RAHS Day Lecture – A Transgressive Life: Monte Punshon and the Transformation of Australia, 1882–1989

Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 4 September 2024 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm

Event Location: Online via Zoom

Cost: Free

Event Description:

In her 106-year-long life, Ethel May (Monte) Punshon transgressed many of the social norms of her time. She crossed accepted boundaries of gender and sexuality and geographical borders separating Australia from Asia and the Pacific. This talk will explore the challenges of researching and writing Monte Punshon’s story and consider the light that her life throws on the transformation of Australian society from the 1880s to the 1980s.

About the speaker:

Tessa Morris-Suzuki is a professor emerita in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University. Her publications include The Past Within Us (2005), Borderline Japan (2010) and On the Frontiers of History (2020). She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Her most recent book is A Secretive Century: Monte Punshon’s Australia (Melbourne University Publishing, 2024).