Rowan Cahill
Encyclopedia
Rowan Cahill is an Australia
n radical historian
and journalist
with background as a teacher, and farmhand, and has variously worked for the trade union movement as a rank and file activist, delegate and publicist. During the Vietnam War
he was a conscientious objector
, and was prominent in the anti-war, student protest, and New Left
movements of the period, primarily as a publicist and communicator. These activities led to him being placed under surveillance by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
(ASIO). Cahill has been widely published in socialist, trade union, academic and mainstream publications; he has written numerous pamphlets and booklets, and is the author or co-author of six books, including a history of the militant Seamen's Union of Australia
(1981). Between 2001 and its final issue in December 2006, he was a regular contributor to the internationally acclaimed Sydney based labour movement online journal Workers Online. He works as a part-time teaching academic at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales.
Cahill is married to high school English and drama teacher, Pamela Cahill. Together they are parents to political economist Damien Cahill, sociologist Erin Cahill (sociologist) and poet Tim Cahill (poet).
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n radical historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
with background as a teacher, and farmhand, and has variously worked for the trade union movement as a rank and file activist, delegate and publicist. During the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
he was a conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
, and was prominent in the anti-war, student protest, and New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
movements of the period, primarily as a publicist and communicator. These activities led to him being placed under surveillance by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and...
(ASIO). Cahill has been widely published in socialist, trade union, academic and mainstream publications; he has written numerous pamphlets and booklets, and is the author or co-author of six books, including a history of the militant Seamen's Union of Australia
Seamen's Union of Australia
The Seamen's Union of Australia was the principal trade union for merchant seamen in Australia from 1876 to the 1991. Australian seamen were forerunners of maritime trade unionism. Efforts to form trade unions amongst merchant seamen trading out of Australian ports can be traced back to 1874, with...
(1981). Between 2001 and its final issue in December 2006, he was a regular contributor to the internationally acclaimed Sydney based labour movement online journal Workers Online. He works as a part-time teaching academic at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales.
Cahill is married to high school English and drama teacher, Pamela Cahill. Together they are parents to political economist Damien Cahill, sociologist Erin Cahill (sociologist) and poet Tim Cahill (poet).