Dr Richard Reid, Irish born and educated, worked for more than 40 years as a high school teacher, museum educator, historian and museum curator. Thirty of those years were spent in Canberra, in institutions such as the Australian War Memorial, the National Museum of Australia, the Senate and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. In 2011, he was the Senior Curator for the National Museum’s exhibition on the Irish in Australia, ‘Not just Ned’.
Richard has written widely on the subject of Australia at war and of the story of the Irish in Australia and has led tours to Ireland, the Western Front and Gallipoli. Recently retired from the Australian Public Service, he is still involved in a major archaeological and historical survey of the Anzac area on the Gallipoli peninsula and various projects on the emigration of the Irish to Australia during the 19th century.
Among Richard’s publications are “A Decent Set of Girls”: The Irish Famine Orphans of the Thomas Arbuthnot, 1849-1850 (with Cheryl Mongan), Farewell My Children: Irish Assisted Emigration to Australia, 1848-1870, Bomber Command: Australians in World War II and Sinners, Saints and Settlers: A Journey through Irish Australia (with Brendon Kelson).