A study of travel writing in Australian colonial history. Travel writing is a key mechanism by which readers learn about other peoples and cultures, a genre that is crucial to the formation of identities, ideologies, and ideas. Australian travel writing provided foundational texts for those emigrating to the colony. This project positions Australian texts within an international comparative sphere. It will advance the understanding of colonial culture in Australia, and of the perceptions and val ....A study of travel writing in Australian colonial history. Travel writing is a key mechanism by which readers learn about other peoples and cultures, a genre that is crucial to the formation of identities, ideologies, and ideas. Australian travel writing provided foundational texts for those emigrating to the colony. This project positions Australian texts within an international comparative sphere. It will advance the understanding of colonial culture in Australia, and of the perceptions and values of those who settled colonial Australia. It will make available to Australian and international students and researchers a rich archive of texts that have not been previously mapped. Australians are keenly interested in travel and its literature, and this project brings colonial travel texts to public attention.Read moreRead less
The 'paper war': Missionary Textuality and Early Nineteenth-Century Australian Colonial Culture. Early nineteenth-century Australian texts reverberate with the anxieties and controversies surrounding colonisation. The morality of colonisation and indigenous-settler relationships were hotly debated in a proliferation of books, pamphlets, letters, and editorials, and in this religious personnel, including missionaries, played a pivotal role. Yet no critical analysis of colonial missionary writing ....The 'paper war': Missionary Textuality and Early Nineteenth-Century Australian Colonial Culture. Early nineteenth-century Australian texts reverberate with the anxieties and controversies surrounding colonisation. The morality of colonisation and indigenous-settler relationships were hotly debated in a proliferation of books, pamphlets, letters, and editorials, and in this religious personnel, including missionaries, played a pivotal role. Yet no critical analysis of colonial missionary writing exists. This project conducts archival research into texts produced by a linked network of religious/missionary figures, focusing on the Lake Macquarie mission run by Lancelot Threlkeld, and analyses these through theories of colonial discourse and textuality. Research outcomes include original, innovative contributions to Australian literary/cultural studies and international colonial/postcolonial studies.Read moreRead less
Travelling Home: A Study of Walkabout, Australia's Geographic Magazine (1934-74). Walkabout was one of mid-twentieth century's most popular magazines with a focus on inland Australia, as well as the Pacific region. It graced suburban lounge rooms, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, railway waiting rooms, ministerial offices, and school libraries. Walkabout's mixture of entertainment and education ensured its influence across a spectrum of readers: across age, class, and educational boundaries. Th ....Travelling Home: A Study of Walkabout, Australia's Geographic Magazine (1934-74). Walkabout was one of mid-twentieth century's most popular magazines with a focus on inland Australia, as well as the Pacific region. It graced suburban lounge rooms, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, railway waiting rooms, ministerial offices, and school libraries. Walkabout's mixture of entertainment and education ensured its influence across a spectrum of readers: across age, class, and educational boundaries. This project explores the role of Walkabout in the development of a modern national identity. Walkabout deliberately cultivated one of Australia's key modern economic foundations-the travel industry-and did so whilst also influencing knowledge formation and circulation. Read moreRead less
Inhumanities: Asylum seeker letters and the precarious 'human' rights of contemporary life narrative. Letters exchanged between asylum seekers and activists between 2001-05 are a powerful repository of cross cultural exchange and political activism in Australia this century, and they offer unique insights into debates about citizenship and national identity in the very recent past. When read as a distinctive genre of life narrative, these letters and the epistolary communities which they engende ....Inhumanities: Asylum seeker letters and the precarious 'human' rights of contemporary life narrative. Letters exchanged between asylum seekers and activists between 2001-05 are a powerful repository of cross cultural exchange and political activism in Australia this century, and they offer unique insights into debates about citizenship and national identity in the very recent past. When read as a distinctive genre of life narrative, these letters and the epistolary communities which they engender are important new resources in current scholarship on human rights and testimony. This project will make a vital and distinctive Australian contribution to debates about representations of the human and the inhuman in contemporary literature.Read moreRead less
Rural women, cross-racial collaboration and life writing in the Country Women's Association of New South Wales, 1956-1996. In an era when race relations in Australia are usually characterised by misunderstanding and conflict, this project brings to light a story of co-operation and hope. Investigating six Indigenous branches of the Country Women's Association in NSW from the 1950s uncovers collaborations between rural Aboriginal and white women that transgressed social barriers and launched two ....Rural women, cross-racial collaboration and life writing in the Country Women's Association of New South Wales, 1956-1996. In an era when race relations in Australia are usually characterised by misunderstanding and conflict, this project brings to light a story of co-operation and hope. Investigating six Indigenous branches of the Country Women's Association in NSW from the 1950s uncovers collaborations between rural Aboriginal and white women that transgressed social barriers and launched two significant Aboriginal matriarchs and authors into their public lives. This timely social and literary history project revalues conservative rural women's writing and activism, contributing to the reconciliation process and to the social health of Australia.Read moreRead less
The Visual Mediation of a Complex Narrative: TGH Strehlow's Journey to Horseshoe Bend. TGH Strehlow's biographical memoir, Journey to Horseshoe Bend, is a vivid ethno-historiographic account of Aboriginal, settler and Lutheran communities of Central Australia in the 1920's. This project intends to construct an extensive digital hub elaborating key textual thematics of Aboriginal identity and sense of ?place?, supplemented with oral histories. Consistent with the Strehlow Research Centre's missio ....The Visual Mediation of a Complex Narrative: TGH Strehlow's Journey to Horseshoe Bend. TGH Strehlow's biographical memoir, Journey to Horseshoe Bend, is a vivid ethno-historiographic account of Aboriginal, settler and Lutheran communities of Central Australia in the 1920's. This project intends to construct an extensive digital hub elaborating key textual thematics of Aboriginal identity and sense of ?place?, supplemented with oral histories. Consistent with the Strehlow Research Centre's mission in the management and preservation of the Strehlow Collection's vast archival materials, the project will provide access to and foster engagement with Strehlow's works. The project will employ innovative visual methodologies in the production and mediation of Indigenous knowledge related to the text. Read moreRead less
Frontier Conflict in History and Memory: South and Central Australia from European settlement to the Present. The aims of this project are to map, as comprehensively as possible, the nature and extent of conflict between Aboriginal people and Europeans in South and Central Australia and to analyse the ways in which those events have survived in social memory. This is significant in light of recent contestations in Australian history about the degree and remembrance of conflict. No extensive regi ....Frontier Conflict in History and Memory: South and Central Australia from European settlement to the Present. The aims of this project are to map, as comprehensively as possible, the nature and extent of conflict between Aboriginal people and Europeans in South and Central Australia and to analyse the ways in which those events have survived in social memory. This is significant in light of recent contestations in Australian history about the degree and remembrance of conflict. No extensive regional study has been conducted for South and Central Australia. This project will contribute new research for academic and general social use.Read moreRead less
Letters between Vance and Nettie Palmer, 1909-1959: The Complete Correspondence. Nettie and Vance Palmer were two highly influential national figures, of considerable significance in literary and cultural circles especially in the inter-war period. This project, the preparation of Collected Letters, will considerably extend knowledge of their public contribution to cultural production in Australia and also of their private lives. It will provide a vital reference tool for historians, literary ....Letters between Vance and Nettie Palmer, 1909-1959: The Complete Correspondence. Nettie and Vance Palmer were two highly influential national figures, of considerable significance in literary and cultural circles especially in the inter-war period. This project, the preparation of Collected Letters, will considerably extend knowledge of their public contribution to cultural production in Australia and also of their private lives. It will provide a vital reference tool for historians, literary critics, biographers and scholars as well as be entertaining and compelling for the general reader. As a highly innovative example of the genre of the edited letter, in retrieving these writings of two gifted individuals, Australia's cultural heritage will be enriched.Read moreRead less
The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature. The anthology will be a major scholarly work. Its publication will stimulate scholarship in the Humanities. The project will also renew mainstream interest in the scope and sophistication of Australian literature. Many new works will be introduced to Australian readers, to education systems and to literary scholarship. The stand-alone anthology of Indigenous literature will enhance the public profile of Indigenous writers and will provide ....The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature. The anthology will be a major scholarly work. Its publication will stimulate scholarship in the Humanities. The project will also renew mainstream interest in the scope and sophistication of Australian literature. Many new works will be introduced to Australian readers, to education systems and to literary scholarship. The stand-alone anthology of Indigenous literature will enhance the public profile of Indigenous writers and will provide a vehicle for the representation of Indigenous culture and history to non-Indigenous Australians, who are often unable to access such knowledge and voices in print. New critical perspectives will ensure a valuable public resource, and understandings of Australian society will be enriched.Read moreRead less
Hiroshima and Here: A Cultural History of Australian Responses to Nuclear War and Weaponry. This project comes at an historical moment when Australia is more enmeshed in nuclearism than ever. As the nation considers the political, economic and moral implications of being a major world supplier of uranium during a period of extreme regional and global instability, and as it contemplates its own possible nuclear-powered future, this is exceptionally timely research. In providing a ground-breaking ....Hiroshima and Here: A Cultural History of Australian Responses to Nuclear War and Weaponry. This project comes at an historical moment when Australia is more enmeshed in nuclearism than ever. As the nation considers the political, economic and moral implications of being a major world supplier of uranium during a period of extreme regional and global instability, and as it contemplates its own possible nuclear-powered future, this is exceptionally timely research. In providing a ground-breaking model of national cultural response to one of the great international issues of our age, it will help foster academic activity and public interest in a developing field whose importance can only increase. Read moreRead less