Melanie Claire Nolan (born 1960) is a historian and university academic from New Zealand, specialising in labour and gender history. She is the director of the National Centre of Biography at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

, and general editor of the

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

(ADB).

Early life and education

Melanie Claire Nolan was born in 1960 in

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast region of New Zealand, approximately northeast of Greymouth, New Zealand, Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is to ...

, on the West Coast of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

of New Zealand, to Paul Nolan and Alison Coad. She attended many schools as her parents moved around the country for work, including

Villa Maria College Villa Maria College is a private Catholic college in Buffalo, New York, United States. It was founded in 1961 by the Felician Sisters. History The college was initially a teacher-training center for sisters in the education apostolate and wa ...

, Christchurch (1967–1971), Mercy College, Timaru (1971) and St Patrick's College, Teschemakers, Oamaru, Oamaru (1974–1975) and Mount Maunganui College, where she was dux. In 1978 she won a scholarship to study at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

, which she attended from 1979 to 1985. She obtained a Master of Arts in 1985, with her masters thesis titled ''Jack McCullough : workers' representative on the Arbitration Court''. She then won a further scholarship to study at the Australian National University, which she attended from 1986 to 1989 for her doctoral degree. Her thesis was a case study of women

Blue-collar worker A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labour, manual labor or Tradesman, skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, Warehouse, warehousing, mining, ...

s in

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

, from 1880 to 1939.

Career

Nolan lectured in history at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

from 1992 to 2008, including holding the position of head of the history department for two years. She also worked in the New Zealand public service, including the

State Services Commission The Public Service Commission (PSC; ), called the State Services Commission until 2020, is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with overseeing, managing, and improving the performance of the public sector organisations ...

(1984–1986), the Treaty Issues Unit of the Crown Law Office (1989), and the Historical Branch of the

Department of Internal Affairs The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing passports; administering applications for citizenship and lottery grants; enforcing censorship and gambling laws; registering births, ...

(1990–1992). In 2008 Nolan was appointed general editor of the ADB as well as Professor of History, Director of the National Centre of Biography (NCB), positions she still holds .

Recognition

Nolan won the 2006 Archives & Records Association of New Zealand Ian Wards Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2007 Ernest Scott Prize for her work ''Kin''. In 2016 she was elected Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...

Selected works

* ''Suffrage and Beyond: International Feminist Perspectives'' (1994), (ed.) * ''Breadwinning. New Zealand Women and the State'' (2000) * ''Kin: A Collective Biography of a New Zealand Working-class Family'' (2005), Canterbury University Press * ''Revolution: The 1913 Great Strike in New Zealand'' (2006), (ed.), Canterbury University Press * ''War and Class. The Diary of Jack McCullough'' (2009), (ed.) * ''Unions In Common Cause: The New Zealand Federation of Labour'', 1937–1988 (2011), (ed.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Melanie Living people 1960 births People from Reefton People educated at Villa Maria College, Christchurch University of Canterbury alumni Australian National University alumni Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington 20th-century New Zealand historians New Zealand emigrants to Australia Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia 21st-century New Zealand historians People educated at Mount Maunganui College People educated at St Kevin's College, Oamaru