Originally from New Zealand, I am a historian and writer living in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.

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I research Australian, New Zealand and international history, with a particular focus on businesswomen. And in a strange departure, caused by the unexpected discovery of an archive, I am also writing about a pair of Cold War Youth Forums.

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Much as I enjoy getting lost in archives (real or digital) and creating words on a page, I have been known to say that the best part about writing a book is engaging with audiences about it. In non-Covid times I am a regular conference participant and particularly enjoy giving talks to local historical and family history societies and to the public more generally.

 

I got my PhD from the Australian National University in 2012 and have published a number of books as well as academic and popular articles. I currently hold a postdoctoral fellowship at Macquarie University (2019-2025) for my project 'Gendered Enterprise: A History of Australian Businesswomen Since 1880', funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. 

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My first book, Minding Her Own Business: Colonial Businesswomen in Sydney (NewSouth 2015), won the 2016 Ashurst Business Literature Prize.

 

My second book, Women Mean Business: Colonial Businesswomen in New Zealand (Otago University Press, 2019) was shortlisted for the 2019 New Zealand Heritage Book Award and longlisted for the 2020 Ockham New Zealand Non-Fiction Book Award.

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