In 1974 the State Library of NSW advertised the CH Currey Memorial Fellowship for the first time. In 2024, the Library called for applications for 11 Fellowship opportunities. Join us to celebrate 50 years of a program dedicated to supporting researchers work with the Library’s rich collections. Richard Neville will be in conversation with Carol Liston, Mark Dunn, Ian Hoskins and Deborah Lee-Talbot, with Caroline Butler-Bowdon announcing the 2025 cohort of Fellows.

Richard Neville. Richard is the Mitchell Librarian. He has been extensively involved in the acquisition, arrangement, description and promotion of the Library’s renowned Australian research collections. He is the author of several books including Mr JW Lewin: Painter and Naturalist (NewSouth, 2012). In his role as Mitchell Librarian, he has overseen the Fellowships Program for 15 years.

Associate Professor Carol Liston AO, CH Currey Fellow 1981. Carol is an adjunct academic at Western Sydney University and professional historian. Her Currey Fellowship was a ‘Study of Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales, 1821–1825’. One of her many research interests is the colonial development of the County of Cumberland (Greater Western Sydney), using land records, family history and surviving buildings to document the past.

Dr Mark Dunn, CH Currey Fellow 2016. Mark is a public historian with over two decades of experience. His Currey Fellowship project, ‘Civilised or Savage: The colonial legacy of Robert and Helenus Scott’, produced the book The Convict Valley: The Bloody Struggle on Australia's Early Frontier (Allen & Unwin, 2020) which was shortlisted for a Prime Minister’s Literary Award (2021) and the Kay Daniels Award (2022).

Dr Ian Hoskins, CH Currey Fellow 2019. Ian has worked as an academic, professional historian and curator for over 30 years. His Currey Fellowship project, ‘Re-imagining the Pacific: Exploring white Australian identification with its near neighbours 1870–1970’, produced the award-winning book Australia and the Pacific: A History (NewSouth, 2021).

Dr Deborah Lee-Talbot, CH Currey Fellow 2023. Deborah is an academic at Deakin University and professional historian, focusing on gender, archives, social history and Australian-Pacific histories. Her Currey Fellowship looked at the ‘Archive of the Archivist: Phyllis Mander-Jones and Australian-Pacific history, 1901–1957’.

Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon. Caroline is the State Librarian of NSW. A published author in architecture and urban history, she has over 20 years of leadership experience in public institutions, including Sydney Living Museums (the Historic Houses Trust) and the Art Gallery of NSW.