Graham’s teaching, on and of-campus through Open universities Australia, involves him with Australian and international students from a wide variety of disciplinary and cultural backgrounds.

His research activities are extensive and involve working with industry, government, community and academic partners throughout Western Australia, Australia and internationally He is frequent commentator in Australian and international media and has consulted for the National Library of Australia, the National Museum of Australia and the Smithsonian Institution, among others. He has written many books and articles published in Australia and internationally.

Graham is a member of the International Australian Studies Association, The Australian Folklore Association, the Folklore Society and the English Folk Dance and Song Society. He is the founder and convenor of the Australian Folklore Network and is an editorial board member of the Journal of Australian Studies, Australian Folklore, the Journal of Australian Naval History and Perfect Beat.

Graham’s research interests relate to folk tradition, past and present, and cultural history in Australia and around the world. His publications include the seminal wok on the academic study of folklore in Australia, The Hidden Culture: Folklore in Australian Society (OUP, 1989) as well as a number of influential monographs including The Outlaw Legend: A Cultural Tradition in Britain, America and Australia (CUP, 1996), The Lingo: Listening to Australian English (UNSW Press, 1999) and Inventing Anzac: The Digger and National Mythology (UQP, 2004). He has also written and co-edited a number of acclaimed reference works, including The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore, jointly edited with Gwenda Beed Davey (OUP, 1993) and the Encyclopedia of Folk Heroes (ABC-Clio, 2001). His historical biography These Few Lines: The Lost Lives of Myra and William Sykes was published in 2006 (ABC Books).

Graham’s publications have been awarded in Australia, Britain and the USA and his research is cited in books and journal articles over many fields, including folklore, history, literature, psychology, travel and cultural studies. His work is also noted in Australian and international media and has been the basis for museum exhibitions, including the National Museum of Australia’s major exhibition Outlawed: Rebels, Revolutionaries and Bushrangers (Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane 2003-2005).

Graham’s research has been supported by a number of funding bodies including the Myer Foundation, the Australian War Memorial and the Australian Folk Trust. He  has been a Chief Investigator on a number of ARC LIEF and Linkage projects, 2003-2008 and is an ARC 'Ozreader'.

As an Australian and international authority, Graham toured China as a guest of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society in 1988 and was an invited ' Distinguished International Scholar' to the American Folklore Society Centennial in 1989. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Sheffield University, the University of Kent at Canterbury and the University of Philadelphia.

Graham has had a long involvement in academic publishing, being a co-founder of Black Swan Press in 1992 and its Publisher from 1992 to 2002, and again from 2007. 

Research Grants and Activities

• Myer Foundation 1989-90
• Indian Ocean Centre for Peace Studies, 1991
• Australian Folk Trust, 1992
• Australian War Memorial, 1991-2, 1992-3
• Vice-Chancellor's Fund 1998
• Curtin Postgraduate Course Development 1999
• Revisioning the Socratic Method, LEAP online learning project, Division of Humanities, Curtin University of Technology 2001-2002
• Peel Regional Research Strategy, manager, 2002-4
• Peel Heritage Tourism Project, manager, 2002-5
• ARC LIEF Preserving Australia’s Sound Heritage’, 2003- 2005 (UWA, Monash, Curtin, Screensound) CI
• WA Folklife Project (National Library of Australia) 2004-7
• Liveable Communities (Curtin DOH), 2004, CI.
• ARC Linkage ‘Remembering the Wars’, 2006-2008’, CI.
• ARC Linkage ‘Childhood, Tradition and Change’, 2006-2010, CI
• Gallipoli 2015
• The Life and Times of Thomas Wood
• The Global Outlaw Hero

Significant Consultancies

• Consultant Lithgow Valley Archaeological Survey, 1981 (Sydney University/NSW Government)
• Principal Consultant Kalamunda Shire 'Foothills Connection' community arts project, 1988-1990.
• Smithsonian Institution Office of Folklife Programs, 1990-91.
• Australian Folklife Centre, Museum of Australia, Senior Research Associate, 1992-3.
• National Library of Australia, 2002-
• National Museum of Australia 2003-4.

 

• Australian Studies Association/International Australian Studies Association.
• Australian Folklore Association.
• Member Folklore Society (UK).
• Corresponding Member Australian National Dictionary Centre, ANU.
• Australian Society of Authors.
• Member English Folk Dance and Song Society
• Member British Australian Studies Association

 

·     NSW Education Department Teacher Education Scholarship, 1972-76.

• MA awarded with Distinction, University of Leeds, 1978.
• National Folklore Fellowship, Australian Folk Trust/Australia Council, 1987.
• Australian delegate to PRC at invitation of Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society, 1988.
• Invited ' Distinguished International Scholar' American Folklore Society Centennial 1989. 
• '1st Runner Up' Katharine Briggs Folklore Award, (Folklore Society, UK), 1994, for The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore (Oxford University Press, 1993), jointly edited with G. Beed Davey.
• American Library Association Award 1994 for The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore (Oxford University Press, 1993), jointly edited with G. Beed Davey.
• Naomi and Isi Leibler Award (most outstanding PhD thesis in Social Sciences), Deakin University, 1995.
• Member of Black Swan Press sharing Executive Dean of Humanities Award for Excellence, 1999.
• Book of the Year award at Tamworth Country Music Festival 2006 for Old Bush Songs: The Centenary Edition of Banjo Paterson’s Classic Collection (jointly edited with W Fahey), Australian Broadcasting Corporation Books, Sydney, 2005.
• Member of the Order of Australia ‘For service to the preservation and dissemination of Australian folklore, particularly through a range of academic, editorial and research roles.’ 2007.
• Joint winner National Biography Award for These Few Lines: The Lost Lives of Myra and William Sykes, 2008.

Books (Authored, Research)

• Smith, S, and Seal, G. 2007. Place and People: New Dimensions in Regional Research, 1 Edition. Perth: Black Swan Press.
• Seal, G. 2006. These Few Lines - A Convict Story - The Lost Lives of Myra & William Sykes. Sydney: ABC Books for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
• Seal, G. 2004. Inventing Anzac: The Digger and National Mythology, 1 Edition. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press.
• Seal, G. 2001. Encyclopedia of Folk heroes, 1 Edition. Santa barbara CA: ABC-Clio.

Book Chapters (Authored, Research Quality)

• Seal, G. 2008. Poor Ned, You're Better Off Dead. In Ned Kelly, 1 Edition, eds Innes, L, 250-259. Hastings UK: Helm information.
• Seal, G. 2003. Folk Literature of Australia?. In Assamese Encyclopedia (World Literature and Folk Literature Volume, 1 Edition, eds Birendranath Datta, ?-?. Guwahati: Phani Talukdar Bavan.
• Seal, G. 2003. The Outlaws of the Marsh. In Outlawed: Rebels, Revolutionaries and Bushrangers, 1 Edition, eds National Museum of Australia, 20-23. Canberra: National Museum of Australia.
• Seal, G. 2003. The Outlaws of the Marsh. In Outlawed: Rebels, Revolutionaries and Bushrangers, 1 Edition, eds National Museum of Australia, 20-23. Canberra: National Museum of Australia.

Refereed Articles (Scholarly Journals)

• Seal, G. 2008. Finding the lost Submarine: The mystery of AE1. Journal of Australian Naval History 5(1): 53-70.
• Seal, G. 2007. ‘Stories in the Heart: Challenges for the Study of Australian Folk Narrative’. Australian Folklore Nov 2007(22): 162-176.
• Seal, G. 2007. ANZAC:The Sacred in the Secular. Journal of Australian Studies 91: 135-144.
• Seal, G. 2006. A.L. Lloyd in Australia: Some Conculsions. Folk Music Journal 9(1): 56-71.
• Seal, G. 2006. Indigenous Australian Life Histories - A New Genre of Writing and Publishing?. The International Journal of the Book 3(1): 79-84.
• Seal, G. 2005. Chook Raffles, Cracker Nights and Saints Days: The Neglected Study of Australian Folk Custom. Australian Folklore 1(20): 209-226.
• Seal, G. 2005. A L Lloyd in Australia: Some Conclusions. Folk Music Journal 9(1): 56-71.
• Seal, G. 2002. Anzac day: An Australian Folk Custom. Journal of Indian Folkloristics 2002: N/A-N/A.