Quest For Authority In Eastern Australia 1835 1851

Attitudes towards Aborigines by squatters, European works & liberals; very brief history of missions in N.S.W. and work of missionaries in N.S.W. & Tasmania.

This book explores the history of the Australian temperance movement and the ideas that informed it, offering a detailed examination of the beliefs of evangelicals involved. The temperance movement in Australia was large and influential, and played a vital role in shaping the cultural and political life of the emerging nation across the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The study focuses on the relationship between evangelicalism and 'Moral Enlightenment' ideas within the temperance movement between 1832 and 1930. It considers the complex and varied ways in which they interacted within the thinking of the movement’s leaders, enriches discussions regarding religion and secularisation, and offers new insight into the involvement of women. Against the larger horizon of global evangelicalism, the international temperance movement, and the evolution of Australian political culture, the chapters look at the reported words and actions of six key temperance leaders: John Saunders, George Washington Walker, John McEncroe, Alfred Stackhouse, Mary Ann Thomas and Elizabeth Webb Nicholls. The book will be relevant to scholars of religious history and those with an interest in the evangelical Protestant tradition.

The second volume of essays to mark the centenary of federation in Australia and examines the issue of religion in society and culture.

Britain, the Empire, and the World at the Great Exhibition is the first book to situate the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 in a truly global context. Addressing national, imperial, and international themes, this collection of essays considers the significance of the Exhibition both for its British hosts and their relationships to the wider world, and for participants from around the globe. How did the Exhibition connect London, England, important British colonies, and significant participating nation-states including Russia, Greece, Germany and the Ottoman Empire? How might we think about the exhibits, visitors and organizers in light of what the Exhibition suggested about Britain’s place in the global community? Contributors from various academic disciplines answer these and other questions by focusing on the many exhibits, publications, visitors and organizers in Britain and elsewhere. The essays expand our understanding of the meanings, roles and legacies of the Great Exhibition for British society and the wider world, as well as the ways that this pivotal event shaped Britain’s and other participating nations’ conceptions of and locations within the wider nineteenth-century world.

This edited volume is about the Australian difference and how Australia's economic and social policy has diverged from the approach of other countries. Australia seems to be following a 'special path' of its own that it laid down more than a century ago. Australia's distinctive bent is manifested in a tightly regulated labour market; a heavy reliance on means testing and income taxation; a geographical centralization of political power combined with its dispersal amongst autonomous authorities, and electoral singularities such as compulsory and preferential voting. In seeking to explain this Australian Exceptionalism, the book covers a diverse range of issues: the strength and weakness of religion, democratic and undemocratic tendencies, the poverty of public debate, the role of elites, the exploitation of Australian sports stars, the politics of railways, the backwardness of agriculture, deviation from the Westminster system, the original encounter between European and Aboriginal cultures, and the heavy taxation of tobacco. Bringing together contributions from economists, economic historians, and political scientists, the volume seeks to understand why Australia is different. It offers a range of explanations from the 'historical legacy', to material factors, historical chance, and personalities.

'White sets himself a most ambitious task, and he goes remarkably far to achieving his goals. Very few books tell so much about Australia, with elegance and concision, as does his' - Professor Michael Roe 'Stimulating and informative. an antidote to the cultural cringe' - Canberra Times 'To be Australian': what can that mean? Inventing Australia sets out to find the answers by tracing the images we have used to describe our land and our people - the convict hell, the workingman's paradise, the Bush legend, the 'typical' Australian from the shearer to the Bondi lifesaver, the land of opportunity, the small rich industrial country, the multicultural society. The book argues that these images, rather than describing an especially Australian reality, grow out of assumptions about nature, race, class, democracy, sex and empire, and are 'invented' to serve the interests of particular groups. There have been many books about Australia's national identity; this is the first to place the discussion within an historical context to explain how Australians' views of themselves change and why these views change in the way they do.

This edited collection from a distinguished group of contributors explores a range of topics including literature as imperialist propaganda, the representation of the colonies in British literature, the emergence of literary culture in the colonies and the creation of new gender roles such as ‘girl Crusoes’ in works of fiction.