Cassandra Jean Pybus (born 29 September 1947) is an Australian historian and writer. She is a former professorial fellow in history at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

, and has published extensively on Australian and American history. Pybus was born in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smalle ...

, Tasmania and educated at North Sydney Girls High School and the

. Her mother, Betty Pybus, was a pioneer of women's health in Sydney and Tasmania. From 1989 to 1994, Pybus was editor of the literary magazine ''

Island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

''. She won the

Colin Roderick Award The Colin Roderick Award is presented annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at Queensland's James Cook University for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life". It was first present ...

in 1993 for ''Gross Moral Turpitude'', a re-examination of the case of Sydney Sparkes Orr, a Northern Irish academic who became embroiled in a scandal involving a relationship with a student whilst working at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

. In 2000, she won an Adelaide Festival Award for Literature for ''The Devil and James McAuley'', a biography of the poet

James McAuley James Phillip McAuley (12 October 1917 – 15 October 1976) was an Australian academic, poet, journalist, literary critic and a prominent convert to Roman Catholicism. He was involved in the Ern Malley poetry hoax. Life and career McAuley wa ...

. Pybus was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or gov ...

in 2001 for outstanding contribution to Tasmanian and Australian literature and education. In 2020 she was shortlisted for the Nonfiction Book Award at the

Queensland Literary Awards The Queensland Literary Awards is an awards program established in 2012 by the Queensland literary community, funded by sponsors and administered by the State Library of Queensland. Like the former Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the QLAs ...

for ''Truganini'' and for the Nonfiction prize at the 2021 Indie Book Awards as well as the 2021 Biography book of the year at the

Australian Book Industry Awards The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) are publishers' and literary awards held by the Australian Publishers Association annually in Sydney "to celebrate the achievements of authors and publishers in bringing Australian books to readers". ...

with ''Truganini''.' In August 2021 she won the

National Biography Award The National Biography Award, established in Australia in 1996, is awarded for the best published work of biographical or autobiographical writing by an Australian. It aims "to encourage the highest standards of writing biography and autobiography ...

with ''Truganini,'' while in November 2021 she was elected a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

Books

* ''Truganini: Journey Through the Apocalypse'' (2020) * ''Enterprising Women: Gender Race and Power in the Revolutionary Atlantic'' (with Kit Candlin; 2015) * ''Other Middle Passages'' (edited with

Marcus Rediker Marcus Rediker (born 1951 in Owensboro, Kentucky) is an American professor, historian, writer, and activist for a variety of peace and social justice causes. He graduated with a B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1976 and attended the U ...

and Emma Christopher; 2007) * ''Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway slaves of the American Revolution and their global quest for liberty'' (2006) * ''Black Founders: The unknown story of Australia's first black settlers'' (2006) * ''The Woman who Walked to Russia: A writer's search for a lost legend'' (2004) * ''American Citizens, British Slaves: Yankee political prisoners in an Australian penal colony, 1839–1850'' (with Hamish Maxwell-Stewart; 2002) * ''Raven Road'' (2001) * ''The Devil and James McAuley'' (1999) * ''Till Apples Grow on an Orange Tree'' (1998) * ''White Rajah: A Dynastic Intrigue'' (1996) * ''Gross Moral Turpitude: The Orr Case Reconsidered'' (1993) * ''Community of Thieves'' (1991)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pybus, Cassandra 1947 births Living people Australian women historians 20th-century Australian historians 21st-century Australian historians Academic staff of the University of Sydney University of Sydney alumni People educated at North Sydney Girls High School Writers from Tasmania People from Hobart Recipients of the Centenary Medal 21st-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian women writers Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities