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Tony Birch

Professor Tony Birch is a Senior Research Fellow in the Moondani Balluk Academic Centre at Victoria University in Melbourne.

March 2026

  • Melbourne skyline view from rooftops with handwritten notes and cutout figures

    Letter from ...
    double quotation markA Melbourne rooftop: the glittering night sky opened our hearts and minds to each other

    Tony Birch
    While anxious parents worried about unplanned sex, we occupied ourselves with matters more profound

January 2026

  • An old woman and a young girl

    Home truths
    My nanna provided me with the two words that would eventually guide me – ‘never weaken’

    Her words didn’t register with me as a child but their influence grew as I came to know more about her past

January 2024

  • Cathy Freeman celebrates after winning gold

    double quotation markCathy Freeman’s Sydney 2000 gold was a moment of ecstasy at a time of national reckoning

    Tony Birch
    Few could comprehend the pressures on this young Aboriginal woman, thrust into the public eye when race relations dominated political discourse

January 2023

  • Author and academic Tony Birch at home in Carlton, Victoria

    What makes me happy now
    ‘Rather than dodge the puddles, I prefer to run through them’: what makes me happy now

    Running through the cold and puddles along the banks of the Birrarung, the Ghost River writer finds contentment

April 2022

  • Author Tony BirchTony Birch, Author and academic at his home in Carlton, victoria. Photograph by Christopher Hopkins for The Guardian

    Tony Birch: my dad’s ashes, the 86 tram and simple acts of reciprocity

    In this extract from the upcoming Griffith Review, the academic and author takes the reader on his last journey with his father on a Melbourne tram

December 2021

  • Tony Birch, Author and academic, and his new book 'Dark As Last Night'

    Full Story
    Book It In: Tony Birch on writing true characters in fiction

    Podcast57:05
  • Tony Birch, author and academic, and his new book Dark As Last Night

    Book It In
    Tony Birch on writing true characters in fiction

    Podcast56:25

July 2019

  • Authors Tony Birch, Alice Bishop and Alex Landragin

    Bookmark this
    Matthew Evans, Niki Savva and Tony Birch on their new books and what they're reading in July

    Plus how to plan for death, a musical memoir and a novel that can be read in multiple directions

January 2018

  • A man shows off Australian flag tattoos during Australia Day celebrations, 2017

    IndigenousX
    double quotation markChanging the date won't change Australia's culture of violence

    Tony Birch for IndigenousX
    The offence of Australia Day cannot be reduced to the narrowness of the date

September 2017

  • A cylone fence blocking access to Bunjil’s Shelter, in the Black Ranges.

    double quotation markIf we are to recognise heroes, where are the stories of Aboriginal courage?

    Tony Birch
    At present, bronzed heroes stand unchallenged, representing either a fictional history of terra nullius or the passive conquest of the land. Such histories don’t venture beyond myth

August 2017

  • Kim Scott

    Bookmark this
    August book list: Julian Burnside, Rachel Leary and Kim Scott on their writing and reading

    This month, authors including Rachel Leary, Tim Flannery and Tony Birch talk about their new books – and the books they’re excited to read, too

May 2017

  • Malcolm Turnbull pauses while speaking at the Healing Foundation ‘Bringing Them Home’ Breakfast at Parliament House in Canberra 23 May 2017.

    IndigenousX
    double quotation markWhite Australia stole Indigenous children. And then stole their victimhood too

    Tony Birch
    Australia has failed to act with genuine dignity towards the stolen generations. Recognising the history of these crimes is the responsibility of the nation
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