John Howard and the Politics of Australian History Writing

In: Australian quarterly: AQ, Band 78, Heft 4, S. 32-33

Abstract

Australian conservatives have never been able to develop a coherent, cogent interpretation of Australian history. Ever since Wood's Convicts (1922), the field has been dominated by the radical nationalist historians & the attempts of the right to break the stranglehold have been abject failures. The latest putative prince of the right is Howard's appointee Windschuttle who, with the Minister for Education, is creating the impression that history teachers throughout Australia are left wing dupes or postmodernist idiots. The attempts to set the country back on track present history as only a collection of facts or merely a chronicle. The Prime Minister's real worry is that history is actually analysis, interpretation & questioning, that it is logical & lucid. Australian history is in trouble in bypassing "cultural cringe" about Australia as boring. The lowly status placed on Australian history by Howard is an embarrassing failure to support a national story. But the government is not really concerned about history, it is concerned about it's image & it's place in the future. References. Adapted from the source document.