Janet McCalman

Janet McCalman is an award-winning social historian and author of such studies as Struggletown, Journeyings, and Sex and Suffering. Prof. McCalman is an Honorary associate of the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Her most recent book, co-authored with Emma Dawson, is What Happens Next: Reconstructing Australia after Covid-19 (2020).

Janet McCalman reviews 'Yaldwyn of the Golden Spurs' by J. O. Randell, 'Mountain Gold' by John Adams and 'A History of Camberwell' by Geoffrey Blainey

April 1981, no. 29 • 01 April 1981

For any who may suffer under the delusion that the production of good histories is easy, these three books offer some valuable lessons. The ﬁrst, J.0. Randell’s Yaldwyn of the Golden Spurs, is the work of a Gentleman (i.e. amateur) historian, the other two are very much the labours of mere Players. William Henry Yaldwyn (1801–66) was a Sussex squire, (in Burke’s LandedGentry by the skin of ... (read more)

Janet McCalman reviews 'Goodbye Girlie' by Patsy Adam-Smith

November 1994, no. 166 • 01 November 1994

It’s a clever and provocative title that Patsy Adam-Smith has chosen for her autobiography. She is a woman who has said many ‘goodbyes’ in her rich and adventurous life; and she is of an age and disposition where ‘girlie’ is heard as an endearment, not a put-down. Patsy AdamSmith is one of Australia’s greatest writers, although you will rarely hear the literati or the academics sa ... (read more)