{{short description|Australian social welfare historian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox academic | name = Shurlee Swain | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100|sep=,|AM|FASSA|FAHA}} | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1948}} | birth_place = Natimuk, Victoria | death_date = | death_place = | period = | known_for = | boards = | spouse = | parents = | relatives = | awards = Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2007)<br/>Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2017)<br/>Member of the Order of Australia (2018) | website = | alma_mater = University of Melbourne | thesis_title = The Victorian Charity Network in the 1890s | thesis_url = | thesis_year = 1977 | doctoral_advisor = | era = | discipline = History | sub_discipline = | workplaces = Deakin University<br/>University of Melbourne<br/>Australian Catholic University | main_interests = | notable_works = | influenced = | footnotes = }}
'''Shurlee Lesley Swain''', {{postnominals|country=AUS|sep=,|AM|FASSA|FAHA}} (born 1948) is an Australian social welfare historian, researcher and author.<ref name="Melbourne 2018">{{Cite web|url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0536b.htm|title=Swain, Shurlee – Woman – The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia|last=Melbourne|first=The University of|website=www.womenaustralia.info|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-06-20}}</ref> Since August 2017 she has been an Emeritus Professor at the Australian Catholic University (ACU).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.acu.edu.au/staff/our_university/newsroom/new_archive/professor_shurlee_swain_honoured|title=Emeritus Professor Shurlee Swain honoured|website=www.acu.edu.au|language=en|others=Bethany Williams|access-date=2018-06-20}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Swain was born in 1948 at Natimuk, Victoria. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father a grocer. The family relocated to Ringwood in Melbourne in 1951, where she completed all her schooling. At the University of Melbourne she completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and Diploma of Social Work before completing her Doctor of Philosophy in 1977 on ''The Victorian Charity Network in the 1890s''.<ref name="Melbourne 2018" /><ref>{{Citation | author1=Swain, Shurlee Lesley | title=The Victorian charity network in the 1890s | date=1976 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/178422363 | access-date=29 May 2018 }}</ref>
==Career== Swain's career as an academic began as a tutor in Australian Studies at Deakin University, before being appointed lecturer at her alma mater, the University of Melbourne, in the late 1980s. From there she moved to the Australian Catholic University (ACU) when it opened in 1991.<ref name="Melbourne 2018" />
In 2011 Swain, together with Professor Cathy Humphreys and Associate Professor Gavan McCarthy, were appointed the three Chief Investigators in the Australia-wide Find and Connect Project — a project to provide history and information about Australian orphanages, children's homes and other institutions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/about/credits/|title=Credits {{!}} Find & Connect|last=Find and Connect Web Resource Project, The University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University|website=www.findandconnect.gov.au|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-06-20}}</ref>
Outside her university commitments, for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2014, Swain wrote three reports:<ref>{{cite web |title=Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia – Professor Shurlee Lesley SWAIN |url=https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/qb/qb2018/pen_xc83F/Media%20Notes%20-%20AM%20(M%20-%20Z).pdf |website=The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia |access-date=20 June 2018}}</ref> *"History of Child Protection Legislation"<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of child protection legislation|last=Shurlee.|first=Swain|date=2014|publisher=[Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]|others=Australia. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse., Australian Catholic University.|isbn=9781925118605|location=[Sydney, N.S.W.]|oclc=894094556}}</ref> *"History of Institutions providing Out-of-Home Residential Care for Children"<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of institutions providing out-of-home residential care for children|last=Shurlee.|first=Swain|date=2014|publisher=[Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]|others=Australia. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse., Australian Catholic University.|isbn=9781925118629|location=[Sydney, N.S.W.]|oclc=894094557}}</ref> *"History of Australian inquiries reviewing institutions providing care for children"<ref>{{Cite book|title=History of Australian inquiries reviewing institutions providing care for children|last=Shurlee.|first=Swain|date=2014|publisher=[Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]|others=Australia. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse., Australian Catholic University.|isbn=9781925118643|location=[Sydney, N.S.W.]|oclc=894094558}}</ref>
Swain resigned from her position as Professor of Humanities in the School of Arts and Sciences at ACU in 2017 after ten years in that position. ACU celebrated her retirement by hosting a symposium and reception in her honour.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.acu.edu.au/about_acu/faculties,_institutes_and_centres/education_and_arts/about_the_faculty/events/shurlee_swain_celebrating_a_career_of_engagement_and_achievement|title=Shurlee Swain: Celebrating a Career of Engagement and Achievement|website=www.acu.edu.au|language=en|others=Unknown|access-date=2018-06-20}}</ref>
With Judith Smart, Swain is co-editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/about.html|title=Introduction – The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia|last=Melbourne|first=The University of|website=www.womenaustralia.info|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-06-20}}</ref>
==Awards and recognition== * Elected Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA) in 2007<ref>{{Cite web|title=Academic Fellow: Professor Shurlee Swain FASSA|url=https://socialsciences.org.au/academy-fellow/?sId=0032v000033l9YVAAY|access-date=2020-10-20|website=Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia|language=en-US}}</ref> * Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA) in 2017<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fellow Profile: Shurlee Swain |url=https://humanities.org.au/fellows/fellow-profile/?fellow_id=968 |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities |language=en-AU}}</ref> * Appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours for "significant service to education, particularly through comparative social history, as an academic, author, and researcher, and to the community".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/2001737|title=SWAIN, Shurlee Lesley|website=honours.pmc.gov.au|access-date=2018-06-20}}</ref>
==Selected works== ===As author=== * {{Cite book | last1=Swain |first1=Shurlee | title=Constructing the good Christian woman | date=1993 | publisher=Uniting Church Historical Society, Synod of Victoria | isbn=978-1-875749-13-3 }} * {{Cite book | last1=Swain |first1=Shurlee | last2=Howe |first2=Renate|author-link2=Renate Howe| title=Single Mothers and Their Children : Disposal, Punishment and Survival in Australia | date=1995 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-47443-6 }} * {{Cite book | last1=Scott |first1=Dorothy | last2=Swain |first2=Shurlee | title=Confronting Cruelty : Historical Perspectives on Child Abuse | date=2002 | publisher=Melbourne University Press | isbn=978-0-522-84998-1 }} * {{Cite book | last1=Swain |first1=Shurlee | last2=Hillel |first2=Margot | title=Child, Nation, Race and Empire : Child Rescue Discourse, England, Canada and Australia, 1850-1915 | date=2010 | publisher=Manchester University Press | isbn=978-0-7190-7894-1 }} * {{Cite book | last1=Swain |first1=Shurlee | title=Born in Hope : The Early Years of the Family Court of Australia | date=2012 | publisher=NewSouth Publishing | edition= 1st | isbn=978-1-74223-292-8 }} ===As editor=== * {{Cite book |title=To Search for Self : The Experience of Access to Adoption Information |date=1992 |publisher=Federation Press |isbn=978-1-86287-087-1 |editor-last=Swain |editor-first=Shurlee |editor-last2=Swain |editor-first2=Phillip A}} * {{Cite book |author1= |title=The Encyclopedia of Melbourne |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-84234-1 |editor-last=May |editor-first=Andrew |editor-last2=Swain |editor-first2=Shurlee}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Australian Women and Leadership|WLE0536b|Swain, Shurlee (1948–)}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Swain, Shurlee}} Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Academic staff of the Australian Catholic University Category:Members of the Order of Australia Category:Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Category:Australian women historians Category:20th-century Australian historians Category:21st-century Australian historians Category:21st-century Australian women writers Category:20th-century Australian women writers