Andrew Moore (born 1953) is an Australian historian and academic, a specialist in Australian right-wing politics. He has taught at the University of Sydney, The University of New South Wales, England's University of Lincoln and the University of Western Sydney."Profiles". 2021. Westernsydney.Edu.Au. https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/associate_professor_andrew_moore. His areas of expertise include Twentieth Century Australian History, Irish-Australian history and social history of sport, especially rugby league football. Moore is a leading expert on both the New Guard and the Old Guard.
Academic career Andrew Moore has been teaching Australian history since 1985 and currently teaches at the University of Western Sydney, where he is an associate professor in the faculty of Humanities and Communication Arts. Moore graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of arts and a diploma of education. He also holds a PhD from La Trobe University.
Moore has worked on multiple projects with the University of Western Sydney as well as The Australian Research Council (ARC). The university has funded two of Andrew Moore’s papers, Mr Big, Mr Wig and the Neo-Nazi: the Browne Fitzpatrick Affair and Privilege Case, 1955"Staff Profile: Associate Professor Andrew Moore", 2021, westernsydeny.edu.au, https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/associate_professor_andrew_moore. and Biographical Registrar of the Australian Labour Movement 1788–1975.Andrew Moore and John Shields, “Collective Biography and Labour History: The Case of The Biographical Register of the Australian Labour Movement, 1788-1975.” Business and Labour History Group, The University of Sydney, 2009. He has been funded by the ARC to construct a historical biography of approximately 1200 members of the Old and New Guard.“Who were the Fascists?” University of Western Sydney Newsletter, December, 2006, research.matters, https://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/70968/Research_Matters_Vol_2_Dec_06.pdf He is also a member of the New South Wales working party of the Australian Dictionary of Biography and has been affiliated since 1991."Superintendent Mackay And The Curious Case Of The Vanishing Secret Army", 2021, History Australia, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2104/ha090072 Moore has also worked with the Australian Society for Sports History (ASSH) and their sub-group the Tom Brock Bequest Committee.Andrew Moore, and Andy Carr, Centenary Reflections : 100 Years of Rugby League in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Society for Sports History, 2008). He has also given the 1st Tom Brock Lecture in 1999 as well and has written an introductory essay for the book collection of Tom Brock lectures.Richard Cashman, Tales from Coathanger City: Ten Years of Tom Brock Lectures (Sydney: Australian Society for Sports History and the Tom Brock Bequest Committee, 2010). Since 2005 he has become a chairman for the Tom Brock Bequest Committee.Cashman, Ten Years of Tom Brock Lectures,4 Moore has written over 70 papers, articles, and book chapters.
Moore is currently a principal supervisor for doctoral projects and is currently supervising a thesis titled The Political Economy of the Australian Mining Industry, 1945–2010."Staff Profile: Associate Professor Andrew Moore", 2021, westernsydeny.edu.au, https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/associate_professor_andrew_moore. He has expressed the opinion that universities should support and fund the research passion projects of their teaching staff.“Who were the Fascists?” University of Western Sydney Newsletter, December, 2006, research.matters, https://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/70968/Research_Matters_Vol_2_Dec_06.pdf
Andrew Moore is a member of the federal executive of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History and has been so since 1986."Federation Press - Author: Andrew Moore", last edited 2021, Federationpress.Com.Au, http://www.federationpress.com.au/bookstore/author.asp?id=784 He is also an associate editor for their peer-reviewed journal Labour History“Labour History- About”, last edited 2021, jstor.org, https://www.jstor.org/journal/labourhistory published by Liverpool University Press.
Irish-Australian history One of Andrew Moore's specialisations is Irish-Australian history, with a focus on Irish-Australian figures such as the famous Francis De Groot. Although most of his writings and lectures in this field are about Francis de Groot, Moore also has focused on other Australian-Irish figures. He has held a seminar on Australian-Irish rebel Phil Cunningham at Blacktown City Council.Andrew Moore, "Phil Cunningham: A Forgotten Irish-Australian Rebel. [This Is the Text of a Presentation Delivered at 'Remembering Vinegar Hill' Seminar, Blacktown City Council, 7 March 2004.]." The Hummer 4 (2004). https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.200409924.
Andrew Moore has written the biographical work "Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist Australian Legend".Andrew Moore, Francis de Groot : Irish Fascist Australian Legend (Annandale: Federation Press, 2005). The book was funded by the Sesquicentenary of Responsible Government in NSW Committee.David Ash, "Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist. Australian Legend [Book Review]." Bar News: The Journal of the New South Wales Bar Association 1 (2006). https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/INFORMIT.414204672092817. It was shortlisted for the State Library of NSW's Australian History Prize in 2006.Tony Nash, "Francis De Groot Irish Fascist Australian Legend" Booktopia, 2005, https://www.booktopia.com.au/francis-de-groot-andrew-moore/book/9781862875739.html. The book details the life of Sir Francis de Groot from his early life in Ireland to his leadership of the New Guard in Australia.
The book had a mixed range of reception, with some criticisms from both the academic field and from general critics. He has been criticised for his labelling of Francis de Groot as fascist. This criticism has come from both Sydney Morning Herald columnist Gerald HendersonAsh, "Francis de Groot (review)", 85. and Senior Lecturer of politics at Deakin University Geoff Robinson,Geoff Robinson, "Francis de Groot: Irish Fascist Australian Legend [book review]" Labour History, no. 91 (2006): 214-15, Accessed April 23, 2021. as both have disagreed with Moore's labelling. Moore's overuse of acronyms when discussing De Groot's career in the New Guard has also been criticised by Canberra writer Frank O'Shea.Frank O'Shea, "Denizen of a Disturbed Time [Book Review of Moore, Andrew. Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist, Australian Legend (2005).]." Eureka street 16, no. 3 (2006).
However, there has also been positive reception of the book. Moore himself has been described as having the "…rare skill in distinguishing facts from fictions…"Geoff Robinson, "Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist, Australian Legend." Labour History. Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, 2006. by political historian Geoff Robinson. Historian Michael Cathcart of the University of Melbourne has also appraised the book and Moore, calling the book "..a dignified work of patient scholarship and unexpected insights."Michael Cathcart, "Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist, Australian Legend.(Book Review)." The Australian Journal of Politics and History 43, 2006. Cathcart also has argued against Gerald Henderson's critique of the label of fascist, claiming that Moore writes a character that is more than predictable left-wing judgements.Cathcart, "Francis de Groot (review)", 494-492.
In 2004, he found Francis De Groot's Cavalry officer's sword in Ireland after giving a talk on Australian-Irish history at the University of Dublin and was returned to the National Museum of Australia."Sharp End Of History". 2021. Smh.Com.Au. https://www.smh.com.au/national/sharp-end-of-history-20040324-gdilg5.html.
Australian right-wing political history Australian right-wing political history is one of Moore’s primary field of study, with his expertise being the Old Guard and the New Guard paramilitary organisations. Moore's works have covered extreme Australian fascist movements and organisations to the documentation of the Labour party members and anti-Communist historians.Michael Cathcart, "Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist, Australian Legend.(Book Review)." The Australian Journal of Politics and History 43, 2006. Moore himself has alluded to not identifying as fascist or associating politically with right-wing political groups.Cathcart, “Francis de Groot (review)”, 494-492.
He has also written about the historiography of Australian right-wing political history, namely through analysis of archival evidence.Moore, "Labour Historian? Spy?", 1. A major contribution of Andrew Moore to this field is his article Writing About the Extreme Right in Australia.Moore, "Writing about the extreme right in Australia" It is an introductory essay to the 89th issue of Labour History that held a thematic section titled The 'Extreme Right' in Twentieth Century Australia. It is one of the most prominent sources of academic papers on Labour history and historiography."Labour History - About", last edited 2021, jstor.org, https://www.jstor.org/journal/labourhistory Moore has also written a biographical piece about anti-communist historian Malcolm Ellis, whose papers are held in the Malcolm Ellis collection at the National Library of Australia.Moore, "Labour Historian? Spy?", 1. Moore's essay "The 'historical expert': M.H. Ellis and the historiography of the cold war"Andrew Moore, "The 'Historical Expert': M.H. Ellis and the Historiography of the Cold War." Australian historical studies 31, no. 114, 91–109, 2000. is a further analysis of Malcolm Ellis's life, examining his anti-communist views and their relationship to his work as an Australian historian.
His first book was The Secret Army and the Premier Conservative Paramilitary Organisations in New South WalesAndrew Moore, The Secret Army and the Premier: Conservative Paramilitary Organisations in New South Wales 1930-32 (Kensington, N.S.W: New South Wales University Press, 1989). which detailed and analysed the actions of the Old and New Guard under Jack Lang's second term as premier. Academic John McCarthy from UNSW said the book was "meticulously researched and tightly argued".John McCarthy, "Reviewed Work: The Secret Army and the Premier: Conservative Paramilitary Organisations in New South Wales 1930-32 by Andrew Moore" Labour History, no. 58 (1990), 110-11, Accessed April 24, 2021. McCarthy also notes that the general reader may disagree with some of Moore's argument.
The work has also received negative reception, with historian Richard Evans writing the article "'A Menace to this Realm': The New Guard and the New South Wales Police, 1931–32"Richard Evans, "A menace to this realm : the new guard and the New South Wales police, 1931-32", History Australia, vol. 5, no. 3 (2008) 76.1-76.20, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2104/ha080076 that criticises Moore's book. The critique suggests that Moore's work is flawed, and his argument on the Old Guard is a dominant view of the political history of New South Wales that Moore has led. Moore himself has responded to the criticism and defended his work in the paper Superintendent Mackay and the Curious Case of The Vanishing Secret Army.Andrew Moore, "Superintendent Mackay and the Curious Case of The Vanishing Secret Army: A Response to Richard Evans." History Australia 6, no. 3 (2009) 72.1–72.18.
Australian sport history