Dr Noeline Kyle
Noeline has published widely in the fields of women’s history, biography, Australian history and family history. Since her retirement from formal university teaching, Noeline has been awarded an Emeritus Professorship from QUT for a distinguished record in the profession of history in 2001.
Noeline published Her Natural Destiny: Women and Education in NSW, (NSW University Press, Kensington, 1985) – the first book to be published on the history of women's education in NSW. She published We Should Have Listened to Grandma: Women and Family History (Allen & Unwin, 1988) and her latest book Writing Family History Made Very Easy (Allen & Unwin, 2007) is written as a comprehensive step-by-step guide to show how the writing of history and family history can be done in a scholarly and readable way. Following the publication of Writing Family History Made Very Easy Noeline was invited to speak at the Sydney Writers Festival and Brisbane Writers Festival in 2007.
In 2005 Noeline delivered a paper 'Emigration of Women to Australia: Forced and Voluntary' to the Society of Genealogists, London this work based on her many years of working with and supporting the writing of women's history in 19th-century Australia. In 2008 she presented a paper 'Mad Aunts, Illegitimate children and Royal bloodlines: Family, Women and History in 2008' to the Australian National Museum of Education. Noeline has published innumerable articles on women’s history including articles about women on the Newcastle coalfields, books and articles on women teachers and girls' schooling and completed a biography of her great grandmother, Memories & Dreams: A Biography of Nurse Mary Kirkpatrick, in 2001.
Noeline published her latest book, A greater guilt: Constance Emilie Kent and the Road Murder (Boolarong Press, Brisbane) about an English immigrant, nurse and matron/superintendent of the Parramatta Industrial School for Girls, in September 2009. Her next major project will be to write a memoir of Australian childhood in the 1940s and she continues her work on the history of midwives on the mid-north coast of NSW. A book launch for A Greater Guilt was hosted by the Nursing History Research Unit in October 2009.
Noeline has also participated in History Week in 2007, 2008 and 2009, within the Nursing History Research Unit – with this planned again for 2010. In 2009 the NHRU presented an exhibition on Researching Nurses, Midwives and Health Professionals – under the History Week theme of 'Scandals, Crime and Corruption'. The staff of the unit also completed an information guide on how to research nurses, midwives and health professionals.
Areas of expertise
Noeline works in the fields of history of education, family history writing, memoir, biography and 19th-century Australian women’s history.
Current research projects
Noeline is currently conducting a study of midwives on the mid-north coast of NSW.
She will publish a book later this year, A greater guilt: Constance Emilie Kent and the Road Murder, about an English immigrant, nurse and matron/superintendent of the Parramatta Industrial School for Girls. She also has a long term project writing a memoir of Australian childhood in the 1940s.
Recent publications
Books and book chapters
Biography and Autobiography in the History of Education, Proceedings, N Kyle (ed.), Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society, 21st Annual Conference, University of Wollongong, October 1991, 365pp.
Childhood, Citizenship & Culture, Volumes 1 & 2, Proceedings, Noeline Kyle (ed.), with Joanne Scott & Catherine Manathunga, ANZHES Conference, QUT, Brisbane, 1997.
"Peter Board", in Oxford Companion to Australian History, G Davison, J Hirst & S Macintyre (eds), Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1998, pp77-78.
"Reconstructing Childhood: A Historical Introduction to the rise of mass schooling', in D Meadmore, P O'Brien & B Burnett, Understanding education: Contexts and agendas for the new millennium. Sydney: Prentice Hall. 1999.
A Class of its Own: A History of Queensland University of Technology, (with Catherine Manathunga & Joanne Scott), Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1999.
Memories & Dreams: A Biography of Nurse Mary Kirkpatrick, Mullumbimby, 2001.
“I’ll take you home Kathleen”, in N Kyle, L Semple & J Mulcahy (eds) Remembering Mothers: an inspiring anthology of short stories, letters and poetry, Northern Rivers Family History Writer’s Group, Lismore, 2005, pp151-163.
Remembering Mothers: an inspiring anthology of short stories, letters and poetry, Noeline Kyle (ed.), with Lybbie Semple & Jan Mulcahy), Northern Rivers Family History Writer’s Group, Lismore, 2005.
"The songs my father sang to me: Irish Influences on the Life and Music of Slim Dusty", (with Rob Willis) in Jeff Brownrigg, Cheryl Mongan and Richard Reid (eds) Echoes of Irish Australia: Rebellion to Republic, St Clement's Retreat and Conference Centre, Galong, 2007, pp182-190.
Writing Family History Made Very Easy, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2007.
Music, Myth & Memory: A Kyle Family History, Arncliffe, 2008.
A Greater Guilt: Constance Emilie Kent and the Road Murder, Boolarong Press, Salisbury, Brisbane, 2009.
Mad Aunts, Illegitimate Children and Royal bloodlines! Family, Women and History in 2008, Monograph No. 2, Historical Perspectives on Education, Australian National Museum of Education, University of Canberra, 2009.
Journals
"Policy, Politics and Pragmatism: The State and the Rural School in Colonial New South Wales", History of Education, (British), vol. 19(1), 1990, 41-54.
"Margaret Theodora Allan", Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1940–1968, 1990/91.
"Gender Equity Policy in Australia: Past and Present", Access, vol. 10(1), 1991, 1-14.
"Can you do as you’re told? The Nineteenth Century Preparation of a Female Teacher in England and Australia”, Comparative Education Review, vol. 36(4), 1992, 467-486.
"Cara David and the 'truth' of Unscientific Travellers' Tales in Australia and the South Pacific", Womens' Studies International Forum, vol. 16(2), 1993, 105-118.
"Cara David: A leading woman in Australian education", Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 31(4), 1993, 80-99.
"Cara David: A leading woman in Australian education", Women in Management Review, Vol. 9(3), 1994, 23-36.
“A Bibliographic and historiographic analysis of educational policy in New South Wales”, Melbourne Studies in Education, 1994, 73-95 (with RC King).
“Delicate health ... interesting condition: Eliza Darling, Pregnancy and Philanthropy in Early New South Wales”, History of Education, vol. 24(1), 1995, 181-199.
"Shifting histories, shifting communities: Finding the intersections between family history, education and the community”, Locality, vol. 7(1), 1995, (with R King).
"Give us the franchise … and … we will show you how we will use it! The story of Euphemia Allen Bowes, a leading 'older' citizen", Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society Journal, vol. 84, part 1, 1998, 56-67.
"Technical bodies: Towards a gendered history of technical education in Queensland, 1880s–1940", History of Education Review, (with Joanne Scott & Catherine Manathunga), Vol.29, No.1, 2000, pp56-67.
"Rethinking the Writing of Family History: Memory, Interpretation, and Thematic Frameworks", National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol.88, No.4, 2000, pp299-308.
'Narrating the Past: Oral History and its Themes', Perspectives on Educational Leadership, QIEA, Vol.11, No.4, 2001.
"Writing Your Family History", Your Life Choices, Spring 2007, pp22-24.
"Emigation of Women to Australia: Forced and Voluntary", Descent, December 2007.
Refereed conference papers
"Post-compulsory education in Queensland: The histories of QUT", (with Joanne Scott & Catherine Manathunga), in N Kyle (ed.) Childhood, Citizenship & Culture]], Volumes 1 & 2, Proceedings, with Joanne Scott & Catherine Manathunga, ANZHES Conference, QUT, Brisbane, 1997, pp325-326.
"A class of its own! Queensland Institute of Technology, 1965-1989", with Catherine Manathunga & Joanne Scott, in Old Boundaries and New Frontiers in Histories of Education, ANZHES Conference, University of Newcastle, 7–10 December 1997, pp99-120.
"The Power to Divide and Rule: Leadership for Female Religious in Nineteenth Century Colonial Australia with a focus on the Life of Mother Vincent 'Ellen' Whitty", with Vicki Ross, in Old Boundaries and New Frontiers in Histories of Education, ANZHES Conference, University of Newcastle, 7–10 December 1997, pp618-638.
"The father and the son: the making of William and Peter Board in colonial New South Wales", Collected Papers, (with M Treuen), ANZHES Conference, University of Sydney, July 1995, pp145-152.
"A Practical Man: Peter Board and Writing Biography”, Collected Papers, Annual Conference, Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society, September 1994, Perth, pp265-274.
"Writing the lives of ordinary people in the history of education", in Biography and Autobiography in the History of Education, Proceedings, N Kyle (ed.), Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society, 21st Annual Conference, University of Wollongong, October 1991, pp151-163.
Recent presentations
"Writing the Lives of ordinary women: The case of women teachers," National Women Conference, University of Canberra, September, 1990.
"The Story of an Immigrant teacher at Whitelands College, London and Hurlstone Training College for Women, New South Wales", Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society, December 1990.
"Stories of Women and Leadership in Australian Education", Australian and New Zealand History of Education Conference, University of Auckland, 3–6 December 1990.
"Biography ten years on: the case of ordinary teachers", Symposium, Australian and New Zealand History of Education Conference, October 1991, University of Wollongong, with R Selleck, & A Spaull.
"Communities of Place, Origin and Heritage; Family history", Ideas for Australia Conference, Understanding our own country through Community History, University of NSW, November, 1991.
“Eliza Darling and Community in Early New South Wales”, Presidential Address, Australian and New Zealand History of Education Conference, October 1992, University of South Australia.
“Family History and the Oral Tradition”, Oral History Association of Australia Conference, State Library of New South Wales, September 1993.
“Everyone can write history! A discussion about the changing face of history writing in the community”, 7th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Family History, University of Queensland, Brisbane, July 1994.
“A Practical Man: Peter Board and Writing Biography”, ANZHES 1994 Conference, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, September 1994.
“Community History and Academic History: A Case Study of Popular History Research in Australia and its Relationship to the History Profession”, Australian Historical Association Conference, September, 1994.
“Women teachers and travel: the case of Cara David, Eliza Darling and Euphemia Bowes”, paper presented to the Anniversary Conference Mary Wollstonecraft in Sweden 1795–1995, Uddevalla, Sweden, September 1995.
"Leadership on the margins: Mother Vincent Whitty in colonial Queensland", thirtysomething, Australian Feminist Legacies, Genealogies and Futures Conference, Macquarie University, 20–23 February 1997, with Vicki Ross.
“A Roadmap for Writing Family History”, Invited Speaker, NSW & ACT Family History Societies Annual Conference, Blackheath, 18 September 2004.
“Emigration of Women to Australia: Forced and Voluntary”, Paper presented to Society of Genealogists, Charterhouse Buildings, London, 31 August 2005.
Invited speaker, Panel on Writing Lives: Family history, journals and memoirs, (with Patti Miller and Stephanie Dowrick), Dixson Room, Mitchell Library, 21 August 2007.
'Mad aunts, illegitimate children and royal bloodlines: family, women and history in 2098', presentation to Australian National Museum of Education and Australian College of Education, National Library, Canberra, 3 September, 2008. (To be published in a monograph series)
'The business of women: Female enterprise and midwifery nursing on the mid-north coast of NSW, 1900–1940', delivered at the College of Nursing, A goldmine for historians: the archives of the college conference, 23 October 2008.
"Her Natural Destiny: Finding Women in Educational Records in the Nineteenth Century," Paper delivered to Lost in a Woman's World: Women in 19th-Century Australia Conference, Society of Australian Genealogists, Dixson Room, Mitchell Library, November 2008.
Community work
Noeline's community work is focused on supporting amateur historians writing their local and family histories. She has been a judge for the Queensland Family History Competition since the 1990s and facilitates writing workshops throughout New South Wales. Noeline is invited to speak at seminars, workshops, conferences and meetings the following a select list of her work over the last two years:
2007
Invited Speaker, Cape Banks Family History Society, 11 May 2007
Shoalhaven Family History Fair, 15/16 June 2007
Holyroyd Family History Group, Merrylands Central library, 18 June 2007
Liverpool Genealogy Society, Hilda Davis Centre, Liverpool, 30 June 2007
Maitland Family History Circle, Family History Fair, 25 August 2007
Nepean Family History Society, 1 September 2007
Port Stephens Family History Society, History Affair, 27 October 2007
Blue Mountains Family History Society, 17 November 2007
2008
Blacktown City Library, 3 hour workshop on Writing Family History, April 2008
Northern Rivers Writers' Centre, Invited Workshop, Yamba Historical Museum, May 2008
Northern Rivers Writers' Centre, Invited Workshop, Byron Bay, May 2008
Royal Australian Historical Society, WEA/RAHS Education Lecture Series, Writing Family History, over 3 weeks June/July 2008
Hurstville Public Library, 'Searching for Mary Ann, Marianne, and Maryanne: Writing her story in family history', Family History Open Day, August 2008
2009
Royal Australian Historical Society, WEA/RAHS Education Lecture Series, Writing Family History, over 3 weeks June/July 2009
Workshop 'Writing and recording family history: A gift for later generations', Coffs Harbour District Family History Society, scheduled for 17 October 2009
View Club, Brighton le Sands, 12.30pm, 'Searching for Mary Ann, Marianne and Maryanne: Writing her story in family history,’ scheduled for 10 November 2009