# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Heroic Stewardesses to Women Wharfies: Talking History with Professor Diane Kirkby
- **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 05 Mar, 2026 at 07:30 am
- **Event Description**: For our first Talking History of 2026, Professor Diane Kirkby brings to light the stories of women working in the maritime industry.   

In 1932, a Melbourne journalist claimed nothing was ever written about the women 'doing a man-sized job’ at sea, whereas epics were written about seafaring men. Doing a man-sized job did not mean doing men’s work. Women’s work was invisible to those celebrating heroic deeds in battle, or in adventuring and navigating to ‘discover’ new lands to colonise.

From the early 19th century stewardesses were ubiquitous, indispensable to women’s travel. Being heroic was part of doing their job, especially in times of shipwreck, or war.  By the end of the 20th century, women were also the officers, Masters, and engineers on board ships, and driving cranes as wharfies on the waterfront. This paper comes from a project restoring these women to visibility and understanding their experience of working in an industry in which they were always seriously outnumbered.  

Professor Diane Kirkby is an internationally renowned historian of women, work and the labour movement. She is the author of several books including the highly acclaimed ‘Barmaids: A History of Women’s Work in Pubs’ and a co-author of ‘The Australian Pub’. Her book ‘Maritime Men of the Asia- Pacific’ (with Lee-Ann Monk and Dmytro Ostapenko) was awarded the 2023 Australia and New Zealand Law and History Society Prize. For many years she taught history and art history at La Trobe University in Melbourne and is now Professor of Law and Humanities at University of Technology Sydney. She is an elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and the American Society for Legal History and recipient of the Australian Historical Association’s WK Hancock Prize.

Attend Talking History in person at the Eureka Centre (no booking required). Past lectures can be viewed on YouTube by clicking this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwU4ChgWAoB7HAlGE4ha8IgVnhAKbubIC

Image: ‘The Heroine of the Coogee’. (1904, January 16) in ‘The Weekly Times’ (Melbourne, Victoria: 1869 - 1954), p. 10. State Library of Victoria.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/ballarat/heroic-stewardesses-to-women-wharfies-talking-history-with-professor-diane-kirkby/200029629804142
- **Event Categories**: art, womens-history-month, literary-art
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 42

## Ticket Details

- **Ticket URL**: http://facebook.com/200029629804142?utm_source=AllEvents.in&utm_medium=event-discovery-platform&utm_campaign=ballarat-events

## Event venue details

- **city**: Ballarat
- **state**: VI
- **country**: Australia
- **location**: Eureka Centre Ballarat
- **lat**: -37.56505762956
- **long**: 143.8841305236
- **full address**: Eureka Centre Ballarat, 102 Stawell St, Eureka VIC 3350, Australia, Ballarat

## Event Organizer details

- **affiliate_id**: 2
- **organizer**: Eureka Centre Ballarat (https://allevents.in/org/eureka-centre-ballarat/15042998)

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## FAQs

- **Q**: When is the event happening?
  - **A:** Thu, 05 Mar, 2026 at 07:30 am
- **Q**: Where is the event happening?
  - **A:** Eureka Centre Ballarat, 102 Stawell St, Eureka VIC 3350, Australia, Ballarat
- **Q**: Who is organizing the event?
  - **A:** Eureka Centre Ballarat
- **Q**: What type of event is this?
  - **A:** art, womens-history-month, literary-art
- **Q**: Where can I find ticket details about Heroic Stewardesses to Women Wharfies: Talking History with Professor Diane Kirkby ?
  - **A:** You can find ticket details about this event on AllEvents.

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