Marilyn Lake

Marilyn Lee Lake, (born 5 January 1949) is an Australian historian. She is known for her work on the effects of the military and war on Australian civil society, the political history of Australian women, and racism in Australia, including the White Australia Policy, and the movement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander human rights.

She was awarded a personal chair in history at La Trobe University in 1994. She has been elected a Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities and a Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

Early life and education Marilyn Lee Calvert was born on 5 January 1949 in Kettering, Tasmania.

She studied history at the University of Tasmania, where she resided at Jane Franklin Hall, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts on 10 April 1968. That year she submitted her honours thesis, W.A. Wood's and the Clipper, 1903 – 1909. A Study in Radical Journalism, and was awarded Honours which was conferred on 2 April 1969.

On 11 April 1973 she was graduated Master of Arts by the University of Tasmania.

She was graduated a Doctor of Philosophy by Monash University in 1984. Her doctoral thesis, "The limits of hope: soldier settlement in Victoria, 1915–1938" became a book with the same title in 1987.

Career In 1986, Lake was appointed a lecturer in History and Social Theory at The University of Melbourne.

In 2011, Lake was awarded another Australian Research Council Professorial Research Fellowship "to investigate the international history of Australian democracy. She will research both the impact of Australian democratic innovation – manhood suffrage, the 8-hour day, the Australian ballot, women's rights – overseas, and Australian engagements with international organisations such as the ILO and United Nations, the translation of new human rights into citizenship rights, at home, in the twentieth century."

She is known for her work on the effects of the military and war on Australian civil society, the political history of Australian women, and racism in Australia, including the White Australia Policy and the movement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander human rights. Committees and voluntary work Lake is a former president, Australian Historical Association.

Lake is a member of the reference group of the Australian Women's History Forum.

Lake is a member of the editorial boards of Labor History, Journal of Australian Studies and Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, and was a member of the editorial board of Australian Historical Studies between 2006 and 2009. 1995, elected Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities 1999, elected Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia 2000, awarded Doctor of Letters (honoris causa), University of Tasmania 2002, Human Rights Arts Non-Fiction Award for Faith: a biography of Faith Bandler 2003, Centenary Medal 2006, Victorian Honour Roll of Women 2008, Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, History Book – Faculty of Arts, University of Queensland Award for Drawing the Global Colour Line (with Henry Reynolds) 2009, Prime Minister's Literary Award for non-fiction book Drawing the Global Colour Line (with Henry Reynolds) 2009, The University of Melbourne Ernest Scott Prize for Drawing the Global Line (with Henry Reynolds) 2018, appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for "distinguished service to higher education, particularly to the social sciences, as an academic, researcher and author, and through contributions to historical organisations." 2019, NSW Premier's History Awards – General History Prize, shortlisted for Progressive New World: How Settler Colonialism and Transpacific Exchange Shaped American Reform (Harvard University Press).

In February 2019, Monash University Publishing released Contesting Australian History: Essays in Honour of Marilyn Lake edited by Joy Damousi and Judith Smart. The contents are papers presented at a two-day celebration of Lake's career held at the University of Melbourne in 2016.

Major works A Divided Society (1975) Double Time: Women in Victoria 150 Years (1985) (co-editor) The Limits of Hope: Soldier Settlement in Victoria 1915–38 (1987) Australians at Work: Commentaries and Sources (1991) (co-editor) Creating a Nation (1994, reprinted 1996, 2000) (jointly) Getting Equal: The History of Australian Feminism (1999) Faith Bandler Gentle Activist (2002) Connected Worlds: History in Transnational Perspective (2006) Memory, Monuments and Museums (2006) Drawing the Global Colour Line (2008) with Henry Reynolds What's Wrong with ANZAC? The Militarisation of Australian History (2010) with Henry Reynolds Progressive New World: How Settler Colonialism and Transpacific Exchange Shaped American Reform (2019)