Academy Fellow

Emeritus Professor Jenny Hocking is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University and inaugural Distinguished Whitlam Fellow with the Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University. Professor Hocking is a well-known biographer, scriptwriter and the author of eight books and three edited collections, including the award winning two-volume biography of the Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and major political biographies of the former Attorney-General and High Court justice Lionel Murphy, and of the well-known Australian writer, Communist, yarn-spinner and activist, Frank Hardy. She is a frequent commentator and public speaker and has appeared on radio, television and film and at numerous Writers’ Festivals. Professor Hocking’s latest works are The Palace Letters: The Queen, the Governor-General and the Plot to Dismiss Gough Whitlam (Scribe. Melbourne. 2020), The Dismissal Dossier: Everything You Were Never Meant to Know about November 1975 - The Palace Connection (Melbourne University Publishing 2015, updated editions 2016, 2017) and her two-volume biography of the Labor Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, also published by Melbourne University Publishing. The second volume, Gough Whitlam: His Time, was the winner of the Fellowship of Australian Writers 2014 Barbara Ramsden Award and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards (Australian History Prize), the National Biography Award, the Queensland Literary Awards and long-listed in the 2013 NiB Waverley Awards for Literature. The first volume, Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History (MUP 2008, 2009, 2014), was shortlisted for several literary awards including the Magarey Medal for Biography, the Queensland Premier’s Awards, The Age Book of the Year and the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Professor Hocking was the Historical Script Consultant on the ABC-TV 2-part series Whitlam: Power and Passion 2017. Professor Hocking’s case against the National Archives of Australia seeking access to the 'Palace letters' relating to the dismissal of the Whitlam government succeeded at the High Court of Australia in May 2020 when the High Court found in her favour in a 6:1 decision leading to the release of the letters.

Professor Hocking's research focuses on Australian politics, labour history, political biography and counter-terrorism developments. She has been the recipient of several ARC grants including most recently an ARC Discovery project grant and ARC Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award (DORA) Fellowship, an ARC QEII Research Fellowship and ARC Linkage grants with partner organisations the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia. She is a regular commentator on Australian politics and political history and has played a key role in public debates concerning the dismissal of the Whitlam government, the Commonwealth, an Australian republic, recent developments in Australia's counter-terrorism machinery through submissions to parliamentary inquiries, public speaking and media engagements and published research. She has appeared as a guest at several writers' festivals including the Sydney, Melbourne and Byron Bay Writers' Festivals, speaking on political biography and contemporary Australian politics.

Emeritus Professor Hocking is a Trustee of the Lionel Murphy Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that awards national and international graduate scholarships and holds the annual Lionel Murphy Memorial Lecture, and a member of the National Committee of the Australian Republic Movement 2020-2022.

• ARC DORA Fellow. Monash University (2014-2017)
• Inaugural Distinguished Whitlam Fellow, The Whitlam Institute, Western Sydney University
• Head of School of Journalism, Australian and Indigenous Studies, Monash University (2010-2013)
• Director of Research School of Humanities, Communications and Social Sciences, Monash University (2007 - 2009)
• Deputy Director, National Centre for Australian Studies (2005 - 2007)
• Director of National Centre for Australian Studies, Monash University (2001 - 2004)
• ARC QEII Fellow (1999 - 2005)

The Palace Letters: The Queen, the Governor-General and the Plot to Dismiss Gough Whitlam (Scribe. 2020)

Special Commendation, Henry Mayer Book Award Australian Political Studies Association

Commendation, Mander Jones Awards

Gough Whitlam: His Time (MUP 2012)

Fellowship of Australian Writers 2014 Literary Awards, Barbara Ramsden Award

Hocking, Jenny (2020) The Palace Letters: The Queen, the Governor-General and the Plot to Dismiss Gough Whitlam Scribe. Melbourne.

Hocking, Jenny (ed) (2017), Making Modern Australia: Gough Whitlam's 21st Century Agenda Monash University Publishing

Hocking, Jenny (2017), The Dismissal Dossier: Everything You Were Never Meant to Know about November 1975 - The Palace Connection New edition with new chapter, 'A very British coup' Melbourne University Press. Melbourne

Hocking, Jenny (2016) The Dismissal Dossier: Everything You Were Never Meant to Know about November 1975 updated edition New edition with new chapter, ‘The man who would be King’. Melbourne University Press

Hocking, Jenny (2015), The Dismissal Dossier: Everything You Were Never Meant to Know about November 1975 Melbourne University Press

Hocking, Jenny (2014), Gough Whitlam: His Time New paperback edition with new chapter, ‘Epilogue: “I never said I was immortal, merely eternal”’ Melbourne University Publishing/Miegunyah Press

Hocking, Jenny (2012), Gough Whitlam: His Time. Volume II of Gough Whitlam: The Biography. Melbourne University Publishing/ Miegunyah Press

Hocking, Jenny (2008), Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History. Volume I of Gough Whitlam: The Biography. Melbourne University Publishing/ Miegunyah Press

Hocking, Jenny and Lewis, Colleen (eds) (2007), The Post-democratic Era: Counter-terrorism and the State. Edward Elgar Publishing: London

Hocking, Jenny (2007), 'Post-war reconstruction and the New World Order: The origins of Gough Whitlam's democratic citizen', in Australian Journal of Politics and History 53 (2), 223-235

Hocking, J (2005), 'History by Numbers'; Introduction to Nolan, S. (ed) Reflections on the Dismissal. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne,1-14

Hocking, J (2005), 'Liberty, Security and the State' in Saunders, P. and Walter, J. (eds) Ideas and Influence: Social Science and Public Policy in Australia. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 178-197

Hocking, Jenny (2005), Frank Hardy: Politics Literature Life. Lothian Books, Melbourne

Hocking, Jenny (2004), Terror Laws: ASIO, Counter-terrorism and the Threat to Democracy. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney

Hocking, J. and Lewis, C. (eds) (2003), It's Time Again: Whitlam and Modern Labor. Circa Books, Melbourne

Hocking, Jenny (2000), Lionel Murphy: A Political Biography. Cambridge University Press. (2nd edition)

Hocking, Jenny (1993) Beyond Terrorism: The Development of the Australian Security State Allen & Unwin. Sydney