Emeritus Prof Marian Quartly - Researcher Profile

Marian Quartly

Address

School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies
Faculty of Arts, Clayton

Contact Details

Tel: +61 3 990 53257

Email: Marian.Quartly@monash.edu


Biography

Schrödinger’s historian

In 1935, quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger devised the thought experiment known as ‘Schrödinger's cat’, which illustrated our fundamental uncertainty about the physical world. Today, Professor Emerita Marian Quartly is exploring our past with the same understanding – that “truth” is entirely a matter of which side of the box you are on. 

 

 

Marian might be technically retired, but she continues to make inroads into modern Australian history, taking on subjects like forcible adoption and the history of mainstream women’s opinion over the 20th century. 

The National Council of Women of Australia (NCWA) is helping fund the project on women’s opinions (along with the Australian Research Council), which is fitting. As Marian says, “in many ways, the NCWA represented the mainstream of feminism – at least until the 1970s and early 1980s when the women’s movement split in all directions. Until then, however, it was very representative.”

Marian is also writing a history of adoption, which she describes as a “huge project”, ranging across all of Australia’s states, and reaching from the early 20th century until today. 

“It takes in all forms of adoption, right up to international adoption. We’re in our third year out of the four years of the project.” 

The adoption project is more than an academic pursuit – it will work towards giving a voice to the biological mothers of adopted children. 

 “Aboriginal children who were taken, and adopted, and put in institutions, have been apologised to. The families in general have been apologised to. Now the relinquishing mothers are trying to get an apology, and an investigation, out of the Senate. They’re driven by the desire to make everyone in the community – particularly their children who they gave up for adoption – know that they didn’t necessarily give them up voluntarily at all. The important thing is that they desperately don’t want to be thought to have given up their babies voluntarily. And the validation of people’s memories is actually one of the most important things that we can do.”

Marian is more interested in how the mothers relate to the past than the accuracy of their memories.

“You can get utterly different understandings of what happened in a process, and what the outcomes were, depending on who’s looking at it and who’s looking back, and what point they’re writing from. It’s wonderfully vexed – none of it is simple. That’s why I don’t really look for truth in history. I’m much more interested in what I can learn about what people feel and think when they tell their stories.”

She also acknowledges the “democratic bent” she has in her approach to history:

“I’ve been increasingly interested in all the other sorts of history that are around us. Often the genealogists and local historians have a much better knowledge of the sources. I’m now actually in some genuine community projects: the Notting Hill Community Association (NHCA) and the Notting Hill History Group. We’ve brought out one little history already, which is basically recorded memories – we tape people, transcribe it and put it in a book, and we’re trying to do more work like that. I’m actually at the coal-face now, which is good.”

Marian has a longstanding interest in the history of the family, which is why her planned magnum opus will be an essay collection on the changing nature of the family in late 19th century Australia.

“I think that there have been such enormous changes to what might be called a family over that period – in terms of gender roles, in terms of family size, in terms of family structure. I mean, what is a family? The notion of the family has changed, and the reality of the family has changed, demographically and every other way. That’s what I want to get a take on.”

 

Publications

Books

Quartly, M. (ed), 1999, Australian Historical Studies, University of Melbourne, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Book Chapters

Dyrenfurth, N.A., Quartly, M., 2009, All the world over, in Drawing the Line: Using Cartoons as Historical Evidence, eds Richard Scully and Marian Quartly, Monash University ePress, Clayton Vic Australia, pp. 6.1-6.47.

Quartly, M., Smart, J.B., 2009, Making the National Councils of Women national: the formation of a nation-wide organisation in Australia 1896-1931, in Suffrage, Gender and Citizenship: International Perspectives on Parliamentary Reforms, eds Irma Sulkenen and Seija-Leena Nevala-Nurmi and Pirjo Markkola, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne UK, pp. 339-357.

Quartly, M., 2009, 'Politics among the people': Political housekeeping and fusion, in Confusion: The Making of the Australian Two-Party System, eds Paul Strangio and Nick Dyrenfurth, Melbourne University Publishing, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 162-187.

Scully, R., Quartly, M., 2009, Using cartoons as historical evidence, in Drawing the Line: Using Cartoons as Historical Evidence, eds Richard Scully and Marian Quartly, Monash University ePress, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 1-13.

Grimshaw, P., Quartly, M., Lake, M., McGrath, A., 2006, Into the new millennium, in Creating a Nation, eds Patricia Grimshaw, Marilyn Lake, Ann McGrath, Marian Quartly, Network Books, Perth WA Australia, pp. 309-325.

Quartly, M., 1999, The Colonies: Paths to Federation: Victoria, in The Centenary Companion to Australian Federation, Cambridge University Press, Oakleigh Vic Australia, pp. 219-283.

Quartly, M., 1998, Alexandra Hasluck Historian, in Paul Hasluck in Australian History: Civic Personality and Public Life, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia Australia, pp. 77-86.

Journal Articles

Smart, J.B., Quartly, M., 2012, Mainstream women's organisations in Australia: the challenges of national and international co-operation after the Great War, Womens History Review [P], vol 21, issue 1, Routledge, United Kingdom, pp. 61-79.

Quartly, M., Swain, S.L., 2012, The market in children: Analysing the language of adoption in Australia, History Australia-Journal of the Australian Historical Association [P], vol 9, issue 2, Monash University ePress, Australia, pp. 69-89.

Quartly, M., 2012, '[W]e find families for children, not children for families': An incident in the long and unhappy history of relations between social workers and adoptive parents, Social Policy and Society [P], vol 11, issue 3, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, pp. 415-427.

Quartly, M., 2010, The right of the child in global perspective, Children Australia [P], vol 35, issue 2, OzChild, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 38-42.

Murphy, K., Quartly, M., Cuthbert, D.M., 2009, "In the Best Interests of the Child": Mapping the (re) Emergence of Pro-Adoption Politics in Contemporary Australia, Australian Journal Of Politics And History [P], vol 55, issue 2, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Australia, pp. 201-218.

Cuthbert, D.M., Murphy, K., Quartly, M., 2009, Adoption and feminism: Towards framing a feminist response to contemporary developments in adoption, Australian Feminist Studies [P], vol 24, issue 62, Routledge, Australia, pp. 395-419.

Quartly, M., Murphy, K., Cuthbert, D.M., 2009, Political representations of adoption in Australia 2005-2007, Adoption & Culture [P], vol 2, Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture, Georgia USA, pp. 141-159.

Quartly, M., 2008, The National Council of women of Victoria suffrage and political citizenship 1904-14, Victorian Historical Journal, vol 79, issue 2, Royal Historical Society of Victoria, Australia, pp. 224-236.

Quartly, M., Dyrenfurth, N.A., 2007, Fat man v. 'The people': Labour intellectuals and the making of oppositional identities, 1890-1901, Labour History: A Journal of Labour and Social History, vol 92, issue May, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Australia, pp. 31-56.

Quartly, M., 2007, Nationhood as represented in images of Australian soldiers published in newspapers and journals during the First World War, Australian Studies, vol 20, issue 1, British Australian Studies Association, London, pp. 291-318.

Quartly, M., 2006, The Australian Women's National League and Democracy, 1904-1921, Women's History Review, vol 15, issue 1, Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon UK, pp. 35-50.

Quartly, M., 2005, Making working-class heroes: labor cartoonists and the Australian worker, 1903-1916, Labour History, vol 89, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Sydney NSW Australia, pp. 159-178.

Quartly, M., 2004, Defending "the purity of home life" against socialism: the founding years of the Australian Women's National League, Australian Journal of Politics and History, vol 50, issue 2, Blackwell Publishing Asia, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 178-193.

Quartly, M., 2002, Women citizens of the new nation: reading some visual evidence, Lilith: a Feminist History Journal, vol 11, History Department University of Melbourne, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 1-21.

Conference Proceedings

Berry, G., Sheard, J., Quartly, M., 2011, A virtual museum of computing history: An educational resource bringing the relationship between people and computers to life, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Australasian Computing Education Conference (ACE 2011). Computing Education 2011, 17 January 2011 to 20 January 2011, Australian Computer Society Inc, Sydney NSW Australia, pp. 79-85.

Pang, N.L., Schauder, D.E., Quartly, M., Dale-Hallett, L., 2006, User-centred design, e-research, and adaptive capacity in cultural institutions: the case of the Women on Farms Gathering collection, Poceedings of the Asia-Pacific Conference on Library & Information Education & Practice 2006, 3 April 2006 to 6 April 2006, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, pp. 526-535.

Quartly, M., 2004, Muscles and manhood: labour cartoonists and the Australian worker, 1896-1918, When Journalism Meets History: Refereed Papers from the Australian Media Traditions Conference 2003, 13 November 2003 to14 November 2003, RMIT Publishing, Melbourne Vic Australia, pp. 1-21.

Grants

Title:
A virtual learning space on the History of Computing in Australia: A social, technological and historical perspective.
Investigators:
Sheard, J, Quartly, M
Funding:
(2009 - 2013). Monash University.
Title:
Graduate Women Victoria History Project.
Investigators:
Quartly, M
Funding:
(2012 - 2016). Graduate Women Victoria.
Title:
Interdisciplinary perspectives on intercountry adoption in Australia: history, policy, practice and experience.
Investigators:
Cuthbert, D, Swain, S, Quartly, M
Funding:
(2009 - 2013). Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA).
Title:
Argus On-Line: A Nineteenth Century Australian Newspaper Digital Index.
Investigators:
Hirst, J, Quartly, M, Macintyre, S, Buckridge, P, Murray, T, Mayne, A, Brett, J, Fitzgerald, J, McGrath, A
Funding:
(2004 - 2015). Australian Research Council (ARC).
(2004 - 2015). Griffith University.
(2004 - 2015). La Trobe University.
(2004 - 2015). Monash University.
(2004 - 2015). The University of Melbourne.
(2011 - 2015). Australian National University (ANU).
Title:
Between State and World: A History of the National Council of Women of Australia 1931-2006.
Investigators:
Quartly, M, Smart, J, Christopherson, L
Funding:
(2008 - 2012). Australian Research Council (ARC).
Title:
The search for family: A history of adoption in Australia.
Investigators:
Quartly, M, Cuthbert, D, Swain, S
Funding:
(2009 - 2012). Monash University.
(2009 - 2013). Australian Catholic University.
(2009 - 2013). Australian Research Council (ARC).

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Completed Supervision

Student:
Adams, C.
Program of Study:
"...So give three cheers for our sisters": an examination of the role and status of Australian nurses in the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902. (PHD) 2010.
Supervisors:
Caine, B (Joint-Co), Quartly, M (Joint).
Student:
Aitken, J.
Program of Study:
REPRESENTATIONS OF WIFE-BEATING IN AUSTRALIA, 1880 - 1914. (PHD) 2005.
Supervisors:
Peel, M (Main), Quartly, M (Associate).
Student:
Carroll, L.
Program of Study:
For the red and the blue: a social history of the Melbourne Football Club. (PHD) 2007.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Peel, M (Associate).
Student:
Collins, E.
Program of Study:
Voluntary associations for Victorian children 1872-1910. (PHD) 2007.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), O''Hanlon, S (Associate).
Student:
Costa-Pinto, S.
Program of Study:
Narrating contemporary migration: Indian women in Melbourne. (PHD) 2008.
Supervisors:
Markus, A (Main), Quartly, M (Associate).
Student:
Dunin, J.
Program of Study:
Canaries in a Mine. Post Release Support for Young Offenders in Melbourne 1964-1981. (Masters) 2007.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Lewis, C (Associate).
Student:
Dyrenfurth, N.
Program of Study:
Heroes and villians: the cultural politics of Australian labour 1878-1918. (PHD) 2008.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Brodie, M (Associate), Strangio, P (Associate).
Student:
Fenwick, J.
Program of Study:
'Dealing with a nation': conceptualising Aboriginal sovereignty, 1950-1990. (PHD) 2006.
Supervisors:
Markus, A (Main), Quartly, M (Associate).
Student:
Granek, C.
Program of Study:
Wrapped in Light - An exploration of the influences that shaped the development of Jewish feminism in the Melbourne Jewish community between 1981 and 2005. (Masters) 2011.
Supervisors:
Markus, A (Main), Quartly, M (Associate).
Student:
Hancock, M.
Program of Study:
A GOVERNOR'S WIFE IN COLONIAL VICTORIA: LADY LOCH'S DIARY-LETTERS 1884-1885. (PHD) 2005.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Dilnot, A (Associate).
Student:
Jahanshahrad, H.
Program of Study:
The history of the women's movement in Iran with a special focus on the post-revolutionary era. (PHD) 2011.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Maher, J (Associate).
Student:
Joyce, B.
Program of Study:
Civil Wedding Ceremonies in Contemporary Australia: Secular or Sacred?. (Masters) 2007.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Caine, B (Associate).
Student:
Kyle, A.
Program of Study:
Images of girls: an examination of some representations of girls produced in Britain and Australia, 1855-1915. (PHD) 2000.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main).
Student:
Murphy, K.
Program of Study:
Gender and the rural-urban divide: fears and fantasies of the Australian elite, 1900-1930. (PHD) 2007.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Brodie, M (Associate), Caine, B (Associate).
Student:
Newman, S.
Program of Study:
Traces of desire: reading the lesbian archive. (PHD) 2007.
Supervisors:
Dever, M (Joint-Co), Quartly, M (Joint).
Student:
Peterson, R.
Program of Study:
Jessie Vasey: the making of a conservative feminist. (PHD) 2009.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Peel, M (Associate).
Student:
Schmitt, D.
Program of Study:
A community enterprise: citizen soldiering in Sale, 1843-1927. (PHD) 2007.
Supervisors:
Lewis, C (Main), Quartly, M (Associate).
Student:
Tanner, C.
Program of Study:
Visions of womanhood: gender, modernity and women's suffrage,Victoria 1880 - 1910. (PHD) 2010.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Dever, M (Associate), Maher, J (Associate).
Student:
White, L.
Program of Study:
Official and commercial nationalism: images of Australia at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. (PHD) 2008.
Supervisors:
Hocking, J (Main), Quartly, M (Associate).
Student:
Wilson, J.
Program of Study:
Public history and the Australian prison museum an investigation of social memory and the 'other'. (PHD) 2006.
Supervisors:
Quartly, M (Main), Twomey, C (Associate).