Foremothers VI: Kathleen Fitzpatrick (1905-1990), Margaret Kiddle (1914-1958) and Australian History after the Second World War

Authors

Patricia Grimshaw, University of Melbourne
Jane L. Carey, University of MelbourneFollow

RIS ID

100452

Publication Details

Grimshaw, P. and Carey, J. L. (2001). Foremothers VI: Kathleen Fitzpatrick (1905-1990), Margaret Kiddle (1914-1958) and Australian History after the Second World War. Gender and History, 13 (2), 349-373.

Abstract

This article explores the pioneering efforts of two Australian historians, Margaret Kiddle and Kathleen Fitzpatrick, to place issues of women and gender centrally in a narrative of Australia's past. While they were not the first women to enter the history profession in Australia, both women made a significant mark on the Australian history profession in the years after World War II. Furthermore, their first books represent the earliest scholarly Australian works in which women appeared as central figures. Their achievement was initially overlooked by feminists of the 1970s, but in retrospect can be viewed as a first step in subverting the dominant masculinity of Australian national identity.