HIS21070 Australian History and its Afterlives

Academic Year 2018/2019

This module surveys the history of Australia since colonisation, and considers how key moments in Australian history have been remembered and debated in the public domain. Drawing upon contemporary commemoration, memorial and museum practices, its themes include: the history and memory of early European exploration and colonisation; the agency of indigenous people in national history; the frontier experience and race relations; the transition from colonial democracies to federated nationhood; experiences of war; histories of migration and assimilation policy; and the changing nature of Australian identity in a globalised world. In doing so, it invites students to compare key moments of Australian history with other nations, including Ireland, and to consider some of the ways in which historical imagination is shaped both within and beyond Australia.