Professor Deborah Gare

Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning; Discipline coordinator of History

Email: deborah.gare@nd.edu.au
Phone: 9433 0129

  • Biography

    Deborah Gare is a Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences and leads the History program in Fremantle. She is an author and editor of several leading works, including Fremantle: Empire, faith and conflict since 1829 (2016), Tom Stannage: History from the other side (2015) and Making Australian History: The politics of the past since 1788 (2008). Her research interests are, broadly, Australian, Western Australian and Empire history.

    Notre Dame’s location in Fremantle has informed Deborah’s own research. In 2014 she published When War Came to Fremantle: 1899 – 1945 (Fremantle Press, 2014) with Madison Lloyd-Jones. It has been described by reviewers as ‘a gorgeous photographic and social history of the town of Fremantle and its interaction with different world conflicts’.

    Of the nineteenth century, Deborah is writing a biography of Mary Ann Friend (1800-39), an artist and writer who visited the Swan River Colony in 1830. The Friend journal was recently acquired by the State Library of Western Australia.

    Deborah has a strong interest in teaching and learning within the Humanities. She was the inaugural co-Chair of the Deans Council (DASSH) Associate Deans’ Network of Learning and Teaching in Australia and New Zealand; she represented DASSH in the ALTC project which developed graduate standards for the discipline of History; and she is a long-serving Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning at Notre Dame.

    Deborah has received several teaching awards, including Notre Dame’s prestigious Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Leadership of Teaching and Learning (2013), and has been nominated for several Commonwealth OLT awards in teaching excellence.

    Deborah completed a PhD in Australian History at the University of Western Australia under the supervision of one of Western Australia’s leading historians, Tom Stannage. She was later a Research Associate at Curtin University, a Visiting Fellow of the University of British Columbia and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Manchester. She has been teaching at Notre Dame since 1997.

  • Teaching areas

    • A History of Western Civilisation
    • Making Australian History
    • Australians and the World Wars
    • Visual Evidence: Art and artefacts of the western tradition
    • Experience the World: The rise and fall and rise of Spain

  • Research expertise and supervision

    • Australian, Western Australian and regional histories
    • Swan River Colony
    • Empire and imperialism
    • Community and commissioned histories
    • Migration
    • Visual evidence, including art history
    • Artefacts, heritage and public histories
    • Teaching and Learning in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

  • Books

    • Fremantle: Empire, Faith and Conflict since 1829, Studies in Western Australian History, no. 31, 2016. Co-edited with Shane Burke.
    • Tom Stannage, History from the Other Side: Studies in Western Australian History, no. 29, 2016. Co-edited with Jenny Gregory.
    • When War Came to Fremantle, 1899-1902, Fremantle Press, 2014. Co-authored with Madison Lloyd-Jones.
    • Making Australian History: Perspectives on the Past Since 1788, edited with David Ritter, Thomson Learning, Melbourne, 2008 (and annual reprints since).
    • A Chain of Care: A history of the Silver Chain Nursing Association, 1905-2005, authored with Jean Chetkovich, University of Notre Dame Australia Press, Fremantle, 2005.
    • The Fuss that Never Ended: The life and work of Geoffrey Blainey, co-edited with Geoffrey Bolton, Stuart Macintyre and Tom Stannage, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 2003.
    • Lady Onslow’s Legacy: A History of the Home of Peace and the Brightwater Care Group, 1898-2001, Brightwater Care Group, October 2001.

  • Book chapters

    • ‘Conflict and Compassion: The women’s war, 1914 – 18’, in Daniel Baldino and M. Brennan (eds), 1915: Australians at War and On the Homefront, Australian Army History Museum, Canberra, 2016.
    • ‘Making History and the Politics of the Past’, in Deborah Gare and David Ritter (eds), Making Australian History: Perspectives on the Past Since 1788, edited with David Ritter, Thomson Learning, Melbourne, 2008, pp.xxxi – xxxvii.

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    • ‘In the Beginning: Empire, faith and conflict in Fremantle’, in Deborah Gare and Shane Burke (eds), Fremantle: Empire, Faith and Conflict since 1829, Studies in Western Australian History, no. 31, 2016.
    • ‘Subversion and Freedom in the Teaching of History’, in Jenny Gregory and Deborah Gare (eds), Tom Stannage and Western Australian History, Journal of Western Australian Historical Studies, no. 29, 2015, pp.183-196.
    • ‘A Book of Empires: The journal of Mary Ann Friend, 1829-31’, The Great Circle: Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History, vol.36 (20), 2014, pp.1-20.
    • ‘Divorcing Bridget Taafe: The mad, bad and sad women of Fremantle, 1850-1900’, Early Days: Journal of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society, 2014.
    • ‘The Female Frontier: Colonial women in Fremantle, 1829-1848’, Fremantle Studies, vol.8, 2014.
    • When War Came to Fremantle, 1899-1902, Fremantle Press, 2014. Co-authored with Madison Lloyd-Jones.
    • Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Project, Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities: History, Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Statement, Australian Learning and Teaching Council, Sydney, 2010. (DASSH representative to reference group and co-author of standards).
    • ‘Partnerships and Collaborations: The Importance to Humanities, Social Sciences and the Creative Arts’, in National Humanities and Social Sciences Summit: Position Papers, DEETYA, Canberra, 2001, pp.75-86. Co-authored with Tom Stannage.
    • ‘Britishness in contemporary Australian historiography’, The Historical Journal (Cambridge University Press), vol.43(4), 2000, pp.1145-1155.
    • ‘White Ghost of Empire?’, Quadrant, No. 362, December 1999, pp.38-43.
    • ‘Dating Australia’s Independence: National Sovereignty and the 1986 Australia Acts’, Australian Historical Studies, October 1999, pp.255-261.

  • Conference papers

    • Keynote Address, ‘1916: Curtin’s First War’, Heritage Festival, City of Fremantle, 2015.
    • Conference Paper, ‘1915: Community and Crisis’, 1915: Western Australians at War and one the Home Front, annual conference, Royal United Services Institute, Fremantle, 2015.
    • Public Address, ‘Conflict and Compassion: Western Australia's War 1914-1918’, National Trust Heritage Festival, State Library of Western Australia, 2015.
    • ‘Curtin’s First War’, John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, Visiting Scholar and Annual Lecture, 2014.
    • ‘Western Australia’s (first) Home Front’, Constitution Centre, Perth, 18 November 2014.
    • ‘The Adventurers: Mary Ann Friend and the literature of Britain’s early travel writers’, City of Fremantle Heritage Festival, Fremantle, May 2014.
    • Keynote Address, ‘The Journal of Mary Ann Friend’, State Library of Western Australia, Launch of the Mary Ann Friend journal, Fremantle, November 2013.
    • ‘A Life of Adventure: Mary Ann Friend, 1800-1838’, Seven Weeks in the Swan River Colony: The journal of Mary Ann Friend Community Lecture Program, Maritime Museum of Western Australia, Fremantle, November 2013.
    • ‘The Female Frontier: Race and gender in colonial Fremantle, 1829-1839’, Fremantle Studies Day, Fremantle History Society, October 2013.
    • ‘Divorcing Bridget Taafe: The mad, bad and sad women of Fremantle’, Australian Historical Association Conference, Adelaide, July 2012.
    • ‘Beyond the Essay: Learning Australia’s history of war with new media technologies’, Australian Historical Association Conference, Adelaide, July 2012.
    • ‘Beyond the Essay, Beyond Standards: New Media in the ASSH disciplines: A Case study in History’, DASSH national conference, Magnetic Island, September 2011.
    • ‘Standards and Outcomes, Benchmarking and Assessment’, Seminar, Faculty of Arts, University of Western Australia, March 2010.

  • Original creative works

  • Curated exhibitions or events

    • Deborah Gare (general editor), ‘Fremantle History’, digital exhibition space, The University of Notre Dame Australia and the City of Fremantle, www.fremantlehistory.com.au, since 2012.
    • Deborah Gare (editor and producer), ‘Alienation and Adaptation’, digital exhibition, The University of Notre Dame Australia, www.fremantlehistory.com.au, 2015.
    • Deborah Gare (editor and producer), ‘Objects of War’, digital exhibition, The University of Notre Dame Australia, www.fremantlehistory.com.au, 2014.
    • Deborah Gare (editor and producer) and Shane Burke (editor), ‘Walking the West End’, digital exhibition, The University of Notre Dame Australia, www.fremantlehistory.com.au, 2013.
    • Deborah Gare (editor and producer), ‘Fremantle and War’, digital exhibition, The University of Notre Dame Australia and the City of Fremantle, www.fremantlehistory.com.au, 2012.

  • Awards

    • ‘Unpublished Award: First Prize’, City of Fremantle and Town of East Fremantle Local History Awards, 2014.
    • Vice Chancellor’s Award for Leadership of Teaching and Learning, University of Notre Dame Australia, 2013.
    • ‘Multimedia and Online Projects: Commendation’, City of Fremantle and Town of East Fremantle Local History Awards, 2013.
    • Vice Chancellor’s Award for Initiatives that Enhance Student Learning, ‘Caritas Experience the World Program’, team project, University of Notre Dame Australia, 2011.
    • ‘University of Notre Dame Australia Professional Development Scholarship’, Perth Convention Bureau, 2010.
    • Young Citizen of the Year’, Town of East Fremantle, 1995.