Associate Professor Nancy Cushing

Dr Nancy Cushing is a Senior Lecturer in Australian history in the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle, based at the Ourimbah Campus. Her primary research area is Australian environmental history, in particular human animal relations, with a secondary interest in the history of Newcastle.

Cushing brings an immigrant's perspective to the Australian past seeking to understand why and how particular cultural forms emerged. In these investigations, she is most interested in the relationship between non-Indigenous Australians and the natural environment.  Her current project, funded by a Merewether Scholarship from the State Library of NSW, examines choices about meat eating in colonial Australia from a human animal relations perspective.  Past projects have included work on Australian beach cultures, the fight against air pollution in Newcastle and the range of relations between humans and other animals in Australia, from pet keeping to captive animal displays.

Her 2010 book, coauthored with Kevin Markwell, Eric Worrell and the Australian Reptile Park, traced the life and work of early celebrity naturalist Eric Worrell, placing his own adventures in the context of contemporary attitudes towards Australian wildlife, especially the generally disparaged reptiles. The book charts important shifts in the second half of the twentieth century as the status of Australian native animals was transformed from curiosity or unwanted pest to icon.

Another research strand is the history of Newcastle. Curiosity about the gulf between her own experience of Newcastle as a pleasant beachside city and the prevailing national stereotype of it as heavily polluted and relentlessly industrial inspired Cushing's 1995 thesis "Creating the Coalopolis: Perceptions of Newcastle 1770 - 1935." Ongoing interest in the history of Newcastle has led to projects on beaches and surf lifesaving, including a chapter in the centenary history of surf life saving, and a book, co authored with Howard Bridgman, on air pollution in Newcastle entitled Smoky City: A History of Air Pollution in Newcastle, NSW (2015). Cushing is a founder with Julie MacIntyre of the Newcastle Hunter Studies group which holds an annual symposium in conjunction with Newcastle Art Gallery and co editor, with James Bennett and Erik Eklund, of the collection Radical Newcastle, published by New South Press in 2015.

Nancy Cushing is currently Head of the History Discipline, having led the Bachelor of Arts and BA (Hons) as Program Convenor from 2012 to 2015 and supported students as Deputy Dean of Students for the Ourimbah and Sydney Campuses from 2008 to 2011. She is a member of the NSW Working Party for the Australian Dictionary of Biography and of the general council of the NSW History Council.

Research Expertise
My field is Australian environmental history, in particular human animal relations. My PhD treated the history of Newcastle and I maintain an interest in local and urban history expressed in ongoing research into the history of air quality in the city undertaken with Assoc. Professor Howard Bridgman; and co editorship with James Bennett and Erik Eklund (Federation University) of the Radical Newcastle collection, published in 2015. I have co written a number of pieces on human animal relations with Associate Professor Kevin Markwell of Southern Cross University including our 2010 book, Snake-bitten: Eric Worrell and the Australian Reptile Park (UNSW Press). Currently, my main project brings together interests in human animal relations and food studies by examining choices around meat eating in colonial Australia.

I have supervised a number of theses at the Masters and Doctoral level. Completed topics include - memorials to the Blue Mountains explorers - diet in the early Sydney settlement - historic houses on the Central Coast - the James Fletcher site in Newcastle My current supervisions include: - a history of missions to seamen in British colonial ports in the later nineteenth century - the role of the Newcastle industrial hub in the 1930s and 40s - preparations for WWII in NSW - the role and impact of the University of Newcastle's Open Foundation Program - a history of the squatting movement in Sydney's Glebe in the 1970s - the women's movement in Newcastle in the 1970s and 80s - the operation of community amongst coal miners in the late twentieth century

Teaching Expertise
My teaching is in the area of Australian cultural and environmental history. I enjoy the challenge of introducing up to 300 first year students to the fascinating history of Australia each year in HIST1051, the Australian Experience. At upper level, I offer a number of courses which reflect my own research interests, on Australian cities, environmental history and history and heritage. For honours studies, I provide a special study on using the journals kept by members of the First Fleet.

Administrative Expertise
I am the head of the History discipline, ensuring that our teaching and research run smoothly and building our profile within and outside of the university.  As program convenor for the Bachelor of Arts and BA (Hons) between 2012 and 2015, I steered the School's largest program as a new structure was implemented.  I represented the BA on numerous committees and assisted with initiatives to enhance the rates of success achieved by students.  In the past, I have served as Deputy Dean of Students for the Ourimbah and Sydney Campuses and the Honours convenor for the School at the Ourimbah Campus. I am a member of the Australian Historical Association, and sit on the NSW working party for the Australian Dictionary of Biography and the NSW History Council.

Collaborations
I have engaged in a number of collaborative projects across my areas of research interest.  I have had a long and fruitful research association with Assoc. Professor Kevin Markwell of Southern Cross University which has produced a series of articles and one book:  Snake-bitten: Eric Worrell and the Australian Reptile Park (UNSW Press, 2010).  Working with thirty present and former colleagues and others, I co edited a collection on Radical Newcastle, with her James Bennett and Professor Erik Eklund of Federation University. Another project is a special issue of the Journal of Australian Colonial History on Newcastle and the Hunter Region, to be co edited with Drs Julie Macintyre and David Roberts of UNE.   Planning is in place for a collaborative ARC Linkage project on Global Newcastle, with colleagues and community organisations.