Shurlee Lesley Swain, (born 1948) is an Australian social welfare historian, researcher and author. Since August 2017 she has been an Emeritus Professor at the

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamation ...

(ACU).

Early life and education

Swain was born in 1948 at

Natimuk, Victoria Natimuk is a town in Western Victoria, Australia. It is located about northwest of Melbourne. A further west of Natimuk is one of Australia's best climbing areas, Mount Arapiles. At the 2016 census, Natimuk had a population of 514, up from ...

. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father a grocer. The family relocated to Ringwood in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1951, where she completed all her schooling. At the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

she completed a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

with

Honours Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself as a code of conduct, and has various elements such as valo ...

and Diploma of Social Work before completing her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

in 1977 on ''The Victorian Charity Network in the 1890s''.

Career

Swain's career as an academic began as a tutor in Australian Studies at

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

, before being appointed lecturer at her alma mater, the University of Melbourne, in the late 1980s. From there she moved to the

(ACU) when it opened in 1991. In 2011 Swain, together with Professor Cathy Humphreys and Associate Professor Gavan McCarthy, were appointed the three Chief Investigators in the Australia-wide Find and Connect Project — a project to provide history and information about Australian orphanages, children's homes and other institutions. Outside her university commitments, for the

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a royal commission announced in November 2012 and established in 2013 by the Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902 to inquire into and repo ...

in 2014, Swain wrote three reports: *"History of Child Protection Legislation" *"History of Institutions providing Out-of-Home Residential Care for Children" *"History of Australian inquiries reviewing institutions providing care for children" Swain resigned from her position as Professor of Humanities in the School of Arts and Sciences at ACU in 2017 after ten years in that position. ACU celebrated her retirement by hosting a symposium and reception in her honour. With

Judith Smart Judith Smart (born 20 October 1950) is an Australian social historian and feminist. Early life and education Born in Melbourne, Victoria on 20 October 1950, Smart completed her secondary education at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School. She g ...

, Swain is co-editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia''.

Awards and recognition

* 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 ...

(FASSA) in 2007 * Elected 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 Australi ...

(FAHA) in 2017 * Appointed

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) in the

2018 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

for "significant service to education, particularly through comparative social history, as an academic, author, and researcher, and to the community".

Selected works

As author

* * * * *

As editor

* *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swain, Shurlee 1948 births Living people University of Melbourne alumni Academic staff of the Australian Catholic University Members of the Order of Australia Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Australian women historians 20th-century Australian historians 21st-century Australian historians 21st-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian women writers