Bill Metcalf

William (Bill) Metcalf is a Brisbane-based historian and research methodologist, holding honorary positions at Griffith University and at the University of Queensland. He is the author of four books, including The Findhorn Book of Community Living (2004).

Bill Metcalf reviews ‘Sins of the Father: The Long shadow of a religious cult’ by Fleur Beale

September 2009, no. 314 • 01 September 2009

Sins of the Father focuses on Philip Cooper, a forty-seven-year-old Australian who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian commune established by his father, Neville Cooper, in New Zealand. In 1989, Philip left the commune and came to Australia. Since then, he has been trying to extricate his wife and children and create a ‘normal’ life. Neville Cooper, a Queenslander, began his evangelical cru ... (read more)

Bill Metcalf reviews 'Made in Queensland' by Ross Fitzgerald, Lyndon Megarrity and David Symons

July-August 2009, no. 313 • 01 July 2009

In 1858, a year before Queensland separated from the colony of New South Wales, Theophilus Pugh wrote in the first history of Queensland: ‘Difficult indeed will be the task of the historian who hereafter attempts to chronicle the events connected with the early days of this now important settlement.’ Authors of the subsequent nineteen histories of Queensland, including Ross Fitzgerald, Lyndon ... (read more)