"Welcome to Television": A Cultural History of Australian Television 1956-1992. A5 PROJECT SUMMARY
Television is arguably the most significant cultural technology of the 20th century. It gives us a sense of nationhood within a globalised world, contributes to democratic discourse and fosters creative expression. This is a history of that important institution in Australia and will cover the period from its inception to 1992, when multi-channel, pay and internet forms of television began to t ...."Welcome to Television": A Cultural History of Australian Television 1956-1992. A5 PROJECT SUMMARY
Television is arguably the most significant cultural technology of the 20th century. It gives us a sense of nationhood within a globalised world, contributes to democratic discourse and fosters creative expression. This is a history of that important institution in Australia and will cover the period from its inception to 1992, when multi-channel, pay and internet forms of television began to transform it. It will focus principally on commercial free to air television and will promote debate about the changing significance of television in Australia and lead to better public understanding and appreciation of its cultural and creative legacy.
Read moreRead less
Witnesses to War: Australian War Correspondents from the Boer to the Gulf War. This national project will be the first study to examine the collective history of Australian journalists and photojournalists who have covered major wars and international conflicts from the Boer War to the 'war on terror'. It will be a timely and path breaking contribution to history, offering a new understanding of key issues including the journalists' experiences; the discourses that defined Australian national id ....Witnesses to War: Australian War Correspondents from the Boer to the Gulf War. This national project will be the first study to examine the collective history of Australian journalists and photojournalists who have covered major wars and international conflicts from the Boer War to the 'war on terror'. It will be a timely and path breaking contribution to history, offering a new understanding of key issues including the journalists' experiences; the discourses that defined Australian national identity; truth and mythmaking; war correspondents' influence on public commemoration and how they shaped attitudes to war, allies, enemies and race; how reporting changed; and the role of political and military censorship. Read moreRead less
Imperial Designs: Remaking the Institutions of Global Communications. Fresh perspectives about markets, hierarchies and networks as ways of organising economic activity will come from better understanding the governance and performance of Australia's overseas communications in the second half of the 20th century. In the internet era, when so much online activity involves overseas access, global links are even more important to the cultural and economic innovation sought through improved broadban ....Imperial Designs: Remaking the Institutions of Global Communications. Fresh perspectives about markets, hierarchies and networks as ways of organising economic activity will come from better understanding the governance and performance of Australia's overseas communications in the second half of the 20th century. In the internet era, when so much online activity involves overseas access, global links are even more important to the cultural and economic innovation sought through improved broadband infrastructure. Answering the recent call for 'a wide-ranging reassessment of Australia's imperial experience across a broad front', research about the post-war Commonwealth telecommunications scheme will be particularly valuable as the global financial crisis tests forms of globalization that seemed durable.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal Femininity and Modern Identity: Gender and Race in the Late Colonial Visual Scene. The project is the first sustained cultural history of Aboriginal femininity in Australian from 1870-1967. It will draw on diverse forms of modern visual culture: painting, black and white drawing, mass commodity spectacle, film and photography, to investigate six modes of production of Aboriginal feminine visibility: the 'primitive' woman in Western exhibiting practices such as colonial museums: the pe ....Aboriginal Femininity and Modern Identity: Gender and Race in the Late Colonial Visual Scene. The project is the first sustained cultural history of Aboriginal femininity in Australian from 1870-1967. It will draw on diverse forms of modern visual culture: painting, black and white drawing, mass commodity spectacle, film and photography, to investigate six modes of production of Aboriginal feminine visibility: the 'primitive' woman in Western exhibiting practices such as colonial museums: the perceived failure of 'Mission Mary' to appear modern; the relation of Aboriginal femininity to imported forms of exoticism; the fetishism of Indigenous women; girl piccaninny kitsch in domestic and tourist ornaments; and the entrance of public Aboriginal women and celebrities into modernity.
Read moreRead less
The BYSTANDER FIELD: immersive 'feedback' environments for exhibiting and dramatically interacting with semiotic, aesthetic and emotional patterns in archived imagery. The BYSTANDER FIELD investigates dramatic new ways to exhibit, interrogate and interpret archived imagery. Immersing visitors bodily in a 'turbulent' environment of user-activated images, sounds and texts, all cross-referenced and inter-dependent, the project encourages interactive comprehension of cultural collections and the so ....The BYSTANDER FIELD: immersive 'feedback' environments for exhibiting and dramatically interacting with semiotic, aesthetic and emotional patterns in archived imagery. The BYSTANDER FIELD investigates dramatic new ways to exhibit, interrogate and interpret archived imagery. Immersing visitors bodily in a 'turbulent' environment of user-activated images, sounds and texts, all cross-referenced and inter-dependent, the project encourages interactive comprehension of cultural collections and the societies that spawned them.
The research method is iterative and evolutionary: critique of existing literature, designs and technologies; repeated, rapid prototyping leading to test-exhibit; final critique of user-experience; report on knowledge generated.
Outcomes are theoretical and practical: reports delivering new knowledge; audience-tested systems of display and interpretation which are scaleable to several museological and architectural scenarios.Read moreRead less
The Two Frank Thrings. A study of two lives in the context of the performing arts in twentieth-century Australia. This dual biography of F.W.Thring (1882-1936), stage and cinema entrepreneur, and his actor son Frank (1926-94), will explore two remarkable lives in relation to their performance culture and society. It will provide the first scholarly biography of both men, and through them will illuminate the history of Australian cinema and musical theatre, investigate issues of distinctively n ....The Two Frank Thrings. A study of two lives in the context of the performing arts in twentieth-century Australia. This dual biography of F.W.Thring (1882-1936), stage and cinema entrepreneur, and his actor son Frank (1926-94), will explore two remarkable lives in relation to their performance culture and society. It will provide the first scholarly biography of both men, and through them will illuminate the history of Australian cinema and musical theatre, investigate issues of distinctively national iconography and voice, and examine the complex interactions between industrial/economic forces and artistic vision. Its principal outcome will be a book that should add significantly to our knowledge of the performing arts in twentieth-century Australia, and to continuing debates in the arts.Read moreRead less
Becoming Australians, or Unbecoming Colonials? Australians in British Journalism, 1892-1902. This project will analyse the influence of Australian writers in British journalistic representations/discussions of Australia in the years which produced a federated Australia, and the British Commonwealth. Through detailed study of several 'Australian' journalists working in London, and their social and institutional contexts, it will trace some of the forces at work to define and represent relations ....Becoming Australians, or Unbecoming Colonials? Australians in British Journalism, 1892-1902. This project will analyse the influence of Australian writers in British journalistic representations/discussions of Australia in the years which produced a federated Australia, and the British Commonwealth. Through detailed study of several 'Australian' journalists working in London, and their social and institutional contexts, it will trace some of the forces at work to define and represent relations between Britain and AustraliaRead moreRead less
The Darwinian Screen: Race in Pacific and Australian Film 1900-1970. This project examines the influence of Darwinism in filmic narratives which deal with race that are set in Australia and the Pacific from 1900-1970. Science Fiction, Travel, South Seas Island Romance, Colonial Adventure and Jungle films made in Australia, New Zealand, America, the UK and France will be considered in order to determine the design and construction of race. The search for primitive man, the construction of 'types' ....The Darwinian Screen: Race in Pacific and Australian Film 1900-1970. This project examines the influence of Darwinism in filmic narratives which deal with race that are set in Australia and the Pacific from 1900-1970. Science Fiction, Travel, South Seas Island Romance, Colonial Adventure and Jungle films made in Australia, New Zealand, America, the UK and France will be considered in order to determine the design and construction of race. The search for primitive man, the construction of 'types', the creation of utopian spaces for white subjects, the representation of evolution and devolution, the making of the Pacific as site for scientific endeavour and the production of narratives of survival are among the areas to be considered.Read moreRead less
Mapping the movies: the changing nature of Australia's cinema circuits and their audiences 1956-1984. Support for film production is a high profile component in Australian cultural policy, but the cultural and commercial opportunity represented by cinema exhibition and attendance is less well understood. Focusing on the three decades after the introduction of television in 1956, this project is the first of its kind to use geospatial visualisation to map the social and economic circuits of cinem ....Mapping the movies: the changing nature of Australia's cinema circuits and their audiences 1956-1984. Support for film production is a high profile component in Australian cultural policy, but the cultural and commercial opportunity represented by cinema exhibition and attendance is less well understood. Focusing on the three decades after the introduction of television in 1956, this project is the first of its kind to use geospatial visualisation to map the social and economic circuits of cinema-going, and to identify the variables that explain cinema diversification, survival or closure. It will contribute to policy analysis in terms of local media access modelling, and will consolidate this team's international reputation for innovative Australian research in the representation of historical data.Read moreRead less
Cinema and Civilisation: Science, Progress and Empire in Early Film. This study will explore the role of early film in disseminating the Western ideals of progress, science and technology in the colonial nations of Australia's region. Early films made about Indonesia, Indochina, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and Singapore as well as India and North Africa will be studied. The study will reveal Australia's dual roles as a recipient of the civilising mission and later as a propagator of th ....Cinema and Civilisation: Science, Progress and Empire in Early Film. This study will explore the role of early film in disseminating the Western ideals of progress, science and technology in the colonial nations of Australia's region. Early films made about Indonesia, Indochina, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and Singapore as well as India and North Africa will be studied. The study will reveal Australia's dual roles as a recipient of the civilising mission and later as a propagator of this knowledge in its own sphere of influence. Such an understanding will lead to a fuller comprehension of the relative meaning of terms such as 'progress', 'science' and 'civilisation' in Australia and its region.Read moreRead less