WILSON HISTORY ORATION 2023

‘Inundated’: floods, history and high water

At the second annual Wilson Oration, eminent environmental historian Dr Margaret Cook explored the ways historians can engage with the public, the media, other professions and policy makers. In discussing her work on floods, she highlighted how her role and training as a public historian shapes her scholarship and historical practice during one of our greatest crises in history: the climate emergency.

To view a recording of this oration CLICK HERE.

Thank you to the voluntary organising committee: Sonia Jennings, Kimberly Meagher, Alicia Cerreto, Helen Penrose, Mary Sheehan and Peter Hobbins.

Dr Margaret Cook is one of Australia’s experts on the history of water, rivers and ‘natural’ disasters. Her recent books include the acclaimed A River with a City Problem: a history of Brisbane floods; a co-edited collection Disasters in Australia and New Zealand, and a co-authored book Cities in a Sunburnt Country.

Margaret is a Research Fellow in the Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University and at La Trobe University and is currently undertaking work on histories of the Murray Darling Basin, while continuing to work on floods. She is a long-standing member of the Professional Historians Association (Qld).