{{short description|Australian historian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox academic | name = Kay Saunders | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AO|FASSA|size=100}} {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRHistS|size=100}} | birth_name = Kay Elizabeth Bass Saunders | birth_date = {{birth date|1947|08|19|df=y}} | birth_place = Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|2026|05||1947|08|19|df=y}} | citizenship = | other_names = | occupation = | period = | known_for = | title = | boards = <!--board or similar positions extraneous to main occupation--> | awards = <!--notable national-level awards only--> | website = | education = | alma_mater = University of Queensland | thesis_title = Uncertain bondage: an analysis of indentured labour in Queensland to 1907: with particular reference to the Melanesian servants | thesis_url = https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:376591 | thesis_year = 1975 | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source--> | era = | discipline = Historian | sub_discipline = <!--academic discipline specialist area – e.g. Sub-atomic research, 20th-century Danish specialist, Pauline research, Arcadian and Ugaritic specialist--> | workplaces = University of Queensland | doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles--> | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source--> }}
'''Kay Elizabeth Bass Saunders''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AO|FASSA}} {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRHistS}} (19 August 1947 – May 2026) was an Australian historian and Emeritus Professor at the University of Queensland.
==Early life and education== Saunders was born in Brisbane, Queensland on 19 August 1947.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collection UQFL451 – Kay Saunders Papers |url=https://manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au/index.php/uqfl451 |access-date=2026-05-05 |website=The University of Queensland}}</ref> She graduated with a BA (1970) and PhD (1975) from the University of Queensland (UQ).<ref name="Enc">{{Cite web|last=Harrison|first=Sharon M.|date=|title=Saunders, Kay Elizabeth Bass|url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0729b.htm|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-26|website=The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia|language=en-gb}}</ref>
==Career== She was employed by UQ throughout her academic career, firstly as tutor, then progressing through the ranks to Professor of History (2002–2005). Following her retirement in 2006 she was appointed Emeritus Professor.<ref name="Enc" />
== Honours and recognition == Saunders was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1999,<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Dr Kay Elizabeth Bass SAUNDERS|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/872268|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-26|website=It's An Honour}}</ref> and was promoted to Officer in the 2021 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to tertiary education, particularly to history, as an academic and author, to professional associations, and to the community".<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Emeritus Professor Kay Elizabeth SAUNDERS AM|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/2007945|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-26|website=It's An Honour}}</ref>
== Selected works == * {{Citation|author1=Saunders|first=Kay|title=Workers in bondage: The origins and bases of unfree labour in Queensland, 1824-1916|url=|volume=|pages=|publication-date=1982-01-01|publisher=University of Queensland Press}} * {{Citation|last1=McGrath|first1=Ann |author1-link= Ann McGrath|title=Aboriginal Workers|publication-date=1995|publisher=Australian Society for the Study of Labour History|isbn=978-0-909944-04-9|last2=Saunders|first2=Kay|last3=Huggins|first3=Jackie |author3-link =Jackie Huggins|year=1995}} ([https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/history-of-indigenous-work-sheds-light-on-australian-slavery Reissued in 2020].<ref>{{cite web | title=Labour History: A Journal of Labour and Social History | website=Liverpool University Press | date=30 November 2020 | url=http://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/54770/ | access-date=6 January 2022 | archive-date=23 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123010045/https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/54770/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>) * {{Citation|author1=|first=|title=Alien justice: Wartime internment in Australia and North America|volume=|pages=|publication-date=2000|editor-last=Saunders|editor-first=Kay|publisher=University of Queensland Press|isbn=978-0-7022-2991-6|editor2-last=Daniels|editor2-first=Roger}} * {{Citation|author1=Saunders|first=Kay|title=Notorious Australian women|volume=|pages=|publication-date=2011|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=978-0-7333-2832-9}} * {{Citation|author1=Saunders, Kay|title=Deadly Australian women|publication-date=2013|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|isbn=978-0-7304-9375-4}}
== References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Kay}} Category:1947 births Category:2026 deaths Category:University of Queensland alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Queensland Category:Members of the Order of Australia Category:Officers of the Order of Australia Category:Australian women historians Category:Fellows of the Royal Historical Society