He is a professor of Australian history in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies of the University of Melbourne.
[3][4] He has curated a number of exhibitions at the City Gallery, Melbourne, including Read all about it!
A quest for Melbourne's best public toilets in Art, Architecture & History (2006, with Kirsty Fletcher and Nicki Adams);[6] Paper City: Logos Letterheads and Creative Designs (2011);[7] and City Songs (2017, with Zoe Ali and Christos Tsiolkas).
[9] He has been a historian member of the Heritage Council of Victoria since 2015, and deputy chair since 2020.
[10] He was elected a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 2013,[11] and of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2018.