Making Australian History

Australian history has been revised and reinterpreted by successive generations of historians, writers, governments and public commentators, yet there has been no account of the ways it has changed, who makes history, and how. Making Australian History responds to this critical gap in Australian historical research.A few years ago Anna Clark saw a series of paintings on a sandstone cliff face in the Northern Territory. There were characteristic crosshatched images of fat barramundi and turtles, as well as sprayed handprints and several human figures with spears. Next to them was a long gun, painted with white ochre, an unmistakable image of the colonisers. Was this an Indigenous rendering of contact? A work of history?Each piece of history has a message and context that depends on who wrote it and when. Australian history has swirled and contorted over the years: the history wars have embroiled historians, politicians and public commentators alike, while debates over historical fiction have been as divisive. History isn't just about understanding what happened and why. It also reflects the persuasions, politics and prejudices of its authors. Each iteration of Australia's national story reveals not only the past in question, but also the guiding concerns and perceptions of each generation of history makers.Making Australian History is bold and inclusive: it catalogues and contextualises changing readings of the past, it examines the increasingly problematic role of historians as national storytellers, and it incorporates the stories of people.

In 1962, the first volume of Manning Clark's "A History of Australia" appeared. For the next two-and-a-half decades Clark unfolded his tragic celebration of white Australian history. Today, the six-volume history is one of the masterpieces of Australian literature. It is also one of the most passionately debated visions of Australian history. Clark's Australians are men and women of lively goodwill and deep sinfulness, of generous idealism and unthinking brutality. He dramatizes the motivating forces of Australian life - cowardice and vision, cruelty and defiance, greatness of spirit and the spiritual vacuity of the suburbs - all of them locked in the unceasing struggle which builds a nation. Michael Cathcart has re-orchestrated Clark's epic narrative in this single volume. Every page of this abridgement rings with Manning Clark's voice. Here, at last, the general reader can encounter the deep resonances, pessimism and passion of Manning Clark - Australian historian and prophet. Michael Cathcart is co-author of "Mission to the South Seas: the Voyage of the Duff" and author of "Defending the National Tuckshop", a study of conservative responses to the Great Depression.

Making Australian History: Perspectives on the past since 1788 is an exciting new text that meets an unusual gap in the literature of Australian history. It presents students with an in-depth, multi-authored collection of articles, documents and short essays that are structured around the major themes discussed in most Australian history courses. Each theme in Making Australian History contains a collection of primary and secondary sources, including: chapters by current leading scholars; reprints of publications from previous decades that have proven seminal in the historiographical debate or research of each theme; photographs or artwork and short feature articles on matters of human interest. Making Australian History gives students the unique opportunity to study a range of articles and commentary on such themes as the Anzac legend, the convict stain, gold and federation, white Australia, Australians at war, Aboriginal ‘prehistory’, femininity, native title, republicanism, the pioneer myth, environmentalism and sustainability, ideology and politics.

Created especially for the Australian customer! Exciting and informative history of the land down under Australian History For Dummies is your tour guide through the important events of Australia's past, introducing you to the people and events that have shaped modern Australia. Be there as British colonists explore Australia's harsh terrain with varying degrees of success. In this informative guide you'll Find out about Australia's infamous bushrangers Learn how the discovery of gold caused a tidal wave of immigration from all over the world Understand how Australia took two steps forward to become a nation in its own right in 1901, and two steps back when the government was dismissed by the Crown in 1975 Discover the fascinating details that made Australia the country it is today!

This exciting and stimulating book looks back at turning points and crucial moments in Australian history. Rather than arguing that there have been forks on a pre-determined road, the book challenges us to think about other paths or better paths that might have led to different outcomes.

This book focuses on how federation, democracy and migration have contributed to making Australia the nation that it is today. (From book cover)

Robert Manne has twice been voted Australia's leading public intellectual. This book will show you why. Making Trouble takes aim at the new Australian complacency. This is a book that will enlighten and challenge, as it traces the ideas and events that have recently changed the nation. It covers much ground - from Howard to Gillard by way of Rudd, from Victoria's bushfires to the Apology, from Wilfred Burchett to Julian Assange. Making Trouble also includes an exchange of letters with Tony Abbott, critical appraisals of the 'insider' Paul Kelly and the 'outsider' Mark Latham, an insightful discussion of the political and moral issues surrounding climate change, appreciations of W.E.H. Stanner and Primo Levi, a reflection on ways of remembering the Holocaust, and incisive and original essays about the question of reconciliation and the treatment of asylum seekers. As this eloquent and important book shows, no one in Australia makes a better argument than Robert Manne.