Australian history has changed drastically over the last fifty years and has found itself at the centre of heated and consuming public debates. So how do historians themselves read this history? Where do they see themselves in these momentous shifts in historical reading and writing? With contributions from prominent historians including Marilyn Lake, Tom Griffiths, Peter Stanley and Ann Curthoys, Australian History Now offers revealing and refreshing accounts of the ways Australian historians think about the nation’s past. Australian History Now is an engaging and often surprising introduction to the ways we understand and write our history in academic, popular and school books, argue about it in the media, present it in museums and watch it on television. At its heart it shows that the way we remember our past reflects how we see ourselves in the present.

Created especially for the Australian customer! Exciting and informative history of the land down under Australian History For Dummies is your tour guide through the important events of Australia's past, introducing you to the people and events that have shaped modern Australia. Be there as British colonists explore Australia's harsh terrain with varying degrees of success. In this informative guide you'll Find out about Australia's infamous bushrangers Learn how the discovery of gold caused a tidal wave of immigration from all over the world Understand how Australia took two steps forward to become a nation in its own right in 1901, and two steps back when the government was dismissed by the Crown in 1975 Discover the fascinating details that made Australia the country it is today!

'The History Wars is very important. The book will sit on the shelves of libraries as a code stone to help people understand the motivations of players in today's contemporary debate. It sheds light on the political battle which is carried on in the pubs and on the footpaths about who we are and what has become of us.' andmdash; Hon. Paul Keating, Prime Minister of Australia, 1991-1996 The nation's history has probably never been more politicised than it is today. Politicians, journalists, columnists, academics and Australians from all walks of life argue passionately andmdash; and often, ideologically andmdash; about the significance of the national story: the cherished ideal of the 'fair go', the much contested facts of Indigenous dispossession, the Anzac legend, and the nation's strategic alliance with the United States. Historians have become both combatants and casualties in this war of words. In The History Wars, Stuart Macintyre and Anna Clark explore how this intense public debate has polarised the nation and paralysed history departments. This edition includes a new afterword by Stuart Macintyre which recounts, with rueful irony, the outbreak of controversy that followed the book's original publication, and the further light it shed on the uses and abuses of Australian history.

'THE history book for now. This is why and how historians do what they do. And why they need to' Dan Snow 'What is History, Now? demonstrates how our constructs of the past are woven into our modern world and culture, and offers us an illuminating handbook to understanding this dynamic and shape-shifting subject. A thought-provoking, insightful and necessary re-examination of the subject' Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five 'The importance of history is becoming more evident every day, and this humane book is an essential navigation tool. Urgent and utterly compelling' Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland 'Important and exciting' Kate Williams, author of Rival Queens Inspired by the influential text WHAT IS HISTORY? authored by Helen Carr's great-grandfather, E.H. Carr, and published on the 60th anniversary of that book, this is a groundbreaking new collection addressing the burning issue of how we interpret history today. What stories are told, and by whom, who should be celebrated, and what rewritten, are questions that have been asked recently not just within the history world, but by all of us. Featuring a diverse mix of writers, both bestselling names and emerging voices, this is the history book we need NOW. WHAT IS HISTORY, NOW? covers topics such as the history of racism and anti-racism, queer history, the history of faith, the history of disability, environmental history, escaping imperial nostalgia, hearing women's voices and 'rewriting' the past. The list of contributors includes: Justin Bengry, Leila K Blackbird, Emily Brand, Gus Casely-Hayford, Sarah Churchwell, Caroline Dodds Pennock, Peter Frankopan, Bettany Hughes, Dan Hicks, Onyeka Nubia, Islam Issa, Maya Jasanoff, Rana Mitter, Charlotte Riley, Miri Rubin, Simon Schama, Alex von Tunzelmann and Jaipreet Virdi.

Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork undertaken since 2006, the book addresses some of the most topical aspects of remote Aboriginal life in Australia. This includes the role of kinship and family, relationships to land and sea, and cross-cultural relations with non-Aboriginal residents. There is also extensive treatment of contemporary issues relating to alcohol consumption, violence and the impact of systemic ill health. This richly detailed portrayal provides a nuanced account of everyday endurance and social intensity on Mornington Island.

Australian history has been revised and reinterpreted by successive generations of historians, writers, governments and public commentators, yet there has been no account of the ways it has changed, who makes history, and how. Making Australian History responds to this critical gap in Australian historical research.A few years ago Anna Clark saw a series of paintings on a sandstone cliff face in the Northern Territory. There were characteristic crosshatched images of fat barramundi and turtles, as well as sprayed handprints and several human figures with spears. Next to them was a long gun, painted with white ochre, an unmistakable image of the colonisers. Was this an Indigenous rendering of contact? A work of history?Each piece of history has a message and context that depends on who wrote it and when. Australian history has swirled and contorted over the years: the history wars have embroiled historians, politicians and public commentators alike, while debates over historical fiction have been as divisive. History isn't just about understanding what happened and why. It also reflects the persuasions, politics and prejudices of its authors. Each iteration of Australia's national story reveals not only the past in question, but also the guiding concerns and perceptions of each generation of history makers.Making Australian History is bold and inclusive: it catalogues and contextualises changing readings of the past, it examines the increasingly problematic role of historians as national storytellers, and it incorporates the stories of people.

‘These are our stories. All of us live in them.’ —Anton Enus, SBS News This is the story of a peaceful revolution. Drawing on in-depth interviews, it tells the intimate life stories of thirteen gay and lesbian Australians, ranging in age from twenties to eighties. From the underground beats of 1950s Brisbane and illicit relationships in the armed services, to Grindr, foster parenting and weddings in the twenty-first century, Gay & Lesbian, Then & Now reveals the remarkable social shifts from one generation to the next. Where once gay and lesbian Australians were treated as criminals, sinners or sick, today they are increasingly accepted as equal. The majority of Australians support same-sex marriage. This rapid transformation in attitudes has opened the way for lesbians and gays to ‘become ordinary’ – to experience freedoms that were once barely imaginable. Gay & Lesbian, Then & Now reveals the legacies of homophobia, the personal struggles and triumphs involved in coming out, and the many different ways of being gay or lesbian in Australia – then and now. It is a moving account of a quiet revolution. Robert Reynolds is Associate Professor in the department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University. His previous books include What Happened to Gay Life? and History on the Couch (as co-editor). Shirleene Robinson is Vice Chancellor’s Innovation Fellow in the department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University. Her previous books include Homophobia: An Australian History (as editor).