Susan Magarey

Australian historian

Professor Susan Margaret Magarey (born 23 April 1943) AM, FASSA, is an Australian historian and author, most notable for her historic works and biographies of Australian women.^[1][2]

Family

The daughter of James Rupert Magarey (1914–1990),^[3] later Sir Rupert Magarey,^[4] and Catherine Mary Magarey (1918–1989), née Gilbert,^[5][6] Susan Margaret Magarey was born in Brisbane on 23 April 1943.^[7]

The first of four children, she has one brother, James (1946–),^[8] and two sisters, Catherine (1948–1972),^[9] and Mary Elizabeth (1952–).^[10][11]

She married John Christopher Eade in 1966; they divorced in 1977.^{[contradictory]}

Education

Educated at Wilderness School in Adelaide – she was head prefect in 1960 – she attended both the University of Adelaide and the Australian National University.^[13] There, studying history, English literature, and education, Magarey attained the following:

• B.A.(Hons) – Adelaide (1964)
• Dip.Ed. – Adelaide (1965)
• M.A. – ANU (1972)^[14]
• PhD – ANU (1976)^[15]

Career

Honours and awards

• 2006 – Member of the Order of Australia^[16]
• 2005 – Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
• 1986 – Walter McRae Russell Award^[17] for Unbridling the Tongues of Women, first published 1985^[18]

Magarey Medal for biography

The Magarey Medal for biography is a biennial prize with a substantial award. The prize is awarded to the female author who has published the work judged to be the best biographical writing on an Australian subject in the preceding two years.^[19] The prize is donated by Susan Magarey.

Prize winners have been:

• 2004 – Heather Goodall and Isabel Flick, Isabel Flick: the Many Lives of an Extraordinary Aboriginal Woman, Allen and Unwin
• 2006 – Prue Torney-Parlicki, Behind the News: a Biography of Peter Russo, UWA Press
• 2008 – Sylvia Martin, Ida Leeson: a Life, Allen and Unwin
• 2010 – Jill Roe, Stella Miles Franklin: a Biography, Fourth Estate
• 2012 – Sheila Fitzpatrick, My Father's Daughter: Memories of an Australian Childhood, Melbourne University Press
• 2014 – Fiona Paisley, The Lone Protestor: AM Fernando in Australia and Europe, Aboriginal Studies Press
• 2016 – Libby Connors, Warrior: A Legendary Leader's Dramatic Life and Violent Death on the Colonial Frontier, Allen and Unwin
• 2018 – Alexis Wright, Tracker, Giramondo^[20]
• 2020 – Helen Ennis, Olive Cotton: A Life in Photography, 4th Estate^[21]
• 2022 – Bernadette Brennan, Leaping into Waterfalls: The enigmatic Gillian Mears, Allen and Unwin^[22]
• 2024 – Ann-Marie Priest, My Tongue Is My Own: A life of Gwen Harwood, La Trobe University Press^[23]

Bibliography

Dissertations

• Eade, Susan Margaret (1971). A Study of Catherine Helen Spence, 1825–1910 (M.A. thesis). Australian National University.
• Eade, Susan Margaret (November 1975). The Reclaimers: A Study of the Reformatory Movement in England and Wales, 1846–1893 (PDF) (PhD thesis). Australian National University. OCLC 222119517. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

Books

• Magarey, Susan (1985). Unbridling the tongues of women : a biography of Catherine Helen Spence. Sydney: Hale & Iremonger.
  • — (2010) [1985]. Unbridling the tongues of women : a biography of Catherine Helen Spence. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.
  • — (2010) [1985]. Unbridling the tongues of women : a biography of Catherine Helen Spence (PDF). [Digital version]. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press.
• Susan Magarey and Lyndall Ryan (1990) Bibliography of Australian women's history
• Susan Magarey, Passions of the first wave feminists (UNSW Press), Kensington, 2001.
• Susan Magarey (ed.) with Barbara Wall, Mary Lyons and Maryan Beams, Ever Yours, C.H. Spence: Catherine Helen Spence's An Autobiography (1825–1910), Diary (1894) and Some Correspondence (1894–1910), (Wakefield Press), Adelaide, 2005.
• Susan Magarey, ed. (2006). Ever Yours, C. H. Spence. Wakefield Press. ISBN 1-86254-656-8.
• Susan Magarey and Kerrie Round (2007, 2009) Roma the First: a Biography of Dame Roma Mitchell Wakefield Press, Adelaide
• Susan Magarey (2009) Looking Backward: Looking Forward. A History of the Queen Adelaide Club 1909–2009 Queen Adelaide Club, 2009
• Dangerous Ideas: Women's Liberation, Women's Studies, Around the World (2015) University of Adelaide Press.

Articles and book chapters

• Susan Eade, 'Social History in Britain in 1976: A Survey', Labour History, No.31, (November 1976), pp. 38–52. doi=10.2307/27508236
• Susan Eade, 'Now We Are Six: A Plea for Women's Liberation', Refractory Girl, Nos.13–14, (March 1977), pp. 3–11.
• Susan Magarey, 'Feminist Visions across the Pacific: Catherine Helen Spence's Handfasted', Antipodes: A North American Journal of Australian Literature, vol.3, no.1, Spring 1989.
• Susan Magarey, 'Sex vs Citizenship: Votes for Women in South Australia', Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, no.21, 1993.
• Susan Magarey, 'Catherine Helen Spence', Constitutional Centenary: The Newsletter of the Constitutional Centenary Foundation Inc., vol.2, no.2, May 1993.
• Susan Magarey, 'Why Didn't They Want to be Members of Parliament? Suffragists in South Australia', in Caroline Daley and Melanie Nolan (eds), Suffrage and Beyond: International Feminist Perspectives, (Auckland University Press/Pluto Press Australia), Auckland/Annandale, 1994.
• Susan Magarey, 'Catherine Helen Spence – Novelist' in Philip Butterss (ed.), Southwords: Essays on South Australian Writing (Wakefield Press), Kent Town, 1995.
• Susan Magarey, 'Catherine Helen Spence and the Federal Convention', The New Federalist: The Journal of Australian Federation History, no.1, June 1998.
• Susan Magarey, 'Spence, Catherine Helen (1825–1910)' in Helen Irving (ed.), The Centenary Companion to Australian Federation (Cambridge University Press) Oakleigh, 1999.
• Susan Magarey, 'Secrets and Revelations: A Newly Discovered Diary', Bibliofile, vol.11, no.2, August 2004.
• Susan Magarey, 'Catherine Helen Spence (1825–1910' in J.E. King (ed.), A Biographical Dictionary of Australian and New Zealand Economists (Edward Elgar), Cheltenham/Northampton, 2007.
• 'What is Happening to Women's History in Australia at the Beginning of the Third Millennium?', Women's History Review, Vol.16, No.1, February 2007;
• 'Dreams and Desires: four 1970s Feminist Visions of Utopia', Australian Feminist Studies, Vol.22, No. 53, July 2007;
• 'Dame Roma Mitchell's Unmentionables: Sex, Politics and Religion', the Fourth History Council of South Australia Lecture, 2007, in History Australia, 2008;
• When it changed: the beginnings of Women's Liberation in Australia in David Roberts and Martin Crotty (eds), Turning Points in Australian History (UNSW Press) Sydney, 2008;
• Three Questions for Biographers: Public or Private? Individual or Society? Truth or Beauty?, Journal of Historical Biography (Canada), no.4, Autumn 2008;
• The Sexual Revolution as Big Flop, in Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ed.), Dialogue, vol.27, no.3, 2008;
• 'The invention of juvenile delinquency in early nineteenth century England', first pub. Labour History, 1978, republished in John Muncie and Barry Goldson (eds), Youth Crime and Juvenile Justice, 3 vols (Sage Publications), London 2008.
• The private life of Catherine Helen Spence 1825–1910 in Graeme Davison, Pat Jalland and Wilfrid Prest (eds), Body and Mind in Modern British and Australian History: Essays in Honour of FB Smith (Melbourne University Publishing), Melbourne, 2009.
• '"To Demand Equality Is To Lack Ambition": Sex Discrimination legislation: contexts and contradictions', Conference held at the Australian National University to mark the Silver anniversary of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, October 2009, now published in Margaret Thornton (ed.), Sex Discrimination in Uncertain Times (ANU E Press) Canberra, 2010.
• Susan Magarey, 'Catherine Helen Spence's Journalism: Some Social Aspects of South Australian Life, By A Colonist of 1839 – C.H. Spence' in Margaret Anderson, Kate Walsh and Bernard Whimpress (eds), Adelaide Snapshots 1850–1875 (Wakefield Press), Kent Town, 2010, forthcoming.

Book reviews

• Eade, Susan (9 December 1972). "Horne from whoa to go". The Canberra Times. Vol. 47, no. 13302. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. p. 10. Retrieved 22 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
• Magarey, Susan, "The Bolter", [Review of Ann Moyal's A Woman of Influence: Science, Men and History. UWA Publishing]. Australian Book Review, volume 364, (September 2014), p. 40.

Footnotes

1. "Professor Susan Magarey". University of Adelaide. 3 October 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
2. Professor Susan Magarey, AM, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, www.assa.edu.au
3. Births: Magarey, The (Adelaide) Advertiser, (Friday, 27 February 1914), p.14.
4. 16 knights, two dames in honours list, The Canberra Times, (Monday, 31 December 1979), p.1.
5. Magarey – Gilbert Engagement, The (Adelaide) News, (Thursday, 2 February 1939), p.13.
6. Marriage at Wiliamstown, The (Adelaide) News, (Wednesday, 3 April 1940), p.6.
7. Births: Magarey, The (Adelaide) Chronicle, (Thursday, 27 May 1943), p.10.
8. Births: Magarey, The (Adelaide) Chronicle, (Thursday, 11 July 1946), p.16; James Magarey awarded Lifetime Fellowship with the RACGP (on 27 November 2011), Eastbooke Medical Centres.
9. Births: Magarey, The (Adelaide) Chronicle, (Thursday, 23 September 1948), p.16.
10. Births: Magarey, The (Adelaide) Advertiser, (Monday, 13 October 1952), p.12.
11. Dr Mary Elizabeth Magarey, FASMF, Grad Dip Advanced Manip Therapy; PHD; Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist; Specialist Sports Physiotherapist conducts a practice in Adelaide.
12. "Work or marriage? Dilemmas for women 1960s". Australian Broadcasting Commission. 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
13. Launching at Menzies Library, The Canberra Times, (Wednesday, 22 July 1970), p.17; ANU's attitude to women criticised, The Canberra Times, (Friday, 1 December 1972), p.1.
14. As "Susan M. Eade".
15. Also as "Susan M. Eade".
16. Member of the Order of Australia, 12 June 2006, It's An Honour
    Citation: For service to education as a pioneer of women's studies as an academic discipline, to tertiary curriculum development, and to professional and historical organisations.
17. A & R Chief Resigns, The Canberra Times, (Wednesday, 30 July 1968), p.20; Walter McRae Russell Award, Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL), asaliterature.com
18. Susan Magarey (1985, 2010) Unbridling the Tongues of Women: a biography of Catherine Helen Spence, University of Adelaide Press, 214 pp, ISBN 978-0-9806723-0-5 Free Download
19. Magarey Medal for biography, the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL) and the Australian Historical Association, asaliterature.com
20. "Wright awarded 2018 Magarey Medal". Books+Publishing. 4 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
21. "Magarey Medal – Previous Winners". The Australian Historical Association. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
22. "Jackson's 'Human Looking' wins ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
23. "Hogan wins Mary Gilmore Award, Priest wins Magarey Medal". Books+Publishing. 11 July 2024. Retrieved 17 July 2024.

References

• Harrison, Sharon M. "Magarey, Susan Margaret". The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
• Heywood, Anne (8 March 2019). "Magarey, Susan (1943 – )". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
• Wallace, Ilona (1 May 2015). "Susan Magarey: Australian Feminism and Dangerous Ideas". The Adelaide Review. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

External links

• Small photo, www.adelaide.edu.au