prior to joining Monash University Keir lectured in public and Australian history and heritage at the University of Melbourne. In 2005 he was awarded an Australian Research Council postdoctoral research fellowship (industry). In early 2009 Keir commenced a five-year research intensive Monash Fellowship but frequently gives guest lectures in heritage, heritage tourism in Asia and the Pacific, regional economic development, Australian cultural history and Australian studies at Monash and other Victorian universities. His current ARC projects concentrate on the intersection of war heritage, history and memory. He is the current director of the Australia & International Tourism Research Unit (AITRU) at the National Centre for Australia Studies.

Keir’s current PhD supervisions include Joseph Cheer working on cultural tourism and sustainable livelihood in the Pacific, Kirsty Marshall on food and tourism as a driver of social change in developing countries. He also supervises Laura James, Rebecca Wheatley, Leah Riches and Alexandra McCosker’s PhD studies as part of the Anzac Studies programme.

Research Interests

Keir’s current primary research interest is in interrogating the relationship between history, tourism heritage and landscape in Asia and the Pacific. More recently he has concentrated on economic history and regional development as well as presenting findings on long term research projects of tourism and heritage in Asia, regional Australia and Chinese Australian history. He was a chief investigator on the Remembering Places of Pain and Shame Australian Research Council Discovery project with Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University. The findings of this project are presented in the book Places of Pain and Shame: Dealing with 'Difficult' Heritage, published by Routledge Press, UK. His Australian Research Council Linkage industry postdoctoral research fellowship investigated the various layers of central Victorian history. The first stage of this research project titled was presented in Keir Reeves and David Nichols Deeper Leads: New approaches in Victorian gold fields history in 2007.

Keir is part of the Bruce Scates led, NCAS hosted, ARC Linkage project Anzac Day at home and abroad: a centenary history of Australia's national day. He is also a CI on Curtin University led Linkage project researching social capital and multiculturalism and indigenous participation in football. Keir is also currently involved as a chief investigator in the Bruce Scates led, NCAS hosted, Australian Research Council Discovery project titled Revisiting Australia's war: international perspectives on heritage, memory and ANZAC pilgrimages to the cemeteries, sites and battlefields of World War Two (WW2) where his specific role is to investigate the intersection between history and heritage when evaluating Anzac pilgrimage sites of the Second World War.

Keir is the historian member of the Heritage Council of Victoria and is the chairperson of the Maritime Heritage Advisory Committee and is a member of the History Council of Victoria. He is also involved with the editorial board of Australian Historical Studies.

With Dr Jennifer Laing (through the Department of Management) he is undertaking a research report on the tourism interpretation strategy of the North Bendigo Chinese precinct. He is also working on the preparation of a book manuscript provisionally titled Historical Cultural Landscapes in Mainland Southeast Asia with Dr Colin Long working. With Joseph Cheer he is working on a project that considers economic and social development through pro-poor tourism and economic development in Vanuatu.

Keywords

history tourism, heritage and tourism interpretation, regional development policy and economic management, heritage studies, world heritage studies, Mekong region and Australian history, historical cultural landscape, regional studies and social inclusion, sustainable heritage tourism, mining history

Areas of Supervision

A collaborative researcher, Keir is particularly interested in supervising postgraduate research projects in:

• cultural history tourism
• Mekong region and Australian history
• historical cultural landscape
• regional studies
• sustainable heritage tourism in Asia, Australia and the Pacific

Current Category One External Competitive Research Projects and Grants

ARC Linkage project 2011-2014. CI on project titled Anzac Day at home and abroad: a centenary history of Australia's national day Other CI’s include Prof Bruce C Scates, Prof Rae Frances, Martin A Crotty, Prof Graham P Seal, Dr Tim Soutphommasane, A/Prof Frank Bongiorno, A/Prof Kevin Blackburn, Dr Stephen J Clarke, Dr Peter Stanley and Prof Andrew Hoskins. This is a major historical research project that has $662,630 ARC funding and also strong partner cash and in-kind support. Partner Organisations include Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Historial de la Grande Guerre, King's College London, Legacy Australia Council, National Archives of Australia, National Museum of Australia and the Shrine of Remembrance. This project will investigate how Australia is fast approaching the centenary of Anzac Day and many believe this is the one day of the year that captures the spirit of the nation. This project will examine Anzac Day's complex and much contested history, retrieving private and collective memories of war through archival research and novel and participatory public history.

ARC Linkage 2010-2013. Chief Investigator on a project titled Assessing the Australian Football League's Racial and Religious Vilification Laws to Promote Community Harmony, Multiculturalism and Reconciliation.  Partner organisations are the Australian Football League, Australian Football League Players Association, and the Victorian Multicultural Commission. This interdisciplinary project analyses the effectiveness of AFL corporate policy on racial and religious vilification with a view to providing recommendations for further policy actions. Benefits will include recommendations to develop policy frameworks, cross-cultural training and community capacity building.

ARC Discovery Project 2010-2014. Chief investigator on a project titled Revisiting Australia's war: international perspectives on heritage, memory and ANZAC pilgrimages to the cemeteries, sites and battlefields of World War Two (WW2). This project, valued at $207,000 over four years, investigates how war has assumed an iconographic status in Australia and New Zealand; for many the spirit of Anzac defines the values of both nations. A study of WW2 pilgrimage will explore ways the Anzac legend has been revisited, reinvented and revitalised by successive generations. This project will retrieve the memory of war from those who suffered it, empower communities of mourners on both sides of the Tasman and help to explain why the Anzac mythology captivates such a diverse cross-section of society. It will explore a neglected dimension of Australasia's relationship with the world and the Asia/Pacific region in particular.

Teaching

Keir teaches into the Masters of Tourism graduate programme.

Selected Publications

Scholarly books

Scates, B., Nelson H., Blackburn, K., Reeves, K., & Clarke, S. Anzac Journeys: Walking the Battlefields of World War Two. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2012 (scheduled publication date November 2012).

Scholarly book chapters

Reeves, K., and Macdonald, C., “Culturally Mapping the Cradle Valley: Tasmanian outback landscapes and sustainable communities in the present day” Outside Country Alan Mayne and Stephen Atkinson eds. Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2011.

Wheeler, F., Laing, J., Frost, L., Reeves, K. and Frost, W. “Outlaw Nation: The Frontier, Tourism and National Identity”. In Tourism and National Identity: An International Perspective, Frew, E. and White, L. eds.. Abingdon: Routledge, 2011.

Frost, W., Laing, J., Wheeler, F., and Reeves, K. “Coffee, Culture, Heritage and Destination Image: Australia and the Italian Model”. Coffee Culture, Destinations and Tourism, Joliffe, L. ed. Bristol, Channel View Publications, 2010.

Reeves, K. “Echoes on a cultural landscape: Glimpses of Chinese community life in Castlemaine” In Gold Tailings: Forgotten histories of family and community on the central Victorian goldfields, C. Fahey and A. Mayne eds. Melbourne: ASP, 2010.

Mountford, B. and Reeves. K.  "Reworking the tailings: New Gold Histories and the Cultural Landscape" in J. Carey and C. McClisky eds. ReOrienting Whiteness, Sydney: University of Sydney Press, 2009.

Long, C. and Reeves, K. “Healing the Wounds: Heritage Practice at Toul Sleng and Choeung Ek, Cambodia.” In Places Of Pain And Shame: Dealing With 'Difficult' Heritage. W. Logan and K. Reeves eds. London: Routledge, 2009.

Reeves, K. and Nichols, D. “Kew Asylum, Melbourne: A Nineteenth-century Case of a Benevolent Place of Pain and Shame.” In Places Of Pain And Shame: Dealing With 'Difficult' Heritage, W. Logan and K. Reeves eds. London: Routledge, 2009. 

Logan, W. and Reeves, K. “Introducing Places of Pain and Shame.” In Places Of Pain And Shame: Dealing With 'Difficult' Heritage, William Logan and Keir Reeves eds. London: Routledge, 2009.

Reeves, K. “A golden legacy: The historical implications of Edmond Hammond Hargreaves’ discovery of gold in May 1851.” In Crucial Moments in Australian History, M. Crotty and D. Roberts eds. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2008.

Brown-May A., Elkner, C. and Reeves, K. “Taking the rushes on line: The E Gold project a digital encyclopedia” In Deeper Leads: New approaches in Victorian gold fields history. K. Reeves and D. Nichols eds. Ballarat: BHS Publishing, 2007.

Nichols, D., McKinnon, D. and Reeves, K.,“Rural Asylums and the goldfields civic project.” In Deeper Leads: New approaches in Victorian gold fields history. K. Reeves and D. Nichols eds. Ballarat: BHS Publishing, 2007.

Reeves, K. and Nichols, D. “Deeper Leads: A cultural landscape of the Victorian gold fields” In Deeper Leads: New approaches in Victorian gold fields history. K. Reeves and D. Nichols eds. Ballarat: BHS Publishing, 2007.

Edited books

Logan, W., Reeves, K. eds. Places Of Pain And Shame: Dealing With 'Difficult' Heritage. London: Routledge, 2009. Co-contributed three chapters.

Reeves, K., Nichols, D. eds. Deeper Leads: New approaches in Victorian gold fields history. Ballarat: BHS Publishing, 2007. Co-contributed three chapters.

Refereed journal articles

Williams, D., Reeves, K. (2011) “Made in China: Chinese-Australian heritage places, objects and stories”. Historic Environment. Vol 23:2. (A ranked journal in the current ERA). Forthcoming September 2011.

McConville, C. & Reeves, K. (2011) “Chinese places: ethnography and landscape”. Historic Environment. Vol 23:2. (A ranked journal in the current ERA). Forthcoming September 2011.

Laing, J, Frost, W. Reeves, K. & Wheeler, F. “A Golden Connection: exploring the challenge of developing heritage interpretation strategies for a tourism precinct on the central Victorian goldfields” Historic Environment Vol 23:3. (A ranked journal in the current ERA). Forthcoming September 2011.

Reeves, K., Eklund, E., Reeves, A., Peel, V., and Scates, B. (2011): “of the material culture and intangible heritage of the Australian labour movement” International Journal of Heritage Studies Vol 17:4, 301-317. (A ranked journal in the current ERA).

Reeves, K., McConville, C. (2011) “Cultural landscape and goldfield heritage: towards a land management framework for the historic south-west Pacific gold mining landscapes” Landscape Research. Vol 36:2, 191 – 207. (UK based A ranked journal in current ERA).

Reeves, K., Khoo, T. (2011) “Dragon Tails: Re-interpreting Chinese Australian History” Australian Historical Studies Vol 42:1, 3-8. (A ranked journal in the current ERA).

Reeves, K.; Mountford, B. (2011) “Sojourning and Settling: Locating Chinese Australian History” Australian Historical Studies Vol 42:1, 111-125 (A ranked journal in current ERA).

Reeves, K. Long, C. (2011) “Unbearable pressures on paradise?: tourism and heritage management in the world heritage town of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR” Critical Asian Studies Vol 43:1, 3–20.(A ranked in current ERA).

Reeves, K. (2010) “Sojourners or a new diaspora? Economic implications of the movement of Chinese miners to the south-west Pacific goldfields” Australian Economic History Review, Vol 50:2 July: 178-192. (A ranked in current ERA).

Reeves, K., Frost, L. and Fahey, C., (2010) “Integrating the historiography of the nineteenth-century gold rushes” Australian Economic History Review, Vol 50:2 July: 111-128. (A ranked in current ERA).

Wheeler, F., Reeves, K., Laing, J. and Frost, W. (2009) ‘Niche Strategies for Small Regional Cities: A Case Study of the Bendigo Chinese Heritage Precinct Plan’ Tourism Recreation Research Vol 34:3 (B ranked journal in the current ERA).

Frost, W., Reeves, K., Laing, J. and Wheeler, F. (2009) ‘Villages, Vineyards and Chinese Dragons: Constructing the Heritage of Ethnic Diasporas’. Tourism, Culture & Communication, Vol 9, pp. 107–114 (C ranked journal).

Reeves, K. Sanders E. R. and Chisholm, G.F. (2007) “Oral Histories of a Layered Landscape: The Rushworth Oral History Project.” Public History Review, August: 114-127. (B ranked current ERA).

Reeves, K., B. Mountford. (2007) “Court records & cultural landscapes: Rethinking the Chinese gold seekers in central Victoria.” Provenance, September no. 6. (B ranked journal current ERA).

Reeves, K. (2006) “Goldfields Settler or Frontier Rogue.” Provenance, September no. 5. (B ranked journal in the current ERA).

Reeves, K. (2005) "Tracking the Dragon Down Under: Chinese Cultural Connections in Gold Rush Australia and Aotearoa, New Zealand." Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, Vol 1:5: 41-66. (C ranked journal in the current ERA).

Reeves, K. (2004) "A Songster, a Sketcher and the Chinese on Central Victoria’s Mount Alexander Diggings: Case Studies in Cultural Complexity During the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century." Journal of Australian Colonial History Vol 6:1: 175-93. (B ranked journal in the current ERA).

Other

Reeves, K. Entry on Montsalvat for Andrew Brown-May and Shurlee Swain.,2005. Encylopedia of Melbourne Cambridge University Press: Melbourne.

Reeves, K. Entry on Tarrawarra for Andrew Brown-May and Shurlee Swain.2005. Encylopedia of Melbourne Cambridge University Press: Melbourne.

Professional Memberships and Editorial Positions

• Historian Member of the Heritage Council of Victoria
• Non-Executive Member of the History Council of Victoria
• Chair of the Victorian Maritime Heritage Advisory Committee
• Australia ICOMOS
• Member of the board of Australian Historical Studies
• Forum UNESCO-University and Heritage International Network
• Australian Historical Association
• Executive member of the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand