Professor Robert Lee
- Biography
- Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
- Grants / Current Projects
- Awards and Recognition
- Selected Publications
- Professional Works
- Contact Details
Biography
Robert Lee was educated at Macquarie and Sydney Universities. He is Professor at the University of Western Sydney where has taught history since 1979.
Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise
Asian History.
History of Western Imperialism in Asia.
Transport and Communications History (especially in Asia and Australia).
Technology Transfer.
Australian History.
Grants / Current Projects
Robert Lee’s Transport an Australian History, Sydney, University of New South Wales Press, 2010 is his latest book which was widely reviewed in metropolitan dailies and nominated by the publisher for six major prizes. It has sold over 4000 copies and is in 79 libraries. It attracted considerable media attention and is a significant contribution to national debate on transport policy.
He also has in press five articles on transport topics for a new Atlas of New South Wales commissioned by the then NSW Department of Lands (now Division of Land and Property Information).
Awards and Recognition
The Railways of Victoria, 1854-2004 was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier’s History Prize for 2007.
The Institution of Engineers Australia awarded its 1991 Engineering Excellence Award in the Heritage and Engineering Category to The Greatest Public Work.
Selected Publications
Books
Transport an Australian History, Sydney, University of New South Wales Press, 2010.
Fruits of Federation: the Grafton-Brisbane Uniform Gauge Railway and Clarence River Bridge, Sydney, Loco Works Publications (in association with Engineering Heritage Australia), 2009.
The Railways of Victoria, 1854-2004, Melbourne, Melbourne University Publishing, 2007.
Colonial Engineer: John Whitton (1819-1898) and the Building of Australia’s Railways, Sydney University of New South Wales Press, 2000.
The Greatest Public Work: The New South Wales Railways, 1848-1889, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1988.
France and the Exploitation of China, 1885-1901: A Study in Economic Imperialism, Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1990.
Online Book
Linking a Nation: Australia's Transport and Communications 1788 - 1970. Australian Heritage Council.
Recent Articles and Chapters (since 2003)
‘The Origins of the Grafton to South Brisbane railway project’ Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, 7, 2, 2009, 101-109.
‘Railway Sites and World Heritage Status: Some Australian Reflections of Indian Experience’, Historic Environment, ICOMOS Australia, 21, 2, July 2008, 7-10.
‘French Finance and Railway Construction in Northern China, 1895-1905’ in Ralf Roth and Günter Dinhobl (eds), Across the Borders: financing the world’s railways in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2008, pp 241-254.
‘Dislocation and Flight’ [Review article of Bob Ellis, Night Thoughts in a of Time of War; Richard Lunn, Leaving Year Zero: Stories of Surviving Pol Pot’s Cambodia; Jennifer Zheng, One Woman’s Flight for Freedom and Falun Gong], Southerly 65, 2, 2005, 134-139.
‘Railways, Space and Imperialism’, Mitteilungen des Österreicheschen Staatsarchivs, 1, 2004, 91-106.
‘Les trios vies successives d’un atelier ferroviaire du XIXe siècle : Eveleigh (Sydney, Australie), Revue d’histoire des chemins de fer, 28-29 printemps-automne 2003, 561-584.
Professional Activities
Between 1999 and 2007 he undertook three missions for UNESCO’s International Council on Monuments and Sites to India to assess successful applications for three mountain railways to be inscribed as World Heritage Sites. These are:
- Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
- Nilgiri Mountain Railway
- Kalka-Shimla Railway
In 2008 he wrote descriptions of exhibits for the new Trainworks Museum at Thirlmere NSW for Convergence Design.
Professor Lee is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology, published by Maney and founded in 1920 by the Newcomen Society.
