Dr Catherine Gay
Casual Research Assistant
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci
Career Summary
Biography
Dr Catherine Gay is an award-winning historian and curator. She completed her PhD in History at the University of Melbourne in 2024, funded by a Hansen Trust Scholarship. Her doctoral thesis was Highly Commended for the Society for the History of Childhood and Youth 2024 Dissertation Award. Catherine’s forthcoming monograph, Australian Girls: Growing Up in the Nineteenth Century (Monash University Publishing, 2026), based on her doctoral research, explores the history of Indigenous and settler girls and young women in the colonial period. Alongside academic roles, Catherine has worked as a curator on projects for Museums Victoria, the Australian War Memorial and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria). In 2025, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Department of History, Ethics and Theory of Medicine, University of Magdeburg, Germany and is currently a Research Assistant at the University of Newcastle.
Keywords
- Australian History
- Children's history
- History
Fields of Research
| Code | Description | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 430302 | Australian history | 50 |
| 430309 | Gender history | 25 |
| 430313 | History of empires, imperialism and colonialism | 25 |
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
| Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|
| Casual Research Assistant | University of Newcastle School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci Australia |
Professional appointment
| Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|---|
| 3/6/2024 - 18/7/2025 | Assistant Curator | Australian War Memorial |
| 1/1/2024 - 31/5/2024 | Assitant Curator | Museums Victoria Australia |
Teaching
| Code | Course | Role | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIST2136 |
World at War, 1939-1945 The Australian National University |
Sessional Tutor | 16/2/2026 - 26/6/2026 |
| HIST10017 |
Gender, Rights and Leadership in History University of Melbourne |
Sessional Tutor | 22/2/2021 - 30/11/2023 |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Journal article (6 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 |
Gay C, 'Centring community in Aboriginal history-making', History Australia, 22, 336-338 (2025)
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| 2025 |
Gay C, 'Children as parties of encounter on Australian frontiers: girls in colonial Victoria, 1835–1856', Settler Colonial Studies, 15, 663-679 (2025)
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| 2024 |
Gardiner T, Gay C, 'The Leafy Tree: The Lindsay Family and Siblinghood in Australia', Cultural and Social History, 21, 535-553 (2024)
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| Show 3 more journal articles | |||||
Dr Catherine Gay
Position
Casual Research Assistant
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci
College of Human and Social Futures
Contact Details
| catherine.gay@newcastle.edu.au |