BA (Hons) Syd, PhD (ANU)

Professor of History; Chair University of Queensland Press Board

Office: Room 301, Michie Building (#9)
Phone: (61 7) 3365 2698
Email: p.spearritt@uq.edu.au

Teaching
Urban history, Australian iconography, coastal development, public space, world cities.

Research interests
Coastal urbanisation and Australian capital cities, the conservation of natural and built heritage, the water, energy and transport crisis in south-east Queensland.

Current research projects
ARC linkage grant on Historical Atlas of Queensland, with Queensland Museum.

Selected recent publications
Sydney’s Century: A History, UNSW Press, 2000. 316pp.
Holiday Business: Tourism in Australia since l870, MUP, 2000, 370pp, with Jim Davidson.
‘The commercialisation of public space’ in P.Troy ed Equity, Environment, Efficiency, MUP, 2000, pp.81-96.
Seeing Brisbane 1881-2001, Brisbane Institute, 2002, 50pp, editor.
‘Can Brisbane remain a sub-tropical city’, Queensland Review, Nov. 2003, pp.25-36.
Electrifying Sydney, Energy Australia, 2004, 136pp, with George Wilkenfeld.
‘Positioning: on site and in situ’ in G. Davison and K. Webber eds., Yesterday’s Tomorrows: The Powerhouse Museum and its Precursors, University of NSW Press, 2005, pp.240-253.
‘Brisbane’ in P. Beilharz  and T.Hogan eds, Relocating Sociology: Place, Time and Division, Oxford University Press, 2006.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge: A Life, 75th anniversary edition, UNSW Press, 2007, 178pp.
Kenneth Macqueen’s coastal landscapes’ in R.Dezuanni (ed), Making it Modern: the watercolours of Kenneth Macqueen, Queensland Art Gallery, 2007, pp.40-47.

See Full List of Publications.

Other activities and service
Executive of Queensland Shelter, Executive Director, The Brisbane Institute (2001-2006); co-curator of Seeing Brisbane (Brisbane City Gallery 2002), The 200 kilometre City: Noosa to the Tweed (Museum of Brisbane 2004-5), Defending the North (UQ Art Museum, 2005-6). Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Australia.