My name is Narissa Phelps and I have created this site to make academic research readily available to social and family historians.
I undertook an undergrad Arts degree majoring in history in the 1970s. After a hectic working and family life, I returned to post-grad studies in retirement and in 2020 received my MA through Southern Cross University. I am now in the final stages of my PhD through Griffith University, and have loved the challenge of improving my research and academic writing skills.
History has always been my passion. I have been involved in Family History for over 46 years, obtaining my Diploma of Family History Studies in 2001 and undertaking some professional research in that field. My post-grad degrees have both been grounded in Family History Methodology, with my analysis of social history underpinned by analysis of the individual.
My professional career was as an educator, working in high schools in the Nowra and Lismore regions, although I have also worked in TAFE, private enterprise and the printing and publishing industry. I am now retired from paid employment, but relish the thought of on-going research into both early colonial social history and aspects relating to the lives of colonists, especially women.
This website focusses on the earliest years of the colony, specifically 1788 to 1810, although some research will extend beyond those confines.
Whilst the site will host my research, I hope that other historians with a similar focus, might be prepared to use the site for their own articles too, or at least provide links to their own sites and scholarship. Collaboration will provide a richer resource and enhance the information available outside academic journals and publications with more limited access.
Narissa Phelps
Colonial Australia's Early History 