Christine Wallace

Christine Wallace (born 1960) is an Australian political journalist, biographer and academic. She is currently an Australian Research Council DECRA fellow at the National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.[2]

Christine Wallace
Born1960 (age 60–61)
Education
  • PhD (ANU, 2015)
  • MBA (AGSM)
  • BEc (Syd)
  • BA (ANU)
OccupationAcademic / biographer / political journalist
Works
  • Hewson: A Portrait (1993)
  • Germaine Greer, Untamed Shrew (1997)
  • The Private Don (2004)
Spouse(s)Michael Costello[1]

Her publications include biographies of John Hewson (1993), Germaine Greer (1997), and Don Bradman (2004).

Education

Wallace is a graduate of the Australian National University (BA, politics and history), University of Sydney (BEc) and the Australian Graduate School of Management (MBA).

In 2015, she completed her PhD (Australian National University) on political biography as political intervention.[2][3]

Career

Political journalist

Wallace was a member of the Canberra Press Gallery and worked for a wide range of print and electronic media outlets including The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, Business Review Weekly, ABC Television, 666 ABC Canberra and the Adelaide radio station 5AA.

After a decade of political and economic journalism, she became a full-time writer in Sydney following the 1996 Australian federal election.[4]

Biographer

Wallace has published three biographies.

  • Former leader of the Australian Liberal Party, John Hewson.
    • Hewson: A Portrait (1993) Sun Australia, ISBN 978-0-7251-0723-9
  • Feminist and public intellectual, Germaine Greer. The biography was unauthorised, and Greer called Wallace a "flesh-eating bacterium" and the book "a piece of excrement".[5]
  • Cricketer Sir Don Bradman, based on the 1953 to 1977 correspondence between Bradman and Rohan Rivett, the editor of Adelaide newspaper, The News.[6]

She also wrote, but did not publish, an unauthorised biography of Julia Gillard when she was Prime Minister. The book was to be called Julia Gillard: unauthorised, and was to be published by Allen & Unwin in 2011. It was allocated an ISBN, 978-1-74175-848-1, but never published.[7][8][9]

Academic

In 2015, she was awarded her PhD for a thesis entitled The Silken Cord: Contemporaneous 20th Century Prime Ministerial Biography in Australia and Its Meaning. It explores the idea of political biography as political intervention, through the contemporaneous political biography of twentieth century Australian politicians.[10]

In 2017, the Australian Research Council awarded Wallace a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) for a post-doctoral study entitled The Caseys and Pat Jarrett in Washington, 1940–1942. It will study Australian Minister Richard Gardiner 'Dick' Casey, his wife Maie Casey and their press aide Patricia 'Pat' Jarrett, who served in Washington during 1940–41.[11]

She currently holds her DECRA fellowship at the National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.

Personal life

Wallace is married to Michael Costello, a former senior Australian public servant.[1]

References
  1. Raggatt, Matthew (11 June 2014). "Canberra's power couples – the cream of the crop". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014.
  2. "Dr Chris Wallace". Australian National University. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  3. "Previous PhD graduates". School of History, Australian National University. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  4. "Christine Wallace research papers, relating to biography of Germaine Greer titled'Greer, Untamed Shrew', ca. 1950–1998". Manuscripts, oral history and pictures catalogue, State Library of New South Wales. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  5. Thackray, Rachelle (21 February 1999). "Germaine smacks her sisters". The Independent on Sunday.
  6. "Private Don". Allen and Unwin Book Publishers. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  7. "Julia Gillard: unauthorised". Book Depository. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  8. "Biographer says Gillard 'a good bet for Labor'". Australia: ABC News. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  9. Maiden, Samantha (12 June 2011). "No explanations as Julia Gillard book is dumped". News.com.au. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  10. "The Silken Cord: Contemporaneous 20th Century Prime Ministerial Biography in Australia & Its Meaning". Open Research, Australian National University. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  11. "Scheme Round Statistics for Approved Proposals – Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2017 round 1". Australian Research Council. 1 November 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
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