Professor David 'Fred; Cahir

Position: Professor in Australian History
Study area: Australian History, Humanities and Social Sciences
Location: Mt Helen Campus, H Building, Room 216
Phone: 5327 9771
Email: f.cahir@federation.edu.au

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy - University of Ballarat - 2007
  • Master of Arts - University of Ballarat - 2001
  • Diploma TESOL - University of Ballarat - 2001
  • Preliminary Master of Arts - University of Ballarat - 1994
  • Graduate Diploma of Education - University of Ballarat - 1993
  • Bachelor of Arts – Deakin University - 1992

Biography

    Professor (Dr) Fred Cahir is an award-winning teacher and prolific researcher in the field of Australian History. In the past decade he has received over $800,000 in external research funding including a recent (2023) Chief Investigator role in an ARC Linkage Project ($404,000) ‘Dialogue with Difficult Objects: Mediating Controversy in Museums’, with Australian National University. In 2023 Fred was elected to the position of Council Member at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (the peak body for Australian Indigenous research).

    Since 2012 Fred has authored a large body of (60 HERDC) research publications including:

    • 8 books (4 authored & 3 Edited)
    • 25 scholarly book chapters and
    • 27 peer reviewed journal articles (52% are ranked Quartile1/2)

    His awards recognising his teaching excellence include:

    • 2021 Vice-Chancellor Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning
    • 2021 Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Community Engagement
    • 2020 Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Supervision
    • 2013 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) Citation
    • 2012 University of Ballarat Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Citation Award

    Similarly, Fred’s research excellence has been recognised by winning many awards and citations including the Australian Historical Association & Australian National University Award for his PhD Thesis. His subsequent book Black Gold has over 120,000 downloads and consistently sits in the Australian National University E-Press top ten ‘most downloaded academic monographs’.

    In the past decade over 10 of his books, journal articles and digital gallery have been commended in multi national awards.

    Fred is the Executive Producer of The Missing (2019), a documentary film which explores two unsung humanitarian responses to the crisis of the missing of World War 1 – the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau and the post-war work of the Australian Graves Detachment and Graves Services.

    The Missing has garnered a wealth of critical acclaim including:

    • Winner, Best Short Documentary, Inspirational Film Festival 2023.
    • Semi-Finalist, Best Short Documentary, MAGMA Hawaii International Festival of Independent Cinema 2022,
    • Nominee, Best Short Documentary, SENSEI Tokyo FilmFest December 2022.
    • Finalist, Best Short Documentary, FilmHaus Berlin November 2022.
    • Best Short Film from the Archives, British Short Film Awards 2022.
    • Semi-Finalist, Best Short Documentary, Lonely Wolf International Film Festival Spring Edition, 2022.
    • Documentary Short, Oz Indie Film Festival, 2021.

    His collaborative research projects focusing on Australian Colonial Shared History are at the forefront of this field of research. Prominent examples of this are his appointments to the Academic Panels tasked with advancing global recognition of Australia’s Central Victorian Goldfields nomination to the World Heritage List (2021-3). Fred’s research is also highly regarded by many GLAMR (Galleries, Libraries & Museum Record keeping) sector organisations and natural resource agencies. He is a founding member of the Koala History and Sustainability Research Cluster (KHSRC) and a research team member of the Future Regions Research Centre (FRRC) https://federation.edu.au/research/research-centres/frrc

Supervision

Fred is currently supervising 5 PhD and MA students and has supervised 13 PhD and MA research projects to successful completion.

Research interests

Australian Colonial Shared History;

The Aftermath of WW1 Australia;

Heritage Collections and Interpretations

Connecting Research and Researchers (ORCiD): Fred Cahir

Peer reviewed publications

Authored Books

(2022)  They Rescued Us: Aboriginal heroes on Country. Ballarat Heritage Services, Ballarat.

(2021) My Country all gone. The White men have stolen it”: The Invasion of Wadawurrung Country 1800-1870. Ballarat Heritage Services, Ballarat.

(2016) The Children of the Port Phillip Protectorate: An Anthology of their Reminiscences and Contributions to Aboriginal Studies, Australian Scholarly Press: Melbourne.

(2012), Black Gold: A History of the Role of Aboriginal People on the Goldfields of Victoria, 1850-1870. Aboriginal History Press, Australian National University: Canberra.

(2004). Tanderrum : 'freedom of the bush'. The Djadjawarrung presence on the goldfields of Central Victoria. Friends of Mount Alexander Diggings: Castlemaine.

Edited books

(2019) ‘Devoted labour for the lost, the unknown but not forgotten dead’: The Australian War Graves Workers 1918-1922. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, U.K.

(2018) Aboriginal Bio-Cultural Knowledge in SE Australia, CSIRO Books: Melbourne.

(2015) Scots under the Southern Cross, Ballarat Heritage Press: Ballarat.

(2013) Burke and Wills: The Aboriginal Story, CSIRO: Melbourne.

Peer reviewed Journal articles and book chapters

*Denotes Quartile  Ranking 1 or 2

2022 - 2019

* ‘The Importance of the Koala in Aboriginal Society in Nineteenth-century Queensland: A Reconsideration of the Archival Record’. Anthrozoös: Journal of the International Society for Anthrozoology. DOI: 10.1080/08927936.2021.1963544

* ‘Aboriginal Fire Management in Colonial Victoria’. Aboriginal History.

* ‘Aboriginal use of fire as a weapon in colonial Victoria – a preliminary analysis’. Australian Historical Studies

* Koalas – Agents for Change: A case study from regional Victoria’. Journal of Sustainability Education http://www.susted.com/wordpress/general-issue-february-2022-part-one-workings-of-transformation/

* ‘Kurrburra the Boonwurrung Wirrirrap and Bard’ Australien Studies Journal | Zeitschrift für Australienstudien

* ‘Applying landscape-level principles to koala management in Australia: a comparative analysis’ Journal of Sustainability Education

* ‘Not invisible, not silent, and not nameless. Dja Dja Wurrung participation in the central Victoria (Australia) Goldfields stories of the 19th century’ Cultural and Social History: The Journal of the Social History Society DOI: 10.1080/14780038.2022.2156263

* ‘Volcanism in Aboriginal Australian oral traditions: Ethnographic evidence from the Newer Volcanics Province’. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 403.

* The tourism spectacle of fire making at Coranderrk Aboriginal Station, Victoria, Australia Journal of Heritage Tourism, 15(3), 249–266.

* ‘Uncovering Hidden Histories: Evaluating pre-service teachers' (PST) understanding of local Indigenous perspectives in history via digital storytelling at Australia's Sovereign Hill' Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education.

* The Aboriginal Adjustment Movement in Colonial Victoria’. Journal of Religious History, Vol. 43, no. 4.

The Historic Importance of the Koala in Aboriginal Society in New South Wales (Australia): An Exploration of the Archival Record’. ab-Original: Journal of Indigenous Studies and First Nations and First Peoples' Cultures. Volume 3, no.2. pp.172-191.

Parish maps as a source of evidence of Aboriginal land use in the Mallee back country’ Provenance – Journal of the Public records Office of Victoria. Issue 18

‘Kurrburra the Boonwurrung Wirrirrap and Bard (1797-1849) – a man of high degree’ Australian Journal of Biography and History, ANU Press. No. 4

Book Chapters (2020 - 2019)

‘“Their Last Resting Place”: Foundations of Graves Work’. In Cahir, F. et al. ‘Devoted labour for the lost, the unknown but not forgotten dead’: The Australian War Graves Workers 1918-1922. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, U.K. pp.1-9.

‘The Australian War Graves Effort (1919-1922)’. In Cahir, F. et al. ‘Devoted labour for the lost, the unknown but not forgotten dead’, pp.11-35.

‘“He took pleasure in doing his duty”: Staff Sgt. Frank Cahir DSM, MM’. In Cahir, F. et al. ‘Devoted labour for the lost, the unknown but not forgotten dead’, pp. 55-73.

‘“Dark in Complexion”: The Indigenous War Graves Workers’. In Cahir, F. et al. ‘Devoted labour for the lost, the unknown but not forgotten dead’, pp. 75-93.

‘Their Legacy’. In Cahir, F. et al. ‘Devoted labour for the lost, the unknown but not forgotten dead’, pp.129-143

‘Exchange on the maritime frontier of southern Australia’. In Gillian Dooley (ed.) The First Wave: exploring early coastal contact history in Australia. Adelaide: Wakefield Press, pp.174-192

‘Understanding maritime explorers as ngamadjidj’ In Gillian Dooley (ed.) The First Wave: exploring early coastal contact history in Australia, pp. 23-37.

‘Aboriginal corroborees on the Victorian Goldfields’. In Wickham et al. Pay Dirt, Hidden Gold, Ballarat: Ballarat Heritage Press.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles (2018 – 2014)

* Aboriginal people’s associations with koalas in Victoria’. Anthrozoös: Journal of the International Society for Anthrozoology, Vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 433-441.

* ‘All that appears possible now is to mitigate as much as possible the trials of their closing years.’ Alfred Deakin’s connections with Aboriginal Affairs’, Australian Journal of Politics and History. Vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 1-17

* Winda Lingo Parugoneit1 or Why Set the Bush [On] Fire? Fire and Victorian Aboriginal People on the Colonial Frontier. Australian Historical Studies, 47(2), 225–240.

* ‘The centrality of Aboriginal cultural workshops and experiential learning in a pre-service teacher education course" Higher Education Research & Development, 35,5, pp. 1-14.

* The Historic Importance of the Dingo in Aboriginal Society in Victoria, Anthrozoos. 26 (2)185-199.

* ‘What’s in a Name?: Exploring the Implications of Eurocentric (Re)naming Practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nomenclature in Australian Education Practices’, The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, pp. 1–10.

C.J La Trobe and the Wadawurrung, 1839-1853’ LaTrobeana. vol 17 (1) pp. 5-16.

‘Landscape, koalas and people: A historical account of koala populations and their environment in South Gippsland’ Australian Zoologist. Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 518-536

‘Rethinking the Origins of the Australian Legend – the Aboriginal Origins’ AGORA. Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 4-12.

'The remarkable disappearance of Messrs Gellibrand and Hesse'. Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 87, No. 2, pp. 278-297.

''John and Jackey': An exploration of Aboriginal and Chinese people's associations on the Victorian goldfields' Journal of Australasian Mining History. Vol. 13, pp. 23-41.

'Aboriginal and Maori interactions in Victoria Australia, 1830-1900: A preliminary analysis'. New Zealand Journal of History.48, (1) 109-126.

'Finding Indigenous History in the RHSV Collections' Victorian Historical Journal 85,1-18.

Book Chapters (2018-2014)

‘Aboriginal Fire in southeast Australia’ in Cahir, et al. Aboriginal Bio-cultural Knowledge in Southeast Australia: Colonists perspectives. CSIRO Press, Melbourne. pp.115-130.

‘Aboriginal Canoes in southeast Australia’ in Cahir, et al. Aboriginal Bio-cultural Knowledge in Southeast Australia: Colonists perspectives. pp. 133-150.

‘An introduction’ in Cahir, et al. Aboriginal Bio-cultural Knowledge in Southeast Australia: Colonists Perspective. pp. xv-xxiv.

‘Aboriginal housing in southeast Australia ’ in Cahir, et al. Aboriginal Bio-cultural Knowledge in Southeast Australia: Colonists perspectives. pp. 151-172

‘Aboriginal clothing in southeast Australia’ in Cahir, et al. Aboriginal Bio-cultural Knowledge in Southeast Australia: Colonists perspectives. pp. 173-188.

‘Concluding perspectives’ in Cahir, et al. Aboriginal Bio-cultural Knowledge in Southeast Australia: Colonists perspectives. pp.281-284.

‘Marngrook – The Indigenous Game’ In T Hogan (ed.) Reading the Game: a History of Australian Rules Football. Walla Walla Press: Sydney. pp. 113-124

‘The Mystery of the Moranghurk Sculptures’. In David Waldron (ed), Forgotten and Dark Folklore.  Australian Scholarly Press. pp. 143-150.

'We had a good many visits from them': Aboriginal/Scottish shared performance spaces on the Victorian frontier'. In Cahir, et al. Scots under the Southern Cross: Scottish perspectives of Australia, Ballarat Heritage Services: Ballarat.

'The Songlines of the Scots in Australia'. In Cahir, et al. Scots under the Southern Cross.

'Why did squatters in colonial Victoria use Indigenous place names for their sheep stations?' in Clark et al. Indigenous and Minority Place Names, 221-234, ANU E-Press.

'John Green, manager of Coranderrk Aboriginal station and General Inspector - but also a ngamadjidj and a pied piper of Aboriginal children?’. In Brett et al. Story Weaving: Colonial Contexts and Post-colonial Theology. Palgrave Macmillan: Sydney.

Perr Reviewed Journal Articles (2013 – 2009)

* 'An edifying spectacle': A history of 'tourist corroborees' in Victoria, Australia, 1835-1870’. Tourism Management, ,vol 31, no. 3. Pp. 412-420.

'Murnong, much more than a food', Artefact: Journal of the Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria. (35), 23-33.

‘Seeing the land from an Aboriginal canoe.' Signals, Vol. 100, pp. 18-22.

‘Understanding 'Ngamadjidj' Journal of Australian Colonial History. Vol. 13, pp. 105-124.

Are you off to the Diggings? Aboriginal guiding on the goldfields. LaTrobe, 85, 22-35.

‘The case of Peter Mungett’. Provenance Vol. 8, p.15-34.

Book Chapters (2013 - 2009)

"We have received news from the blacks" in Clark, I. & Cahir, F. (eds.) Burke and Wills: The Aboriginal Story, CSIRO: Melbourne. pp.261-278

"Devil been walk about tonight - not devil belonging to blackfellow, but white man devil'" - An examination of Aboriginal oral traditions of colonial explorers' in Clark & Cahir, F. (eds.) Burke and Wills: The Aboriginal Story. pp.149-168.

'The Aboriginal Legacy of the Burke and Wills Expedition Story’. In Clark & Cahir, F. (eds.) Burke and Wills: The Aboriginal Story. pp. 1-14.

"I suppose we will have to live like the Aborigines for a time". In Clark & Cahir, F. (eds.) Burke and Wills: The Aboriginal Story, pp.301-305.

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles and Chapters 2008 - 2003

* 'The comfort of strangers' Hospitality and Tourism Management vol.15, no. 1, pp. 2-7.

* ‘Aboriginal people, gold, tourism’ Tourism, Culture &​ Communication. 4, 3. 123-136

‘The Attraction of Gold Mining in Victoria for Aboriginal People. Journal of Australasian Mining History. Vol. 6, pp. 46-69.

‘Why should they pay money to the Queen?’ Australian Colonial History 10, 1. 115-128.

Dallong Possum skin rugs A study of intercultural trade in Victoria’ Provenance 4, 5.1-14

‘Tales in a name: discovering inter-cultural relations through place names’. Victorian Historical Journal. 76 (2), pp. 199-210.

‘Finders not keepers : Aboriginal people on the goldfields of Victoria’. In A. Mayne (ed.) Eureka. Perth, Australia Network Books, pp 143-152.

External Research Grants/ Consultancy

2023 - 2012

‘Dialogue with Difficult Objects: Mediating Controversy in Museums’, Australian National University. ARC Linkage

‘Dja Dja Wurrungs Goldfield History’ The Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation

‘Bringing the Avenue of Honour to Life: the Lucas Girls and World War One Soldiers’ Victoria Remembers Grant Program, Victorian Premiers Office

Aboriginal Heroes of Fire, Flood and Food. Telematics Trust.

‘The role of Aboriginal Knowledge in the defence of Australia during World War Two’ Australian Army History Unit Grant

‘Ordinary people in Extraordinary Circumstances: The Australian War Graves Workers and the Red Cross Enquiry Volunteers’. Victoria Remembers Major Grant Program.

‘Gunbower Forest Sediment Cores for Ecological and Cultural Change’ North Central Catchment Management Authority & Barapa Barapa Traditional Owners.

‘Traditional Ecological Knowledge for Gariwerd' Parks Victoria Grampians & Gariwerds Traditional Owners (TOs) represented by Barengi Gadjin, Martang and Eastern Maar.

‘Aboriginal Ecological Knowledge - Gunaikurnai Information Hub. Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation. CeRDI.

‘The Burke and Wills Scientific Expedition 1860-1: The Aboriginal Story’ ARC Linkage with Royal Society of Victoria.

‘Customary use of fire, fighting fire and fighting with fire in S-E Australia, North East Catchment Management Authority’

‘Pest Animal Management within the Mallee Region, specifically in relation to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Sites - Literature Review’ , Mallee Catchment Management Authority.

‘Literature Review of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge for Gunditj Mirring and Glenelg Hopkins CMA’ Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority & Parks Victoria.

‘‘Fire on River Red Gum Communities – Literature Review. Report by the Centre for Environmental Management’, University of Ballarat for Parks Victoria & Yorta Yorta.

Non-traditional research outputs

2023 - 2012

"The Missing online exhibition" https://victoriancollections.net.au/stories/the-missing

Aboriginal Heroes of Fire, Flood and Food https://www.aboriginalheroesmatter.org.au/

‘The Missing, the Red Cross Information Bureau and Australian War Graves Workers’ [Documentary Film]  Wind & Sky Productions

‘Facing Up: A Sound Installation commenting on prime ministerial statements relating to the status and well-being of Australia’s Indigenous population from federation to the present day’, Creative Arts Australia [Victoria] & Biennale of Australian Art.

‘The Indigenous People’ in P. Freund (ed.) In Occupation: Pastoral settlement in the Wimmera. Art Gallery of Ballarat, pp.10-13.

Seeing the land from an Aboriginal Canoe’ Culture Victoria Website. Wind & Sky Productions, State Library of Victoria, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Public Record Office Victoria, Museum Victoria and Sovereign Hill Museums Association

‘Hidden Histories – The Wadawurrung People’ Digital Tour. Sovereign Hill Museum

‘Aboriginal People of the Victorian Goldfields’ – Digital Tour for Telematics / Sovereign Hill Museums Association prepared for Sovereign Hill Museums Association.

Other Awards/distinctions

2023 - 2012

Victorian Premiers History Awards [Short Listed]. ‘Kurrburra the Boonwurrung Wirrirrap and Bard (1797-1849) – a man of high degree

Victorian Premiers History Awards [Short Listed] Digital Storytelling Award ‘Ordinary People in Extraordinary Circumstances: “The Missing”’

Global Short Film Awards 2022.  Honourable Mention. 'The Missing' Wind and Sky.

Spotlight Documentary Film Awards 2021 Silver Award 'The Missing' Wind and Sky

Ogeechee International History Film Festival. ‘The Missing’ Wind and Sky

Best Documentary History 2020 ATOM Awards, ‘The Missing’ Wind and Sky

Finalist, Best Cultural Diversity, Setting Sun Short Film Festival, ‘Seeing the Land from an Aboriginal Canoe’. Wind and Sky.

Finalist, Best Documentary Metro, Setting Sun Short Film Festival, ‘Seeing the Land from an Aboriginal Canoe’ Wind and Sky.

Victorian Premiers Community History Awards for Local History Project [Commendation] The Children of the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate.

Club Melbourne Fellowship [Finalist]

Victorian History Awards [Commendation]. ‘Fire and Victorian Aboriginal people on the Colonial Frontier’

MAGNA Museums and Galleries National Awards [High Commendation] ‘Seeing the Land from an Aboriginal Canoe’ Documentary produced by Wind & Sky Productions.

Victorian History Awards [Commendation] 'Murnong, much more than a food'.

NSW Premier's History Awards [short listed] (Australian History Prize category) for 'The Aboriginal Story of Burke and Wills: Forgotten Narratives'.

Victorian History Awards [Commendation] History Publication Award for Black Gold Aboriginal people on the Goldfields of Victoria, 1850-1870.

Victorian History Awards 'The Historic Importance of the Dingo in Aboriginal Society in Victoria (Australia): A Reconsideration of the Archival Record'.

Associations

  • AIATSIS Council Member
  • Detailed Assessor for Office of Learning and Teaching
  • Detailed Assessor for Australian Research Council
  • Editorial Board member of Provenance: Journal of the Public Records Office of Victoria
  • Eureka Centre Community Advisory (& History Advisory) Committee
  • Victorian Historical Society
  • Australian Historical Society