C. J. Coventry

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Cameron James Coventry is an Australian historian at Federation University Australia notable for his work on former Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke and Australia's colonial links to British slavery.

Education and political career[]

In 2014 Coventry moved to Canberra to work in Senator Nick Xenophon's parliamentary office in the Australian Senate. He spent two years at Parliament, during which time he completed a degree in Arts at the Australian National University, where he was educated by historian Frank Bongiorno.^{[1][better source needed]}

Academic career[]

At the University of New South Wales and the Australian Defence Force Academy Coventry completed a Master of Arts under the direction of political scientist Clinton Fernandes, submitting a dissertation in 2018 called "The Origins of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security". In 2017 he moved to Ballarat and in 2019 began a PhD for which he was awarded the University's stipendiary scholarship.^[2] Soon afterwards, "Links in the Chain: British slavery, South Australia and Victoria" was published. This work generated debate in South Australia and his adopted city of Ballarat about placenames honoring beneficiaries of slavery.^[3][4] In 2020 Coventry jointly presented the Annual Lecture of the History Council of South Australia, discussing the need to reconsider 'South Australian exceptionalism'.^[5]

In May 2021 Coventry wrote an open letter to Ballarat City Council denouncing its enclosure of the Ballarat Common, explaining its long history and heritage significance.^[6] The letter was signed by 13 other scholars including Ian D. Clark. It provoked debate in the local paper, The Courier, about the over-development of Ballarat.^[7][8]

In June 2021 the Australian Journal of Politics and History published his work on Bob Hawke, "The 'Eloquence' of Robert J. Hawke: United States informer, 1973-79," which propounded the long-held suspicion that the former Prime Minister, Labor Party leader and ACTU President had worked for the United States Government in the 1970s. Coventry's article demonstrated by using documentary evidence that Hawke had handed considerable amounts of insider information to US officials, undermining the cause he was publicly committed to. It attracted domestic and international media attention, including the front page of The Australian and as the lede article on the Guardian Australia.^{[9][10][11][12]} Within a fortnight, it was the most read article in the Journal's near-seven decade history.^[13] It was subsequently reported that the publication of the article had prevented Labor Leader, Anthony Albanese, from rebranding himself as Australia's next Hawke-style consensus politician.^[14]

The article was immediately rebuked by Hawke-Keating era politicians. A former ALP President, Stephen Loosely, said it was "nonsence" and "For someone half a century later to label these people informants, when they can't defend themselves, simply doesn't hold water.".^[15] Another former Labor politician, Paul Everingham, said the informer argument was "balls".^[16]

References[]

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