“1919 : le tournant santé publique et le début de l’expansion formidable de la Croix-Rouge”, Fondation Croix-Rouge française pour la Recherche, Paris, 27 June 2024.
“Treating the Dead with Honour? The Australian Graves Detachment and Australian Graves Services in France, 1919-1922”, at The Naval, Military and Air Force Club of South Australia, 4 May 2023.
“From Encounter Bay to Aukus : Has the Australian-French relationship ever stood a chance?”, at The Naval, Military and Air Force Club of South Australia, 15 April 2023.
“The Republican Dream and the Second Empire”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 30 September 2022.
“The return of the Monarchy 1814-1848”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 2 September 2022.
“Napoléon and the Premier Empire: Rise and Fall”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 19 August 2022.
“The French Presidential Election is on: Who is likely to win, and what does it mean for Australia?”, public talk at Flinders University at Victoria Square, 7 April 2022.
“A Revolution that changed the World: the impacts of “1789”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 10 December 2021.
“The causes of the French Revolution“, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 12 November 2021.
“Making Revolution: 1789 France”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 15 October 2021.
“The Bourbons and the monarchie absolue”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 2 July 2021.
“The House of Capet and the House of Valois: strengthening the kingdom and the monarchy”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 11 June 2021.
“The Merovingians and the Carolingians: the origins of France?”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 21 May 2021.
“The Great Anzac Cooption: Myth, History and National Identity”, in conversation with Paul Daley (The Guardian) and Wayne Macauley (Simpson Returns), Adelaide Festival Writers’ Week, 4 March 2020.
Sub-keynote, the History Teachers’ Association of Australia national conference, Adelaide, 1 October 2019.
“Our Corner of the Somme”, in conversation with Professor Frank Bongiorno, Muse, Canberra, 24 April 2019.
“Our Corner of the Somme”, in conversation with Associate Professor Martin Crotty, Avid Reader, Brisbane, 18 April 2019.
“Our Corner of the Somme”, in conversation with Professor Alistair Thomson, Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne, 12 April 2019.
“Our Corner of the Somme”, State Library of South Australia, 5 April 2019.
“Was Second Villers-Bretonneux an Australian Victory?”, public lecture at the Adelaide Club, 7 June 2018. (invited)
Invited panel member for the French-Australian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Breakfast Debrief, “Macron 10+ months on”, Deloitte, 6 April 2018. (invited).
“Trench art and aerial warfare during the First World War”, South Australians in France Public conference, Adelaide, 23-24 February 2018.
“South Australia, France, and the First World War”, City of Unley’s Town Hall, 10 November 2017. (invited).
“A different perspective on the First World War: The French Experience” at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies Australia, Adelaide, September 2017. (invited).
Panellist for the French presidential election’s debrief organised by the French Australian Chamber of Commerce (Adelaide) at Ernst & Young on 10 May 2017. (invited).
Public lecture series “The Making of France - From Clovis to Louis XVI” at Alliance Française, Brisbane. Stretching over a millennium, the three conferences recounted turning points in French history and their lasting impacts on the country’s history, culture, arts and architecture. (invited).
Public lecture series “Perspectives on France in the World Wars” at Alliance Française, Brisbane. This cycle of three conferences delved into French history through a cultural and comparative approach, looking at arts, mentalities and representations of the First and Second World Wars and the way France experienced them compared to Australia. (invited).
“French perspective on Australian history” at Alliance Française, Brisbane, 12 June 2015. This event took place as part of a project launched by the Embassy of France to Australia. (invited).
“Same war, different collective memories: French and Australian remembrance of the First World War” at Alliance Française Canberra for the launch of French teaching kits. I was one of three guest speakers along with his Excellency Christophe Lecourtier, Ambassador of France to Australia and Joy Burch, ACT Minister for Education, 7 May 2015 (invited).
I regularly engage with the media through the Press, Radio and TV. According to Flinders Media, my research has significant social and cultural relevance to the public, and has generated over $3 million of ASR (advertising space rate) in the last three years, being discussed in hundreds of media items in Australia and overseas. These items can be found online and the list below only covers pieces that I have written or co-authored.
Fathi, Romain. Explainer: What’s at stake in France’s election, and could it make Macron’s government even weaker?, The Conversation, 28 June 2024
Fathi, Romain. Australie : un référendum historique pour donner aux Aborigènes une voix au Parlement, The Conversation, 13 October 2023.
Fathi, Romain. The French Legislative Elections: Will Emmanuel Macron Form a Majority Government?, Australian Institute of International Affairs, 8 June 2022.
Fathi, Romain. Emmanuel Macron is reelected but the French are longing for radical change, The Conversation, 25 April 2022.
Fathi, Romain. ‘I don’t think, I know’ – what makes Macron’s comments about Morrison so extraordinary and so worrying, The Conversation, 1 November 2021.
Fathi, Romain. Why the Australia-France submarine deal collapse was predictable, The Conversation, 23 September 2021.
Fathi, Romain. Pourquoi la rupture par l’Australie du « contrat du siècle » était prévisible, The Conversation France, 20 September 2021.
Fathi, Romain, and Rioult, Claire. C'est fini: can the Australia-France relationship be salvaged after scrapping the sub deal? The Conversation, 17 September 2021.
Fathi, Romain, and Rioult, Claire. What is Bastille Day and why is it celebrated? The Conversation, 13 July 2021.
Australian Associated Press. Crowds at Anzac Day dawn services plummet due to ‘waning interest’ of younger Australians, The Guardian, 22 April 2021.
Fathi, Romain. Crowds at dawn services have plummeted in recent years. It’s time to reinvent Anzac Day, The Conversation, 21 April 2021.
Fathi, Romain. “A different kind of Anzac Day”, The Independent Australia, 24 April 2020.
Fathi, Romain. “We must be ready to manage the dead from coronavirus”, The Independent Australia, 25 March 2020.
Fathi, Romain. “Do ‘the French’ care about Anzac?”, The Conversation, 12 April 2019, 17 000 reads.
Fathi, Romain. “‘Look at me! Look at me!’ The Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux: a Frenchman’s reflection on his visit”, Honest History, 12 March 2019.
Fathi, Romain. “100 years since the WW1 Armistice, Remembrance Day remains a powerful reminder of the cost of war”, The Conversation, 9 November 2018, 15 000 reads.
Fathi, Romain. “World politics explainer: The Great War (WWI)”, The Conversation, 3 September 2018, 45 000 reads.
Fathi, Romain. “Is Australia spending too much on the ‘Anzac centenary’? A comparison with France”, Honest History, 14 April 2016.
Fathi, Romain. “Une commémoration très politique”, Les Collections de l’Histoire, no. 66, January 2015. [translation: A political commemoration (on the commemoration of the centenary of the First World War in Australia)]
Fathi, Romain. “L'Australian War Memorial: temple de la religion civile”, Les Collections de l’Histoire, no. 66, January 2015. [translation: The Australian War Memorial: the temple of civil religion]
Fathi, Romain. “Exposer la Grande Guerre au musée-mémorial national australien. Le refus de la modernité au service de la fondation d'origines sacrées”, Arts et Sociétés. La lettre du Séminaire, 2015. [translation: Displaying the Great War at the Australian War Memorial. The refusal of modernity at the service of the foundation of sacred origins]
Fathi, Romain. “Commémorer Gallipoli”, Les Journaux de Guerre 13, (2014). [translation : Commemorating Gallipoli (about the centenary)]
Fathi, Romain. “On the Importance of the Commemoration of the Centenary in Australia”
Fathi, Romain. “A few ways for researching the First World War in Australia”
Here is a snapshot of media contributions that were recorded :
Australian History - SBS French - Podcast Series
I have been invited by SBS French to create podcasts on aspects of Australian History. This podcast series started in 2022 and is ongoing. It is popular, and episodes are available on SBS French, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
The aim of the series is to disseminate Australian history and historiography across the French-speaking world by covering aspects of Australian history deemed little known by, and/or interesting to, French speakers. Topics are proposed by SBS journalist Grégory Plesse and I provide content for the series.
L'Histoire cachée de l'immigration australienne: 2000-aujourd'hui, les "frontières souveraines", 12/06/2024,
L'Histoire cachée de l'immigration australienne: 1973-2000, l'avènement du multiculturalisme, 05/06/2024
‘L'Histoire cachée de l'immigration australienne: 1945-1973, "Populate or Perish", 29/05/2024
‘L'Histoire cachée de l'immigration australienne: 1901-1950, la politique de "l'Australie blanche", 22/05/2024
L'Histoire cachée de l'immigration australienne: 1788-1901, les "convicts" et les premiers colons, 15/05/2024
L’Histoire cachée de Peter Garrett, la rock star devenue ministre, 19/04/2024
L’Histoire cachée des avocats (le fruit!) en Australie, 16/02/2024
‘L'Histoire cachée: Melbourne, ville-champignon de la ruée vers l'or’, 23/03/2023, 18 minutes.
‘L'Histoire cachée du mouvement LGBT en Australie’, 07/03/2023, 19 minutes.
‘L'Histoire cachée: quand les Aborigènes traquaient d'autres Aborigènes’, 16/02/2023, 19 minutes.
‘L'Histoire cachée: en Tasmanie, la colonisation, faux-nez d'un génocide’, 09/02/2023, 24 minutes.
‘L'Histoire cachée: aux origines de la colonisation, la résistance aborigène’, 29/01/2023, 23 minutes.
‘L'Histoire cachée: la plage, le lieu le plus sacré d'Australie?’, 20/01/2023, 15 minutes.
‘L'Histoire cachée: pourquoi les Australiens sont-ils si forts en natation?’, 20/01/2023, 18 minutes.
‘L'Histoire cachée: comment les JO de 2000 ont transformé Sydney’, 15/01/2023, 19 minutes.
‘L'Histoire cachée: Pine Gap, des espions dans l'Outback’, 28/10/2022, 15 minutes.
‘L'histoire cachée: comment Maralinga a forgé le mouvement anti-nucléaire australien’, 23/09/2022, 12 minutes.
‘L'Histoire cachée: quand l'Australie était un site d'essais nucléaires’, 23/09/2022, 19 minutes.
Radio(a selection)
Interviews related to current affairs & geopolitics
27 June 2024 SBS French (France Legislative Elections)
3 June 2022, SBS French (Australian Republic)
6 February 2022, SBS French (Ukrainian crisis)
25 September 2021, France Culture (Europe & the IndoPacific region)
Interviews related to the Australia-French relationship
2 November 2021, ABC News
17 September 2021, SBS French with Grégory Plesse
Interviews related to Aboriginal history
6 June 2022, SBS French (Mabo Day)
7 October 2021, SBS French (“Terra Nullius”)
Interviews related to Anzac commemorations
11 November 2021, SBS French
20 May 2021, SBS French
24 April 2021, Weekend Evenings with Christine Anu
23 April 2021, Radio Adelaide, Breakfast with Tom Mann and Paul Davies
21 April 2021, 3AW Melbourne, Mornings with Neil Mitchell
21 April 2021, ABC Adelaide, Drive with Jules Schiller
Interviews related to Our Corner of the Somme:
15 April 2019, ABC Hobart, Morning Show (11 minutes)
18 April 2019, ABC Brisbane, Morning Show (13 minutes)
24 April 2019, SBS French (10 minutes)
8 May, ABC Adelaide, Evening Show (20 minutes)
Interviews related to the public event South Australians in France:
12 February 2018 SBS, French program.
30 May 2017 ABC South East, Morning Show.
24 April 2017 ABC Adelaide, Afternoons Show
Interview related to Y2K people’s relationship to history:
20 March 2017 ABC Adelaide, Afternoons Show.
Interview related to the French presidential Election:08 May 2017 News Talk, New Zealand.
Television
ABC News, ‘Macron v.s. the Far Right in the French Legislative elections’, The World with Beverley O’Connor on 11/06/2024
ABC News, ‘Macron’s narrow lead in the French Presidential election’, The World with Beverley O’Connor on 04/2022
ABC News, ‘Why France could play conciliator in the tensions between Russia, Ukraine and the US” The World with Beverley O’Connor on 07/2/2022
ABC TV, ‘Fallout from the AUKUS submarine deal’, The Drum with Julia Baird on 20/09/2021.
Ticker News, ‘Australia vs France’, 3/11/2021
ABC News, ‘Potential consequences of the AUKUS alliance for the Australia-France relationship’, The World with Yvonne Yong on 17/9/2021.
Channel 7 News, Adelaide. ‘South Australians are being called on to dig out any wartime mementos for an antique roadshow’; story aired Seven Weekend News on 18/2/18.
Also broadcast from Central GTS/BKN Port Lincoln, Central GTS/BKN Port Pirie and Southern Cross GTS/BKN Broken Hill. (Audience 115,000)
Academic Podcasts
SBS French - A Podcast Series - The Hidden History of Australia, Dr Romain Fathi in conversation with Grégory Plesse, 2022- ongoing.
HION (History of International Organizations Network), Resilient humanitarianism, Interview of Dr Romain Fathi, 21 May 2021.
PIMo (People In Motion Network), Disposing of corpses during World War I,’ Dr Romain Fathi, Contagion Podcast, 1 May 2020.