Jeff Hopkins-Weise is a professional historian and museum officer, who has a strong interest and background in Queensland and Australian, as well as New Zealand and Pacific history. He has a particular expertise and interest in the role and experience of the British Army and the early colonial military forces in Queensland, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the Australian involvement in the New Zealand wars of the 1840s and 1860s. He has published extensively on many of these historical themes, as well as other aspects of Queensland or Australian history, such as the Pacific Islander labour trade, Queensland maritime history, and the military horse trade to New Zealand. His most recent publications include a co-authored book for the Queensland Museum (November 2008) on one of the museum’s most significant collection item, the WW1 German A7V tank Mephisto; and Blood Brothers: The Anzac Genesis, a history of Australia’s role in the New Zealand wars published by Penguin Books and Wakefield Press (February 2009).
Jeff has a considerable background and experience in cultural heritage research and management while engaged in various capacities for the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, and most recently with curatorial and collection management roles with the Queensland Museum, Victoria Barracks Museum (Petrie Terrace, Brisbane), and the Main Roads Heritage Centre in Toowoomba. In early 2008, he was appointed (3-year) an Honorary Research Fellow for the Queensland Museum.
Jeff also holds membership with Museums Australia, Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Australian Military Historical Society, New Zealand Military Historical Society, and the Orders and Medals Research Society. He has been a Professi0nal member of PHAQ since July 1999, and is currently President (2008-09) and Membership Secretary (since September 2005), as has previously served as Vice-President (2006-08) and Honorary Secretary (2002-06), as well as being a long-term member of the Management Committee.
Skills and services offered:
- Social and military history
- Historical research and reports
- Heritage studies/surveys
- Museum curator/collection manager
- Museum advice and exhibitions
Professional interests:
- History of Queensland, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
- Role of the British Army in colonial Australia and New Zealand, with a special interest on the Queensland experience.
- The early Queensland volunteer movement, including the role of serving (or former) British military personnel on this movement's development, training, and colonial defence.
Qualifications:
M.Phil, BA(Hons), C.dec, MPHA(Qld)
Publications and experience:
Books
Blood Brothers: The Anzac Genesis. Rosedale, North Shore, New Zealand: Penguin Books, 2009. {Also published by Wakefield Press, South Australia, 2009.}
(Co-authored with Greg Czechura), A7V Mephisto: The Last German First World War Tank. South Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 2008.
(Co-authored with Rod Pratt) Brisbane's 1st Battalion 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment Detachments, 1860-66. Brisbane, 2005.
(Co-authored with Rod Pratt) Brisbane's 50th (Queen's Own) Regiment Detachments, 1866-69: & the Saint Helena Penal Establishment Military Guard. Brisbane, 2004.
Further selected New Zealand War Medal Rolls of Applications Granted up to 1900: Volume 2. Brisbane, 1998.
Selected New Zealand War Medal Rolls of Entitlements, Rejections, and Applications Granted up to 1900. Brisbane, 1997.
The Gottlieb Raddatz & extended Kühn & Sellin families & descendants of Queensland: including the associated Heeschen, Raaen, & Schubert families. 125th Anniversary of the arrival aboard the "Reichstag" of the Raddatz, Kühn, & Sellin Families to Queensland on 1 August 1872. Brisbane, 1997.
Articles & newsletters:
“Colonial Humanitarianism: Australian Involvement in Relief Funds during the New Zealand Wars, 1840s & 1860s”, The Volunteers: The Journal of the New Zealand Military Historical Society, Vol.34, No.2, (Nov. 2008), pp.100-115.
“The New Zealand Crisis of 1868-69: Part 2: Australia and the New Zealand Armed Constabulary”, The Volunteers, Vol.33, No.2, (Nov. 2007), pp.104-125.
“Australia’s Military Horse Trade during the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s”, Sabretache: The Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol.48, No.3, (Sept. 2007), pp.5-12.
“Australia and the New Zealand Crisis of 1868-69”, The Volunteers, Vol.33, No.1, (July 2007), pp.30-55.
“Australia's Logistical and Commissariat Support in the New Zealand Wars, 1863-66", Sabretache, Vol.47, No.4, (Dec. 2006), pp.5-24.
"A History of the Service and Loss of the Queensland Government Steamer Llewellyn, 1884-1919", Memoirs of the Queensland Museum: Cultural Heritage Series, Vol.4, Part 1, (2006), pp.29-51.
"Australia and the Taranaki War - 3: Humanitarianism, 1860-61", The Volunteers, Vol.32, No.2, (Nov. 2006), pp.102-119.
"Australia and the Taranaki War - 2: Logistical, commissariat and manpower support, 1860-61", The Volunteers, Vol.32, No.1, (July 2006), pp.27-49.
"Australia and the Taranaki War: Responses to the conflict 1860-61", The Volunteers, Vol.31, No.3, (March 2006), pp.160-175.
"Australian involvement in the New Zealand Wars, 1846-47 (Part 3)", The Volunteers, Vol.30, No.3, (March 2005), pp.36-51.
"Australian involvement in the New Zealand Wars, 1845-46", The Volunteers, Vol.30, No.2, (Nov. 2004), pp.33-52.
"The Australian-New Zealand prelude, 1834-45", The Volunteers, Vol.30, No.1, (July 2004), pp.38-53.
"Tasmania and the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s", Tasmanian Historical Research Association Papers and Proceedings, Vol.50, No.3, (Sept. 2003), pp.176-201. [NB. - Also republished, The Volunteers, Vol.29, No.3, (March 2004), pp.67-96.]
"Van Diemen's Land and the New Zealand Wars of the 1840s", Tasmanian Historical Research Association Papers and Proceedings, Vol.50, No.1, (March 2003), pp.38-55. [NB. - also republished, The Volunteers, Vol.29, No.2, (Nov. 2003), pp.23-41.]
"Queensland and the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s", Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Vol.18, No.5, (Feb. 2003), pp.209-231. [NB. - also republished, The Volunteers, Vol.29, No.1, (July 2003), pp.12-29.]
(Co-authored with Rod Pratt) "New Directions in Australian Colonial Historiography: A call for the timely reintegration of the British Army, Frontier Conflict, and Involvement in Wars of Empire", in C. Dixon & L. Auton, eds., War, Society, and Culture: Approaches and Issues: Selected Papers from the November 2001 Symposium organised by the Research Group for War, Society, and Culture, NSW: Research Group for War, Society, and Culture (School of Liberal Arts), The University of Newcastle, (2002), pp.105-116.
"New Zealand's Armed Constabulary and its Australian Context, 1867-72", Sabretache, Vol.43, No.4, (Dec. 2002), pp.19-38.
"A Brief History of the Award of the New Zealand Cross", The Volunteers, Vol.28, No.2, (Nov. 2002), pp.96-99.
"New Zealand's Colonial Defence Force (Cavalry) and its Australian context, 1863-66", Sabretache, Vol.43, No.3, (Sept. 2002), pp.23-39.
(Co-authored with Rod Pratt), "The 50th (Queen's Own) Regiment Military Guard at the St Helena Penal Establishment, Moreton Bay, 1867-69", Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Vol.18, N0.3, (Aug. 2002), pp.97-114.
"A Brief History of the Bay of Plenty Cavalry Volunteers, Tauranga Cavalry Volunteers, and the Opotiki Rangers Volunteers", The Volunteers, Vol. 28, No.1, (July 2002), pp.66-70.
"Pacific Islander Involvement in the Pastoral Industry of the Gulf of Carpentaria", Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol.88, Part 1, (June 2002), pp.36-53.
"St Helena Artefact Project", Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology Inc. Newsletter, Vol.31, No.1, (2001), p.4.
"The Armed Constabulary of New Zealand: and the Australian context", The Volunteers, Vol.27, No.1, (July 2001), pp.5-42.
(Co-authored with Rod Pratt), "The Scarlet Legacy: The British Army's forgotten presence in Moreton Bay, 1860-69", Sabretache, Vol.42, No.2, (June 2001), pp.3-38; & editor's Correction, Vol.42, No.3, (Sept. 2001), p.1.
"A History of the Colonial Defence Force (Cavalry): and the Australian context", The Volunteers, Vol.26, No.1, (July 2000), pp.5-25.
"'Fighting Those Who Came Against Their Country': Maori Political Transportees to Van Diemen's Land 1846-48", Tasmanian Historical Research Association Papers and Proceedings, Vol.44, No.1, (March 1997), pp.49-67. [NB. - also republished, The Volunteers, Vol.24, No.3, (March 1999), pp.100-117.]
"The place of 'Foreign' Pacific Islanders in Torres Strait and Papua, 1863-1878", Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Vol.15, No.12, (Aug. 1995), pp.571-578.
Queensland government historical, heritage or other research reports:
Report to DATSIP on Research carried out for Lease Applications made under the Land Holding Act 1985. (Researcher, submitted 69-page report, along with accompanying extensive Excel database of research and findings, to the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy, 1 April 2004.)
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS), Annual Environmental Audit Report – 2002-03: Environmental Auditing of Native Forest Timber Production. (Senior Policy Officer for QPWS, assisted in the preparation for, and writing of this report for Operational Review, Ecosystems Conservation Branch, Conservation Services Division, QPWS, 2003.)
Queensland Montréal Process Non-Indigenous Cultural Heritage Report: Data Request Response for 2003 State of the Forests Report, 30 June 2002. (Report written in conjunction with Dr David Cameron, and submitted to the Commonwealth, on behalf of Sustainable Forestry Practices Unit, Forestry & Wildlife Division, QPWS, 2002.)
Montreal Non-Indigenous Cultural Heritage Inventory Project Report: Clermont State Forests, Central Queensland, 21 December 2001. (Cultural Heritage Project Officer for QPWS, report to Forest Planning and Sustainable Use, Forest Management Division, QPWS, 2001.)
Gladstone State Forests Project: Overview & Contextual History of the Gladstone Study Area, September2001. (Consultant Historian for QPWS, report to Forest Planning and Sustainable Use Section, Forest Management, QPWS, 2001.)
A History of the Service and Loss of the Q.G.S. “Llewellyn”, 1884-1919, 9 March 1999. (Report to the Marine Archaeology Section, Queensland Museum, 1999.)
As a Research Historian for the Queensland Art Gallery, submitted 3 reports as part of the Gallery’s Centenary History Project in 1995: (1) Centenary History of the Queensland Art Gallery: Chronology of Events, Acquisitions, Exhibitions, and Personalities (84 page report); (2) History of the Queensland Art Gallery (and Art in Queensland/Brisbane) - Research Bibliography (11 page report); & (3) Queensland Art Gallery History Research Project – Sources Search List – (items that could possibly be of use) (8 page report).
Contact details:
Address: 48 Saddleback Drive, Dayboro QLD 4521.
Mobile: 0418 717 961
E-mail: jhopkins-weise@bigpond.com
