Melanie Oppenheimer | |
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Born | Sydney, New South Wales | 9 November 1957
Nationality | Australian |
Occupation(s) | Historian and academic |
Title | Professor |
Awards | Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2017) |
Academic background | |
Education | University of New England (BA, DipEd, MLitt) Macquarie University (PhD) |
Thesis | Volunteers in Action: Voluntary Work in Australia, 1939–1945 (1997) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | History |
Sub-discipline | Volunteering Gender and war Biography |
Institutions | Flinders University University of New England University of Western Sydney |
Melanie Nivison Oppenheimer, FASSA (born 9 November 1957[ citation needed ]) is an Australian historian,who specialises in the history of volunteering,and a former actress.
Oppenheimer was born in Sydney,New South Wales,and studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of New England (UNE). When UNE opened a drama department,she "fell in love with acting" and went on to enrol at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London before starting a career as an actress on Australian television. She played Sarah Carson,the daughter of lead character Jennifer Carson (played by Lorraine Bayly),on the television series Carson's Law from 1984 to 1986. [1]
Oppenheimer returned to UNE to complete a Master of Letters,and then a Doctor of Philosophy at Macquarie University. She worked as a research assistant in the history department of the University of Sydney,then held associate professor positions at the University of Western Sydney and the University of New England. [2]
The Australian Red Cross commissioned Oppenheimer to write an official history of the organisation in 2010,its centennial year. The book,The Power of Humanity:100 Years of Australian Red Cross,was published by HarperCollins and launched by the Governor-General of Australia,Sir Peter Cosgrove,in August 2014. [3] She has written several biographical articles for the Australian Dictionary of Biography . [4]
On 1 July 2013,Oppenheimer took up a professorship as Chair of History at Flinders University in South Australia. [5] She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA) in 2017. [6]