DR ALICE GARNER

MAC.ROB Student, 1983-1986
PORTRAIT GALLERY INDUCTEE, 2015
PhD (University of Melbourne)
Grad Dip Secondary EduCATION (Victoria university, 2014; AWARD for Excellence in pg Studies)
BA (Hons) (University of Melbourne, 1993; Dean’s List)
ACTOR, ACADEMIC, HISTORIAN

Alice Garner was a student at Mac.Rob from 1983 to 1986. She is now a teacher, historian, actor, and musician. Alice’s first professional acting role was at the age of 11 in the feature film Monkey Grip. She went on to work in Melbourne theatre, television, film and radio, and highlights include Love and Other Catastrophes and TV drama series Sea Change and Secret Life of Us.

Alice learnt cello at Mac.Rob from Paul Jones, and she has continued playing ever since - though she moved away from classical repertoire - as a member of the Xylouris Ensemble, which released half a dozen albums since the early 1990s, and more recently with the Endlings and Sally Ford and the Idiomatics. She also improvised live music for Actors for Refugees, a volunteer organisation she co-founded in 2001 with other actors and musicians working together to counter community misunderstandings about asylum seekers and refugees.

Juggling performing with tertiary study, Alice completed a PhD in French History at The University of Melbourne in 2001. Curious about the early impacts of tourism on coastal communities, she applied her French language and archival research skills to the history of an Atlantic seaside resort, Arcachon. This led to the publication of A Shifting Shore: Locals, Outsiders, and the Transformation of a French Fishing Town, which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s General History Prize. As a University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, Alice wrote a student memoir, The Student Chronicles (which includes some reminiscences about Mac.Rob and other Mac.Rob girls).

Alice was a co-presenter on the TV documentary series Coast Australia 2 (History Channel/BBC), exploring the history of the Australian coastline. At the same time, she was moving into secondary teaching, having developed a sharper awareness of the importance of education through her experiences as a parent. Alice taught French and Humanities at Albert Park College for five years before moving into educational research at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, where she has worked on projects on trade union education, work-related skills and diversity in the teaching workforce.

While holding an Australian Research Council postdoctoral fellowship in the History program at La Trobe University from 2009-12, investigating the history of the Australian-American Fulbright exchange, Alice was introduced to the practice of oral history. Alice now records oral history interviews for the National Library of Australia, is currently President of Oral History Victoria, and in the spirit of lifelong learning, is developing her sound design skills with the aim of producing audio documentaries drawing on Australia’s rich oral history collections.