Kate Darian-Smith

Executive Dean and Pro Vice-Chancellor College of Arts, Law and Education
University of Tasmania

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Profile

Professor Kate Darian-Smith is passionate about understanding the social and cultural changes that have shaped Australian peoples and places.  As a leading historian of Australia, she is known for her distinctive cross-disciplinary approach, and her engagement with cultural heritage and the ways that historic events are publicly commemorated. “The narratives that we tell about the past matter today in vital ways, underpinning our actions, attitudes and emotional responses to contemporary challenges,” she said.

Across her career, Professor Darian-Smith has published widely, including works on settler-Indigenous interactions on Australia’s colonial frontiers, the impact of World War I and World War II on national identity, the histories of childhood, and the cultural sustainability of rural communities.

Professor Darian-Smith is also a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.