Dr Fay Woodhouse is a historian and biographer and a Principal Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne. She has written widely on Australian social and political history and is a regular contributor to the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Her publications include histories of Monash and Melbourne Universities, the 150-year history of Tahbilk Wines and the 100-year history of d’Arenberg Wines. Biographies include the nineteenth century Scottish stockbreeder and pioneer pastoralist, Duncan MacGregor and the twentieth century physician Leslie Latham. Fay has recently edited the biography of Melbourne’s first surveyor, Robert Russell and the memoirs of the businessman, Clive Smith.

Her most recent histories, published in 2020, are Romsey an Historical Guide and Gita: Melbourne’s first yoga school – 65 years of history. Also published in 2020 is a detailed history of ‘Arranmore’ at 49 Warley Road, Malvern East. A Middle-class Suburban Ideal tells the story of the early White settlement and the development of Malvern East, the first land owners and subsequent speculator builders. It traces twentieth century land sales, responses to the First World War, expansion in the 1920s, the inter-War and the Second World War period. Constructed in 1915 in the leafy suburb of Malvern East, the book focuses on a precinct distinguished for its ‘aesthetically pleasing’ qualities and cohesive streetscapes of Edwardian and inter-War housing.

Fay regularly presents papers at conferences, writes articles and book chapters, and lectures on early Melbourne history to historical societies and other groups. She also regularly writes historical articles for her local community newspaper, the Lancefield Mercury and volunteers at the local Historical Society.

Since becoming a member of the C J La Trobe Society in 2002, Fay edited the journal from 2002-09 and has published fifteen journal articles in the journal. Her latest article ‘Not merely the Magistrate but the Principal Officer of the Government: William Lonsdale and the foundation of Melbourne 1836-1854’ was published in Volume 19, No. 3 of the November edition of La Trobeana, the Journal of the C J La Trobe Society (pp. 13-21). A copy of the article can be downloaded from the Recent Publications page.

Professional affiliations:

Professional Historians Association (Vic)

Royal Historical Society of Victoria https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/

C J La Trobe Society Inc. https://www.latrobesociety.org.au/