Anna Johnston

Biography

Anna Johnston is Professor of Literature at The University of Queensland and current President of the International Association for Australian Studies (2022-). Anna’s expertise as a literary historian brings to light archival sources and neglected voices to explain the contested record of race, religion, and settler-Indigenous relations that were foundational to Australia’s history. She has been Chief Investigator on four ARC Discovery projects and held two ARC Research Fellowships. She is a Fellow of the Linnean Society. Her publications link Australian settler colonial writing to global nineteenth-century literature and culture.

Anna’s recent books include The Antipodean Laboratory: Making Colonial Knowledge, 1770-1870 (2023) and Eliza Hamilton Dunlop: Writing from the Colonial Frontier (with Elizabeth Webby, 2021). Anna uses her scholarship to create broad social and cultural benefits. She has held Fellowships and collaborates with the State Libraries of NSW, Tasmania, and Queensland, as well as the National Library of Australia, to facilitate public engagement with literary and print culture.