Joan Beaumont
Professor Joan Beaumont
Qualifications
BA Hons (Adelaide), PhD (London), FASSA
Biographical Statement
Professor Emerita Joan Beaumont is an internationally recognised historian of Australia in the two world wars, Australian defence and foreign policy, the history of prisoners of war and the memory and heritage of war.
Key publications
Her publications include the critically acclaimed Broken Nation: Australians and the Great War (Allen & Unwin, 2013), which was joint winner of the 2014 winner of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award (Australian History), and winner of the 2014 NSW Premier’s Prize (Australian History), the 2014 Queensland Literary Award for History, and the Australian Society of Authors’ 2015 Asher Award. Recent publications include ‘The Longest Silence: Australian Prisoners of the Japanese’, in P.J. Dean (ed.), Australia 1944-45: Victory in the Pacific, 2016; with Lachlan Grant, and Aaron Pegram (eds), Beyond Surrender: Australian Prisoners of War in the Twentieth Century, 2015; ‘Commemoration in Australia: A memory orgy?’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 50/ 3, 2015; ‘The politics of memory: Commemorating the centenary of the First World War’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 50/3, 2015; ‘Australia’s Global Memory Footprint: Memorial Building on the Western Front, 1916-2015’, Australian Historical Studies, 46/1, 2015; and various entries in U. Daniel, P. Gatrell, O. Janz, H. Jones, J. Keene, A. Kramer & B. Nasson (ed.), 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
Prior to joining the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre she was Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at The Australian National University (2010-11) and Dean of Arts (& Education) at Deakin University Victoria (1998-2008).
She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs; a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of DFAT, The Netherlands Institute for War and Holocaust Studies international advisory board; and the University of Alabama Press (War, Memory and culture series). She graduated from the University of Adelaide (BA Hons 1969) and the University of London (King’s College)(PhD 1975).
She is a regular commentator on television about the history of Australia at war.
The fall of Singapore: the land campaign
In December 1941 the Japanese established complete air and naval dominance in the region, sinking the British capital ships the Prince of Wales and the Repulse on 8 December and capturing all Briti
Broken Nation wins 2015 Asher Award
Internationally recognised historian and academic Professor Joan Beaumont has received another prestigious accolade, the 2015 Asher Award, for her book B
Bell School wins more than $835,000 in ARC funding
Academics based at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at The Australian National University have won more than $835,000 for four projects in the latest Australian Research Council funding round.
Looking beyond the legend
Four war historians give their insights on the significance of Gallipoli 100 years on.
Anzac legend needs to change, says leading historian
A century on, the 'seminal story' of a nation doesn't speak for all Australians.
