Issue 19, 2013 - Balliol College - University of Oxford

features
Global Balliol: Sydney
By Anne Askwith
In the second of a series of articles about Balliol alumni working around the world,
Hilary Carey (1980) and Michael Fullilove (1997) – both Australians who came to
Balliol as graduates – describe their experiences of living and working in Sydney.
Hilary Carey, Ourimbah Director Research Development,
Faculty of Education and Arts at the University of Newcastle,
New South Wales
Describe your career since
you left Balliol
I left Balliol in 1983, not long after the birth
of my daughter Eleanor, who was born while I
was working on my DPhil in medieval history.
I think I was one of the first of the Balliol
women to obtain doctorates, at about the same
time as my friends Jane Stapleton, Beverly
Lemire, and Jenny Hughes (now Swanson).
I worked as a freelance historian, and then
tutor and lecturer at Macquarie University
and the University of Sydney (as well as giving
birth to Ben and finally Beatrice in 1988).
In 1991, I got my first tenured lectureship
at the University of Newcastle, New South
Wales, on the Hunter River, 150 kilometres
north of Sydney. I currently live in Sydney and
commute to the University’s Central Coast
campus, which is about halfway between
Sydney and Newcastle. In my early years I
taught medieval and Australian history to
undergraduates, but more recently I have been
concentrating on my research field of religious
history. I have been head of the Department of
History and Assistant Dean in various roles.
Like most academics, I have also done a lot
of travelling and held visiting appointments at
places such as the University of St Andrews,
Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge,
and the York Centre for Medieval Studies.
From 2004 to 2005 I spent two years as Keith
Cameron Professor of Australian History
at University College Dublin and my Irish
experience had a big influence on my research.
Having got the imperial history bug, I published
a history of the colonial missionary movement
(God’s Empire, CUP, 2011) and I am now writing
a history of religion and the campaign against
convict transportation in the British Empire. I
am currently President of the Religious History
Association and was recently elected to the
Australian Academy of the Humanities.
What does your current
position involve
Being Ourimbah Director Research
Development means I am research mentor
for the Faculty of Education and Arts at
the University of Newcastle’s Central Coast
campus. The Central Coast is a region of rapid
growth, great natural beauty, and high socioeconomic
need in Sydney’s commuter belt.
Besides conducting my own on-going research
projects with my research group in Newcastle,
I encourage staff to seek out research funding
and publications, sit on the Faculty’s research
committee, and try to make sure this regional
campus is fully engaged with the region and
integrated with the other campuses of the
University.
What do you enjoy about your job
and what do you find challenging
My job has two components: research and
teaching, which keeps me alive and wanting to
get to work (or an archive somewhere) every
day, and the research administrator role. I
try to work out a balance between the two.
Research in Australia has become more and
more competitive and challenging, especially
for new researchers trying to break into an
established field. It is easy to lose heart and
feel that no one wants to listen to what you
have to say and – worse – to let the fight for
funding overcome the intellectual curiosity
and pleasure of discovery which drew you
into university teaching and research in the
first place. It is a challenge working in a big
university in which the major research focus
is in medicine and engineering and trying to
promote the value of the arts and humanities.
I work in a region where many people have
never been to university and another challenge
is working to ensure equity and access for all
students of merit, whatever their background.
How have you come to be
based in Sydney
I was very homesick for Australia by the
time I left Balliol, mostly because I missed
my family. On a student grant, coming to
Oxford had meant living in another country
for three years (with no email or Skype) and I
wanted to swim in the surf, catch a ferry, and,
of course, try to get a job teaching history at
an Australian university. I think I was one
of the last generation of students for whom
Oxford or Cambridge were the natural targets
for high-achieving Australian students in the
humanities; now they are more likely to head
to the US or stay in Australia. I think, like the
emigrating clergy I have written about, I feel
part of a global intellectual diaspora which
piggy-backed on the well-oiled if invisible
networks of the former British Empire. These
days, Australia feels more connected to Asia,
and whereas I headed to Europe as soon as
I could save the fare, my children all had
backpacking adventures in South East Asia.
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