‘Provocative in a good way’: John Hirst was a rigorous historian, independent thinker and passionate believer in Australia
- Written by Anna Clark, Professor in Public History, University of Technology Sydney

I first read John Hirst (1942-2016) as an undergraduate in the late 1990s as part of a subject on 19th-century Australian history. We discussed convict history and explored contrasting views about its role and function in the early colonies. What was life as a...