All Creatures Great and Small: Faith and Nature Education in New South Wales

In this evening seminar, held in St James’ Hall, Ruby Ekkel shares current research from her NSW State Library Religious History Fellowship, All Creatures Great and Small: Faith and Nature Education in New South Wales 1884–1952.

This project explores the overlooked influence of religious and moral thought in shaping nature education for children in New South Wales between 1884 and 1952. The work will demonstrate how Christian ethics, scientific ideas, and conservationist concern coalesced – and sometimes clashed – in attempts to teach children about a natural world increasingly under threat.

Dr Ruby Ekkel is an Associate Lecturer in History at the Australian National University and the 2026 Australian Religious History Research Fellow at the State Library of New South Wales. Her research focuses on changing attitudes towards animals and the environment, with special attention to the voices of women, and to the contested roles of science and faith. She has a BA (Honours) from the the University of Melbourne, where she was a Chancellor’s Scholar; a Master’s degree from the University of St Andrews and a PhD from the Australian National University. She undertook a year-long residency at the University of Oxford, Christ Church College during her graduate research.

Ruby has published and presented on topics spanning animal history, environmental history, and women’s history in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and contributes to public forums including The Conversation, ABC Radio, and the Australian Book Review. She was awarded the 2025 CHASS Future Leaders Writing Prize for an emerging leader for her article “‘Making friends with lyre-birds’: Alice Manfield and settler belonging in Mount Buffalo National Par.”

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash. Author photo by Joy Lai.