Faculty of Arts Confers Honorary Doctorates
On Tuesday 12 December, the Faculty of Arts conferred three Honorary Doctorates, each within the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies.
Pictured (L-R): Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick, Professor Alexandra Walsham and Mr Djambawa Marawili.
The awardees were Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick – a distinguished Soviet Union historian of more than 50 years; Mr Djambawa Marawili – a highly respected Indigenous artist and community leader; and Professor Alexandra Walsham – a professor of religious and cultural history of early modern Britain.
Dean of the Faculty of Arts, the Reverend Professor Russell Goulbourne, celebrated this occasion by congratulating the recipients.
“These awards acknowledge the truly outstanding contributions of Sheila Fitzpatrick, Djambawa Marawili and Alexandra Walsham in their respective fields”, said Russell. “It is a privilege to recognise them in this way.”
Professor Margaret Cameron, Head of the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, said: “These three scholars’ work over decades highlight the enduring influence of social and historical studies for cultures and communities. They are impressive both in their careers and as leaders – it is fitting they should be chosen to receive the University’s highest honour.”
Since beginning her career as a student at the University of Melbourne in 1961, Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick has developed into the most distinguished historian of the Soviet Union in her generation, with her work transforming the study of Soviet history.
Author of award-winning, field defining publications on the history of the Russian Revolution and of Stalinism, she is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A generous and supportive scholar, Prof. Fitzpatrick is known amongst early career and established historians worldwide for her careful mentoring and a new generation of fine historians can trace a direct lineage to her training and mentorship of them.
Sheila is currently Distinguished Service Professor Emerita at the University of Chicago, Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney, and research professor at the Australian Catholic University.
Her achievements distinguish her an expert historian and as one of the first women to reach such heights of academic achievement in her chosen field.
Djambawa Marawili leads the Madarrpa clan in north-eastern Arnhem Land, where he serves as a ceremonial expert in Yolngu law and culture. He utilises his paintings of country as a powerful tool in the legal battle for Yolngu land and sea rights.
His work is internationally acclaimed, with pieces held in collections including the Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, JW Kluge Collection in Virginia, and the President of India Art Collection. He is also a multiple-time recipient of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA).
As a cultural leader residing on ancestral lands, Djambawa works tirelessly to educate and advocate for his people.
In 1988, Djambawa co-presented the Barunga Statement to the Prime Minister, a painted document calling for treaty. His coordination of the Sea Rights claim in Federal Court culminated in the landmark 2008 Blue Mud Bay case, with the High Court recognising Aboriginal land ownership between low and high water marks.
In 2022, he established a 10-year Djalkiripuyngu Local Decision-Making Agreement with the Northern Territory Government, championing self-determination for the homelands around Blue Mud Bay.
Djambawa chairs ANKA, the peak body for Aboriginal artists and Art Centres across Northern Australia and directs the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre in Yirrkala. In recognition of his contributions to arts administration, Djambawa was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2010. Advocating for community development from his homeland of Baniyala, Djambawa was selected in 2014 for the Prime Ministers Indigenous Advisory Council.
Professor Alexandra Walsham is a renowned historian of the religious and cultural history of early modern Britain.
Alexandra began her trailblazing international career at the University of Melbourne, where she graduated with both a Bachelor and Masters of Arts in History. She is now Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, where she also served as Chair of the Faculty of History between 2019 and 2022 – the first woman to hold both positions.
Among her prize-winning books are Providence in Early Modern England (Oxford University Press, 1999), which won the Longman-History Today Prize and the American Historical Association’s Morris D. Forkosch Prize. Her 2011 book The Reformation of the Landscape (OUP) was the joint winner of the Wolfson History Prize, winner of the American Historical Association’s Leo Gershoy Award and winner of the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference Roland H. Bainton Prize.
Alexandra has been a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society since 1999 and was elected as Fellow of both the British Academy (2009) and the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2013). In 2017, Alexandra was appointed a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for services to History in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
The Faculty of Arts congratulates all of this month’s Honorary Doctorate recipients.