For 205 of the 235 years after Arthur Phillip raised the British flag in Sydney Cove in 1788, ‘terra nullius’ – meaning ‘land belonging to no one’ – was the law of the land. Our Commonwealth Constitution, dating from 1901, made only two references to First Nations people—both negative: that they were not to […]
The Voice and the referendum problem Read More »
The YES campaign of the 1967 Referendum used a poster featuring a photo of an Aboriginal baby and the slogan ‘Right Wrongs – Write YES for Aborigines’. Australians, including the Liberal Prime Minister Robert Menzies, thought this little baby deserved a better future. That campaign lacked the spectacle of duelling politicians. Both major parties worked
A ‘YES’ for the Voice: helping to fix what is broken Read More »
Throughout most of human history, the mass of the population of our planet could neither read nor write. In the Ottoman Empire, for example, 98 per cent of the rural population was illiterate until the early twentieth century. Anthropologists consider that in traditional societies, most people lived ‘on the margins of literacy’, but they write,
The literary culture of the illiterate Read More »
The Desert People: Australian Perspectives Laureate Project will revolutionise our understanding of the peopling of Australian deserts by recasting models of human adaptation. It provides Traditional Owners, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers with the tools to profile significant scientific and cultural values and assists host communities to protect significant sites and preserve the history of
Desert people & why heritage matters Read More »
The first Charles the Third As the coronation of our new king approaches, the words “Charles the Third” have a peculiar resonance to people like me brought up on stories of the Jacobites; supporters of the eighteenth-century Stuart claimants of the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. One of these Stuart claimants, Charles Edward Stuart,
Another Charles the Third Read More »
In debating the words that would recognise First Nations Australians in the constitution, someone is likely to ask, at some point, ‘is it ‘constitutionally sound?’. Those who describe themselves – without apology or false modesty – as ‘constitutional conservatives’ are likely to say that to add ‘justiciable’
Albanese’s constitutional amendment – a break with tradition? Read More »
As a truth-telling project, the digital map of frontier massacres emerged from the Aboriginal history wars more than two decades ago, pioneered work by the late Emeritus Professor Lyndall Ryan AM FAHA. Driven by debates about the nature of the British colonisation of Australia and the effect on Indigenous people, the map addresses three central
The Australian Wars: new insights from a digital map Read More »
Mastering history isn’t easy but it’s essential for coming to grips with Xi Jinping’s China. At this critical moment in relations with China, Australia is at risk of losing its edge in historical studies, according to a new report on Australian university teaching and research on China – Australia’s China Knowledge Capability. We could also
From Ming to Xi: why Australia needs to brush up on Chinese history Read More »
Our knowledge of Asian countries is central to our ability successfully to navigate the future. Yet it is extraordinary to discover, through systematic and careful research, that in 2023 Australia’s research-based expertise about the countries of our geographic region is thin. It is even more dramatic to realise, again through research, that this base of
Why we need to take responsibility for knowing China better Read More »
With a multi-disciplinary practice that incorporates installation, sculpture, drawing, painting, printmaking and public art, Lindy Lee has received widespread recognition both nationally and internationally. Lee’s sculptures stand in prominent public spaces such as on the forecourt of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), in Brisbane and in Sydney’s Chinatown. Report design Readers of our Australia’s China
Spotlight: Artist Lindy Lee FAHA Read More »
Tensions between indigenous and settler history are not restricted to white, Western countries. Throughout most of Asia, indigenous peoples dominate the construction of national narratives, and in many cases, they have weaponized them to marginalise minority peoples – both the descendants of immigrants and also other indigenous peoples. In Singapore, however, the indigenous peoples (Malays)
Singapore’s ‘History wars’: What to do with indigenous histories? Read More »
The very first article in the world’s leading journal, Nature, was more poetry than science. It was a piece about Goethe, offered by the flamboyant Darwinist Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869. What happened to a world when it was unremarkable for scientists also to be poets; when a leading English evolutionary biologist was as learned
A world when scientists were poets Read More »
The Australian Academy of the Humanities recognises Australia’s First Nations Peoples as the traditional owners and custodians of this land, and their continuous connection to country, community and culture.