Areas of Expertise
Yvonne Perkins’ historical work has focussed in the following areas:
- digital history
- education
- secularism
- beliefs, both conventional and unorthodox
- World War I
- referendums
- family history
Her thesis was on the history of Queensland, in particular Brisbane, in the decade prior to World War I. It can be accessed via the University of Sydney eScholarship Repository.
As well as researching in Brisbane and Sydney, Yvonne has often worked in Canberra and Melbourne. She also has done some research in Hobart.
Qualifications
- B.A.(Hons) – University of Sydney
- B.Com – University of Tasmania
Memberships
- Professional Historians Association of Victoria and Tasmania
- Australian Historical Association
Publications/Past Work
Publications
- Co-author of No Substitute for Kindness: The Story of May and Stanley Smith, Personal History Productions, 2017.
- ‘Publicising Your Book’, Circa, The Journal of Professional Historians, issue 5, 2016.
Reviews
Read book reviews written by Yvonne Perkins on her history blog, Stumbling Through the Past, The Newtown Review of Booksand other websites:
- ‘Review: The Art of Time Travel by Tom Griffiths‘, Stumbling Through the Past, 9/8/2017.
- ‘JANE GLEESON-WHITE Six Capitals: The revolution capitalism has to have – or can accountants save the planet?‘, The Newtown Review of Books, 9/6/2015.
- ‘Review: the Forgotten Rebels of Eureka‘, ABC’s The Drum website, 30/4/2014.
- ‘MARION MADDOX Taking God to School: The end of Australia’s egalitarian education?‘, The Newtown Review of Books, 15/4/2014.
Included on University Reading Lists
Articles written by Yvonne Perkins have also been included in university course reading lists:
- ‘The History Manifesto and Big Data‘, Stumbling Through the Past, 14/1/2015. This article is on the reading list of HIST4170, Exploring Digital Humanities, a course offered by the history department at the University of Guelph, Canada.
- ‘Women and Archival Silences‘, Stumbling Through the Past, 9/3/2012. This article is on the reading list of HIST 450: Women in the Atlantic World, a seminar offered at the College of Charleston, USA in 2016.
Interviews
Yvonne Perkins also interviews historians and writers:
- ‘History, Place and Singapore‘, (an interview of historian, Kevin Blackburn), PHA NSW Blog, 23/3/2015.
- ‘Family Secrets: An interview with Kristina Olsson‘, Australian Women Writers’ Challenge, 18/5/2014.
- ‘History, Writing and Television: An interview with Clare Wright‘, Australian Women Writers’ Challenge, 30/3/2014.
Articles
Articles written by Yvonne Perkins are read widely. Here are a sample which have caught the eye of people around the world:
- ‘A History of Australian Schooling’, on the Curriculum and Leadership Journal website, 10/10/2014.
- ‘An Introduction to the Trove API’ via the National Library of Australia’s Trove blog, 1/5/2014.
- ‘If we are going to sin… we must sin quietly’ via Imperial and Global Forum, the blog of the Centre for Imperial and Global History at the University of Exeter, 1/2/2014.
- ‘2013 Conference – The Program’ via the Australian Historical Association, August 2013.
- Two posts about the RHA Conference 2012 via the Religious History Association, 29/7/2012.
- ‘Nearly There – Experiencing a Conference Online’ via the American Historical Association, 19/1/2012.
Presentations and workshops delivered
‘When STEM Becomes STEAM We All Benefit: Breaking out of our professional silos, presentation delivered at the 2022 online Linux Australia conference. See the abstract on the conference website.
‘The Life of a Fragment of History’, paper delivered at the 2016 conference of the Professional Historians of Australia conference.
‘The Needle in the Haystack A searching look at the use of digital tools‘, paper delivered at the 2015 Australian Historical Association conference, July 2015.
‘Beyond the Church Parade: Religious beliefs in the front line during WWI‘, paper delivered at the 2014 Religious History Association conference held in conjunction with the 2014 Australian Historical Association conference, July 2014.
‘Promoting Your Work and Business’, CPD workshop for PHA NSW, 29/3/2014.
‘Social Media for the Cautious Historian‘, CPD workshop for PHA NSW, 18/5/2013.
Thesis
Yvonne Perkins received first class honours in history from the University of Sydney for her thesis, Queensland’s Bible in State Schools Referendum 1910: A Case Study of Democracy.
Voluntary Work
Yvonne Perkins has volunteered for the following organisations as well as writing for their blogs:
- Professional Historians Association of New South Wales & the ACT: Yvonne served on the committee for the 2013/2014 year and maintained the website.
- Australian Women Writers’ Challenge: Yvonne wrote monthly roundups of reviews of histories, biographies and memoirs for this online book reviewing challenge from January 2013 to July 2014, as well as providing six monthly statistical overviews.