My Profile

Dr Jennifer Debenham is a professional historian specialising in colonial contact histories, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies, local and social histories, oral history with interests in the histories of science and technology and food consumption. Currently she is a Conjoint Lecturer at the University of Newcastle at the Centre for the History of Violence and the Centre for 21st Century Digital Humanities. She is the Senior Research Assistant on the Colonial Frontier Massacre Map Project https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/ awarded the 2019 NSW Premier’s Award for Digital History and a Walkley Award for Indigenous Reporting both with The Guardian newspaper. Formerly a lecturer and tutor in Australian History and Sociology, she has extensive experience in communicating her enthusiasm of history, presenting a range of topics to both academic and community groups. She has prepared a number of commissioned histories with fellow PHA member Dr Christine Cheater for the City of Sydney Harbour Authority and NGOs. Jennifer is also a sole author of academic books and journal articles and has experience in reviewing books and articles for academic journals. Living on the Central Coast she is a member of the Brisbane Waters Historical Society.