Melanie Nivison Oppenheimer, (born 9 November 1957) is an Australian historian, who specialises in the history of volunteering, and a former actress.

Early life and acting

Oppenheimer was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales, and studied for a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree at the University of New England (UNE). When UNE opened a drama department, she "fell in love with acting" and went on to enrol at the

Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art Webber may refer to: *Webber, Kansas, a US city *Webber Township, Jefferson County, Illinois, USA *Webber Township, Lake County, Michigan, USA *Webber International University, in Babson Park, Florida, USA *Webber (surname) Webber (/ˈwɛbər/) i ...

in London before starting a career as an actress on Australian television. She played Sarah Carson, the daughter of lead character Jennifer Carson (played by

Lorraine Bayly Lorraine Daphne Bayly AM (born 16 January 1937) is an Australian actress of film, television and theatre, presenter, singer, dancer, pianist and theatre director and writer. She is perhaps best known to small screen audiences for her soap ...

), on the television series ''

Carson's Law ''Carson's Law'' is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Ten Network between 1982-1984. The series was a period piece set in the 1920s and starred Lorraine Bayly as progressive solicitor Jennifer Carson. The epis ...

'' from 1984 to 1986.

Academic career

Oppenheimer returned to UNE to complete a

Master of Letters The Master of Letters degree (MLitt or LittM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. Ireland Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University offer MLitt degrees. Trinity has offered them the longest, owing largely to its tradition as Ireland ...

, and then a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

. She worked as a research assistant in the history department of the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, then held associate professor positions at the

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network u ...

and the University of New England. The

Australian Red Cross The Australian Red Cross, formally the Australian Red Cross Society, is a humanitarian aid and community services charity in Australia. Tracing its history back to 1923 and being incorporated by royal charter in 1941, the Australian Red Cros ...

commissioned Oppenheimer to write an official history of the organisation in 2010, its centennial year. The book, ''The Power of Humanity: 100 Years of Australian Red Cross'', was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

and launched by the Governor-General of Australia,

Sir Peter Cosgrove General (Australia), General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, (born 28 July 1947) is a retired senior Australian Army officer who served as the 26th governor-general of Australia, in office from 2014 to 2019. A graduate of the Royal Military College, ...

, in August 2014. She has written several biographical articles for the ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

''. On 1 July 2013, Oppenheimer took up a professorship as Chair of History at

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

in South Australia. She was elected a Fellow of the

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Austr ...

(FASSA) in 2017.

Selected works

* * * * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oppenheimer, Melanie 1957 births Alumni of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art Australian television actresses Australian women historians Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Academic staff of Flinders University Living people Macquarie University alumni University of New England (Australia) alumni Academic staff of the University of New England (Australia) Academic staff of Western Sydney University 20th-century Australian historians 20th-century Australian women