The Honest History Book - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1742235263 ISBN 13: 9781742235264

Verlag: NewSouth, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

In Australia's rush to commemorate all things Anzac, have we lost our ability to look beyond war as the central pillar of Australia's history and identity? The passionate historians of the Honest History group argue that while war has been important to Australia - mostly for its impact on our citizens and our ideas of nationhood - we must question the stories we tell ourselves about our history. We must separate myth from reality - and to do that we need to reassess the historical evidence surrounding military myths. In this lively collection, renowned writers including Paul Daley, Mark McKenna, Peter Stanley, Carolyn Holbrook, Mark Dapin, Carmen Lawrence, Stuart Macintyre, Frank Bongiorno and Larissa Behrendt explore not only the militarisation of our history but the alternative narratives swamped under the khaki-wash - Indigenous history, frontier conflict, multiculturalism, the myth of egalitarianism, economics and the environment.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Dr David Stephens is editor of the Honest History website. A political scientist with qualifications in public law, he is a former public servant and government consultant, and has published widely in journals and newspapers.

Dr Alison Broinowski is an academic, journalist, writer and former diplomat, having had postings in Japan, the Philippines, Korea and the Australian Mission to the UN in New York. Her books include Howard’s War (2003) and Allied and Addicted (2007).

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The Honest History Book

By David Stephens, Alison Broinowski

University of New South Wales Press Ltd

Copyright © 2017 David Stephens and Alison Broinowski
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-74223-526-4

Contents

Contributors, 
Foreword Julianne Schultz, 
1 Introduction David Stephens & Alison Broinowski, 
PART 1 Putting Anzac in its place, 
2 Other people's war: The Great War in a world context Douglas Newton, 
3 24 April 1915: Australia's Armenian story over a century Vicken Babkenian & Judith Crispin, 
4 Adaptable Anzac: Past, present and future Carolyn Holbrook, 
5 The Australian War Memorial: Beyond Bean Michael Piggott, 
6 'We too were Anzacs': Were Vietnam veterans ever truly excluded from the Anzac tradition? Mark Dapin, 
7 Myth and history: The persistent 'Atatürk words' David Stephens & Burçin Çakir, 
8 A century of bipartisan commemoration: Is Anzac politically inevitable? Frank Bongiorno, 
9 Anzac and Anzackery: Useful future or sentimental dream? David Stephens, 
PART 2 Australian stories and silences, 
10 Fires, droughts and flooding rains: Environmental influences on Australian history Rebecca Jones, 
11 From those who've come across the seas: Immigration and multiculturalism Gwenda Tavan, 
12 Bust and boom: What economic lessons has Australia learned? Stuart Macintyre, 
13 'Fair go' nation? Egalitarian myth and reality in Australia Carmen Lawrence, 
14 Australian heroes: Some military mates are more equal than others Peter Stanley, 
15 Hidden by the myth: Women's leadership in war and peace Joy Damousi, 
16 Settlement or invasion? The coloniser's quandary Larissa Behrendt, 
17 Our most important war: The legacy of frontier conflict Paul Daley, 
18 King, Queen and country: Will Anzac thwart republicanism? Mark McKenna, 
19 Australia's tug of war: Militarism versus independence Alison Broinowski, 
20 Conclusion Alison Broinowski & David Stephens, 
Notes, 
Acknowledgments, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

DAVID STEPHENS & ALISON BROINOWSKI

'History means interpretation', said EH Carr, and he was right. The discipline of history is a contest between interpretations. Honest history – the concept – is interpretation robustly supported by evidence. History is distinguished from myth by the strength of the evidence supporting the interpretation. Dishonest history is characterised by tendentious interpretation or inadequate evidence. All historians select evidence. It is how they select it that matters, not the fact that they do.

The study of history involves choosing not just evidence but also subject matter. Recently in Australia there has been a sharp focus on military history, specifically the centenary of the Gallipoli landing – the invasion of the Ottoman Empire – in 1915 and of World War I as a whole. The Anzac centenary has been expensive: the commemoration industry has become shy about publicising figures but an overall amount of $A600 million seems about right. Yet many Australians and some people overseas have been puzzled by our fixation on military exploits. The novelist and historian Thomas Keneally said in 2014 that 'there needs to be a certain amount of de-mythologising' about Gallipoli and associated events. One way of doing this would be to attack the 'Anzac legend' head on. There are, however, more intelligent and inclusive options. The Honest History coalition has always recognised that war is important in our history – not so much because of what Australians have done in war but because of what war has done to Australia, to Australians and to others – but so are many other events and influences. Our mantra has been 'Not only Anzac but also' – the 'also' being shorthand for all the non-Anzac influences.

Some people believe the Australian nation was born on the beaches of Gallipoli in 1915. But focusing on that single foundation moment oversimplifies Australia's history and constrains its identity. Honest History – the coalition – has argued instead for a rebalanced view of Australian history, where Anzac is reduced to a proportionate place and other influences are recognised. Downsizing Anzac need not mean doing away with Anzac altogether (as we shall see inchapter 9 of this book), but does mean winding back its excesses. Geoffrey Serle, historian and biographer of Sir John Monash, coined the term 'Anzackery' in 1967 to apply to the sentimental, jingoistic commemoration of Anzac. When Serle wrote, Anzackery seemed to be fading away, but it has come back, stronger, more sentimental and just as jingoistic, in the last 25 years. Finally, in 2016 the word 'Anzackery' appeared in a dictionary: the second edition of the Australian National Dictionary defines it as '[t]he promotion of the Anzac legend in ways that are perceived to be excessive or misguided'. The definition is significant because it marks an analytical rather than a sacralised take on the Anzac legend.

Despite the recognition of Anzackery – the extreme version of the legend – there has still been considerable wariness about criticising Anzac itself. The Honest History coalition has responded by pointing to the words on the King's Penny (or Dead Man's Penny) a grateful King George V sent to bereaved families after World War I: 'He Died for Freedom and Honour'. Honest History has always felt this included the freedom to have dissenting views about Anzac, and that exercising this freedom was not unpatriotic. Still, as historian Peter Cochrane wrote in 2015, 'never has the Anzac tradition been more popular and yet never have its defenders been more chauvinistic, bellicose and intolerant of other viewpoints'.

Some people blame governments for imposing a particular view of Anzac. Yet this top-down version of how historical myth takes hold is too simple. Asked in 2013 why the Australian government was putting so much effort into military commemoration, a senior official responded, 'It's what the bogans want'. Governments were simply responding to public demand, triggered by nostalgia or pseudo-spiritual longing or simply a desire for entertainment. One could add to this two-way explanation a version of Parkinson's law: interpretations of history, some of them dishonest because they lack or misuse evidence – they are really just myths – expand to fill the space available, particularly if there is no contest from alternative interpretations.

When a single thread of our nation's story is teased out to excess, it strangles the other threads. Australian history is social and cultural, political and economic, religious and anthropological, archaeological and scientific, as well as military. It is made by women, men, individuals, families, artists, philosophers, scientists, businesspeople, public servants, soldiers and politicians. We carry the imprint of the First Australians; the builders of the CSIRO, the Sydney Opera House and the Snowy scheme; the pioneers of the bush frontier in the 19th century and the urban frontier in the 1950s and 1960s; and 'boat people', whether convicts, post-war 'ten pound Poms' and 'New Australians' or asylum seekers. Australian history is to the credit – and discredit – of all of us, not just our Diggers.

We established the Honest History coalition and website (honesthistory.net.au) in 2013 because we were concerned that the forthcoming Anzac centenary would unbalance Australians' appreciation of their history, emphasising the military parts at the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: NewSouth
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1742235263
• ISBN 13: 9781742235264
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 368
• Herausgeber: Stephens David, Broinowski Alison
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland