Indigenous peoples, the British Empire, and self-government for the Australian colonies. This study enhances our understanding of the foundations and representative functions of Australian democratic institutions, especially as they concern Indigenous-settler-missionary-imperial relationships. In drawing out the connections between two major questions for Australian history and modern society - democracy and Indigenous dispossession - the project will contribute deeper historical knowledge to cu ....Indigenous peoples, the British Empire, and self-government for the Australian colonies. This study enhances our understanding of the foundations and representative functions of Australian democratic institutions, especially as they concern Indigenous-settler-missionary-imperial relationships. In drawing out the connections between two major questions for Australian history and modern society - democracy and Indigenous dispossession - the project will contribute deeper historical knowledge to current public debate about Indigenous policy past and present. It will also illuminate the importance of understanding Australian history in broad transcolonial and transnational contexts and enhance the contribution of Australian historians to imperial, missionary, and comparative settler-society histories.Read moreRead less
The Construction of Race and Racial Identity at the Antipodes of Empire, 1788-1840. The view that Australia was always a racially based society, pursuing racial policies to the detriment of indigenous Australians and our Asian neighbours, is subject to rancorous national debate. Polemical assertion by high profile journalists that race was never a driving force in Australian history is not conducive to understanding complex history, nor are derogatory attacks on historians helpful in explaining ....The Construction of Race and Racial Identity at the Antipodes of Empire, 1788-1840. The view that Australia was always a racially based society, pursuing racial policies to the detriment of indigenous Australians and our Asian neighbours, is subject to rancorous national debate. Polemical assertion by high profile journalists that race was never a driving force in Australian history is not conducive to understanding complex history, nor are derogatory attacks on historians helpful in explaining the past to our neighbours. Whether colonial Australia was a race-based society remains to be established. With indigenous uncertainty over the demise of ATSIC and rising antagonism among our Islamic neighbours, there is need, as never before, for dispassionate scholarship to provide a complex interpretation of Australia's past.Read moreRead less
Immigration Restriction and the Racial State, c. 1880 to the present. Legislating the specific criteria by which people are refused entry into sovereign territory has posed critical problems for policy and law from the late nineteenth century to the present day. By analysing the long history of medico-legal border control in the Asia-Pacific region, the project will uncover previously forgotten legal and policy links and will analyse a history of mutual influence between Australia and neighbouri ....Immigration Restriction and the Racial State, c. 1880 to the present. Legislating the specific criteria by which people are refused entry into sovereign territory has posed critical problems for policy and law from the late nineteenth century to the present day. By analysing the long history of medico-legal border control in the Asia-Pacific region, the project will uncover previously forgotten legal and policy links and will analyse a history of mutual influence between Australia and neighbouring nations. This will productively assist a policy environment (both national and international) primed for ever more intense border control. Read moreRead less
Places of the Heart: Memorials in Australia since 1960. This project investigates the proliferation of non-war memorials in Australia within the framework of an emerging culture of commemoration from the mid twentieth century. It explores important shifts in the purpose of memorials and their role and meaning in Australian society, particularly the move towards a more democratic and personal expression of mourning in public arenas. The project assesses the cultural significance of particular sit ....Places of the Heart: Memorials in Australia since 1960. This project investigates the proliferation of non-war memorials in Australia within the framework of an emerging culture of commemoration from the mid twentieth century. It explores important shifts in the purpose of memorials and their role and meaning in Australian society, particularly the move towards a more democratic and personal expression of mourning in public arenas. The project assesses the cultural significance of particular sites through a nationally devised schema which takes account of their place in the landscape, their form and materiality and will contribute to contemporary heritage conservation research, policy and practice.Read moreRead less
Selling Sex: A History of Female Prostitution in Australia since 1788. Prostitution has played an important role in Australian society since the arrival of the First Fleet. There was always a high demand for commercial sex in 'frontier'settlements. In the twentieth century, the treatment of prostitution remained a highly contested area of public policy. This project will produce the first comprehensive history of this subject. It will analyse the changing roles of prostitutes and prostitution, e ....Selling Sex: A History of Female Prostitution in Australia since 1788. Prostitution has played an important role in Australian society since the arrival of the First Fleet. There was always a high demand for commercial sex in 'frontier'settlements. In the twentieth century, the treatment of prostitution remained a highly contested area of public policy. This project will produce the first comprehensive history of this subject. It will analyse the changing roles of prostitutes and prostitution, examining the culture and economics of the sex industry as well as its symbolic, legal and political meanings. Of direct relevance to policy makers, it will also form the basis for international comparative studies.Read moreRead less
Foregrounding the suburban backyard: using hybrid spaces to develop new environmental theory for more effective management of human landscapes. Although human influences now pervade all Earth processes, environmental ideals of pristine past landscapes without people continue to dominate. The project addresses the challenge of managing environments for hybridity, change and human presence, rather than timeless purity. I will undertake the first in-depth ethnographic study of the suburban backya ....Foregrounding the suburban backyard: using hybrid spaces to develop new environmental theory for more effective management of human landscapes. Although human influences now pervade all Earth processes, environmental ideals of pristine past landscapes without people continue to dominate. The project addresses the challenge of managing environments for hybridity, change and human presence, rather than timeless purity. I will undertake the first in-depth ethnographic study of the suburban backyard, Australia's most hybrid ecosystem. I analyse how categories of environmental belonging - indigenous/introduced, wild/tame, hybrid/pure - are differentially applied to people, other species and landscapes, in policy and popular culture. This contributes to new theories of long term human-environment interactions and effective management of human landscapes. Outcomes will include books and museum exhibitions.Read moreRead less
The transition from print to electronic textuality in the scholarly editing of Australian literature: practice and theory. Scholarly editions of Henry Lawson's While the Billy Boils and colonial poet Charles Harpur's Complete Poems will afford access to authenticated texts of classic works of Australian literature. The editions complete the Academy Editions of Australian Literature series, a long-term project of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. The analysis of versions will allow a newl ....The transition from print to electronic textuality in the scholarly editing of Australian literature: practice and theory. Scholarly editions of Henry Lawson's While the Billy Boils and colonial poet Charles Harpur's Complete Poems will afford access to authenticated texts of classic works of Australian literature. The editions complete the Academy Editions of Australian Literature series, a long-term project of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. The analysis of versions will allow a newly informed study of the works. The Academy Editions series makes a staged transition to electronic delivery with these editions. The new methodology will lay the groundwork for future projects, and the text-authentication method may have further application. The State Library of New South Wales website will make fruits of the scholarship available to a wider public.Read moreRead less
A Comparative Analysis of Reparation Schemes for the Gross Violation of Human Rights and Their Applicability to Australian Indigenous Peoples. Reparation schemes for the victims of gross violation of human rights have developed significantly over the last 25 years in various jurisdictions across the world. In Australia there has been a call for reparations for Aboriginal victims of forcible removal from their families (the Stolen Generations). The research aims to (a) analyse the international e ....A Comparative Analysis of Reparation Schemes for the Gross Violation of Human Rights and Their Applicability to Australian Indigenous Peoples. Reparation schemes for the victims of gross violation of human rights have developed significantly over the last 25 years in various jurisdictions across the world. In Australia there has been a call for reparations for Aboriginal victims of forcible removal from their families (the Stolen Generations). The research aims to (a) analyse the international experience of reparations along specific criteria; (b) determine the effectiveness of various approaches and the applicability of various models to the Australian context; (c) determine other practices, policies or events in relation to Australian Indigenous people which might give rise to reparations.Read moreRead less
The South Pacific and the European Mind 1763-1840. European scrutiny of the distant mirror of the South Pacific in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries helped to refashion dominant conceptions of the character and development of humankind. Though the role of Pacific contact in the emergence of the social sciences is known it has not been analysed in the depth that its importance merits nor given the comparative, cross-European dimension this project proposes. Such a study offers th ....The South Pacific and the European Mind 1763-1840. European scrutiny of the distant mirror of the South Pacific in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries helped to refashion dominant conceptions of the character and development of humankind. Though the role of Pacific contact in the emergence of the social sciences is known it has not been analysed in the depth that its importance merits nor given the comparative, cross-European dimension this project proposes. Such a study offers the opportunity to scrutinise the ways in which the mapping of knowledge as well as of the globe were shaped by Pacific exploration with consequences that endure.Read moreRead less
Restraint: Recovering the Virtue of Self-Control or Temperance to Strengthen the Australian Social Fabric. The work will provide a focus and an information resource for discussion of policies for educational campaigns on drugs, sexual behaviour and general life skills in normal communities, and of intervention policies in distressed communities afflicted by high levels of violence and addiction. The work will provide a complement and unification to the excessively narrow though partially correct ....Restraint: Recovering the Virtue of Self-Control or Temperance to Strengthen the Australian Social Fabric. The work will provide a focus and an information resource for discussion of policies for educational campaigns on drugs, sexual behaviour and general life skills in normal communities, and of intervention policies in distressed communities afflicted by high levels of violence and addiction. The work will provide a complement and unification to the excessively narrow though partially correct medical, legal, sociological and political discourses that occupy the field in discussions of what to do about dangerous and unhealthy behaviour, and deliver more control and responsibility, where appropriate, back to the actors who must have primary care of the problem, those who will or will not act badly.Read moreRead less