AUSTRALIA SINCE 1788 HIST 4591 (3 credits) December 28, 2016 January 13, 2017 Professor Mark Thomas Departments of History and Economics

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1 AUSTRALIA SINCE 1788 HIST 4591 (3 credits) December 28, 2016 January 13, 2017 Professor Mark Thomas Departments of History and Economics This course will look at the history, culture and society of the land down under. Australia is a land of opportunity and paradox. It began as a penal colony and became the richest country in the world within a hundred years. It is a country that has been independent of Britain for a century, yet still has the Queen as head of state. It is a vast continent of only 15 million inhabitants, yet has remarkable regional diversity. It has long been among the most urbanized of global societies, yet its cultural identity is largely shaped by rural idealism. To understand contemporary Australia, one must understand its past, both as myth and reality. This course will look closely at some of the major events in Australian history, from the voyages of Captain Cook and the landing of the First Fleet at Botany Bay, through the excitements of continental exploration and Ned Kelly, to the traumas of Gallipoli and the Great Depression. We will use both traditional and non-traditional means to understand these events, applying the realist perspective of the historian, the subjective perceptions of the diarist and the story-teller, and the powerful imagery of the artist and the film-maker. We will be careful to look both at white and black Australia. The course will end by examining Australia s place in the 21 st century world. Grading: Evaluation will be based on the following components: i) Five academic journal entries 20 % ii) One group research assignment 10 % iii) Two term papers 20 % iv) Class participation and engagement 25 % v) Final examination 25 % The academic journal entries, of words each, will focus on perspectives on Australian history learned during site visits, and will be written in response to prompts given by the instructor. There are a dozen site visits altogether on the program, so students will have some choice of topics. Deadlines for submission will be given at the program orientation. The research assignment will be based on primary source materials made available during a site visit to the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne. Students, working in small groups, will use newspaper archives to examine a topic of their choosing (eg drought, federation, Aboriginal issues, the Melbourne land boom, conscription, etc.) as reflected in news reports from the period between 1880 and The results will be presented in class. Two short papers, of 4-5 pages each, are required, based on primary and secondary materials provided to each student. One paper is due before departure from Australia; the other on or before Friday, January 20. Students may choose from the following topics: a. What were the motives behind the British settlement of Australia? b. Why is Ned Kelly an Australian icon? c. How was Australian national identity different at the end of the 19 th and 20 th centuries?

2 The final exam (Saturday, January 21, ) will be open-book, open-note, cumulative and oriented towards testing student understanding of the main contours of Australian history as discussed in classroom presentations, site visits and the assigned materials. Readings: All readings will be made available on a memory-stick provided by the program. Students are required to bring their laptops. I. PRESEMINAR Site: Los Angeles. Venue: Doubletree Hotel, Los Angeles Airport Arrive: Tuesday, Dec 27, before 5.00 pm. Depart: Wednesday, Dec 28, p.m. Wed, Dec 28: : Program orientation and course introduction : Australia before the Conquest. Seminar discussion on aboriginal Australia before European settlement Reading: Geoffrey Blainey, Triumph of the Nomads: A History of Aboriginal Australia (selections, to be read on flight to Los Angeles) : Exploring the Unknown and Uncharted Lecture, with slides, on exploration of the South Pacific Reading: J. C. Beaglehole, ed., The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, , pp : The Founding of White Australia Seminar discussion on the origins of British settlement of Australia. Reading: G. B. Barton (ed), History of New South Wales from the Records Ged Martin, The Founding of Australia (selections) Mollie Gillen, The Botany Bay decision, 1786: convicts, not empire, English Historical Review (1982): Alan Frost, Botany Bay: an imperial venture of the 1780s, English Historical Review (1985: ) (and reply by Gillen, ) : Depart from LAX to Melbourne Thurs, Dec 29: All-day travel Reading: G. Davison, Rise and Fall of Marvelous Melbourne, Intro, Ch 10 II. ALL THAT GLITTERS: AUSTRALIA SINCE 1850 Site: Melbourne. Venue: Atlantis Hotel, Spencer Street, Melbourne Arrive: Friday, Dec 30, a.m. Depart: Saturday, Jan 4, 4.00 p.m. Fri, Dec 30: : John Batman s Gotham City Lecture and discussion on Victorian Melbourne : walking tour of Victorian Melbourne Reading: Richard Twopeny, Town Life in Australia, pp

3 Sat, Dec 31: : Exploring the continent Lecture and discussion on Burke and Wills expedition Reading: William Joy, The Explorers, Ch Alan Moorhead, Cooper s Creek: The opening of Australia (selections) : Newspaper research project, State Library of Victoria Sun, Jan 1: Day trip to Ballarat (depart 11 am). Discussion of Gold Rush and Eureka Stockade. Reading: Ken Inglis, Australian Colonists, Ch : Site visit to Ballarat Fine Art Gallery Discussion of representation of Ballarat and Gold Rushes in contemporary art (SC Gill, Francois Cogne, et al.) : Site visit to Sovereign Hill, Ballarat Mon, Jan 2: : Frontier myth-making the peculiar history of Ned Kelly Lecture and discussion on Ned Kelly and the mystique of the outback Reading: Inglis, Australian Colonists, Ch. 11. Joe Melvin, The Kelly Gang is destroyed by police at Glenrowan and The Trial of Ned Kelly, in An Eyewitness to Australian History, pp Edward Kelly, Cameron Letter; Jerilderie Letter : Site visit to Old Melbourne Gaol : Presentation of group projects Tues, Jan 3: Free morning for exploration of Melbourne 4.00: Depart for Canberra from Tullamarine Airport III. THE MAKING OF MODERN AUSTRALIA Site: Canberra. Venue: University House, Australian National University Arrive: Tuesday, January 3, 6.00 p.m. Depart: Friday, January 6, 6.00 p.m. Tues, Jan 3: Wed, Jan 4: Watch Gallipoli : Mateship redefined: the meanings of Gallipoli Lecture and discussion of World War One, Anzacs and the origins of Australian national identity Reading: C. E. W. Bean (ed.), The Anzac Book (selections) W. F. Mandle, Going it Alone: Australia s National Identity in the Twentieth Century, Ch. 1 E. Ashmead-Bartlett, Under a bright moon, the Anzacs land, in An Eyewitness to Australian History, pp : Site visit to the Australian War Memorial Docent lecture on Remembering Australians at War Thurs, Jan 5: : Sport and the Empire Lecture and discussion on sport and national identity in the 20th century Reading: W. F. Mandle, Going it Alone, Ch. 2 The [London] Times, Obituary of Douglas Jardine.

4 : The Birth of Australian Federalism: Loosening the Reins of Empire? Docent lecture and tour of Old Parliament House Reading: G. S. Reid, The Federal Constitution. G. Whitlam, The Whitlam Government, Ch 1, 20, 21. Fri, Jan 6: : Site visit to National Gallery of Australia Docent lecture on Aboriginal Art; followed by a viewing of the Nolan series on Ned Kelly : Site visit to Museum of Australia 6:00: dep. Canberra for Sydney (coach), arr IV. COLONIAL AUSTRALIA Site: Sydney. Venue: Sydney Central YHA, Rawson Place, Sydney Arrive: Friday, January 6, 9.00 p.m. Depart: Friday, January 13, 3.00 p.m. Sat, Jan 7: : Class trip to Taronga Zoo 1.30: Walking tour of The Rocks 3.30: Harbor Ferry to Manly for exploration and dinner Sun, Jan 8: : Museum of Sydney Docent presentation by Scott Cumming, Chief Guide : Who were the founders? Lecture and discussion on convicts and settlers in early Australia Reading: A. G. L. Shaw, Convicts and the Colonies, Ch. 7, : Site visit to Hyde Park Barracks Discussion of how convict society was organized in the early colonial era Mon, Jan 9: : Black and white in early Australia Reading: Keith Willey, When the Sky Fell Down: The Destruction of the Tribes of the Sydney Region, s, pp : Agriculture and the Antipodes Discussion of the origins of Australia s distinctive mix of private and public economic organization Excursion to Parramatta (by river catamaran), with site visits to Elizabeth Farm, and Experimental Farm. Reading: Bruce Davidson, European Farming in Australia, Ch Letter from Elizabeth Macarthur, 1 Sept Tues, Jan 10: Day trip to Blue Mountains (train to Katoomba) : Internal exploration: Blaxland, Lawson, Wentworth and the road to prosperity. Reading: William Joy, The Explorers, Ch John Carroll, ed., Intruders in the Bush, Ch 1, : Bush walking in the Blue Mountains

5 Wed, Jan 11: : Site visit to Vaucluse, home of WC Wentworth Topic: Class, gender and the structures of colonial society Reading: Ken Inglis, Australian Colonists, Ch. 3, : Site visit to Art Gallery of New South Wales Topic: Representation of colonial Australia in art Reading: Anne Gray, Art and the Environment: New Visions from Old, in D. M. Schreuder and Stuart Ward ed., Australia s Empire. Thurs, Jan 12: : Renegotiating Australia s place in the world Reading: W. F. Mandle, Going it Alone, Ch. 6 Stuart Ward, Security: Defending Australia s Empire, in D. M. Schreuder and Stuart Ward ed., Australia s Empire : Guest lecture by Professor Geoffrey Gallop, Director, Graduate School of Government, University of Sydney, former Premier of Western Australia Topic: TBA Free afternoon for exploration of Sydney 7.00: Final group dinner Sat, Jan 13: Free morning for exploration of Sydney 15.00: Depart for Los Angeles from Kingsford Smith International Airport 09.35: Arrive Los Angeles and continue to final destination