I am a historian and public commentator based at the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS. My recent book, Making Australian History, was published by Penguin in 2022 and was longlisted for a Walkley Award and an NIB Literary Award. I'm also the creator of the successful podcast for primary schools, Hey History!

Across my career, I have written and co-edited several works of history: with Stuart Macintyre I co-wrote the History Wars in 2003, which was awarded the NSW Premier's Prize for Australian History and the Queensland Premier's Prize for Best Literary or Media Work Advancing Public Debate. My PhD thesis, Teaching the Nation, was published by Melbourne University Press in 2006 and examines debates about teaching Australian history in schools. Follow up research, History's Children: History Wars in the Classroom (New South, 2008), used interviews with 250 history teachers, students and curriculum officials from around Australia to explore Australian history teaching in school. I have also written two history books for children, Convicted! and Explored!

My book, Private Lives, Public History, used interviews with 100 Australians from around the country to consider and include their thoughts on history alongside public and political discussions about the past and was published by Melbourne University Press. And reflecting my love of fish and fishing, I have also written a history of fishing in Australia, titled The Catch: The Story of Fishing in Australia.

My teaching interests range across Australian history and historiography, including contests over the past, oral history, history education, memory studies, and public history.