“The Future of the Past: a Symposium on Environmental and Forest History”

by Lawrence Niewojt

On 9 May 2008 three members of the History Program (RSSS) took part in a symposium celebrating 20 years of teaching and research in environmental history at the Australian National University. Hosted by the Fenner School of Environment and Society, the event drew a wide range of participants from Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and the A.C.T. Kylie Carmen-Brown presented aspects of her research into the hydrology and history of the Gippsland Lakes catchment. Lawrence Niewójt's presentation highlighted the utility of environmental history research in establishing the necessary context for planning and policy initiatives in the Otway region of Victoria. Both PhD students also participated in a panel discussion regarding the biennial National Environmental History PhD Workshop, the potential for interdisciplinary scholarship, and the directions of future research in the field. Later in the day, Dr Nicholas Brown gave an impassioned speech regarding past successes in collaboration across disciplinary boundaries at the ANU and the opportunities for continued high-quality research and teaching in environmental history.

LECTURE, 20 May 2008
Professor Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo
Around 1919 and in Mexico City
Coombs Lecture Theatre, 5.30pm

Mexico furnished the era of social and cultural change that started ‘right around 1910' with its first popular revolution. By 1919 Mexico City had become a refuge for the world's radicals. To a despairing world, it offered a unique site to safely experiment with all sorts of enchantments.

In this culturally promiscuous capital not only the meaning of Mexico was at stake, but also the meanings of major modernist concepts –revolution, the popular, avant-garde, authenticity, race and desire. In an Arabian Nights of 1919 Mexico City Professor Tenorio tells a series of interconnected tales of an urban world that included Mexican poets and artists; radical foreigners plotting revolution; love and betrayal; experimentation in art, poetry, sexuality and politics; well-known luminaries such as Frida Kahlo and Ramón del Valle Inclán; less well-known Anita Brenner and José Vasconcelos; a Bengal Braham who founded the Mexican Communist Party and a Colombian bohemian who broke all literary and moral canons

COLLOQUIUM 22 May 2008
Cities, Exhibitions and Mexican Modernity
Seminar Room 1.13, New Coombs, Bldg 8, 3.30pm

Professor Tenorio-Trillo is Professor of History at the University of Chicago and Profesor Asociado, División de Historia, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica , Mexico City. A graduate of Stanford University, his wide ranging work on Mexican and US transnational history and modernity includes Mexico at World's Fairs: Crafting a Modern Nation (1996), Stereophonic Scientific Modernism in The Nation and Beyond, Journal of American History , 1999, and The Cosmopolitan Mexican Summer, 1920-1949, Latin American Research Review , 1997. He has recently completed City upon a Lake: A History of Mexico City , 1880-1930 and Mexico Demexicanized: Echoes and Voices in Making of a National Image (1870-1940). He writes (and speaks) with wit and provocation

AHA PRIZES 2008 - All prizes due 28 February 2008

MAGAREY MEDAL FOR BIOGRAPHY
This biennial Medal and $10,000 prize is kindly donated by Adjunct Professor Susan Magarey, and is administered and judged by a panel established by the Australian Historical Association and the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. It will be awarded to the female person who has published the work judged to be the best biographical writing on an Australian subject in 2006 or 2007.

ALLAN MARTIN AWARD
The Allan Martin Award is intended to help early-career historians achieve a public outcome such as a monograph, series of academic articles, exhibitions, documentary film, or some mix of these, which will make a significant contribution to the field of Australian history. The $4000 biennial award may be used to cover travel for research purposes, a publication subsidy, a contribution towards exhibition or film production costs, or acquisition of documents or pictorial material: these examples are not exhaustive.

KAY DANIELS AWARD
This Award has been sponsored by members and associates of the Australian Historical Association ,the University of Tasmania, and the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority. Consisting of a $1500 prize and citation, it recognizes outstanding original research with a bearing on convict, heritage and/or early colonial history, either Australian or non-Australian published in 2006 or 2007.

W.K. HANCOCK PRIZE
The W.K. Hancock Prize was instituted in 1987 by the Australian Historical Association to honour the contribution to the study and writing of history in Australia by Sir Keith Hancock. Offering a $2000 pize and citation, it is intended to give recognition and encouragement to an Australian scholar who has recently published a first book in any field of history in 2006 or 2007.

THE SERLE AWARD
The Australian Historical Association has constituted the Serle Award as a biennial prize. The Award has been established through the generosity of Mrs Jessie Serle and takes the form of a publishing subsidy of $2500 for the best postgraduate thesis in Australian History completed and examined during the previous year.

For further information and application forms email: theaha@humn.mq.edu.au or go the AHA website at www.theaha.org.au

	NEW BOOK Jamaican Food: History, Biology, Culture by Barry Higman Published by University of West Indies Press 580 pages, with 40 colour plates US$70.00 ISBN 978 976 640 205-1

Managing Diversity Practices of Citizenship edited by Nicholas Brown and Linda Cardinal Published in the University of Ottawa Press' Governance series, this collection arises from a workshop held at University College Dublin (where Nicholas Brown was professor of Australian history) and reflects on current debates over citizenship and diversity in Australia, Ireland and Canada. With both a comparative and public policy focus, each essay seeks to adapt broad concerns with ‘democracy and difference' to specific issues arising in three nations that have often surprising levels of commonality in the challenges they face. Questions of globalisation and economic regionalism, immigration and multiculturalism, constitutional reform and civic governance set the context for seven perspectives on current debates, and prompt consideration of a perhaps unusual combination of societies

Talking and Listening in the Age of Modernity: Essays on the history of sound Professor Desley Deacon, Head of RSSS History, and Professor Joy Damousi, Melbourne University Historians have, until recently, been silent about sound. This collection of essays on talking and listening in the age of modernity brings together major Australian scholars who have followed Alain Corbin’s injunction that historians ‘can no longer afford to neglect materials pertaining to auditory perception’. Ranging from the sound of gunfire on the Australian gold-fields to Alfred Deakin’s virile oratory, these essays argue for the influence of the auditory in forming individual and collective subjectivities; the place of speech in understanding individual and collective endeavours; the centrality of speech in marking and negating difference and in struggles for power; and the significance of the technologies of radio and film in forming modern cultural identities. The online version can be accessed on E Press http://epress.anu.edu.au/tal_citation.html

Elite PhD Scholarship to History Postgraduate Student
Jacqui Donegan has been offered and has accepted the ANU Vice-Chancellor's Scholarship for Doctoral Study.
This Scholarship is awarded to applicants who, on academic merit, were ranked first in the Order of Merit for Scholarship in the College in which they will be enrolled to undertake doctoral study.

Ms Donegan will be working with Professor Desley Deacon in the History Program, RSSS. Her thesis topic is "Kangaroo: From Antipodean Oddity to National Icon".

She has First Class Honours in Communication & History from The University of Queensland, for which she won the University Medal and the History Research Prize in 2001. She was History Intern and Public Affairs Officer at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC from 2000 to 2001.

Ms Donegan has twenty years' experience in the communication industry throughout Australia, both print and electronic media and media relations. In 2003 she was Communication Consultant for the Southern Gulf Catchments, National Heritage Trust, Mount Isa and most recently was Regional Program Manager, ABC North West Queensland, Mount Isa . She will undertake her doctoral studies part-time while living in Townsville.

ANU 25-Year Service Medallion

On Thursday 8 November at University House, Ms Karen Smith, History Administrator, was awarded the 25-year Service Medallion.

New Publication

The Murranji Track

Darrell Lewis

The Murranji - a waterhole, a region, a track - a legend. Although only 240 kilometres long, of all the hard stockroutes in Australia the Murranji Track gained one of the fiercest reputations.

The story of the Murranji Track is a story of determiantion in the face of neglect and indifference. For years requests were made for the Government to improve water supplies, to clear a corridor through the scrub, to wipe out poisonous plants, to establish stock reserves, and for years little was done.

This book provides the definitive account of the track, from the time of the Aborigines and early explorers, to its opening by the legendary 'Bluey' Buchanan, the beginning of the great droving era in 1904 and it's demise in the 1960s. It deals with attempts to establish stations in the area, the deaths along the track, the exploits of cattle duffers, the record dry stage set by the Farquharson brothers, legends of lost goldmines, and the famous 'Bagman's Gazette' -the messages, drawings and notices written on the stock route water tanks by the drovers and other travellers.

Central Queensland University Press

Email: cqupress@cqu.edu.au

ROBIN GOLLAN , 8 December 1917 - 15 October 2007

It is with great sadness that we hear of the death of Robin (Bob) Gollan, former Research Fellow in History in the Research School of Social Sciences and former Manning Clark Professor of Australian History in the Arts Faculty. Bob played a major role in the development of ANU from his arrival here in 1953 until his retirement in 1982, and will be remembered for his adventurous and rigorous scholarship, his wonderful sense of humour, and his immense energy in the cause of labour history, the labour movement, and Labor politics.

After a period as a school teacher in New South Wales from 1940 to 1942, Bob served in the Royal Australian Air Force 1942-5. After the war he became a lecturer at Sydney Teachers' College, before going in the late 1940s to the University of London to undertake a PhD. There he met the Communist historians like EP Thompson and Christopher Hill, who shared his combination of communist politics with enthusiasm for the history of the working class.

On his return to Australia he was hired by Keith Hancock as a Research Fellow in the History Department at RSSS, an appointment which was questioned in parliament on the grounds of his political (then Communist) affiliations. Gollan was a very effective member of the RSSS History Department, publishing while there four major and much-discussed works - Radical and working class politics: a study of Eastern Australia 1850-1910; The Coalminers of New South Wales: a history of the union 1860-1960; The Commonwealth Bank of Australia: origins and early history; and Revolutionaries and reformists: Communism and the Australian Labour Movement. He was also an active supporter of the Australian Dictionary of Biography. In his retirement, he wrote another book, The myth of the level playing field. In 1976, Gollan moved to the Arts Faculty, to become the Manning Clark Professor of Australian History, until his retirement in 1982.

One of Bob's major achievements was the foundation jointly with Eric Fry of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History in 1961, based at ANU. Bob was the society's first president, an early editor of its journal, Labour History, and a staunch supporter throughout his professional career. It is poignant that Bob has passed away so soon after his lifelong friend and colleague, Eric, who died on 3 October. Between them, and with the assistance of many others, they built a society and a form of historical endeavour that still thrives today.

There will be a celebration of Bob's life and work at University House at ANU at 2 pm on Monday 29 October .

Professor Desley Deacon, ASSA, presiding at the annual meetings of the Australian Historical Association in Armidale 23-26 September 2007. Among the staff and postgraduate students presenting papers were Tom Griffiths, Ann McGrath, Nicholas Brown, Travis Cutler, Tiffany Shellam, and Emily O'Gorman.

SLICING THE SILENCE

Winner of the Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction.   The award was presented by the Premier of Queensland, Mr Peter Beattie, during the Brisbane Writers' Festival 11.9.07.

Tom Griffith's book, Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica (New South and Harvard, 2007) was short-listed for two national book awards: The Age Book of the Year Award (Non-Fiction) and the Queensland Premier's Literary Award (Non-Award).

For more on Slicing the Silence see article in ANU Reporter, Winter 2007 called History on Ice, p.16-19.

Tom will be giving the Stephen Murray-Smith Memorial Lecture at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne on 4 October and will deliver the Address at the NSW Premier's History Awards Dinner at Government House,Sydney on 9 October.

SEEKING TO FURTHER THE PUBLIC DEBATE ABOUT THE HOWARD GOVERNMENT'S MOST RECENT PHASE OF INDIGENOUS POLICY

Tim Rowse has recently reviewed critically Helen Hughes' Lands of Shame. This flawed book has recently been described by Robert Manne as a clue to the Howard government's diagnosis of and prescription of Indigenous affairs.

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments: http://www.sisr.net/apo/rowse.pdf

LAUNCH OF JOHN MULVANEY'S BOOK 'THE AXE HAD NEVER SOUNDED, 29 August 2007, Coombs Tea Room

Approximately 70 people attended the launch of Professor Mulvaney's latest book The Axe Had Never Sounded: place, people and heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania, Aboriginal History Monograph 14. The guest speaker for the evening was Senator Christine Milne.

See webpage for more details: http://acih.anu.edu.au/research/publications.php

Congratulations to Professor Tom Griffiths

Professor Tom Griffiths has been appointed Distinguished Visiting Chair in Australian Studies at the University of Copenhagen for the first half of 2008.

This position is sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Employment, Science and Training, and is located in the Centre for Australian Studies, which is part of the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies at the University. The holder of the Chair is expected to teach a Masters level course in Australian Studies and to contribute to the activities of the Centre in promoting understanding and discussion of Australia in Denmark. ANU and the University of Copenhagen are both members of the International Alliance of Research Universities.

Indigenous Biography/
Autobiography Conference

Humanities Research Centre, ANU
9-12 July 2007
Venue: National Museum of Australia, Canberra

Convenors: Ms Frances Peters-Little
Professor Peter Read
Professor Anna Haebich

For information go to:

http://www.anu.edu.au/HRC/conferences

An Affair to Remember in Meanjin, vol.66, no.1, 2007, p.83 by Desley Deacon.

This article is on the New York romance between writers Mary McCarthy and Philip Rahv

URL: http://www.meanjin.unimelb.edu.au

OAM Awarded to Professor A. McGrath

In this weekends Queens Honours list (12 June 2007) Ann McGrath was admitted to the Order of Australia in the General Division (OAM) for service to education, particularly in the field of Indigenous history, as a teacher, researcher and author, and through leadership roles with a range of history-related organisations. Congratulations.

Allan Martin Presentation 2007

Ken Inglis paper on Speechmaking in Australian History is now available on podcast at http://info.anu.edu.au/Discover_ANU/News_and_Events/Public_lectures/Podcast.asp

Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica by Tom Griffiths

In the summer of 2002-03, acclaimed writer and historian Tom Griffiths voyaged the Southern Ocean to Antarctica. He was with the first Australian ship to 'slice the silence' of a year, arriving at Casey Station to deliver the new team of 'winterers' and take away the old. In Slicing the Silence Griffiths interweaves his own diary entries with essays that explore the human history of the mysterious continent of ice.

www.unswpress.com.au

From waste land to Canada's tobacco production heartland: Landscape change in Norfolk County, Ontario in Landscape Research, by Lawrence Niewojt.

The cultural landscape of Norfolk County displays the remnants of numerous cycles of transformation. In the mid-19th century, the region was the hub of the Lake Erie timber trade and a major supplier to America's growing urban markets. By the start of the 20th century, much of the forest was gone, many farms were abandoned and the region was plagued by severe soil erosion. Within a few decades the problems of a degraded environment and depressed local economy were long forgotten: the Ontario government targeted the sandy 'waste lands' with a reforestation programme, and the introduction of flue-cured tobacco in 1922 marked the beginning of an era of unprecedented prosperity.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01426390701318312

VOTE YES for Aborigines is a 52-minute documentary about the 1967 Referendum and the fight for citizenship rights for Aborigines. It marks the 40th anniversary of the occasion, celebrating its historical significance and contemporary relevance.

While many people believe that the 1967 Referendum gave Aborigines the right to vote, in fact the Referendum removed two sections of the constitution that discriminated against Aborigines. With the highest YES vote in Australia 's history, 90.77% of voters agreed that Aborigines be counted in the census and that the Commonwealth Government take charge of Aboriginal affairs, effectively acknowledging Aboriginal people as citizens within their own country.

Aborigines had fought for citizenship rights for over a century but it was the coming together of the many Aboriginal associations and leagues in 1958 to form a national body that finally gave impetus to the struggle. The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders or FCAATSI attracted both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal membership and support from across all sections of Australian society.

For ten years they campaigned to convince the public and politicians of the need for Constitutional change. They capitalised on the global condemnation of Australia 's treatment of its indigenous people and the media's growing interest in Aboriginal issues. The "Freedom Rides" of 1965 and the Gurindji strike at Wave Hill in 1966 highlighted Aboriginal living and working conditions and helped advance the crusade to set things right for indigenous Australians.

VOTE YES for Aborigines revisits those involved with the 1967 referendum and the social attitudes and influences that led to the event, featuring former Prime Ministers, politicians, historians and campaigners.

More than just marking a time in history, VOTE YES for Aborigines interrogates the success of the Referendum and addresses current debates about what is meant by Australian citizenship and values and how they relate, if at all to Aboriginal history, identity, and culture.

ABORIGINAL HISTORY Vol.30

For more information see
http://acih.anu.edu.au/research/publications.php

Prize Awarded for Best Academic Book

Congratulations to Professor Barry Higman who received the prize for Best Academic Book at the 9th Biennial Book Industry Association of Jamaica Book Awards at a ceremony on November 17 2006 for his book Plantation Jamaica 1750-1850.

Introducing the Inaugural Winner of the Minoru
Hokari Memorial Scholarship

The ceremony was attended by Minoru's sister Yuki Hokari, her father Nobuo Hokari, the Japanese Ambassador and the Vice Chancellor of the ANU, Ian Chubb.

Photograph by Neal McCracken, ANU Photography

The Minoru Hokari Memorial Scholarship

Minoru Hokari, obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, then went on to complete a Ph.D. at the Australian National University. The subject of his research was the history of Indigenous Australians.

About the Scholarship

Call for Applications - Closing date April 2007

ANU Reporter article

 

BARRY McGOWAN

Fools Gold: Myths & Legends of Australian Gold Seeking in Australia
There is a 'library' of books about Lasseter's Reef written by believers and non-believers and an incredible number of newspaper and magazine articles. The interest is timeless; it is spoken about and debated constantly and there is always someone with a new theory and angle.

Canberra based author and mining historian Barry McGowan has set these stories in the context of man's endless pursuit of gold, of an incessant searching, wandering and dreaming. Fool's Gold provides fresh insights into the Lasseter story and includes accounts of some of the more notable, but equally unsuccessful, follow up expeditions. ... This book is unique in providing a wide sweep of Australian history from the earliest days up until the present and covers race relations of the day, conflicts between Aboriginal people and miners on the prospecting fields, an unusual but relevant digression into Australia's one and only ruby rush, the world of pirates and the Spanish Main and gold stories told by novelists, some of which may have influenced people such as Lasseter.

Available from: Lothian Books, $34.95.