Shurlee Swain

Shurlee Swain
AM, FASSA, FAHA
Born1948 (age 75–76)
Natimuk, Victoria
NationalityAustralian
AwardsFellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2007)
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2017)
Member of the Order of Australia (2018)
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
ThesisThe Victorian Charity Network in the 1890s (1977)
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
InstitutionsDeakin University
University of Melbourne
Australian Catholic University

Shurlee Lesley Swain, AM, FASSA, FAHA (born 1948) is an Australian social welfare historian, researcher and author.[1] Since August 2017 she has been an Emeritus Professor at the Australian Catholic University (ACU).[2]

Early life and education

Swain was born in 1948 at Natimuk, Victoria. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father a grocer. The family relocated to Ringwood in Melbourne in 1951, where she completed all her schooling. At the University of Melbourne she completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and Diploma of Social Work before completing her Doctor of Philosophy in 1977 on The Victorian Charity Network in the 1890s.[1][3]

Career

Swain's career as an academic began as a tutor in Australian Studies at Deakin University, before being appointed lecturer at her alma mater, the University of Melbourne, in the late 1980s. From there she moved to the Australian Catholic University (ACU) when it opened in 1991.[1]

In 2011 Swain, together with Professor Cathy Humphreys and Associate Professor Gavan McCarthy, were appointed the three Chief Investigators in the Australia-wide Find and Connect Project — a project to provide history and information about Australian orphanages, children's homes and other institutions.[4]

Outside her university commitments, for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2014, Swain wrote three reports:[5]

  • "History of Child Protection Legislation"[6]
  • "History of Institutions providing Out-of-Home Residential Care for Children"[7]
  • "History of Australian inquiries reviewing institutions providing care for children"[8]

Swain resigned from her position as Professor of Humanities in the School of Arts and Sciences at ACU in 2017 after ten years in that position. ACU celebrated her retirement by hosting a symposium and reception in her honour.[9]

With Judith Smart, Swain is co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.[10]

Awards and recognition

Selected works

As author

  • Swain, Shurlee (1993). Constructing the good Christian woman. Uniting Church Historical Society, Synod of Victoria. ISBN 978-1-875749-13-3.
  • Swain, Shurlee; Howe, Renate (1995). Single Mothers and Their Children : Disposal, Punishment and Survival in Australia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-47443-6.
  • Scott, Dorothy; Swain, Shurlee (2002). Confronting Cruelty : Historical Perspectives on Child Abuse. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 978-0-522-84998-1.
  • Swain, Shurlee; Hillel, Margot (2010). Child, Nation, Race and Empire : Child Rescue Discourse, England, Canada and Australia, 1850-1915. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-7894-1.
  • Swain, Shurlee (2012). Born in Hope : The Early Years of the Family Court of Australia (1st ed.). NewSouth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-74223-292-8.

As editor

  • Swain, Shurlee; Swain, Phillip A, eds. (1992). To Search for Self : The Experience of Access to Adoption Information. Federation Press. ISBN 978-1-86287-087-1.
  • May, Andrew; Swain, Shurlee, eds. (2005). The Encyclopedia of Melbourne. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-84234-1.

References

  1. ^ a b c Melbourne, The University of. "Swain, Shurlee – Woman – The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia". www.womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  2. ^ "Emeritus Professor Shurlee Swain honoured". www.acu.edu.au. Bethany Williams. Retrieved 20 June 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. ^ Swain, Shurlee Lesley (1976), The Victorian charity network in the 1890s, retrieved 29 May 2018
  4. ^ Find and Connect Web Resource Project, The University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University. "Credits | Find & Connect". www.findandconnect.gov.au. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia – Professor Shurlee Lesley SWAIN" (PDF). The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  6. ^ Shurlee., Swain (2014). History of child protection legislation. Australia. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse., Australian Catholic University. [Sydney, N.S.W.]: [Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]. ISBN 9781925118605. OCLC 894094556.
  7. ^ Shurlee., Swain (2014). History of institutions providing out-of-home residential care for children. Australia. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse., Australian Catholic University. [Sydney, N.S.W.]: [Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]. ISBN 9781925118629. OCLC 894094557.
  8. ^ Shurlee., Swain (2014). History of Australian inquiries reviewing institutions providing care for children. Australia. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse., Australian Catholic University. [Sydney, N.S.W.]: [Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]. ISBN 9781925118643. OCLC 894094558.
  9. ^ "Shurlee Swain: Celebrating a Career of Engagement and Achievement". www.acu.edu.au. Unknown. Retrieved 20 June 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ^ Melbourne, The University of. "Introduction – The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia". www.womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  11. ^ "Academic Fellow: Professor Shurlee Swain FASSA". Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Fellow Profile: Shurlee Swain". Australian Academy of the Humanities. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  13. ^ "SWAIN, Shurlee Lesley". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 20 June 2018.