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Assoc Prof Jayne Persian

Assoc Prof Jayne Persian
Name Jayne Persian
Pronoun She/Her/Hers
Position Associate Professor (History)
Section School of Humanities and Communication
Office Q232
Location Toowoomba Campus
Phone +61 7 4631 2532
Extension 2532
Email
Qualifications PhD Sydney
Homepage https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0003-0651-4099
The views expressed on staff homepages may not reflect the views of the University.

Jayne Persian is a historian predominantly of Central and Eastern Europe displaced persons, many of whom migrated to Australia in the post-war period. Co-Chief Investigator on a 2022-25 ARC Discovery Project: Russian Immigrants and Anti-Communism in Cold War Australia, 1946-1966. Author of Beautiful Balts: From Displaced Persons to New Australians (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2017), shortlisted for the Australian Historical Association's W. K. Hancock Prize 2018, the Prime Minister's Literary Awards Prize for Australian History 2018, and the Queensland Literary Awards USQ History Book Award 2018. Co-editor of Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia (Routledge, 2022). Co-Chief Investigator on a 2016-19 ARC Discovery Project: Displacement and Resettlement: Russian and Russian-speaking Jewish displaced persons arriving in Australia via the ‘China’ route in the wake of the Second World War. Co-founder of Australian Migration History Network: amigrationhn.wordpress.com.


  • Australian History (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History) ( 210303 )
  • Australian History ( 430302 )
  • Historical Studies ( 430300 )
  • Migration History ( 430319 )
  • European History (excl. British ( 430308 )

Australian history, migration history, displaced persons, oral history, memory and commemoration, diaspora, transnational history, social history, political history, cultural history.


Founder & Executive, Australian Migration History Network
Australasian Association for European History
Australian Historical Association
International Australian Studies Association


Editorial Committee, Polish Museum and Archives Australia
Working Party, Australian Dictionary of Biography
State Library of Queensland, Fellowship & Literary Awards Judge


  • Centre for Heritage and Culture (CHC)

HIS1000 World History to 1500CE
HIS1001 Australian Colonies to Federation, 1788-1901
HIS2000 Contemporary Australia
HIS3002 The Twentieth Century
HMT3002 Independent Study Project: History
I am able to supervise postgraduate projects in Australian history, migration history, displaced persons, oral history, memory and commemoration, diaspora, transnational history, social history, political history, cultural history, religious history.


17 Years


Associate Head (Research, with Dr Barbara Ryan)


  • Australian History (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History) ( 210303 )
  • Australian History ( 430302 )
  • Historical Studies ( 430300 )
  • Migration History ( 430319 )
  • European History (excl. British ( 430308 )