| Diane Kirkby | |
| Birth Date: | 24 July 1948 |
| Birth Place: | Walgett, New South Wales |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Awards: | Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1985) WK Hancock Prize (1992) Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2005) Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2011) |
| Alma Mater: | University of New South Wales (BA) University of California, Santa Barbara (MA, PhD) |
| Thesis Title: | Alice Henry: The National Women's Trade Union League of America and Progressive Labor Reform, 1906–1925 |
| Thesis Year: | 1982 |
| Discipline: | History |
| Sub Discipline: | Women's history Cultural history Legal history |
| Workplaces: | La Trobe University University of Melbourne |
Diane Elizabeth Kirkby, (born 24 July 1948) is an Australian historian. She is Professor of Law and Humanities at the University of Technology Sydney and professor emeritus of History at La Trobe University. Since 2016, Kirkby has been the editor of Labour History, the journal of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History.
Diane Elizabeth Kirkby was born in Walgett, New South Wales,[1] in 1948.[2] Her education began by correspondence course and at age six she was sent to board in Tamworth at the Church of England Girls School and later to Presbyterian Ladies' College, Pymble. Her high school education was completed at Camden High School.[3]
Kirkby has written about labour history, legal history, women's history and cultural history, including developing the concept of ocker chic. Kirkby was elected fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2005[4] and fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2011.[5]