(Photograph courtesy Joanne Saad)

Paul Ashton (BA [Hons] Dip Ed PhD Mcq PHANSW FRSN), Director of Public History Australia, was Professor of Public History and Co-Director of the Australian Centre for Public History (ACPH) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) – which he co-founded in 1999 – until 2015. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the ACPH, co-editor of the journal Public History Review and Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research at the University of Canberra and the Centre for Applied History in the Department of History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University.

Before joining UTS in 1995, Paul was a consulting historian for twelve years. He has worked in a broad range of areas including heritage, community history, oral history, commissioned history and exhibitions. Paul is a past President of the Professional Historians Association NSW Inc, a founding member of the Australian Council of Professional Historians Associations, a past Board Member of the National Council of Public History in the USA, Chair of the Board of the digital Dictionary of Sydney (2015-18) and a Board Member of the Australian Milling Museum (Bathurst).

Paul has worked with community groups, local, state and federal government agencies and not-for-profit and corporate organisations. He is a member of the NSW Heritage Council’s Heritage Advisory Committee and has on numerous occasions been a judge on the NSW Premier’s History Awards and a one-time judge on the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. In 2020 he was awarded the History Council of NSW’s Annual History Citation for outstanding contributions to Australian history and the international practice of public history.

 

Select Works

Recent reports

Paul Ashton, ‘Peer Review of the Preliminary National Heritage List Assessment: “Sydney: Convict Colony to Civic Nation”‘, prepared for the Federal Department of Environment, June 2014.

Paul Ashton, ‘Historical Significance and Historical Association Report, Sirius Apartment Building, 36-50 Cumberland Street, The Rocks’, prepared for the Heritage Division, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, October 2015.

Paul Ashton and Jaya Keaney, ‘Historical Significance and Historical Association Report, St Mary and St Mina Orthodox Coptic Church, Sydenham’, prepared for Australian Coptic Heritage and Community Services, May 2016.

Paul Ashton, research and writing on the Shipwreck Coast, Victoria, for SHP, Melbourne, 2017.

Paul Ashton, research and writing on the Box Hill North suburban development, Sydney, for SHP, Melbourne, 2017.

Paul Ashton, research report, Footscray Hospital heritage interpretation, for SHP, Melbourne, 2019.

Paul Ashton, research report, The Entrance (seaside culture) heritage interpretation, for SHP, Melbourne, 2020.

Historian, Silver to Sea Way, regional revitalisation project (National Trust of South Australia), for SHP, Melbourne, 2022-2023

Historian, Point Nepean Quarantine Station, Victoria, heritage interpretation, for SHP, Melbourne, 2023

Boards, Committees and Memberships

Chair, Board of the Dictionary of Sydney, 2015-18, Board member 2006-18

Member, Heritage Advisory Committee, Heritage Council of New South Wales, 2016-19; 2019-

Panel Member, NSW Premiers’ History Awards, 2006, 2010, 2016-2018

Panel Member, NSW Premiers’ History Teachers’ Association History Scholarships, 2013-

Board Member, Australian Milling Museum, 2018-

Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 2019-

Awards

History Council of New South Wales, Annual History Citation, ‘In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the study of Australian history and the international practice of Public History’, 2020.

Books

Paul Ashton with Kate Blackmore, On The Land: A photographic history of farming in Australia, Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1987 (second edition 1988).

Paul Ashton and Kate Blackmore, Centennial Park: A History, NSW University Press, Sydney, 1988.

Paul Ashton, Australian Farming Through 200 Years, Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1988.

Paul Ashton, Waving the Waratah: Bicentenary New South Wales, (aspects of the New South Wales Bicentennial Council and its activities), NSW Bicentennial Council, Sydney, 1990.

Paul Ashton, Laying the Foundations: A History of the House With No Steps, The Wheelchair and Disabled Association of Australia, Sydney, 1991.

Paul Ashton, On The Record: A Practical Guide to Oral History, North Sydney Municipal Council, North Sydney, 1991 (reprinted in revised edition 1994).

Paul Ashton, The Accidental City: Planning Sydney Since 1788, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1993 (reprinted in paperback 1995).

Louella McCarthy, Paul Ashton and Hamish Graham, Culture and Heritage: Oral History, State of the Environment Technical Paper Series, Natural and Cultural Heritage, Central Queensland University Press for Environment Australia (Commonwealth Department of the Environment), Toowoomba, 1998.

Paul Ashton and Duncan Waterson, Sydney Takes Shape: A History in Maps, Hema, Brisbane, 2000.

Jennifer Cornwall and Paul Ashton, Sustaining a Nation: A History of Agriculture in Australia Since Federation, Focus Publications, Canberra, 2000.

Patricia Hale and Paul Ashton, Sustaining a Nation: A History of the commonwealth Departments of agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 1901-2001, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries – Australia, Canberra, 2002.

Paul Ashton, Jennifer Cornwall and Annette Salt, Sutherland Shire: A History, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2006.

Paul Ashton and Hilda Kean (eds), People and Their Pasts: Public History Today, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, History at the Crossroads: Australians and the Past, in press, Halstead Press, Sydney, 2010.

Paul Ashton, Paula Hamilton and Rose Searby, Places of the Heart: Memorials in Australia, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2012.

Anna Clark and Paul Ashton (eds), Australian History Now, NewSouth, Sydney, 2013.

Paul Ashton, Kate Blackmore and Armanda Scorrano, ‘The People’s Park’: Centennial Park, a History, Halstead Press, Sydney 2013 (revised and updated edition).

Paul Ashton and Jacqueline Z. Wilson (eds), Silent System: Forgotten Australians and the Institutionalisation of Women and Children, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2014.

Paul Ashton, Chris Gibson and Ross Gibson (eds), By-Roads and Hidden Treasures: Mapping cultural assets in regional Australia, University of WA Press, Perth 2015.

Lisa Anderson, Paul Ashton and Lisa Colley (eds), Creative Business in Australia: Learnings from the Creative Industries innovation Centre 2009-2015, UTSePress, Sydney, 2015.

David Aylward and Paul Ashton, The Ten Apostles: Stories of Australia’s Iconic Wine Makers, Halstead Press, Sydney, 2016.

Paul Ashton, Anna Clark and Robert Crawford (eds), Once Upon a Time: Australian Writers on Using the Past, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2016.

Paul Ashton, Terry Chesher, Vesna Dragoje, Lisette Engel and Carla Knox, The First Forty Years: A History of the Health Care Interpreter Service, Sydney Local Health District, Camperdown, 2017.

Paul Ashton and Alex Trapeznik (eds), What is Public History Globally?, Bloomsbury, London and New York, 2019.

Paul Ashton, Tanya Evans and Paula Hamilton (eds), Making Histories, De Gruyter, Berlin and Boston, 2020.

Paul Ashton, Jess Jennings and John McCorquodale, The Power of Flour: A photographic history of milling in Australia, Halstead Press for the Australian Milling Museum, Sydney, 2022.

Paul Ashton and Jess Jennings, Branded: Australian flour bag labels between the wars, Halstead Press for the Australian Milling Museum, Sydney, 2022.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton (eds), The History Industry in Australia, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2022.

Paul Ashton (ed), If It’s Not True it Should Be: Writing Creative noun-fiction History for Children and Adults, forthcoming, Halstead Press, Sydney, 2023 

Text Books

Mark Anderson and Paul Ashton, Focus on Australian History, Macmillan Education Australia (MEA), Melbourne, 1993 (reprinted 1993, 1994, 1995).

Mark Anderson and Paul Ashton, Australia’s Heritage in Profile, MEA, Melbourne, 1995.

Mark Anderson and Paul Ashton, Australian History and Citizenship, MEA, Melbourne, 2000 (reprinted 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003).

Mark Anderson and Paul Ashton, Australia in the Twentieth Century: Working Historically, MEA, Melbourne, 2004 (reprinted 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007).

Paul Ashton and Mark Anderson, The Modern World and Australia, Macmillan Education Australia, 2012.

Paul Ashton and Mark Anderson, Making the Modern World, Macmillan Education Australia, 2012.

Paul Ashton and Mark Anderson, History Year 9 for NSW: Making the Modern World, Macmillan Education Australia, 2013.

Paul Ashton and Mark Anderson, History Year 9 for NSW: The Modern World and Australia, Macmillan Education Australia, 2013.

Bianca Crawford, Paul Ashton and Mark Anderson, Teacher Edition: History Year 9 for NSW: Making the Modern World, Macmillan Education Australia, 2013.

Creative non-fiction

Paul Ashton, ‘Statue Wars’, Public History Review, vol 28, 2021, pp1-12.

Paul Ashton, Palmer’s Mystery Hikes, Halstead Press, Sydney, 2023.

Articles (refereed journals)

Paul Ashton, ‘Reconstruction of New South Wales’ Wheat-Growing Industry, 1930-84′, Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, vol 50, no 3, 1984, pp142-160.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, ‘Streetwise: Public History in New South Wales’, Public History Review, vols 5-6, 1997, pp1-8.

Paul Ashton, ‘Repatriation Homes’?: Matraville Garden Village for Disabled Soldiers and War Widows’, War and Other Catastrophes, special issue of Journal of Australian Studies, no 60, 1999, pp73-83.

Paul Ashton, ‘”Our splendid Isolation”: reactions to modernism in Sydney’s northern suburbs’, UTS Review, vol 6, no 1, 2000, pp 41-50.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, ‘Blood Money? Race and Nation in Australian Public History’, Radical History Review, vol 76, Winter 2000, pp188-207.

Paul Ashton, ‘Duncan Waterson: Public Historian’, in From the Frontier: Essays in honour of D.B. Waterson, special issue of Australian Cultural History, vol 20, 2001, pp 17-24.

Paula Hamilton and Paul Ashton, ‘Out of Place: On not belonging’, Public History Review, vol 10, 2000, pp 37-42.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, ‘At Home with the Past: Background and Initial findings from the National Survey’, Australian Cultural History, no 22, 2003, pp5-30.

Paul Ashton and Jennifer Cornwall, ‘Corralling Conflict: The Politics of Australian Heritage Legislation Since the 1970s’, in Alexander Trapeznik (ed), Conflicted Heritage, special issue of Public History Review, vol 13, 2006, pp53-65.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, ‘Facing Facts?: History wars in Australian high schools’, Journal of Australian Studies, vol 91, 2007, pp45-57.

Paul Ashton and Robert Freestone, ‘Town Planning’, Sydney Journal, vol 1, no 2, 2008, pp11-23.

Paul Ashton, ‘Suburban Sydney’, Sydney Journal, vol 1, no 3, December 2008, pp36-50.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, ‘Places of the Heart: Memorials, Public History and the State in Australia Since 1960’, Public History Review, vol 15, 2008, pp1-29.

Paul Ashton, ‘”the birthplace of Australian multiculturalism”?: retrospective commemoration, participatory memoralisation and official heritage’, International Journal of Heritage Studies, vol 15, no 6, 2009, pp381-398.

Paul Ashton, ‘”the spirit of local patriotism”: Progress and populism in Sydney’s northern suburbs in the 1920s’, Journal of Australian Studies, vol 34, no 2, 2010, pp163-177.

Paul Ashton, ‘”This villa life”: Town planning, suburbs and the “New Social Order” in early twentieth-century Sydney’, Planning Perspectives, vol 25, no 4, October 2010, pp457-483.

Paul Ashton, ‘Going Public’, Public History Review, vol 17, 2010, pp1-15.

Paul Ashton, Kresno Brahmantyo and Jaya Keaney, ‘Renewing the New Order? Public History in Indonesia’, Public History Review, vol 19, 2012, pp83-106.

Paul Ashton and Lisa Murray, ‘”like walking a tightrope”: Shirley Fitzgerald, Public Historian’, Sydney Journal, vol 4, no 1, 2013, pp154-167.

Articles (other)

Paul Ashton, ‘A Corporate World’, Journal of the NSW Teacher’s Federation, vol 64, no 5, March, 1983, p16.

Paul Ashton, ‘Place’, Parallax: The Rocks, no 1, Arcadia Press, Sydney, 1987.

Paul Ashton, ‘Shaping the Land’, Parallax: The Show, no 2, Arcadia Press, Sydney, 1988.

Paul Ashton, ‘The Accidental City: Writing the history of planning in Sydney’, Planning History, vol 14, no 3, 1992, pp30-33.

Paul Ashton and Shirley Fitzgerald, ‘Public History in Australia’, Public History News, (National Council on Public History in cooperation with the Department of History, Indiana University at Indianapolis), vol 14, no 3, Spring, 1994, pp1; 8.

Paul Ashton, ‘Enjoying the Mandatory Syllabus?’, Locality, vol 7, no 2, Spring 1995, pp13-17.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, ‘The State of History Journals in Australia: Public History Review’, Australian Historical Association Bulletin, No 84, June, 1997, pp19-22.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, ‘Streetwise: public history in New South Wales’, Australian Historical Association Bulletin, no 85, December, 1997, pp5-11.

Paul Ashton, Paula Hamilton, Heather Goodall and Beth Gilligan, ‘Australians and the Past’, Public History Review, vol 5-6, 1997, pp211-2.

Paul Ashton and Christopher Keating, ‘Commissioned History’, invited contribution to Graeme Davison, John Hirst and Stuart Macintyre (eds), Oxford Companion to Australian History, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1998.

Paul Ashton, Heather Goodall, Paula Hamilton, Jane Connors and Louella McCarthy, ‘Australians and the Past at the University of Technology, Sydney’, Public History Review, vol 8, 2000, pp168-73.

Paul Ashton, ‘Constructed Landscapes: Centennial Park’, in Locality, Autumn 2001, pp. 10-13.

Book chapters

Paul Ashton, ‘Inventing Manly, 1853-1890’, in Max Kelly (ed), Sydney: City of Suburbs, NSW University Press, Sydney, 1987, pp149-171.

Paul Ashton, ‘The Handicapped: outside community margins’, in Patrick O’Farrell and Louella McCarthy (eds), Community in Australia, Community History Program, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 1994, pp37-40.

Paul Ashton, ‘Changing approaches to the developmentally-disabled’, in Shirley Fitzgerald and Garry Wotherspoon (eds), Minorities: Cultural Diversity in Sydney, State Library of NSW Press, Sydney, 1995, pp140-156.

Paul Ashton, ‘The Past in the Present: Public history and the City of Sydney’, in Tim Murray (ed), Exploring the Modern City: Recent Approaches to Urban History and Archaeology, HHT, Sydney 2004, pp1-24.

Paul Ashton, ‘”An Architectural Monstrosity”?: The Cahill Expressway and Town Planning’, in Martin Grotty and David Andrew Roberts (eds), The Great Mistakes of Australian History, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2006, pp93-107.

Hilda Kean and Paul Ashton, ‘Introduction: People and their pasts and public history today’, in Paul Ashton and Hilda Kean (eds), People and Their Pasts: Public History Today, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp1-20.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, ‘Connecting with History: Australians and their pasts’, in Paul Ashton and Hilda Kean (eds), People and Their Pasts: Public History Today, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp23-41.

Paul Ashton and Paula Hamilton, ‘”Unfinished Business”: Public History in a Post-Colonial Nation’, in Daniel Walkowitz and Lisa Maya Knauer (eds), Contested Histories in Public Space, Duke University Press, Durham, 2009, pp71-98.

Paul Ashton, ‘A Sense of the Past: Preserving Old Sydney’, in Paul Ashton, Caroline Butler-Bowden (et al), Painting the Rocks, Historic Houses Trust, Sydney 2010.

Paul Ashton and Anna Clark, ‘Introduction: Rethinking Australian History’, in Anna Clark and Paul Ashton (eds), Australian History Now, NewSouth, Sydney, 2013, pp13-23.

Paul Ashton, ‘Public History’, in Anna Clark and Paul Ashton (eds), Australian History Now, NewSouth, Sydney, 2013, pp167-180.

Paul Ashton and Jacqueline Z. Wilson, ‘Sites of Conscience: Remembering disappearance, execution, imprisonment, murder, slavery and torture’, in Paul Ashton and Jacqueline Z. Wilson (eds), Silent System: Forgotten Australians and the Institutionalisation of Women and Children, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2014.

Paul Ashton and Jacqueline Z. Wilson, ‘Introduction: New Contexts in Australian Public History: Australia’s Institutionalised and Incarcarated’, in Paul Ashton and Jacqueline Z. Wilson (eds), Silent System: Forgotten Australians and the Institutionalisation of Women and Children, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2014.

Sue Boaden and Paul Ashton, ‘Mainstreaming Culture: Integrating the Cultural Dimension into Local Government’, in Paul Ashton, Chris Gibson and Ross Gibson (eds), By-Roads and Hidden Treasures: Mapping cultural assets in regional Australia, University of WA Press, Perth 2015, pp19-36.

Paul Ashton and Meg Foster, ‘Public Histories’, in Sasha Handley, Rohan McWilliam and Lucy Noakes (eds), New Directions in Social and Cultural History, Bloomsbury, London and New York, 2017, pp151-170.

Paul Ashton, Kresno Brahmantyo and Jaya Keaney, ‘Public History in Indonesia: The Old Disorder?’, in Paul Ashton and Alex Trapeznik (eds), What is Public History Globally?, Bloomsbury, London and New York, 2019, pp93-106.

Paul Ashton, ‘From Goal to “Joy”: The Getting of Heritage’, in Anna Clark, Gabrielle Kemmis and Samson Pietsch (eds), My Darling Darlinghurst, forthcoming, NewSouth, Sydney, 2023. 

Editor (journals)

Member (founding), editorial collective, Public History Review, and co-editor: vol 1, 1992 (pp.200) (published by the Professional Historians Association of NSW Inc); vol 2, 1993 (1994); vol 3, 1994 (1995); vol 4, 1995 (1996); vols 5/6 (1998); vol 7 1998; vols 8, 9, 10, and 11 (Halstead Press); vols 12- UTSePress

Paul Ashton and Briget Griffen-Foley, From the Frontier: Essays in honour of D.B. Waterson, special issue of Australian Cultural History, vol 20, 2001.

Paula Hamilton and Paul Ashton (eds), Australians and the Past, special issue of Australian Cultural History, vol 22, 2003.

Founding co-editor, Gateways: International Journal on Community Engagement, 2008-.

Co-editor (with Matthew Bailey), From the Ground Up, special issue of Sydney Journal, vol 4, no 1, 2013.

Editor (Magazines)

Paul Ashton, Louella McCarthy and Paula Hamilton, Locality: The Community History Magazine, from Autumn 2000 to Summer 2003.

Editor (books, collections, proceedings)

Coordinator and editor, Bust, Boom and Bust: Some reminiscences of wheat and wheat breeding in Australia, compiled by F. E. Stanton, NSW Department of Agriculture, Sydney, December 1984.

Bridging the Gap: National Issues in Local History, Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society (RAHS) Annual Conference 1988, RAHS, Sydney, 1989.

The Future of the Past? Australian history after the Bicentenary, Proceedings of the RAHS Annual Conference 1989, Sydney, 1990.

Planning Sydney: Nine Planners Remember, Sydney City Council, Sydney, 1992.

Paul Ashton and Louella McCarthy (Centre for Commnunity History, University of NSW), Open Museum Research Report, Sydney City Council, Sydney, 1994.