Course overview
This course examines Australian history from 1901 until the present. Australians have variously been described as a nation of sporting champions, yet we lose more often than we win; of 'battling' when we live in relative wealth; and of settling in the 'outback' while we sprawl into cities. We've been characterised as a 'classless' society and an equal one, which is at odds with the experience of many women and unemployed people. We've been introduced as descendants of convicts and 'Poms' when our families are just as likely to have emigrated from Eastern Europe or Asia or lived on this land for thousands of years. Students in this course will learn how each of these descriptions have been evoked for a purpose. They are used by politicians willing to appeal to a particular constituency, and by opponents in debates about federation, immigration, aboriginal rights, welfare, the status of women, and the possibility of Australia becoming a republic. In this course, the trajectory of these debates, which have shaped Australian identity, will be explored in addition to the social effects of the 1930s Depression, the legacy of the Menzies and Whitlam Governments, Australia's participation in war and its place in the global village. Students will have the opportunity to recall our long-felt deference to Britain, our more recent acceptance of our Aboriginal heritage, our brief flirtation as an Asian nation, and our current 'coalition' with the United States, and ponder where our future might lay.
Course learning outcomes
- Identify key moments of economic, social and political change in twentieth-century Australia.
- Recognise how ideas about race, class and gender shaped public policies and practices in twentieth-century Australia.
- Understand the ways that protagonists in contemporary debates interpret or ‘use’ history to defend particular points of view.
- Critically analyse different kinds of sources (including historical documents and oral testimony), and comprehend and critical evaluate a range of historical arguments.
- Demonstrate their capacity to work independently and cooperatively while engaging with sources of historical evidence and historical problems.
- Demonstrate their experience of working in a group to solve-problems and create historical narratives.
- Demonstrate their enhanced capacity to communicate persuasively and creatively thorough oral and textual means.
- Develop a reflective and objective profesional approach that rigorously questions assumptions and is informed by evidence and a sophisticated use of information.
- Develop their capacity to examine historical issues according to the scholarly and ethical conventions of the discipline of history.